Sania-Bethanie hold nerve to wear Dubai crown

February 24, 2013

Sania-Bethanie_hold

Dubai, Feb 24: India’s Sania Mirza clinched her second doubles title of the season after she combined with partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands to defeat Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik in the title clash of the Dubai Championships here on Saturday.

The unseeded Indo-American duo prevailed over the Russian-Slovenia combo 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 in a tightly-contested final of the $ 2,000,000 hard court event.

After winning the first set rather comfortably, the eventual winners were made to struggle as Petrova and Srebotnik fought back strongly to take the second set.

Sania and Bethanie, however, sealed the issue in their favour by winning the crucial third set.

The two players had won the Brisbane International last month to make a superb start to the 2013 season.

This was Sania’s 16th championships wins in doubles, and she also has one singles title win.

Tsonga wins thriller

World No 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saved five match points in a breathtaking third set tie-break to edge out Australian Bernard Tomic on Friday and qualify for the Marseille Open semifinals.

The third-seeded Frenchman, who lost the first set, eventually grabbed the tie-break 12-10 to seal a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory after two hours five minutes.

Tsonga will face Gilles Simon in the semifinal after his compatriot upset title holder Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 6-3. Top seed Tomas Berdych had to work harder to move past seventh-seeded Jerzy Janowicz, who made a name for himself when he reached the Paris Masters final in November after entering the main draw from the qualifiers.

Berdych will meet 119th-ranked Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6, 1-6, 7-5.

Cilic crashes out

Top seed Croatian Marin Cilic was swept out of the Memphis International tennis tournament, falling 6-4, 6-2 to Japan's Kei Nishikori on Friday.

Repeat finalist Marina Erakovic of New Zealand will face Germany's Sabine Lisicki for the women's title.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has donated an undisclosed amount to financially help 4,000 underprivileged people, including children from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tendulkar made the donation to the Hi5 Foundation, a non-profit organisation based out of Mumbai.

“Best wishes to team Hi5 for your efforts in supporting families of daily wage earners,” Tendulkar tweeted.

The organisation, through a tweet, thanked Tendulkar for doing his bit for the needy.

“Thanks @sachin_rt for proving once again that #sports encourages compassion! Your generous donation towards our #COVID19 fund enables us to financially aid 4000 underprivileged people, including children from @mybmc schools. Our budding sportspersons thank you, Little Master!”

The legendary batsman had earlier contributed Rs 25 lakh each to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the country’s fight against COVID-19. Tendulkar had earlier pledged to bear the cost of feeding 5,000 people for a month in a couple of areas in Mumbai.

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Agencies
March 14,2020

Sydney, Mar 14: New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson has been placed under 24-hour isolation amid the fears of coronavirus after he reported a sore throat following the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series against Australia in Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) which the hosts won by 71 runs.

"In accordance with recommended health protocols, Lockie Ferguson has been placed in isolation at the team hotel for the next 24 hours after reporting a sore throat at the end of the first ODI," said New Zealand Cricket in a statement.

"Once the test results are received and diagnosed, his return to the team can be determined," it added.

The first ODI of the Chappell-Hadlee series was played in front of empty stands as the spectators were not allowed to be at SCG as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier, Australian fast bowler, Kane Richardson was also tested for the coronavirus, after suffering from a sore throat on Thursday. That saw him left out of the squad for Friday's game but the test was negative.

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Vinesh Phogat yet again fell to Japanese nemesis Mayu Muakida to go out of the gold medal race but Sakshi Malik will fight for the title after winning her semifinal bout at the Asian Wrestling Championship, here on Friday.

Vinesh had lost twice to Mukaida in 2019 – at World Championship and Asian Championships —and the trend continued as the gritty Indian yet again struggled to break the strong defence of the Japanese.

In a tough opening round, Vinesh tried single leg attacks a number of times but every time Mukaida blocked her move and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite.

In her last two meetings, Vinesh had not scored a single point against the 2019 world silver medallist. She managed a takedown this time before eventually losing 2-6.

The hard-working Vinesh will now fight for bronze against Vietnam's Thi Ly Kieu but even a medal won't suffice to lift her mood as she and the fans have high expectations from her.

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who has been struggling of late, lost her opening round 1-2 to Naomi Ruike from Japan but later overcame two weak opponents to eventually reach the final of the non-Olympic 65kg category.

She could hardly attack Naomi but outplayed Korea's Ohyoung Ha in the next round, winning by technical superiority.

In her semifinal against Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva, Sakshi led 5-0 but her rival pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4.

Sakshi has been losing in closing stages of late but this time she managed to hold on to her narrow lead, surviving anxious last two seconds.

Also in medal contention are India's brightest youngsters Sonam Malik (62kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg).

Sonam, who had defeated Sakshi in the trials, showed good tactical mind in her resounding win against Korea's Hanbit Lee and also in the 2-5 defeat against world bronze medallist Yukako Kawai.

She pulled off a superb point-scoring move from a disadvantageous position and resisted the 2018 U-23 world champion Yukako in a good fashion.

She will now fight for bronze against Aisuluu Tynbekova.

Anshu Malik opened up her campaign against Kyrgyzstan's Nuraida Anarkulova, winning by technical superiority but was outplayed by reigning world champion from Japan Riskao Kawai.

She will have to beat Sevara Eshmuratova from Uzbekistan to grab a bronze.

In the non-olympic 72kg, Gursharanpreet Kaur is in bronze medal contention. She beat Uzbekistan's Svetlana Oknazarova but lost to Kazakhstan's Zhamila Bakberzenova.

She still made it to the semifinal in which she lost to Japan's Mei Shindo.

She is now up against Mongloia's Tsevegmed Enkhbayar.

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