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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News Network
July 2,2020

Jul 2: Cricket Australia has decided to not use the Dukes ball from this summer's Sheffield Shield, having used it alongside Kookaburra for four seasons.

CA has confirmed that the Kookaburra ball will be used for the entire 2020-21 first-class season.

Australia has been using Dukes ball since the 2016-17 season in Shield matches with an aim to help its cricketers prepare for the hostile English conditions.

CA's Head of Cricket Operations, Peter Roach, said the decision to axe the Dukes was the right call. "The introduction of the Dukes ball has been a worthwhile exercise, particularly in the lead up to overseas Ashes series where the Dukes is used so well by our English opponents," Roach said.

"We have been happy with how the ball has performed when used in Australian conditions over the past four seasons. We do, however, feel that reverting to one ball for 2020-21 will provide the consistent examination of our players over a full season that CA and the states are presently seeking. The Kookaburra is the ball used for international cricket in Australia and many parts of the world and we see benefits this season of maximising our use of it," he added.

Roach said the ineffectiveness of spinners in first-class cricket in recent times played a role in CA's decision to do away with the Dukes. "We have noted that spin bowlers in the Sheffield Shield have been playing less of a role in recent seasons, most notably in games when the Dukes ball is in use. We need spinners bowling in first-class cricket and we need our batters facing spin. We hope that the change to one ball will have a positive benefit here," he said.

The CA official, however, didn't rule out the possibility of re-introducing it later.

"We see a definite opportunity to reintroduce the Dukes ball at some stage in the future."

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News Network
March 29,2020

Sydney, Mar 29: Steve Smith's two-year leadership ban ended quietly Sunday, leaving him eligible again to captain Australia at a time of uncertainty over when international cricket will resume.

Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years over his involvement in the 2018 ball tampering scandal in South Africa. His sentence ended Sunday and he can again captain Australia if called upon.

Australian players were due this week to conclude a series of matches in New Zealand and, for some, to join the Indian Premier League. But it wasn't clear Sunday if the IPL will take place this year and when international matches will resume. Australia's scheduled mid-year tours to England and Bangladesh are in doubt.

Smith told Channel Nine television's Sports Sunday he is doing his best to stay mentally and physically fit, training in his home gym, going on 10 kilometer (6 mile) runs and practising the guitar.

"It's obviously not looking likely (the IPL will go ahead) at the moment," Smith said. "I think there might be some meetings over the next few days to discuss what the go is with it all.

"I'm just trying to stay physically and mentally fit and fresh and, if it goes ahead at some point, then great. And if not, there's plenty going on in the world at the moment. So just play it day by day."

It seems unlikely Smith will return to the captaincy when cricket resumes. Tim Paine is firmly established as Australia's test captain and at 35 is not immediately considering retirement. Aaron Finch has captained Australia successfully in white ball cricket.

The conclusion of Smith's ban ends the period of upheaval in Australian cricket that followed the ball tampering incident in the second test at Cape Town in 2018 when Cameron Bancroft, with the knowledge of Smith and his vice-captain David Warner, used sandpaper to change the condition of the ball.

Smith and Warner received one-year bans from international and most domestic cricket and Bancroft was banned for nine months. The scandal also resulted in the resignation of coach Darren Lehmann and the departure of Cricket Australia's chief executive, James Sutherland.

Warner remains under a career-long leadership ban.

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News Network
April 5,2020

New Delhi, April 5: England batsman James Vince lashed out at people for not taking proper measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and said people are going out as if "everything is normal".

"Just seen the pictures of people out and about today as if everything is normal. What selfish people, surely by now they've realised this is serious. Well done to everyone who's doing their bit and staying in," Vince tweeted.

On March 13, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe was now the 'epicentre' of the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in the UK has exceeded 4,313 with at least 708 new deaths in the last 24 hours, the largest one-day rise since the start of the outbreak as confirmed by the Department of Health and Social Care.

The total number of cases in the UK as on Saturday is 41,903, a rise of 3,735 cases in the last 24 hours.

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