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Vikas Gowda clinches India's first gold at Asian Athletics Championships

July 5, 2013

Vikas_GowdaPune, Jul 5: Vikas Gowda's towering personality can be very intimidating at times but the Indian discus thrower has been a calm and composed figure. All that yielded rich dividends on Thursday as Gowda opened India's gold account with an authoritative performance at the Asian Athletics Championships.

India also won a silver medal through M.R. Poovamma in the women's 400m while Ratiram Saini clinched bronze in the men's 10,000m run.

Gowda was second behind Mohammad Samimi of Iran till the third attempt but the Indian's fourth throw almost touched his personal best and secured a gold medal for him.

The US-based Indian changed his shoes for the fourth attempt and cleared 64.90m as none could challenge his imposing feat. "It's a good result. All my hard work seems to be paying off well. It is not often that you come close to your personal best in a major event and somehow it happened for me. I almost touched 65m," said Gowda, whose personal best is 66.28m.

Samimi, whose best was 61.93m, bagged silver, while Mohammad Ahmed of Qatar (60.28m) won bronze.

It was only in 2011 after a series of dope incidents that M.R. Poovamma got a chance to make it to India's 400m squad and on Thursday, the Bangalore girl grabbed the opportunity with both her hands.

The 23-year-old quarter-miler looked at ease in the semi-finals on Wednesday but Chinese Yanmin Zhao dominated the proceedings on Thursday, recording her personal best with 52.49sec.

Poovamma, who was also watched by Ashwini Akkunji from the stands, clocked 53.37sec, which was less than her personal best of 52.75sec. The bronze went to Lebanese Gretta Taslakian (53.43sec), while India's Anu Mariam Jose finished a close fourth in 53.49sec.

"At the Asian Grand Prix, the competition is not as tough as it is here. I can proudly say that I have won an Asian Championship silver," said Poovamma.

"In the men's 10,000m, Ratiram bagged India's fifth medal of the event to add to Mayookha Johny and Om Prakash's bronze medals on Wednesday. The men's 10,000m was dominated by Bahrain with a 1-2 finish.

Alemu Bekele Gebre (28:47.26min) won the gold while Bilisuma Shugi Gelas followed him to the finish line in 28:58.67min.

"I am happy but I think I could have done even better because towards the end, I allowed them (gold and silver medallist) to go ahead," said Ratiram, who clocked 29:35.42min.

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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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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: India skipper Virat Kohli on Friday made a heartfelt appeal to the citizens of the country, asking them to follow social distancing as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.
He also went on to say that over the past few days, he has seen some people still taking to the streets, and added that if people still continue to venture out, then they are not being honest with the country.
Kohli released a small video clip on Twitter, making the public appeal and captioned the post as: "Please wake up to the reality and seriousness of the situation and take responsibility. The nation needs our support and honesty"
"Today, I am talking to you as a citizen of the country. Whatever I have seen over the past few days, I have seen people not following the lockdown, it has made me feel that some people are taking the battle against COVID-19 very lightly. I request you all to please follow social distancing, whatever the government is asking you to do, please follow it," Kohli said in the video released on Twitter.
"Think about what can happen to your family members because of your negligence. Our medical experts are fighting this battle day in and day out. If you are still going out to the streets, then I don't think you are being honest to your country," he added.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to impose a 21-day lockdown in the country as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases have risen to 724 in India (including 640 active cases, 66 cured or discharged people) and 17 deaths.
The World Health Organisation had termed the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on March 11. 

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