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New Zealand media shower praise on McCullum

February 19, 2014

McCullum_copyWellington, Feb 19: New Zealand media on Wednesday showered praise on triple centurion Brendon McCullum, describing him as "Captain Fantastic" and his epic 302-run innings as their "greatest innings".

McCullum yesterday became the first New Zealand batsman to score a triple century as the skipper helped his team to force a draw in the second Test and complete a 1-0 series win against India in the two-match rubber.

"Innings of a lifetime" and "History maker" was how Dominion Post hailed McCullum. "Our greatest innings," announced the New Zealand Herald`s front page, which also had a picture of McCullum with his arms reaching to the sky after his mamoth 302-run innings in the second innings at Basin Reserve.

"No wonder he looked so shattered," the Dominion Post said, adding that the tattooed 32-year-old had earned a place alongside the legends of New Zealand cricket. Describing the euphoria around McCullum`s epic innings, the paper read: "The queues snaked on to Kent Terrace with fans buying half-price tickets and awaiting history with expectant eyes like children on Christmas morning. Not since Richard Hadlee`s 300th test wicket in 1986 had there been scenes like it."

New Zealand coach Mike Hesson was also in awe of the `exceptional` innings of McCullum.

The New Zealand media also heaped praise on debutante allrounder Jimmy Neesham, who scored an unbeaten 137, the highest score by a No 8 batsman in his first test, with headlines reading "Jimmy Neesham in dreamland" and "Neesham makes own history on debut".

Besides individual praises, New Zealand cricket team also received accolades for their dominating performances throughout the bilateral series, where they won 4-0 in the five ODIs before beating India in the two-test series 1-0.

"Yesterday stopped a nation to a degree. A lot of people took great deal of satisfaction out of it. As a New Zealander, not only as coach, it was a pretty special moment," Hesson said.

"It defined the way we want to play our cricket."

"It`s been a heck of a summer," Hesson told commercial radio. "We`ve got some nice players around New Zealand at the moment and it`s a matter of picking the right time to introduce them." Hesson said the kiwi fans are supporting the team because of their positive attitude and fighting spirit.

"(I said) the New Zealand public are behind you guys because of the way you`re playing your cricket -- you`re showing the fighting characteristics that, as New Zealanders, we love to see," he said.

"But we know as a group that we`ve just turned a corner and we have to get better and better."

New Zealand will be co-hosting next year`s 50 over World Cup along with Australia and their Cricket board member Martin Snedden said their performance will provide a huge boost to the game ahead of the sporting extravaganza.

"We needed the home team to be firing to make sure people`s enthusiasm was at the right levels and the team has responded brilliantly," said Snedden. "So it`s all good news for cricket in New Zealand at the moment."

Related: McCullum hits historic triple ton

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
January 29,2020

New Delhi, Jan 29: Badminton champion Saina Nehwal joined the ruling BJP today and is likely to campaign for the party ahead of the February 8 Delhi election.

"I have won medals for the country. I am a very hardworking and I love hardworking persons. I can see Prime Minister Narendra Modi does so much for the country, I want to do something for the country with him," the shuttler said, wearing the BJP scarf.

"I draw a lot of inspiration from Narendra sir".

Haryana-born Saina Nehwal, 29, is a major acquisition for the party in the middle of the Delhi poll campaign; she is one of the most popular sportspersons in India with a huge fan following and brand value. She is preparing for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

A former world number 1, she has been honoured with the country's top sporting awards like the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award. She was also awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2016.

The Badminton player has won over 24 international titles. In the London Olympics, she won a bronze. She was world number two in 2009 and number one in 2015.

With her tweets praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saina Nehwal was widely seen to lean towards the BJP.

One of her tweets became controversial when it was found to be identical to several others in praise of a PM Modi speech last year. Saina was trolled on Twitter with screenshots of the identical tweets. She was also among the sportswomen who put up identical tweets on Diwali thanking PM Modi for his initiative to empower women, with the hashtag #bharatkilaxmi.

The BJP roped in many famous personalities last year, including cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who was elected MP from Delhi in the national election, and wrestler Babita Phogat. Just before the Haryana assembly polls, the party roped in wrestler Sushil Kumar, Babita Phogat and former Hockey team captain Sandeep Singh. Sandeep Singh won the election and was appointed minister.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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