Saina, Srikanth reach semis of Australian Open

June 10, 2016

Sydney, Jun 10: Saina Nehwal dug deep for a fighting win over Thai rival Ratchanok Intanon while Kidambi Srikanth too continued his good run to make the semifinals of the USD 750,000 Australian Super Series Badminton tournament here today.

sainaIn an exciting quarterfinal between Olympic bronze medallist Saina and 2013 World Champion Ratchanok, it was the seventh seeded Indian who managed to upstage the second seed 28-26 21-16 after a 56-minute hard-fought women's singles battle.

Saina will next take on the winner of the match between fourth seed Wang Yihan and eighth seed Tai Tzu Ying.

In the men's singles, World No. 13 Srikanth disposed off Korea's Kwang Hee Heo 21-18 21-17 in 36 minutes. The Guntur lad will next take on Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus tomorrow. The Indian beat him twice last year while losing once at the 2014 French Open.

In an intense opening game, Saina's resilience against Ratchanok's guile was on display as the duo fought for every point till the end.

In an extraordinary long first game, Saina held on to her nerves in the face of some awesome badminton played by Ratchanok who used her touch to good effect.

After fighting her way to a 18-16 lead, Saina saw the advantage slip as Ratchanok clawed back. There after, it was anybody's game as every time Saina grabbed a lead, Ratchanok came up with a cross court dribble or a disguised drop or acute angled smash to keep herself in contention.

However, in the end, it was Saina who emerged on top riding on a net error by the Thai girl and a brilliant low angled return which landed just inside the backline.

In the second game, Saina once again opened up a 11-7 lead at the break and continued to dominate the proceedings after the interval as she moved to 15-8.

Ratchanok seemed to lack the urgency shown in the first game as she failed to reach for the returns.

At 18-9, Saina lost a video referral challenge and then saw Ratchanok grab a couple of more points. She challenged another similar line call and won it this time to move to 19-12.

Saina conceded another point at net but a smash gave her seven match points. Ratchanok saved three points before another smash earned her another a semifinal spot.

In the men's singles, Srikanth took time to understand the game of the Korean as he lagged behind 0-5 early on but he soon fought back from 2-9 and 9-14 down to turn the tables and grab the opening game.

In the second game, Srikanth was more dominating as he opened up a 11-6 lead and even though the Korean caught up to make it 12-12 and again at 16-16, the Indian managed to see him off.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: The pitches in New Zealand have become a lot more batting-friendly over the years, says iconic former batsman Sachin Tendulkar, insisting that India have the “ammunition” to trouble the sprightly hosts during the upcoming series.

Tendulkar, who has been on a record five New Zealand tours since 1990, feels that from seaming tracks during his early trips years, the tracks became high-scoring hard ones during his last tour back in 2009.

“Of late, the Tests in New Zealand have been high scoring and surfaces have changed,” Tendulkar told PTI during an exclusive interview.

India will play five T20 Internationals, three ODIs and two Tests during the tour starting with the shortest format on January 24.

From 2002, when India played ODIs and Tests on green tops, to 2009, when India won only their second Test series in 32 years, Tendulkar has seen it all in New Zealand.

“I remember when we played in 2009, the Hamilton pitch was different compared to other pitches. Other pitches got harder (Wellington and Napier) but not Hamilton. It remained soft.

“But Napier became hard with passage of time (where Gautam Gambhir scored an epic match-saving 12-hour hundred in 2009). So, from my first tour (in 1990 till 2009), I realised pitches got harder with passage of time,” Tendulkar said.

Tendulkar is confident that the Indian bowling attack, spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah, has the ammunition to put New Zealand in trouble.

“We have a good bowling attack with quality fast bowlers as well as spinners. I believe we have the ammunition to compete in New Zealand.”

However, in Wellington, Tendulkar wants the team to be well-prepared to counter the breeze factor.

“Wellington, I have played and it makes a huge difference if you are bowling with the wind or against the wind. The batsman needs to be judicious in the choice of which end he wants to attack, it is very important,” he said.

Tendulkar said he would prefer spinners to bowl against the breeze.

“...the seamers bowling against the strong breeze need to be smart. So I would prefer that if there is strong breeze, let the spinner bowl from that end and from the opposite end, the fast bowler bowls with the breeze behind him,” he said.

The maestro is confident that Rohit Sharma's white ball experience will hold him in good stead in the Tests as well, an assignment that has been kept for the last leg of the trip, which begins with five T20 Internationals from January 24.

“The challenge would be to go out and open in different conditions. I think Rohit had opened in New Zealand in ODIs and has been there quite a few times, he knows the conditions well. Eventually, Test cricket is Test cricket,” he said.

“But all depends on surfaces that they provide. If they provide green tops, then it's a challenge.”

There is no Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Deepak Chahar in limited-overs series but Tendulkar is not ready to press the panic button.

“Injuries are part and parcel of the game when you play and push your body to the limits.

“When you play for your country you need to give your best and while you give your best, you can get injured. That's okay,” he concluded.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

New Delhi, Jan 26: The sports fraternity on Sunday extended greetings to the people on the occasion of the 71st Republic Day.

Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar took to Twitter to write: "Wishing all Indians a very happy Republic Day."
"Rejoice the Glory of India and it's Freedom Fighters on this Republic Day. Wish you a very happy #RepublicDayIndia . Jai Hind !" former batsman VVS Laxman tweeted.

"Wish you all a very happy #RepublicDay2020 from here in New Zealand," Irfan Pathan tweeted.

Boxer Vijender Singh said India is blessed with different religions, societies, cultures and languages.

"INDIA is a nation where humanity has lived since ages.It is a country which is blessed with different religions,societies,cultures & languages all interplaying with each other in harmony. PROUD OF UNITY IN DIVERSITY #RepublicDayIndia #RepublicDay2020," Singh wrote on the micro-blogging site.

Former cricketer Virender Sehwag, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, wrestler Sushil Kumar and tennis player Sania Mirza also extended their greetings on the occasion.

On this day, 70 years back, India officially adopted its Constitution. Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro is the chief guest at the parade this year.

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