Reaching Korea Open final was a big moment: Jayaram

September 22, 2015

New Delhi, Sep 22: More than a year after recovering from a shoulder injury, Ajay Jayaram earned a final appearance at the Korea Open last week and the Indian shuttler said it was a big moment for him after enduring a challenging seven-month layoff.

Ajay-jayaramComing into the tournament as an underdog, Jayaram went on to reach the finals and even though he eventually lost to World No.1 Chen Long, the Bangalore-based shuttler is glad he could realise his dream of making it to the finals of a Super Series event.

"Since my childhood, I have seen so many people whom I look upto like Peter Gade, Lin Dan or Taufik Hidayat getting up there, so it was a dream to take the court in a Super Series finals. So it was a big moment for me to reach the finals," Jayaram said.

For six months, Jayaram was left on the sidelines, nursing a shoulder injury sustained in January last year. What followed was multiple visits to the doctor, going under the knife and then the rehabilitation process.

Asked about that phase, Jayaram said: "It was not easy going through the injury phase. I mean, first I thought I will be back after 4 months but the rehab was the most challenging. Because there are so many ups and downs, there are days when you don't feel good, there is some pain and then you doubt your fitness.

"But to come back after seven months and win my first GPG title at the Dutch Open was a huge thing for me. Post that, I reached the semifinal at Malaysia and also final at Swiss Open. So it was a decent performance and much needed boost for me. And now reaching the Super Series finals is my best performance. Now the challenge is to sustain that in the coming months as I play more super series.

"I think the injury phase made me more hungry to get back on the court and do well. It was a challenging phase but I am glad I could spend time with my parents and I'm happy that I also stuck on and got better," added the Mumbai-born shuttler, who won the biggest title of his career, the Dutch Open, at only his fourth tournament after injury.

Talking about the Korea Open, Jayaram said: "I had lost to Viktor Axelsen in the Japan Open and that was disheartening, but then once I beat him in the first round, it really gave me the confidence. It sort of pumped me up. Also I had lost to Tien Chen twice, so that win also was a confidence booster.

"So with each round, I was becoming more confident. I was defending well, and moving well. In the finals also, I played reasonably well. In fact, if I could have stick with him, may be he could have cracked in the first game."

"He (Chen) is a difficult player. He is so confident about his fitness and is very patient. He gets back all the shuttles and also he is solid at the nets. I was returning his smashes but mistakes cropped up in my game later in the match. So there are a few areas which I need to improve but there are a lot of positives to take from the match," said Jayaram.

Currently ranked 32nd, Jayaram is expected to make a big jump in world rankings when the fresh list is released on Thursday but the Indian said he is not concerned about that and wants to focus on consistency.

"I am not concerned about ranking right now. I know I will be within top 25 next week. But I want to concentrate on getting some good wins, reaching quarters and semifinals regularly and that will take care of the ranking," he said.

Jayaram had come within touching distance of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics, only to lose the berth at the last moment to P Kashyap, who toppled him in rankings following a walkover in the India Open.

"It was disheartening to lose out in Olympics race," Jayaram said.

"I was unlucky in the last tournament but there were many events before that were I should have done better. It was hard mentally to accept but then I reached the semifinals of China Open and it felt great."

Asked if this performance has spurred him to go for next year's Rio Games, Jayaram said the Olympics is not in his mind right now.

"To be honest, I am not thinking about that right now because then you stray away from what you enjoy doing. I know Olympics is a great honour but there are other tournaments as well which you can win and then if you do well, it will take care of the qualification," he said.

Jayaram attributed his success to his parents and India-born British coach Tom John.

"I am everything for my parents. Ever since a kid, they inspired me. My parents are South Indian and are academically inclined but they have always supported me and allowed me to pursue badminton," he said.

"I also owe a lot to my coach Tom John. I met him first at Padukone academy in 2010 at Bangalore. I was struggling then with my ranking hovering around 70s. I liked his approach and he asked me to come to Portugal and train and I went there for three months, before he moved to India. He gets the best out of me."

Since the 2012 Olympics, a lot has changed in Indian badminton with the emergence of K Srikanth, who won the 2014 China Open Super Series Premier and the India Open Super Series this year, and Kashyap, who also won the Commonwealth Games gold at Glasgow.

Jayaram said the stiff competition in the domestic circuit is pushing the shuttlers to work harder and it is reflected in the results.

"Healthy competition is the best thing that can happen to any player and we have that now with K Srikanth, Kashyap and HS Prannoy doing so well. They push you hard and Srikanth winning a couple of Super Series showed that you can do it and you draw inspiration from it and that is how the country goes ahead, which is happening in India," he signed off.

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Jun 20: Bengaluru FC (BFC) have signed Brazilian striker Cleiton Silva for a one-year deal, the ISL club said in a statement on Saturday.

As per the agreement, BFC have the option of extending Silva's contract for another year.

The 33-year-old, who started his career with Brazilian side Madureira, moved to Thailand where he spent the better part of the decade playing for Muangthong United and Suphanburi, apart from stints in Mexico and China.

Silva, who also operates on the wing, became the first foreign player to reach the 100-goal mark in Thailand and finished top scorer of the Thai League 1 for two seasons. He also tops the charts of the all-time leading scorers of the League.

His biggest success came at Muangthong where he racked up 57 goals in 79 appearances and won three major trophies in as many seasons at the club.

The Brazilian, who was in talks with the Blues last season before the deal didn't materialise, said he was glad to have finally made the move.

"I've signed with Bengaluru FC because I want to be a champion and this is a club that is always after titles. I have that opportunity once again at BFC. I want to make the club and its fans happy. I have been following the club for some time now because we were in talks a while ago. And I liked what I saw. I am looking forward to making my way to Bengaluru and am excited to meet my new teammates, the fans and embrace the city," said Silva.

Silva, thus, became BFC's first new foreign signing of the season after the club had handed extended deals with Juanan Gonzalez, Dimas Delgado and Erik Paartalu.

Bengaluru FC coach Carles Cuadrat said Silva's addition was an important one, given his penchant for scoring.

"Cleiton has a proven track record when it comes to scoring and this is an area we needed to strengthen on the squad. The goals aside, he even has an eye for a quality final pass and we're looking forward to working with him," he said.

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Agencies
July 8,2020

New Delhi, Jul 8: After a hiatus of 116 days, international cricket will be resuming today as England and West Indies lock horns in a three-match Test series.

Since March, no international cricket has been played due to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of this virus, whole sporting action across the world came to a standstill.

Australia and New Zealand had played the last international cricket match on March 13 behind closed doors, but the remaining two ODIs of this particular series were cancelled due to COVID-19.

India and South Africa's ODI series also met the same fate due to the pandemic.
It was looking as if it will take a while for sports to come back, but slowly and steadily, all different sports have managed to get into gear and provide fans some respite in these turbulent times.

German football league Bundesliga was the first one to come back, and the organisers set the template as to how to go about conducting tournaments behind closed doors, keeping all safety protocols in check.

Soon after, La Liga, Premier League, and Serie A followed and all major football leagues came back on the television screens across the globe. Formula One kickstarted last week with the Austrian Grand Prix and now it is the time for cricket to resume.

The series between England and West Indies will be played behind closed doors and the matches will be played in Southampton and Manchester. This will be the first time in the 143-year long history of Test cricket that the matches will be played without no crowds.

The England-Windies Test series will be held at Hampshire's Ageas Bowl and Lancashire's Emirates Old Trafford, which have been chosen as bio-secure venues. After the series against West Indies, England would also lock horns with Ireland in three ODIs and Pakistan in three ODIs and as many T20Is.

However, the series against West Indies will be followed closely across the world as all other boards would be looking to see as to how cricket series can be scheduled in their own backyard with the current scenario regarding coronavirus.

The dates for three Tests against West Indies are:

First Test: July 8-12 at Ageas Bowl
Second Test: July 16-20 at Emirates Old Trafford
Third Test: July 24-28 at Emirates Old Trafford

Windies side had arrived in the UK in mid-June and the entire camp had to quarantine themselves for 14 days at Manchester.

For the entire tour, the West Indies squad will live, train and play in a 'bio-secure' environment in England as part of the comprehensive medical and operations plans to ensure player and staff safety.

The bio-secure protocols will also restrict movement in and out of the venues.
Both England and West Indies have played intra-squad practice matches to get some cricketing form back.

While England played their practice match in Southampton, Windies played theirs at Manchester.

West Indies will be led by Jason Holder, while Ben Stokes would captain England in the first Test as regular skipper Joe Root has left the bio-secure bubble to attend the birth of his second child.

England squad for the first Test: Ben Stokes (captain), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

West Indies squad for the first Test: Jason Holder (captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer, and Kemar Roach.

As safety precautions against the coronavirus, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has also brought about some changes to the playing conditions. The new guidelines include the ban of saliva to shine the ball and allowing replacement of players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match.

Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. If a player does apply saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment for the players, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning.

A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side. Whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommences.

Also, the requirement to appoint neutral match officials has been temporarily removed from the playing conditions for all international formats owing to the current logistical challenges with international travel. The ICC will be able to appoint locally based match officials from the ICC Elite Panel of Match Officials and the ICC International Panel of Match Officials.

Moreover, teams will be allowed to replace players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match. In line with concussion replacements, the match referee will approve the nearest like-for-like replacement. However, the regulation for COVID-19 replacements will not be applicable in ODIs and T20Is.

The ICC had also confirmed an additional unsuccessful DRS review for each team in each innings of a match, keeping in mind that there may be less experienced umpires on duty at times.

This will increase the number of unsuccessful appeals per innings for each team to three for Tests and two for the white-ball formats.

The first Test between England and West Indies gets underway later today from 3:30 PM IST.

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