New Delhi, Mar 14: London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal regained her second place while Parupalli Kashyap continued his upward progress, earning two places to reach the seventh spot in the latest badminton world ranking today.
Saina had lost a position to slip to the third spot last week but after a semifinal finish at the All England Championship, the Indian regained her place in the world ranking.
Mumbai, Jan 26: Boxing great Mary Kom has been selected for the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award. Olympic silver medallist and reigning badminton World Champion PV Sindhu has been named for Padma Bhushan as the names of Padma awardees were disclosed on Saturday on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.
Rated as one of the most successful amateur boxers of all time, Mary Kom won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and has won gold at the boxing World Championships for a record six times. She has won a total of eight medals at the World Championships, the most recent of which came in October 2019 in Ulan Ude, Russia. The 36-year-old is now looking to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sindhu became the only Indian woman to win an Olympic silver when she reached the final of the women's singles event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi. In August last year, the 24-year-old became the first Indian to win gold at the badminton World Championships.
She has also won two silver and two bronze medals at the World's in the past, thus making her only the second woman after Chinese two-time Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning to win five medals in the competition.
Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, who has been the face of women's hockey in the country and played a pivotal role in the team qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is among those who have been nominated for the Padma Shri award.
Women's football stalwart Oinam Bembem Devi, former cricketer Zaheer Khan, shooter Jitu Rai, former hockey captain and coach M.P. Ganesh and archer Tarundeep Rai are the other sportspersons to be selected for the Padma Shri award.
Islamabad, Jun 23: Seven more Pakistan cricketers, including Muhammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, selected for the tour of England have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total to 10, the PCB revealed on Tuesday.
The seven who tested positive on Tuesday are Kashif Bhatti, Muhammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Hafeez and Riaz. Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf had returned positive tests on Monday.
“It is not a great situation to be in and what it shows is these are 10 fit and young athletes...if it can happen to players it can happen to anyone,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO, Wasim Khan told a media conference.
He said a support staff member, masseur Malang Ali, had also tested positive for COVID-19.
Khan said that the players and officials would now assemble in Lahore and another round of tests would be carried out on June 25 and a revised squad would be announced the next day.
The squad has to leave on June 28 for the series scheduled to be held next month, he said.
“It is a matter of concern but we shouldn’t panic at this time as we have time on our hands,” Khan said.
He said the players and officials would be retested on reaching England.
Mumbai, Apr 27: The pressure to replace iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps was "immense" due to high expectations from fans says K L Rahul, who has been doing the wicket-keeping duty for India in the limited overs format for some time now.
Dhoni quit Test cricket in 2014 and has not played for India in the limited overs format since last year's ODI World Cup in England.
Rahul kept the wickets in the limited overs series against Australia in January this year and also during the team's tour to New Zealand.
"I was nervous when I was doing it for India because of the crowd pressure. If you fumble, people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni. The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved people accepting someone else behind the stumps," Rahul told Star Sports on its show 'Cricket Connected'.
Rahul, who has played 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is, said keeping the wickets is not alien to him since he dons the gloves during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also when he plays for his Ranji side Karnataka.
"People who follow cricket know that I haven't been away from wicket-keeping for too long as I donned the gloves in the IPL and every time I played for Karnataka," the 28-year-old said.
"I am always in touch with wicket-keeping but am also somebody who is more than willing to take up the role if the team needs me to," he stressed.
Dhoni's career is a matter of intense speculation. Many former players feel that it won't be easy for Dhoni to make it to the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia.
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