Sania dedicates US Open title to Telangana and India

September 6, 2014

New Delhi, Sep 6: Left teary-eyed after her Indianness was put into question just weeks back, tennis star Sania Mirza dedicated her US Open title to the country and the new state of Telangana, where her appointment as brand ambassador triggered a political furore.

Sania dedicatesLast night, the first-time combination of Sania and Brazil's Bruno Soares clicked brilliantly as they secured a close win in the final to win the mixed doubles trophy.

"I am very happy, it's great to win it with Bruno. For the first time we played together, it's been great two weeks. I dedicate this victory to everybody in India, my country, and to the state of Telangana and all people of Telangana," Sania told PTI from New York after winning the final.

"I am extremely ecstatic, it's a dream come true, hopefully many more will come," said the 27-year-old.Sania's third career Grand Slam came barely a month after she was branded 'daughter-in-law' of Pakistan by a BJP leader due to her marriage with cricketer Shoaib Malik. The comment was triggered by the Telangana government's decision to appoint her brand ambassador of the newly-created state.

The Hyderabadi was forced to issue a statement to assert her roots and was seen breaking down on news channels while trying to do so. Asked if the controversy played on her mind during the US Open campaign, Sania said she believes in moving forward and remains focussed on her game after stepping into the court.

"I don't think we should focus on the negatives," said Sania, who is first Indian female player and only the third from the country after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes to have won Grand Slam titles.

Sania and Bruno were cruising in the Match Tie break and had five championship points after securing a comfortable 9-4 lead but a flurry of errors threatened to devastate their hopes. Local hope Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez made it 9-9 and looked like snatching it away from the Indo-Brazilian top seeds.

"We all had our hearts in our mouths at that point but we just tried to be positive and do whatever we could, help each other out and come out on top," Sania said recalling the crunch moment. Sania had played the previous three Grand Slams of the season with Romanian partner Horea Tecau but was forced to split as desired results did not come.

They began well by reaching the final of the Australian Open but suffered second round exit at the French Open and were ousted in the third round at the Wimbledon.

Sania said the efforts to team up with Bruno started after the Wimbledon defeat. "We happened to meet after Wimbledon and he asked if we could play. Me and Bruno had different partners, we messaged each other, spoke to each other and one thing led to another," she explained.

Asked how the partnership clicked in the very first attempt, Sania said, "Most importantly, I think we returned very well. We play very good games which suit each other. Our opponents were always under pressure upon return of serves."

Having won titles at Australian Open (2009), French Open (2012) and the US Open, Sania will have the opportunity to complete a career mixed doubles Slam next season.

"Definitely winning any Slam is great, if it happens that would be great, I look forward to it and will complete a career Grand Slam one day."

Talking about the women's doubles Slam title, which continues to elude her, Sania said she has no regrets. She had ended runners-up with Russian partner Elena Vesnina in 2011 and had a good opportunity at Flushing Meadows this week as she and Cara Black had reached the semifinals.

"We had bad luck. We stuck together really well and helped each other," she said about her partnership with the Zimbabwean.

Sania Mirza win US

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Agencies
February 7,2020

New Delhi, Feb 7: It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, now known as Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

It was then Kumble who came into the attack and wreaked havoc on the Pakistani batting line-up.

The spinner, also known as 'Jumbo' first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over. After the right-handed batter's dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble then kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his tenth scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs, and Kumble became the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

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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
May 30,2020

New York, May 30: Cricket superstar Virat Kohli remains the only Indian in the Forbes' list of world's highest-paid athletes with total earnings of USD 26 million, jumping to the 66th spot from 100 in the 2020 standings.

Kohli's earnings from endorsement stand at USD 24 million and USD 2 million from salary/winnings. The 31-year-old is also the only cricketer in the top-100 list.

With earnings of USD 25 million, Kohli was ranked 100th in 2019 and 83rd in 2018 with USD 24 million.

Tennis legend Roger Federer has toped the list for the first time with earnings of USD 106.3 million, rising from fifth place last year.

Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are second and third respectively with earnings of USD 105 and USD 104 million.

The others in the top-10 are Neymar (football), LeBron James (basketball), Stephen Curry (basketball), Kevin Durrant (basketball), Tigers Woods (golf), Kirk Cousins (American football) and Carson Wentz (American football).

The athletes' earnings have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to suspension of sporting activities all around the world.

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Ismail
 - 
Sunday, 31 May 2020

Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to feature in the world’s 20 most charitable athletes, as per a list compiled by the US based website in Athletes Gone Good. 

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