Saina Nehwal thanks God and fans for Denmark Open victory

October 22, 2012

saina

Denmark, October 22: Olympic bronze-medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal fought through a troubling knee to clinch her fourth title of the year by lifting the Denmark Open Super Series Premier trophy with a dominating win in the final on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Saina, who was competing in her first tournament after the London Games, won 21-17 21-8 in 35 minutes to notch up her second Super Series Premier title which fetched her USD 30,000 from a total purse of USD 400,000.

"I thank Denmark and the Indian fans here for supporting me. I never expected to win this tournament," an elated Saina said after the win which took her overall lead against Schenk to 6-3.

The match began a few minutes past the scheduled time as a false fire alarm went off at the venue. Both players waited at their respective ends of the court with Schenk seemingly restless, even as the Indian stood next to the umpire with a confident smile on her face.

Playing in her fourth final of the year, Saina made a resounding start reeling off four straight points with a mix of her trademark cross-court smashes to which Schenk had no response.

"There were a lot of things which I did after Olympics which made me fresh but every tournament is tough. My right knee was not really in perfect shape but I thank God for giving me the energy to win the title," said Saina who had beaten world number one Yihan Wang in the semifinals.

Saina was ahead 8-2 just three minutes into the match, which included five smash winners. But Schenk clawed her way back to make it 9-9 with Saina being guilty of being a shade slow in her returns. Schenk's ploy was to draw Saina close to the net to neutralise her trademark power-game and it worked as the German grabbed a 10-9 lead.

The third seeded Indian, however, relied on her fine baseline game to be 15-12 ahead. She also began to outfox Schenk at the net.To her credit, the world number seven Schenk, seeded sixth in the tournament, showed a lot of commitment in retrieving whatever Saina threw at her in the engaging rallies.

The gap was not too huge between the two players but Saina took the early advantage as her ninth smash winner fetched her the opening game in 19 minutes.

In the second game, fortunes fluctuated as Schenk also improved her baseline game. Saina was still ahead 11-7 at the break but was guilty of committing quite a few errors.

But the Indian got her act together after wiping off the sweat and even though Schenk tested her in rallies with her fighting spirit. The German was, in fact, left exasperated as she struggled to get a grip of the pace of the game.

Leading 20-8, Saina won it rather easy as Schenk did not even return the Indian's serve on the championship point. The victory was sweet revenge for Saina who had lost in straight games to Schenk last year.

The triumph marked another high for the Indian shuttle queen who had successfully defended her Swiss Open title by defeating world number two Wang Shixian of China a day after she turned 22 in March.

In June, Saina lifted the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold title before winning the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier by defeating world number three Li Xuerui of China. It was her third Indonesia Open title.


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Agencies
February 12,2020

Mumbai, Feb 12: Former Indian greats Kapil Dev and Mohammad Azharuddin have been left disappointed by the behaviour of the Under-19 team after the World Cup final where they were involved in an altercation with their Bangladeshi counterparts.

After Bangladesh won the final beating India by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field.

"I would like to see the board (BCCI) take some strict action against the players to set an example. Cricket is not about abusing the opponent. I am sure there is enough reason for these youngsters to be dealt with firmly by BCCI," Kapil was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

"I welcome aggression, nothing wrong in it. But it has to be controlled aggression. You can't cross the line of decency in the name of being competitive. I would say it was unacceptable that youngsters put up such an obnoxious display on the cricket field," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh -- Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan --and two from India --Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi for the scuffle.

Azharuddin also reiterated what Kapil said, insisting that players need to be disciplined.

"I would take action against the errant Under 19 players, but I also want to know what role has the support staff played in educating these youngsters. Act now before it is too late. The players have to be disciplined," Azharuddin said.

Earlier, Bishan Singh Bedi has lashed out at the Priyam Garg-led team, saying their behaviour was disgusting and disgraceful.

"You bat, bowl and field badly�happens, but there's no excuse for behaving badly. The behaviour was disgusting and most disgraceful. The innocence of that age was not visible at all," Bedi told Mid Day.

Bedi, who represented India in 67 Tests and 10 ODIs, said the behaviour of the Bangladesh cricketers is not our problem.

"Look, what Bangladesh do is their problem, what our boys do is our problem. You could see that there was abusive language used," he said.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: Chennai Super Kings have rejected the idea of an IPL with only Indian players in the near future, differing with Rajasthan Royals, the franchise which is keen on the option given the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IPL, which is indefinitely postponed, can be held in the September-October window if the scheduled T20 World Cup in Australia doesn't take place.

"CSK is not keen to do an IPL with only Indian players. That way it would be playing another Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (domestic T20 competition). The franchise has not been in touch with the BCCI of late as the situation is worsening," a CSK source said on conditions of anonymity.

"Let's hope we can have the IPL later this year," he added.

CSK are three-time IPL champions, making them the second most successful team in the event's history after Mumbai Indians, who have won the tournament four times.

The BCCI is also very keen to stage the IPL and if it doesn't happen, the world's richest board would be in financial trouble like Cricket Australia.

"The board will take a revenue hit of Rs 4000 crore if it doesn't happen. The board will be in a big problem," BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal said earlier this week.

With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in India, the board and IPL team officials see little point in discussing when the event can be held.

"There has been no discussion with the BCCI ever since it postponed the IPL. There is no point in discussing also as things are unlikely to be okay anytime soon," the CSK source said.

"We expect the BCCI to take the best possible decision when the time comes," he added.

For the IPL to happen with foreign players, travel restrictions, which are currently in place, will have to be eased.

There is an option of conducting the IPL outside India and Sri Lanka Cricket has even offered to host the biggest T20 league in the world.

M S Dhoni was expected to make a much-awaited comeback with the IPL but that too has been postponed indefinitely.

Teammates like Suresh Raina and Piyush Chawla have already spoken about how eager Dhoni was to return.

According to them, Dhoni had the determination of a youngster before the league was suspended due to the lockdown imposed to contain the pandemic.

"Dhoni is his own man but I see him playing the IPL for at least two three years. When it comes to playing for India, only he knows best," the source added.

Last month, Rajasthan Royals executive chairman Ranjit Barthakur had said the franchise was open to a shortened IPL with only Indian players.

"Earlier we could not think of an Indians-only IPL but now there is enough quality to choose from. It is better to have an Indians-only IPL than not have it at all," he had told news agency.

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