PV Sindhu loses epic final, settles for silver at World Championship

Agencies
August 28, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 28: PV Sindhu's gallant effort to become India's first ever World Badminton Champion ended in a heart-wrenching defeat against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final, here yesterday.

In the longest match of the tournament, which tested the physical and mental strength of both the players, Sindhu lost 19-21 22-20 20-22 after battling hard for one hour and 49 minutes.

Their bodies were falling apart as the match progressed but both Sindhu and Okuhara used every ounce of energy left in them to make it an epic contest of World Badminton Championship.

After closing the second game by winning an incredible 73-shot rally, Sindhu saved one championship point in the decider but it was the Rio Olympic bronze medallist who had the last laugh. For India, it still is a historic edition since for the first time country's shuttler are returning with two medals.

Saina Nehwal won a bronze yesterday after losing her semifinal. Sindhu, who had won bronze twice in the 2013 and 2014 editions, thus became only the second Indian to win a silver medal after Saina Nehwal had achieved the feat in the last edition at Jakarta in 2015.

India had one silver and four bronze in the World Championships before this edition. Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a medal when he took a bronze in the men's singles in 1983 before the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bagged another bronze in 2011.

Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu came into the match with a 3-all head-to-head record against Okuhara. But the Indian had an upper hand in their last two meetings -- Rio Olympics and 2017 Singapore Open. Sindhu, seeded fourth, was a little sluggish to start with and was 3-5 at one point but she managed to reel off eight points on the trot to grab an 11-5 lead at the break.

The Indian used her height to good use, retrieving the shuttles quickly and started using her cross court returns to trouble the Japanese. Sindhu showed good anticipation and used deception well to move to a 13-8 lead but the pint-sized Japanese changed gears and started dictating the rallies. She first clawed back to 14-14 when Sindhu faltered with her return serve before grabbing the lead.

Okuhara continued to move ahead, reaching 18-14 after winning 10 of the 13 points after the interval. However, the Japanese committed a few unforced errors, which helped Sindhu to level par at 19-19. Sindhu, then sent one to the net to hand over the game point to Okuhara, who pocketed the opening game when the Indian hit long.

After the change of side, Okuhara struggled to control her lifts and also miscued a few shots as Sindhu led 5-1 when her rival's smash found the net. Sindhu made some sound judgements at the baseline and tried to be patient on the court to extend the lead to 9-3.

However, Sindhu failed to reach for a low forehand return at forecourt and sent the shuttle wide thrice as Okuhara reached 7-9 before unleashing a down the line smash. A net error stopped Okuhara's run as Sindhu eventually held a 11-8 lead at the interval when her rival again went wide.

At 15-13, another exceptional rally unfolded with Sindhu making the Japanese run to the deep corners and even though Okuhara made some remarkable retrieves she miscued a shot at the forecourt as Sindhu led 16-13. Okuhara brought more power to her smashes to breach Sindhu's defence and created acute angles with her wrist to reduce the margin to 16-17.

Two backhand returns and a block at the net helped Sindhu move to 18-16. An extraordinary net return gave her another point and she grabbed the game point when Okuhara went long. Not ready to give up, Okuhara fell back on her extraordinary net game to save three game points. Sindhu then won a point by pushing the shuttle at the back of the court.

What ensued next was a 73-shot long and exhausting rally which Sindhu managed to win when Okuhara's return found the net and she collapsed on the ground, drained completely. In the decider, Okuhara opened up a 5-1 lead early on as Sindhu looked a tad exhuasted but some clever returns near the net helped the Indian claw back at 5-5.

The momentum shifted again in Indian's favour as she started dominating the rallies and reached the break at 11-9 when Okuhara hit wide. After the change of sides, Okuhara erased the deficit with a backhand body smash and a forehand return.

Sindhu won another long rally with an onrushing smash but she lost her second video referrel as Okuhara led 13-12. They moved neck and neck till 17-17 before the Indian grabbed a 19-17 lead when Okuhara hit wide. The Japanese produced a perfect cross court reverse slice and then unleashed another cross court smash to once again level par.

A net error from Sindhu handed a match point to Okuhara but the Indian saved it after winning another long rally, following a bad leave at the baseline by Okuhara.

The Japanese grabbed the match point again when Sindhu found the net and she used it this time with a perfect return on Sindhu's backhand to become the first shuttler from her country to win the World Championship. Sindh had reached the final after beating World No 10 Chen Yufei, late last night.

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News Network
April 27,2020

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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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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