Kabaddi World Cup 2016: India hammer Argentina; Iran, South Korea book semi-final berths

October 16, 2016

Ahmedabad, Oct 16: India cruised to a comfortable 74-20 win over Argentina as the home raiders flexed their muscles to notch a Kabaddi World Cup record 54-point margin win at the TransStadia in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

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India hardly broke sweat as Rahul Chaudhari and Ajay Thakur combined to score 25 raid points between them. Manjeet Chhillar and Surender attained a high five each to score 11 points to lead India's charge.

India are second in group B with 16 points from three games whereas bottom-placed Argentina are yet to open their account after four games.

On Saturday, it was one way traffic as India created a record of most tackles in a World Cup match. India made a swift start and led 3-0 after three minutes. Nahuel Villamayor opened Argentina's account in the second minute to trail 1-3.

Pardeep and Sandeep Narwal scored a point apiece as India led 6-1 before Thakur made a successful raid in the fifth minute to help extend India's led to 9-3. The hosts immediately inflicted an all out in the sixth minute to lead 12-3.

Thakur led the scoring charts for India in the first half and scored 11 points. Surjeet was a rock at the back for India and achieved a high five in the first half as India inflicted another all out in the 19th minute to lead 35-11.

Argentina were no match for India and struggled to cope with India's superiority in all departments. Narwal scored five points for India in the first half as India led 36-13 at the break.

After the break, Thakur attained a super ten in the 22nd minute as India led 38-13. India didn't relent at any point in the second half as they led 41-13 after 24 minutes. An all out was again inflicted by the home boys in the 25th minute to take the lead to 45-13. Chaudhari came on as a substitute on the 26th minute to score his first point as India led 47-15.

He scored two more points in the 28th minute to give India 50-15 lead.

Just after Villamayor bagged seven points for Argentina in the 30th minute, India did not lose any time to inflict another all out to extend their lead to 58-15.

With less than four minutes to go for the final hooter, India inflicted yet another all out to lead 68-17.

Chaudhari scored 10 points in the second half alone as Argentina struggled to cope with him.

India led 73-19 as Kiran Parmar scored with a two-point raid in the 40th minute to finally thrash the South American nation with a record margin.

Iran stave off late Japanese fightback to reach semi-finals

Iran notched a tough 38-34 win over Japan to continue their unbeaten run at the Kabaddi World Cup at the TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Iran survived a scare against Japan to emerge eventual winners and remain on top of Group B with 20 points from four outings. Japan, on the other hand, are second with 10 points from three games.

On Saturday, Iran began brightly and led 6-1 after six minutes as Japan struggled to get a foothold in the game.

Considered as one of the title favourites, Iran looked in brilliant form as they barely gave Japan an inch in the game. Kazuohiro Takano scored Japan's second point as they trailed 2-12 in the ninth minute.

Meraj Sheykh then added four points to help Iran dominate the first half and go 19-9 up at the break.

Iran began the second half in the same dominating style as Sheykh's raid culminated into an all out with Iran leading 26-9 after 23 minutes.

Japan put up a strong fight in the second half and matched Iran for the last 20 minutes before Iran forced another all out in the 33rd minute to lead 35-18.

Japan mounted a strong comeback in the last seven minutes as they scored 10 points in a row to trail 28-35 in the 37th minute. Masayuki Shimokawa scored eight points for Japan in a valiantly attempt to take his team over the line.

In the end, Iran used their experience and held their nerves to fight back against Japan's late show before wrapping up the tie in their favour.

South Korea storm into semi-finals by mauling Australia

South Korea assured themselves of a semi-final berth after comfortably beating Australia 63-25 in a Pool A contest of the Kabaddi World Cup here on Saturday.

It was South Korea's fourth successive win in the tournament which they achieved without their star player Jang Kun Lee. Despite his absence, the Koreans put up a commendable show with Cheol Gyu Shin bagging 11 points and Dong Gyu Kim scoring 10 points.

South Korea are now top of Group A with 20 points from four games while Australia are fifth in and out of the race to the semi-finals.

On Saturday, South Korea began with a bang and scored three points with a super raid by Shin. Australia suffered an all out in the fourth minute to trail 2-10. The Koreans kept mounting the pressure to lead 16-4 after nine minutes as Shin added another five points.

Trailing 6-18, Australia forced a super tackle in the 12th minute but Korea immediately bounced back to inflict the second all out of the match in the 14th minute to extend their lead to 23-9.

Kim scored with a two-point raid in the 15th minute as Korea led 26-10. For Australia, Thomas Sharp scored four raid points in the first half but that took them nowhere near their Asian rivals' scoreline which Kim increased to 30-14.

Korea began the second half in the same fashion to increase the lead to 33-16. Campbell scored with a super raid in the 25th minute as Australia trailed 19-33. In the next minute, Korea forced a super tackle to take the lead to 35-19.

Australia suffered another all out in the 34th minute as they trailed 23-47 before Korea scored eight points in a row to take it further to 53-25.

Jae Cheol Lee scored with a super raid in the 39th minute as Korea kept on increasing its lead to 58-25. The Koreans thereafter wrapped up the match with an easy victory margin of 38 points as the final scoreline read 63-25.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Bollywood celebrities have taken it to their social media platforms to express their excitement and shared their thoughts.

Taking to Twitter handle, senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher extended his best wishes to his legion of followers for the Ram Janmabhoomi Pujan.

While 'Masti' actor Riteish Deshmukh, on the micro-blogging site tweeted multiple hashtag 'Jai Shree Ram' to mark the historic day.

'Queen' actor, Kangana Ranaut's official Twitter handle team wrote: "What could not happen in 500 years happened this year.... this is not picture of the day but the moment of many centuries #JaiShreeRam #RamMandirAyodhya"

Actor Kirron Kher, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Ashok Pandit and others also marked the day and expressed their excitement.

Earlier, evergreen star Hema Malini, through an audio recording congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram on the occasion.

The Mathura MP expressed her excitement on the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the much-awaited Ram Temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the special Bhoomi Poojan at Ayodhya ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

He also released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya.

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News Network
June 6,2020

New Delhi, Jun 6: Former West Indies pacer Michael Holding has come out in support of MS Dhoni, saying that the wicket-keeper batsman indeed wanted to win the match against England in the 2019 World Cup.

India's performance in the World Cup match against England last year has once again become a matter of debate as all-rounder Ben Stokes in his book titled 'On Fire' questioned the intent of the Indian side.

Stokes also said that Dhoni's intent was questionable as he did not go for big shots when India still had a chance to win the match.

However, Holding said that nowadays people tend to write anything in their books.

"Well, people will write anything in books these days, because people are a lot more free with their opinions and when they are writing books, they need to be making headlines at times," Holding said on his official YouTube channel.

"But, to be honest, a lot of people watching that game perhaps wouldn't have arrived to the same conclusion that Ben Stokes arrived at that India were not trying to win," he added.

Holding did say that it seemed like that India did not have the same intensity as they would have had if the match was a do-or-die match.

"It was not the game that India had to win, but I don't think anyone can say that was a team tactic to lose the game. I watched that game and it appeared to me as if India weren't putting up their 100 per cent, but I realised it was not the case when the expression on MS Dhoni's face told me that he desperately wanted to win, so I do not think it was a team decision to not try to win," the former Windies pacer said.

"But I don't think they went with the same intensity of wanting to win the game, say, if it was a do-or-die situation. If it was, we would have seen a different game," he added.

On his official YouTube channel, Holding also said that no team goes in with a set pattern in terms of chasing targets.

In the round-robin stage match against England in Birmingham, India failed to chase down the massive target of 338 and fell short by 31 runs.

That was the only game that India lost in the premier tournament last year before the semifinal loss against the Kiwis.

India's chasing approach, in particular of wicket-keeper batsman Dhoni, was criticised by many, including the fans at home.

As soon as Stokes mentioned Dhoni's lack of intent in his book 'On Fire', Pakistan fans started saying that India deliberately lost the match to knock out their neighbours.

However, Stokes clarified that he never said India lost deliberately and some people were twisting his words.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and is one of the easiest guys to interact with.

Bravo was doing an Instagram live chat with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the all-rounder was asked to talk about his stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"I think a lot of credit for CSK's success has to be given to Dhoni and Fleming, obviously the owners, they trust both Fleming and Dhoni, so there is no outside interference when it comes to decision making, both are very big students of the game, players love MS and it's an environment and franchise that allows you to be you," Bravo told Mbangwa during the chat.

"MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and in our team. He was one of the easiest people to interact with, outside of the cricket field, he is like playing video games, his door is open at all times, whenever you talk about the biggest superstar and then you think a person like Dhoni is the most humble of them all. CSK is a special team and we have the most loyal fans," he added.

Bravo has been with the CSK since 2011. He has played a total of 104 matches for the franchise, picking up 121 wickets.

The all-rounder has also managed to win the Purple Cap (most wickets in IPL) two times (2013 and 2015).

CSK has won the IPL thrice (2010, 2011 and 2018) and all the titles have come under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.

This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He would have been leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29.

However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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