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Rower Dattu Bhokanal qualifies for Rio Olympics

April 25, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 25: Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal today qualified for the Rio Olympics after winning a silver in the men's single sculls event at the FISA Asian and Oceania Olympic Qualification Regatta at Chung-ju in South Korea.

Dattu

The 25-year-old armyman clocked 7 minutes and 07.63 seconds in the 2km course to finish second. The top seven in the finals qualify for the Rio Games.

Nashik-born Bhokanal, who trains at the Army Rowing Node (ARN) in Pune, was on course for a gold medal finish as he was leading the five-man field till the 1,500 metre mark but Korean Dongyong Kim (07 mins 05.13 secs) overtook him at the final stretch.

"We are very much delighted that Dattu Bhokanal has qualified for the Rio Games in men's single sculls event by finishing second in the Asian Olympic qualifying event in Korea," Rowing Federation of India Secretary General Capt. Girish J Phadnis told PTI from Mumbai.

"His Olympic qualification is a welcome development for the sport of rowing which has been doing well for some time. We have been having a Indian rower for every Olympics since 2000," he added.

India could not, however, book a Rio berth in the men's light weight double sculls as the pair of Vikram Singh and Roopendra Singh finished fifth in the finals. Only top three qualify for Rio Olympics in this category.

Phadnis also said that Bhokanal will be the lone Indian rower taking part in Rio Games as no more qualifying events are left now. By virtue of qualifying for the Rio Games, Bhokanal is expected to be included in the government's Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme which funds medal prospects in their training and preparation.

Bhokanal will be the ninth rower to represent India in the Olympics after Kasam Khan and Inderpal Singh (Sydney 2000; men's coxless pairs), Paulose Pandari Kunnel (Athens 2004; men's singles sculls), Bajrang Takhar (Beijing 2008; men's singles sculls), Manjit Singh and Devender Khandwal (Beijing 2008; men's lightweight double sculls) and Sawarn Singh (London 2012; men's singles sculls) and Manjit Singh and Sandeep Kumar (London 2012; men's lightweight double sculls).

Born in Nashik in 1991, Bhokanal comes from a humble background and took to rowing in 2012 at the BEG Centre at Kirkee in Pune. In 2013, he shifted to ARN, Pune for better training.

He won two gold medals in the 2014 National Rowing Championships, representing the Services and represented India at the 2014 Asian Games in China.

Bhokanal's best international achievement so far was winning a silver in men's single sculls in the 16th Asian Rowing Championships in China last year.

Considering Bhokanal's rise to the top level in such a short span of time, Phadnis said that he can even spring a surprise and finish at the podium in Rio Games.

"He took to rowing very late. He has been rowing for just four years only and he has won a silver in Asian Championships last year and now he has qualified for the Olympics. He should be in the top 10 in Rio but you never know he can spring a surprise," Phadnis said.

Asked if Bhokanal may be sent abroad for training to prepare for for the Rio Games, Phadnis said, "We will discuss it with Bhokanal and his coach once they return from Korea and take a call whether he will go abroad or not. Time is short now but for sure he will go for high altitude training."

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Manchester, Aug 9: Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler played knocks of 84 and 75 respectively as England gained an improbable three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test of the three-match series here at the Emirates Old Trafford.

England chased down a total of 277 on the fourth day of the first Test.

Chasing 277, England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley put on 22 runs for the first wicket, but Mohammad Abbas finally provided the breakthrough to Pakistan as he had Burns (10) adjudged leg-before wicket in the 12th over.

Skipper Joe Root came to the crease next, and he along with Sibley ensured that the side does not lose any more wickets before the lunch break, and England went into the lunch break at 55/1.

Sibley and Root eventually put up a 64-run stand, but their partnership was finally brought to an end by Yasir Shah as he dismissed Sibley (36) in the 36th over. Soon after, skipper Root (42) was also sent back to the pavilion by Naseem Shah, reducing England to 96/3 in the 39th over.

All eyes were on all-rounder Ben Stokes (9), but Pakistan's Yasir Shah sent him back to the pavilion in the 42nd over, and England was left in a spot of bother. Shaheen Shah Afridi, then also got among the wicket-taking charts as he scalped the wicket of Ollie Pope (7), reducing England to 117/5 in the 45th over.

Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler then got together at the crease, and the duo played in an aggressive manner to retrieve the innings for England. The hosts went into the tea break at 167/5, still, 110 runs away from the target with five wickets in hand.

Buttler and Woakes continued their march to frustrate the Pakistan bowling attack and the duo brought the target within the grasp of England. Both batsmen put up a stand of 139 runs, however, with just 21 runs away from the target, England lost the key wicket of Buttler (75) as Yasir Shah had him trapped in front of the wicket.

With England just needing four more runs for the win, Yasir Shah dismissed Stuart Broad (4), but in the end, Woakes and Dom Bess ensured England's win by three wickets.

For Pakistan, Yasir Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped four wickets.

Earlier, resuming day four at 137/8, Yasir Shah (33) along with Mohammad Abbas (3*) and Naseem Shah (4) added 32 more runs to the overnight score to give England a target of 277 to win the first Test.

Stuart Broad was the pick of England bowlers as he scalped three wickets.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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