Sania Mirza-Barbora Strycova win Toray Pan Pacific Open title

September 25, 2016

Tokyo, Sep 25: Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova strolled to a comfortable straight-set win over unseeded Chinese pair of Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang to lift the Toray Pan Pacific Open title here on Saturday.

sania

The second seeded Indo-Czech combination had an easy outing against the Chinese duo as they needed just 51 minutes to down their rivals 6-1, 6-1 in the final of the women’s doubles event.

This is Sania and Strycova’s second title in three tournaments since they have paired up together.

Last month, Sania and Strycova won the Cincinnati Open title with a 7-5, 6-4 win in the final against the Indian's previous partner Martina Hingis and Coco Vandeweghe.

However, Sania and Strycova were ousted from the US Open after losing in straight sets in the quarter-final to Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.

Wozniacki, Osaka in final

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki produced a spirited fightback to beat fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 and reach the singles final on Saturday.

Awaiting the Dane in Sunday’s Tokyo final will be Japanese teenager Naomi Osaka, who continued her fairytale run with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.

Wozniacki, Pan Pacific champion six years ago, starts favourite as she goes in search of a 24th career title.

“It’s always a grind when you’re injured to come back but you have to go with it. My body feels good and it’s nice the hard work is paying off,” said Wozniacki after almost three hours on court.

Wozniacki had seen her world ranking plunge to 74th after suffering wrist and ankle trouble, her father even telling a Danish tabloid the 26-year-old could walk away from tennis.

Monica, Lara to clash for title

Seoul: Fifth seed Monica Niculescu of Romania on Saturday sailed through to the Korea Open finals to take on Spain's Lara Arruabarrena for the crown. The 28-year-old Niculescu, currently the world number 55, trounced third seed Shuai Zhang of China 6-0, 6-4.

Playing the first event since reaching the third round of the US Open this month, the 55th-ranked Niculescu remained almost perfect throughout the battle, displaying powerful and accurate shots against the 27-year-old Zhang, ranked 40.

Paes-Begemann in final

St Petersburg (Russia): Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann made it to the finals of the St Petersburg Open by recording a straight-set victory over the Russian pair of Mikhail Elgin and Alexander Kudryavtsev in the men’s doubles event. The Indo-German duo defeated the Russian pair 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted around one and half hours.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He 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).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Former India spinner Sunil Joshi was on Wednesday named chairman of the national selection panel by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked ex-pacer Harvinder Singh to the five-member group.

The CAC, comprising Madan Lal, R P Singh and Sulakshana Naik, picked the two selectors with Joshi replacing South Zone representative MSK Prasad.

In an unprecedented decision, the BCCI said the CAC will review the panel's performance after one year and make recommendations accordingly.

"The committee recommended Sunil Joshi for the role of chairman of the senior men's selection committee. The CAC will review the candidates after a one-year period and make the recommendations to the BCCI," read a statement from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.

Harvinder was chosen from central zone and replaces Gagan Khoda in the panel.

The existing members of the selection panel are Jatain Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh.

"We have picked the best guys for the job," Lal told news agency.

The CAC had shortlisted five candidates for interviews -- Joshi, Harvinder, Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan and L S Sivaramakrishnan -- from a list of 40 applicants.

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