PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth survive scare in All England Open Badminton Championships

Agencies
March 15, 2018

Birmingham, Mar 15: Star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth prevailed in tough first-round battles but Saina Nehwal exited from the prestigious All England Championship after suffering a straight-game defeat against World No. 1 and defending champion Tai Tzu-Ying here on Wednesday.

World No 3 Srikanth recovered from a lop-sided opening game to struggle past France's Brice Leverdez, ranked 23, 7-21 21-14 22-20, while Olympic and world championship silver medallist Sindhu staved off a stiff challenge from Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong to prevail 20-22 21-17 21-9 in a 56-minute contest.

Srikanth will square off against either China's Huang Yuxiang or England's Rajiv Ouseph, while Sindhu faces the winner of the match between USA's Beiwen Zhang and Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol.

Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth squandered an opening game advantage to go down 21-13 15-21 11-21 to fifth seed Korean Son Wan Ho.

Srikanth was no match for Leverdez in the first game as he failed to execute his strokes properly with most going wide and long. After a pep talk with coach Pullela Gopichand, Srikanth came back strongly in the second game.

He looked more aggressive and his approach earned him dividends as he forced the match into the decider after winning 21-14.

In the third game, Srikanth was comfortably placed at 11-6 but Leverdez made fantastic recovery to make it 12-12. The duo fought hard and moved neck and neck till 18-18. Leverdez then won a long rally to grab a 19-18 advantage but Srikanth drew parity.

The Frenchman held a match point but the Indian once again levelled par and grabbed a match point, before managing to convert it.

Sindhu, on the other hand, blew a 11-4 advantage in the opening game as Pornpawee fought back to catch up with the Indian at 14-14. She went to the 20-18 game point advantage before Sindhu clawed back but in the end it was the Thai shuttle who pocketed the game.

Jolted by the reversal, Sindhu surged to a 14-6 and 15-7 lead in the next two games and didn't lose control despite some spirited fight by Pornpawee.

Saina, who had reached the final in the 2015 edition, couldn't match up to the precision and athleticism of Tai Tzu and went down 14-21 18-21. It was Saina's eighth successive loss to the Taiwanese wizard in five years.

Among others, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 14-21 13-21 to second seed Japanese combo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi, while Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram went down 14-21 11-21 to fifth seed Japanese combo of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto 21-14 21-11 in women's doubles.

Men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also suffered a 20-22 12-21 loss against English combo of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langride to crash out.

After failing to keep pace with Tai Tzu in the opening game, the 27-year-old Indian blew a 16-11 advantage in the second game to bow out of the USD 1,000,000 world Super 1000 tournament.

Saina, who had lost to Tai Tzu in the final of the Indonesia Masters early this year, showed a lot of grit to keep herself in the rallies but the Taiwanese was simply phenomenal and displayed her mastery of strokes in the 38-minute clash to once again outwit the Indian.

Saina took some time to get in the groove as her first serve sailed over to the back of the court. Tai Tzu didn't waste time and jumped to a 3-1 lead before moving to a 6-2 advantage when the Indian failed to connect a low backhand return.

Tai Tzu committed a couple of unforced errors but Saina also made a judgement error on the sidelines and also couldn't reach for a return at the forecourt as the Taiwanese lead 9-4.

The Indian, however, grabbed three consecutive points after Tai Tzu erred with a cross court flick and netted the smash. Saina managed to level 10-10 with a precise cross court return from the back of the court but

Tai Tzu went into the break with a slender one- point lead.

The duo moved together till 14-14 after the breather before Tai Tzu showed her repertoire of shots even as Saina struggled with her control. Once she again went wide on a return on serve, Tai Tzu had six game points and she grabbed it with another accurate return on the Indian's back hand.

In the second game, Saina showed better control as she opened up a 3-1 lead and soon made it 10-7 with Tai suffering a mid-game slump with unforced errors. Saina then unleashed a brutal smash to enter the break with three point advantage.

With the Taiwanese sending the shuttle to the net on four occasions on the trot, Saina managed to lead 16-11. But Tai Tzu once again fought back, riding on her accurate stroke play as she made the Indian run across the court with her acute angled returns.

Saina also found the net and sent one long as Tai Tzu narrowed the gap to 15-16 before drawing parity at 17-17 with another razor-sharp cross court return from the back court.

A brilliant block on the move and then a tight net play took the Taiwanese to 20-18 and she shut the door on the Indian after Saina went long again.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Dubai, Jan 15: India skipper and batting mainstay Virat Kohli was on Wednesday named captain of the International Cricket Council's ODI and Test teams of the year, capping off a memorable season for the world No.1.

Apart from Kohli, there were four other Indians who were picked in the ICC's Test and ODI Teams of the Year.

While the Test team featured double-centurion Mayank Agarwal, opener Rohit Sharma, speedster Mohammed Shami and left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav found a place in the ODI side.

Kohli enjoyed a tremendous run in both the formats in 2019. The 31-year-old hit his seventh Test double hundred on the way to a career-best unbeaten 254 against South Africa in October last year.

It was a breakthrough year for opener Agarwal, who smashed two double tons, one century and went beyond the fifty-run mark twice. He hit a career-best score of 243 against Bangladesh in November.

Kuldeep, too, enjoyed a memorable year as he joined the golden list of bowlers with two hat-tricks. The chinaman claimed his second ODI hat-trick of his career against the West Indies last month.

In the absence of Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Shami rose to the occasion making the best in the business hop, skip and jump with his pace, swing and bounce through the season. He scalped 42 wickets in 21 ODIs over the last 12 months.

The ICC's Teams of the Year 2019:

ODI Team of the Year (in batting order): Rohit Sharma, Shai Hope, Virat Kohli (captain), Babar Azam, Kane Williamson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav

Test Team of the Year (in batting order): Mayank Agarwal, Tom Latham, Marnus Labuschagne, Virat Kohli (captain), Steve Smith, Ben Stokes, BJ Watling (wicketkeeper), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Neil Wagner, Nathan Lyon.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Srinagar, Jan 10: Real Kashmir FC made a strong comeback in the second half to play out a 1-1 draw against former champions Punjab FC in their home I-League match here on Friday.

The 'Snow Leopards' equalised in the 62nd minute through Gnohere Krizo in front of a partisan crowd of 8,500 spectators after Makan Chothe had given Punjab FC the lead in the 21st minute at the TRC ground.

After Thursday's draw, Punjab FC is placed third on the table with 10 points from seven games. Real Kashmir FC remained at eighth with six points from five matches. This was Real Kashmir's third home match on the trot.

The match was a story of two halves as the first belonged to the visitors who enjoyed a 62 per cent possession of the ball, whereas the second belonged to the home side.

Both the teams were looking to gain an early advantage and Punjab FC took the lead after 21 minutes.

Confusion inside the Real Kashmir box because of a long ball from Punjab opened up an opportunity for Chothe and he made no mistake as he smashed the ball at the back of the net.

As the fans cheered on, Real Kashmir created a flurry of chances, but none of the home side players could find the back of the net. Punjab was able to hold on to their slender lead heading into the tunnel.

The second half resumed with Real Kashmir pressing high up the field and pressurising Punjab.

In the 56th minute, Real Kashmir playmaker Kallum Higginbotham cut through two defenders on the left side of the box and the ball fell to Mason Robertson, whose shot was too weak to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper.

Soon after, it was Danish Farooq who tried a curler from a distance but his shot did not have enough bend to trouble the Punjab goalkeeper. The home team's effort finally paid off in the 62nd minute.

A miscalculated header by Danilo Augusto fell at the feet of Gnohere Krizo, who was one-on-one with the keeper. He made no mistake in striking the ball into the opponent's goal to score the equaliser.

Real Kashmir was in their groove now, and Kallum came in from the right with a beautiful low cross across the face of the goal but Mason could not get a touch as the chance went begging.

The duo of Kallum and Mason were proving difficult for Punjab to deal with. In the 82nd minute, a beautiful long ball by Kallum found the head of a towering Mason, but the effort went just over the crossbar.

Within a few moments, Punjab again had another nervous moment as Chesterpoul Lyngdoh's cross from the right side hit the arm of Thoiba Singh but the referee turned down an appeal for penalty.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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