Davis Cup: Korea trample India on day one

February 2, 2013

Ranjeet_Virali_MurugesanNew Delhi, Feb 2: Hope quickly gave way to uncertainty, and uncertainty to reality. India’s Davis Cup campaign, in the absence of its top players, got off to a miserable start with the home side trailing 0-2 against South Korea at the end of the opening day of Asia-Oceania Group ‘I’ tie at the RK Khanna Stadium here on Friday.

Ranjeet Virali Murugesan, the No.1 player for India in the tie, produced a below par performance during his 1-6, 0-6, 1-6 surrender to Min-Hyeok Cho before a cramping Vijayant Malik conceded the match when trailing 4-6, 5-7, 0-3 against Suk-Young Jeong.

Rankings matter little in Davis Cup and one hoped the two debutants would get the adrenaline rushing and raise their game. It had happened in the past but not today.

The drums, the noisy chants and even the fluttering national flags waved by Leander Paes and company at the sidelines could not inspire a change of fortunes. Not even Sania Mirza’ pressence in the stands. Firepower was missing and nerves got prominence.

Ranjeet, after leading 40-15 in the first game, slipped to drop his serve and could never revive his game. He was tight in his movements, struggled to put the ball in play and made a rash of errors. Cho easily wore him down in a few odd rallies with fluent hitting and whenever Ranjeet clambered to the net, he was treated to some rasping passing shots.

Bad struggle

In fact, Cho only grew better with each point, partly due to his Indian counterpart, whose game simply fell apart. So badly did Ranjeet struggle that he could hold his serve only once during the match.

The solitary blemish in the unranked Korean’s game was when he dropped his serve in the fourth game of the first set. But he swiftly recovered to reel off 12 games before Ranjeet held in the fourth game of the final set. It served momentary reprieve. Cho didn’t give away anything afterwards and closed the set and match with a forehand crosscourt winner, dropping only two points on the way.

It put curtains on a painful viewing and shifted focus on 22-year-old Vijayant, who now had the responsibility to put the home team on even keel.

He indeed showed promise with his power-packed strokes. The boy from Panipat fought for each point and stretched Jeong several times in the match. He served with purpose, fearlessly engaged in rallies but his forehand proved to be his undoing. He dropped his serve in the fifth game of the match following two forehand errors and Jeong, quick on feet and solid on serve, sprinted to take the lead.

Egged on, Vijayant carried his attacking game to the second set. A scorching backhand down the line gave him three breakpoints but he couldn’t convert any. Not even the fourth opportunity that came after the two deuces in the game before throwing it all away with a poor backhand.

He dropped his serve in the 11th game to lag 5-7 and immediately asked for a medical timeout. On return, the Korean comfortably served out the set and the match.

Vijayant got broken straightaway in the third set and in the third game fell to the ground grimacing after hitting a backhand return. His exit wrapped up a forgettable day for India, who would look up to their doubles exponent Paes and another debutant Purav Raja to get them their first point in the tie and another day to fight.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Atlanta, Jan 9: Top tennis stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams will be playing an exhibition match to raise funds for Australia's bushfire relief.

Apart from these three, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas have also confirmed their availability for the match, CNN reported.

The match will be played on January 15 at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena. The Australian Open Rally for Relief will be donating the proceedings from the ticket sales to the bushfire relief efforts.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova had also announced on Wednesday that she had left 10 signed pairs of her tennis shoes in her Brisbane hotel that members of the public could buy with a donation to the Australian Red Cross.

"Brisbane, I have signed ten pairs of my tennis shoes, left them at the @BrisbaneTennis
desk at the Westin Hotel, alongside a donation envelope for fire rescue efforts.They're yours to keep,we just ask you to donate AUD 300 a pair. All money going directly to Red Cross," Sharapova tweeted.

Earlier, former Australian spinner Shane Warne on Monday had announced to auction his Baggy Green cap to raise funds for victims of devastating bushfires in Australia.

Taking to Twitter, Warne made the announcement and posted a statement.

"The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief. The impact these devastating fires are having on so many people is unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too," Warne wrote.

"Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways to contribute and help on a daily basis. This has led me to auction my beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my Test career," he added.

Warne joined a growing list of cricketers to raise money for the bushfire victims. Australian players Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Short have already announced that they will donate AUD 250 each for every six they hit in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) to support bushfire victims.

Athletes from other sports too joined the movement as tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic decided to donate 25,000 dollars each for Australia's bushfire relief fund.

Wildfires have been raging across Australia for months, killing 23 people, burning about 6 million hectares (23,000 square miles) of bushland and killing a billion animals.

Naval and air rescue operations were launched on Friday as mass evacuations of towns at risk of being engulfed by flames got underway.b

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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News Network
April 14,2020

Melbourne, Apr 14: As all sporting action across the world has come to a halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australian bowlers are pondering as to how Indian skipper Virat Kohli might play in front of no spectators.

India and Australia are scheduled to play a four-match Test series later this year, and it is being speculated that the series might end up taking place without any crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Australian spinner Nathan Lyon on Tuesday said that it would be interesting to see how Kohli goes about it if he does not get a chance to get the audience behind him.

"He is probably good enough to adapt to any scenario. But I was talking to Mitch Starc the other day and we actually said that if we are playing with no crowd, it'll be quite amazing to see Virat trying to rev up the empty seats," cricket.com.au quoted Lyon as saying.

"It is going to be a little bit different, but Virat is a superstar. He will be able to adapt to any climate that we are able to play in," he added.
During the 2018-19 series, India managed to defeat Australia in Australia for the first time in a Test series.

Australia, at that time were without the services of David Warner and Steve Smith. However, the series later this year promises to be a mouth-watering prospect.

"I am excited about the prospect of India coming out to Australia, it's up there with the biggest series alongside the Ashes. They are an absolute powerhouse of the cricket world, and to have those guys out here is going to be fantastic. Playing in front of crowds or no crowds is out of our control, we have got to follow the advice of all the amazing medical people around the world," Lyon said.

"I have not thought about no crowds or massive crowds, it is just about the opportunity of playing against India again. They had the wood over us last time they came over here but we are a much stronger Australian cricket side at the moment, and I am just unbelievably excited about playing them here at home," he added.

Lyon was slated to represent Hampshire in County Championship this year, however, his stint was called off last week due to COVID-19.
He is Australia's third-highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game as he has total of 390 wickets in Test cricket.

Lyon was last seen in action in the Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers.

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