PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth carry India's hopes at Denmark Open

Agencies
October 17, 2017

Odense, Oct 17: Title-contenders P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth would look to put behind the disappointment of an early exit from Japan Open and make a positive start to their campaign at the $750,000 Denmark Open Super Series Premier, which begins here on Tuesday.

Rio Olympics and World Championship silver medallist Sindhu has been in rampaging form this season as she has already bagged two titles at the India Open and Korea Open respectively.

After a gruelling week at Seoul last month, she couldn't sustain the intensity and suffered a second-round defeat against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara - an opponent she had some fierce battles recently - at the Japan Open at Tokyo.

The second seeded Indian, however, will be fresh after a three-week training and would look to make amends when she opens her campaign against World No. 10 China's Chen Yufei, a rival she had beaten in the World Championship in August.

Chinese seventh seed He Bingjiao is likely to stand in Sindhu's way to the semi-finals. The left-handed Chinese has a 5-4 record against Sindhu even though the Indian had beaten her at Korea Open.

Slowly finding her foot back after battling her way through a career-threatening injury last year, Saina Nehwal will be looking for her first super series win in 16 months. She had won the Australia Open last year in June, 2016 before a knee injury derailed her Rio Olympics dream.

The World No. 12 bagged a bronze at the World Championship but she lost to Carolina Marin at the Japan Open in the second round and the Indian will be itching for a revenge when she faces the fifth seeded Spaniard in the opening round here.

The duo are locked 4-4 in head-to-head count but the last time Saina had beaten Marin was at the 2015 Dubai World Superseries Finals. The Indian has lost twice in straight games to Marin in the last two meetings and she would need a determined effort to get across the newly-crowned Japan Open champion.

In men's singles, Srikanth starts as hot favourite after his three back-to-back final appearances out of which he won two titles at Indonesia and Australia.

The World No. 8 had two creditable quarterfinal finishes at Glasgow World Championship and Japan Open and he would be looking for another title after he opens his campaign against a qualifier.

If Srikanth can cross the first two rounds, a familiar foe in World Champion and local favourite Viktor Axelsen might be waiting for him at the quarters.

Among other Indians in fray, B Sai Praneeth and H S Prannoy have showed that they are no pushovers after their good run this season.

While Praneeth clinched his maiden Super Series title at Singapore beating Srikanth in the final, Prannoy bagged the US Open Grand Prix Gold title besides creating a flutter after dumping heavyweights Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and China's Chen Long in Indonesia Open.

Prannoy and Praneeth will look to put their best foot forward when they face Denmark's Emil Holst and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus respectively in the opening round.

Sameer Verma, who won the Syed Modi Grad Prix Gold, will take on a qualifier and is expected to clash with Axelsen in the second round.

Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are also in the fray.

Women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will also look for a good outing, while Satwiksairaj and Ashwini, who reached the mixed doubles semifinals at Dutch Open Grand Prix last week, also will look to continue their good run.

Tomorrow, Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap, who reached the finals at US Open, will open his campaign against Denmark's Victor Svendsen, while Subhankar Dey faces another local shuttler Kim Bruun in men's singles qualifiers.

In women's singles, Anura Prabhudesai will lock horns with Denmark's Irina Amalie Andersen.

In mixed doubles, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy will face Ireland's Sam Magee and Chloe Magee in the main draw on Tuesday.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 30,2020

St John's, May 30: The Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Saturday announced a temporary 50 per cent reduction in salaries and cricket funding across the entire regional cricket system, effective from the start of July due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which resulted in the suspension of all the cricketing activities across the globe since March.

"This decision has been necessary in the face of debilitating economic challenges which have resulted from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no international cricket currently being played anywhere in the world, and with great uncertainty of when regular cricket activity will resume, CWI - like many other international sporting organisations worldwide - is facing a significant loss of income, whilst also being uncertain of the long-term impact of the crisis on our operations," the CWI said in a statement.

During Thursday's teleconference, CWI's Board of Directors received recommendations from the Financial Strategy Advisory Committee (FSAC). The FSAC was formed in April by CWI president Ricky Skerritt, to make recommendations on how CWI could best manage its resources in order to continue its core business over the next few months in view of the changing and uncertain economic environment created by the global pandemic COVID-19. These recommended measures followed close consultation with all stakeholders.

"Cricket is the beating heart of our region for many individuals, communities, and economies. This pandemic is hurting every West Indian and this decision to cut staff and player incomes has been a very difficult one to make; one that will impact so many members of the cricketing family around the Caribbean," Skerritt said.

"This business continuity plan, unfortunately, requires all stakeholders to make a huge sacrifice, but I am confident that it won't be long before CWI will be in a position to ensure that the sport we love can restart and be enjoyed once again by the thousands of cricket fans across the region and diaspora," he added.

CWI has kept staff, players, umpires and coaches on full-pay since the outbreak of COVID-19 and have tried our best to avoid any cuts for as long as possible. CWI hopes that these temporary measures will only be in place for not more than three to six months. These measures will also include a 50 per cent reduction in funding for Territorial Boards, Territorial Board Franchises and WIPA, as well as a 50 per cent cut in all retainers and allowances for Directors and Executive management.

Earlier in the day, CWI gave its approval for a 'bio-secure' Test tour to England.

West Indies were first slated to play three Tests against England in June, but the original starting date of the series was pushed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is looking to go ahead with the series against West Indies in July and then the Three Lions will play three Tests against Pakistan.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 28,2020

Columbo, Jan 28: The Sri Lanka Cricket Board on Monday announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Women`s T20 World Cup, slated to commence from February 21. The board also announced five standby players for the ensuing tournament.

The squad members are -- Chamari Atapattu (captain), Harshitha Madavi (vice captain), Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunaratne, Shashikala Siriwardene, Nilakshi De Silva, Ama Kanchana, Kavisha Dilhari, Udeshika Probodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Hasini Perera, Sathya Sandeepani, Umesha Thimashini, Sugandika Kumari, Dilani Manodara.

The standby players are -- Sachini Nisansala, Prasadani Weerakkody, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Tharika Sewwandi, Inoka Ranaweera.

Sri Lanka will take on New Zealand in their opening encounter on February 22.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.