PV Sindhu settles for silver at BWF World Superseries Finals

Agencies
December 18, 2017

Dubai, Dec 18: Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu suffered yet another final loss, going down fighting against World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a pulsating women's singles summit clash of the BWF World Superseries Finals on Sunday.

In the prestigious season-ending tournament finale, Sindhu played her hearts out before losing 21-15, 12-21, 19-21 to Yamaguchi in an energy-sapping summit clash that lasted an hour and 31 minutes.

"It has been a good year and I ended the year with another good tournament and won a silver. I will look to play next year with the same confidence and hope to go further," Sindhu said after the match.

The 22-year-old came agonisingly close to clinching the title before finishing runner-up once again in her third major tournament, following last year's Rio Olympics and this year's Glasgow World Championship.

In scenes similar to the World Championship final in Glasgow in August, the summit clash here went down to the wire as the duo engaged in a battle of attrition and nerves.

"I was not thinking about the longest match but then after the match, it left me with a bad feeling that it was just like the match against Okuhara," said Sindhu, who had finished as runner-up at Hong Kong Open as well in November.

"Yamaguchi's style was more of rally and I was prepared for it. I knew it would be a long match."

Playing her fourth final of the season, Sindhu logged the first point with a magnificent down the line smash. However, a couple of unforced errors and a wrong judgement at the baseline allowed Yamaguchi to make it 3-2.

A lucky net chord gave another point to the Japanese. However, Sindhu unleashed a superb cross court smash to draw parity at 5-5.

The Indian went wide next and another lucky net chord saw Yamaguchi open a 7-5 lead. The Japanese produced another cross court return to gain another point before Sindhu grabbed six straight points to turn the tables.

Sindhu won a couple of points before levelling 8-8 after closing out a pulsating rally, consisting of 33 shots, with a overhead return. She led 10-8 before entering the break with a three-point advantage after producing another scintillating cross court smash on her rival's backhand.

After the interval, Sindhu moved to 13-8 after grabbing two points. Yamaguchi grabbed three points, which included a successful video referral, to narrow the lead to 11-14. The racquet slipped out of Sindhu's hand and then she found the net as Yamaguchi breathed down her neck at 13-14.

The Japanese, however, could not capilatise as she hit wide and Sindhu unleashed two sensational returns, including a quick return on serve, to once again open up a five-point cushion.

The Indian finally earned seven game point opportunities with a quick smash near the court. Yamaguchi saved two game points before Sindhu's cross court smash came to her rescue as the Indian pocketed the first game in 23 minutes.

In second game, Sindhu came out all cylinders blazing as she zoomed to a 5-0 lead. However, the Indian was called for a service fault and she ended up giving another point to her rival, before a wide shot from the Japanese took her to 6-2.

A couple of unforced errors by Sindhu allowed Yamaguchi to narrow the gap to 7-8. The Japanese then set up the next point superbly, closing it with a body smash to draw parity at 8-8.

Yamaguchi then opened up a 10-8 lead after winning another exhausting rally before entering the break with a two-point advantage.

Sindhu missed the line twice to allow Yamaguchi lead 13-10. The Japanese consolidated on the lead to swell to 15-11. The Indian seemed slightly exhausted and ended up committing unforced errors. It helped Yamaguchi to grab the second game and roar back into the contest.

In the decider, Sindhu opened up a 4-0 lead early on, which included winning an engrossing rally comprising 51 shots. However, Yamaguchi once again clawed her way back to 5-5 with a body smash and an onrushing return at the backline.

Sindhu again eked out a 8-6 lead with a return on her rival's forehand. Yamaguchi too missed the line again as the Indian led 9-7. A backhand tap near the net gave another point to Sindhu, who entered the interval with a three-point advantage after Yamaguchi sent another to the net.

After the change of ends, Yamaguchi narrowed the deficit to 10-11 before Sindhu grabbed a point after being goaded by an animated India coach Pullela Gopichand from the sidelines.

At 13-12, Sindhu missed the line again after another rally to allow Yamaguchi draw parity. What ensued next was yet another engrossing rally where the Indian returned two smashes before leaving her opponent sprawling on the court.

Yamaguchi grabbed two quick points after Sindhu hit wide twice but the Indian then unleashed a jump cross court smash to again make it 15-15.

Sindhu missed the line again and then Yamaguchi pushed the shuttle away at the back as the lead exchanged hands again.

A cross court return on the line earned Sindhu a point and she draw level when Yamaguchi's miscued drop shot went to the net. Sindhu produced a precise cross court smash but Yamaguchi unleashed a prompt return to serve to move to 19-18.

A couple of shots on her rival's backhand helped Sindhu claw back again at 19-19 but the Indian found the net next to hand over the championship point to Yamaguchi, who sealed it when the Indian's return got buried at the net.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
February 19,2020

Feb 19: India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday dropped enough hints to indicate that seniormost pacer Ishant Sharma and young opener Prithvi Shaw will be in the playing XI for the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington. If India's net session on Wednesday is taken into consideration, Wriddhiman Saha is starting as the wicketkeeper ahead of Rishabh Pant for the series opener beginning on Friday. Hanuma Vihari, the team's designated No 6 batsman for away Tests, will be the fifth bowling option with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ishant being three specialist pacers.

Ravichandran Ashwin is in the mix for the lone specialist spinner's spot though Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills can't be ignored either.

Ishant, who was out for three weeks with an ankle injury sustained during a Ranji Trophy game, bowled full tilt at the nets and even earned appreciation for troubling batsmen with his pace and bounce.

"He (Ishant) looked pretty normal and pretty similar to what he was bowling before the ankle injury. He is hitting good areas again and he has played (Test cricket) in New Zealand couple of times, so his experience will be useful to us. It was really good to see him bowling with pace and in good areas," Kohli said during his media interaction.

The skipper also said in as many words that the team wouldn't like to change Shaw's natural stroke-play which was a good enough hint that Shubman Gill will have to warm the benches for now.

"Prithvi is a talented player and he has his own game and we want him to follow his instincts and play the way he does. Look, these guys have no baggage and are not desperate to perform in any manner," the skipper said.

The skipper wants Shaw to take a leaf out of Mayank Agarwal's performance in Australia back in 2018-19 when he hit back to back half-centuries in Melbourne and Sydney.

"They don't have any nerves to do well overseas. Like a clear head with which Mayank played in Australia, Prithvi can do the same in New Zealand.

"A bunch of guys playing with fearlessness, something that can motivate the whole team, gives us start that the team wants and not get intimidated by the opposition in any way."

The skipper downplayed India's below-par show in the three-match ODI series, especially that of Agarwal.

"Prithvi, I think you can call him relatively inexperienced and Mayank, I wouldn't call him that inexperienced because he has scored a lot of runs last year. So he understands what his game is like in Test cricket.

"I think sometimes in white ball cricket we try to do too much but once you come into red ball cricket, you fall into that disciplined mode of batting, which obviously suits him much more at this stage."

While he didn't give an answer on the Saha-Pant debate, the burly Delhi keeper had precious little to do at the main nets and was seen spending more time doing his keeping drills and only got an opportunity to bat when the first team completed its routines.

New Zealand are likely to go with an all-pace attack but the Indian captain wants to stick to his team's strengths which is play with one spinner in the four-pronged bowling attack.

"If it had been a Johannesburg pitch, I could have said it's a possibility (to play four pacers) but our team has that skill that we can bowl out other teams with only three fast bowlers," he sounded confident.

"But you need one world class skillful spinner, who can take wickets on any pitch. We won't copy the home team. We would rather figure out what is the most lethal combination, which gives us balance," he added.

"As a bowling group it's better than the one that came to NZ last time and that is why we have got so many teams all out in last two and half years. We would like to repeat that here also," Kohli added.

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News Network
January 20,2020

Jan 20: Both Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma made sparkling centuries in Bengaluru, but it was the Indian who finished on the winning side, leading his team to a 2-1 series win.

Smith, having run out his captain Aaron Finch early on, dug in to bring up his ninth ODI century, his 131 off 132 balls setting India a target of 287 on Sunday, 19 January. Continuing the dazzling display of batting at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Rohit struck 119 in 128 balls, and skipper Virat Kohli chipped in with 89, as the hosts chased down the target with seven wickets to spare in 47.3 overs.

With Shikhar Dhawan hurting his shoulder in the fifth over of the day and sidelined for the rest of the match, Rohit was reunited with KL Rahul – who had a chance to open the innings after coming in at No.3 and No.5 in the first two matches, while also standing in as wicket-keeper. The vice-captain was on the ball right away, dominating the scoring as India raced to 61/0 in the first 10 overs.

The introduction of spin gave Australia a vital breakthrough: Ashton Agar trapped Rahul in front on review, and although the new pair of Rohit and Kohli weren't unduly troubled, the run-rate slowed down. Josh Hazlewood, playing his first ODI in India and his first match in the format in 14 months, was especially miserly, conceding just 10 runs in his first five overs.

But, having settled in, the duo built a useful partnership of 137 and gave themselves the chance to hit out with wickets in hand. The part-time bowling of Finch and Marnus Labuschagne was punished, Rohit lapping up the short balls and sending them soaring into the stands. His century, his eighth against Australia, came with a single to third man.

Zampa finally got the breakthrough, having him caught in the deep going for another big one. But with Kohli having loosened his arms with a couple of beautiful fours off Pat Cummins to go past his half-century, India remained on course.

The skipper missed out on a hundred, but with Shreyas Iyer too clearing the ropes, there were no hurdles as India wrapped up an entertaining series win.

Earlier, the Indian bowlers struggled to find their lines after Australia chose to bat, but Australia weren't able to fully capitalise. David Warner was thrown by the movement to nick Mohammed Shami to the wicket-keeper, while Finch was caught short after Smith pulled out of a run, to leave the hosts at 46/2.

Labuschagne and Smith, though, combined for another special partnership, going at a brisk rate and showing delectable timing against spin. They had guided their side to 173 in the 32nd over when the a sharp piece of fielding from the home captain and strong bowling pulled things back.

Kohli, at cover, plucked a drive from Labuschagne soon after the batsman had reached his maiden fifty. Ravindra Jadeja had his second of the over when the experiment to send Mitchell Starc at No.5 lasted just three balls.

Alex Carey gave Smith company as he brought up a well-earned century, having fallen just short the previous game. The former skipper stepped up the scoring once he crossed three figures, a wristy helicopter six over deep square leg the highlight of his innings. But, excellent death bowling by Shami, who finished with four wickets, ensured the tourists were kept to under 300 – a total that proved below par.

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