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Manavjit pips Olympic champion Diamond to clinch gold

April 12, 2014

New Delhi, Apr 12: India's Manavjit Singh Sandhu produced some excellent shooting to clinch the men's trap gold medal ahead of two-time Olympic champion Michael Diamond at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Tucson, USA.

Manavjit_pips_OlympicThe 37-year-old Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee shot scores of 121 and 13 in the qualification and finals, respectively, to finish on the podium with the yellow metal dangling around his neck.

It was some achievement by the former world number one Indian and world champion as he was up against Australia's Diamond, who had won the top prize in the 1996 Atlanta and Sydney Olympics in 2009, besides winning five gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.

Yesterday, Diamond shot 119 and nine in the qualifications and finals, respectively.

Manavjit scored 14 out of 15 targets in the semifinals. The Indian sharpshooter had last won at the World Cup stage four years ago.

The bronze medal went to Alexey Alipov of Russia who shot 121 and 12. Ireland's Derek Burnett, who topped the scoring in the qualifications with 123, failed to replicate his form in the semifinals where six shooters competed.

"We had some of the world's best shooters competing today. Winning the match against Michael Diamond has been definitely challenging but at the end you have to hit your own target, and the final score is what it is," Manavjit said after his win.

"I have prepared for this first World Cup throughout the winter season. We had several championships and trials in India in the last months. I never stopped shooting," the shooter, currently ranked 16th in the world, added.

One of the finest shotgun shooters in the country, Manavjit had last month clinched the Patiala Cup for the overall gross score in trap, double trap and skeet, at the Indian Shotgun Open here.

In the 2012 London Olympics, Manavjit finished 16th in the qualification round at the Royal Artillery Barracks and failed to enter the final of men's trap event.

But this win will warm him up nicely for the busy international calendar ahead, with the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Asian Games all lined up from July to September.

As many as 64 quota places for 2016 Rio Olympics will be up for grabs at the World Championships, scheduled to be held later this year in Grenada, Spain.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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Agencies
March 8,2020

Mumbai, Mar 8: Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to India's ODI squad as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the team for the upcoming South Africa series.

South Africa are scheduled to tour India for a three-match ODI series, starting from March 12.

India's ODI squad: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Virat Kohli (C ), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have already announced their squad for the series and spinner George Linde was given maiden ODI call-up.

South Africa squad: Quinton de Kock (c, wk), Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Faf du Plessis, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lungi Ngidi, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Anrich Nortje, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan.

The first ODI will be played in Dharamsala while the other two matches will be played in Lucknow and Kolkata on March 15 and 18, respectively.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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