Saina Nehwal Wins India Open Super Series Title; Says She's Hungry For More

March 30, 2015

New Delhi, Mar 30: Relieved to clinch her maiden India Open Super Series title, badminton star Saina Nehwal today said it is a huge burden off her head as she has always struggled to win this tournament and vowed to bring more laurels for the country in future.

"I think a big burden off my head. Last four years, I was struggling, losing in pre-quarters or quarters, this is the first time I have reached the finals and won it. So too many surprises for me in this tournament, being the world no 1, winning the title. I am very proud of myself. I never thought this day will come after so much struggle, this is the best phase of my life," Saina said after beating former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand 21-16 21-14 in the summit clash at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.

Saina NehwalExplaining further, Saina said: "I think the consistency with which I am playing is great. I reached three finals in last two months and it is not easy. My shoulder is taped, so it is obviously difficult playing against top players."

Asked what is in store for future, Saina said: "Titles makes me hungry. Next I hope to win more and more titles, I hope to be fit and injury free. This result will motivate me to win more titles."

Talking about the final, Saina said: "It was a tough match. Ratchanok is one player who always gives me a tough fight whenever I play her. Last time when I played her in the Asian Games, it was a long and close match, so it is always difficult to play her as she is very deceptive and she has got some tricky shots.

"But the way I was moving today, I was picking all her tricky strokes and she was not liking it, so she made a lot of errors.

"She gets tensed when you pick her strokes. But I can see she has improved a lot. She is playing well and coming back to form. I was expecting a tough final and it was a good final. I was surprised to see so many spectators today. It was lovely crowd. It was really a fantastic match today," she said.

Asked if she felt like the world no 1 when she walked on to the court today, Saina said: "I was only thinking about the final, world number one was not in my mind. I guess I will have to see my name in the ranking list next Thursday."

On her celebration plans, the 25-year-old said: "I will have ice cream, milk shake, chocolate, I will have everything today. I will rest tomorrow and then day after I will be back to practice before taking a flight to Malaysia."

Analysing Intanon's game, Saina said: "I feel she is very good player from behind. She has got some tricky shots from behind and I get caught up with those strokes. She is good at the nets but so am I."

Saina, who had clinched the 2010 Commonwealth Games title at the same venue, said she was surprised by her flawless game and happy that she could change her tactics according to the match situation.

"Everything was there today. From yesterday I played much better today. Of course, it was against a tougher opponent but I didn't expect to beat her in straight games, so easily.

"In the second game, the way I started, I was surprised by myself that how come the shots are falling so sharply. I have to attack as I am an attacking player and a rally player as well, so I have to keep changing my game according to the situations," she said.

Saina said the way she played today it has boosted her confidence and proved that she is improving each day.

"I beat her in straight games, last time it was a tough much, so this shows that I am improving. I am able to beat top players, I am going good. When you win you feel confident but when you lose you again kind of go back and work on it, may be I made some mistakes today so I have to work on them," she said.

"It is good that in last three months, I have reached finals, which means I am learning. I am not taking any tournament easily. Every tournament is difficult and every one will be prepared for me and I will have to play them many times in future, so I have to ready everytime," Saina said.

Nehwal, who created history by reaching the pinnacle of world badminton ranking, had earlier said she had contemplated "quitting badminton" after last year's World Championships. Saina reaffirmed her status as the country's most consistent performer in the international circuit by becoming the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the number one spot in world rankings.

"I have taken some many hard decisions to get here. I kept losing to the top players all the time, in fact after last year's World Championship I even thought of quitting badminton. It was a very dark time in my career. People were saying 'Saina your career is finished'," Saina said.

She added, "I then moved to Bangalore and my coach Vimal Kumar set a target of May this year to reach the number one rank. I did it in March itself!"

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Veteran cricketer Mithali Raj was on Thursday demoted to Grade B from A in the BCCI central contracts while Radha Yadav and Taniya Bhatia were elevated to the middle bracket.

Mithali not being kept in the Rs 50 lakh category was expected as the 37-year-old retired from T20s in September last year. However, she remains the ODI captain and plans to carry on till the 2021 World Cup.

T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur retained his A category contract alongside Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav.

Radha and Taniya, who both had a Grade C contract worth Rs 10 lakh last year, have now entered Grade B (Rs 30 lakh).

Players getting a central contract for the first time are 15-year-old opener Shafali Verma and Harleen Deol, who like the teenager is an attacking batter.

Shafali has attracted a lot of attention ever since making her India debut last year. She recently made 124 against Australia A in Brisbane. The opener will be expected to deliver in the upcoming T20 World Cup Down Under.

Dropped from the list is Mona Meshram, who was in Grade C last year and hasn't played a single game in recent times.

The latest contracts run from October 2019 to September 2020.

Grade A (Rs 50 lakh): Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav.

Grade B (Rs 30 lakh): Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma.

Grade C (Rs 10 lakh): Veda Krishnamurthy, Punam Raut, Anuja Patil, Mansi Joshi, D Hemlatha, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Shafali Verma.

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News Network
June 12,2020

New Delhi, Jun 12: The BCCI on Friday called off Indian cricket team's short tour of Zimbabwe in August due to the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement was on expected lines after Sri Lanka Cricket announced on Thursday that India's limited overs tour in June-July was postponed indefinitely.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday announced that the Indian Cricket Team will not travel to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe owing to the current threat of COVID-19," BCCI secetary Jay Shah said in a statement.

"Team India was originally scheduled to travel to the island nation from 24th June 2020 for three ODIs and as many T20Is and to Zimbabwe for a series comprising three ODIs starting 22nd August 2020," Shah added.

The Indian team is yet to resume training and the camp is unlikely to take place before July. The players will take around six weeks to be match-ready.

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Agencies
February 23,2020

Madrid, Feb 23: Lionel Messi scored four goals and Barcelona reclaimed the top spot in the La Liga as Real Madrid suffered a surprise defeat by Levante last night, a week before the Clasico.

Madrid's nightmare afternoon was made worse by another injury to Eden Hazard, who was forced off in the second half of their 1-0 defeat in Valencia and is now doubtful to face Manchester City on Wednesday in the Champions League.

"It doesn't look good," said Real coach Zinedine Zidane afterwards.

Messi, meanwhile, ridiculed talk of a goal drought by scoring four against Eibar after four games without one, while emergency signing Martin Braithwaite made two assists off the bench, teeing up Messi and then Arthur Melo in injury-time.

Their 5-0 rout, coupled with Madrid's defeat, means Barca move back to the summit of La Liga, two points ahead of Zidane's side ahead of next Saturday's showdown at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It amounts to a considerable shift in momentum, with Barcelona away at Napoli in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday.

Madrid host City a day later and the plan had been for Hazard to regain form and fitness in what was only his second start since returning from three months out with a broken right foot.

But the Belgian sat in the dug-out with an ice pack around the same foot after going off and Zidane suggested it was a repeat injury after the match. "It can be weak where you've had an injury," he said.

For Madrid, playing catch-up again next weekend will be a particularly heavy psychological blow, especially given the series of off-field problems engulfing Barcelona in recent weeks.

Yet on the pitch, Messi showed no sign of distraction as the 32-year-old completed the second fastest of his now 36 league hat-tricks, after less than 40 minutes at Camp Nou.

"There's nothing left to do but stand up and applaud," Eibar wrote on Twitter afterwards.

"I won't wash my kit after hugging Messi," said Braithwaite.

Braithwaite's arrival from Leganes drew criticism after Barcelona capitalised on a curious La Liga rule that allows clubs to sign outside of the transfer window if they have lost a player to serious injury.

Brilliant Messi

Messi quickly got to work, scoring a brilliant first goal in the 14th minute after collecting the ball centrally, around 30 yards out. He had three Eibar defenders in front of him but found a way through, nutmegging Anaitz Arbilla before chipping delicately into the corner.

The second came in the 37th minute as Sergio Busquets found Arturo Vidal, who feathered a flick into Messi's path. Messi surged forward, past his stumbling opponents, and fired in.

His third, three minutes later, was the simplest of the trio and arrived only after he tried to play in Antoine Griezmann. His generosity was rewarded as a sloppy Griezmann touch meant the ball cannoned back to Messi, who apologetically poked in.

Coach Quique Setien was able to take Griezmann off with 18 minutes left and introduce Braithwaite for his debut. Braithwaite's first contribution was a skewed cross but things improved immeasurably from there, as two passes across goal gave Messi his fourth and Arthur his first.

Madrid were never in control of a chaotic contest against Levante but might have taken the lead if Hazard had done better with a long ball over the top from Marcelo, which he failed to control and then scuffed into the hands of Aitor Fernandez.

He limped off and Madrid lost their way, finally punished with 11 minutes left by a straight ball through to Morales. Luka Modric, exposed on the right side of Madrid's defence, was unable to recover and Morales caught Courtois by surprise by firing early past the goalkeeper and into the top corner.

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