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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
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Bollywood celebrities have taken it to their social media platforms to express their excitement and shared their thoughts.

Taking to Twitter handle, senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher extended his best wishes to his legion of followers for the Ram Janmabhoomi Pujan.

While 'Masti' actor Riteish Deshmukh, on the micro-blogging site tweeted multiple hashtag 'Jai Shree Ram' to mark the historic day.

'Queen' actor, Kangana Ranaut's official Twitter handle team wrote: "What could not happen in 500 years happened this year.... this is not picture of the day but the moment of many centuries #JaiShreeRam #RamMandirAyodhya"

Actor Kirron Kher, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Ashok Pandit and others also marked the day and expressed their excitement.

Earlier, evergreen star Hema Malini, through an audio recording congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram on the occasion.

The Mathura MP expressed her excitement on the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the much-awaited Ram Temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the special Bhoomi Poojan at Ayodhya ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

He also released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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