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Serena Williams eager to hit with big guns again

Agencies
March 8, 2018

Indian Wells, Mar 8: Serena Williams is through taking baby steps on the comeback trail after the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia in September.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles winner is ramping up her return this week by playing in Indian Wells, her first WTA Tour event since she won the 2017 Australian Open.

After a couple of exhibitions and a Davis Cup doubles match, Williams is eager to hit with the big guns as she opens her campaign on Thursday night against Zarina Diyas.

"I'm ready to just jump in and get started and see what happens," the 36-year-old American told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "Obviously I'm going to have a few hiccups, I would imagine, and I'm ready for that."

Earlier this week she played one tiebreaker in an exhibition tournament in New York. In February she played a doubles rubber for the US Fed Cup team and took part in another exhibition in Abu Dhabi in late December.

Indian Wells features a star-studded women's field in a tournament that looks wide open.

Many of the players on Wednesday said they welcomed Serena's return.

"We are all going to look to see how she is playing," said reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.

"She is one of the best players so it is good that she is back, especially after being a mom. It is great."

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko said Serena's contribution to women's tennis cannot be overstated.

"She is an amazing athlete," said sixth seed Latvian Ostapenko. "She is a very special and what she has done for women's tennis is huge."

But Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova said it is going to take more than one WTA event for Serena to get back in championship form.

"Obviously it is tough to get back even for a champion like her," Pliskova said Wednesday. "I don't have that experience with having a baby, but I think it changes the body and the mindset a lot.

"We will see in the first round. For sure she is going to be a little bit nervous. I don't know what kind of shape she is in and if she was practising or not practising.

"She can play good tennis again but I don't know if it is going to be at this tournament maybe it will take her a while."

The first clues to Williams' form will be displayed in Thursday's night game against Diyas, Serena's first match in Indian Wells will be Thursday night against Diyas, the 24-year-old world number 53 from Kazakhstan.

Serena boycotted this event, with her sister Venus, for 14 years after she was booed in 2001 final. She returned in 2015 bu to pull out before her semi-final against Simona Halep with a knee problem.

Times have changed for the most successful female player of the Open era. If you asked her 10 years ago if she envisioned herself playing after the age of 30, Serena would have replied no.

But that was before she started collecting Grand Slam titles like others collect antique furniture or vinyl records.

"There's nobody's rule that says you have to retire at 30," she told The Wall Street Journal.

"All the best players in the world now are well into their 30s, so you know, technology is better at enabling athletes to play a longer life."

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News Network
June 5,2020

Jun 5: The Asian Football Confederation has awarded the hosting rights of the 2022 Women's Asian Cup to India for the first time since 1979.

The decision was taken at the AFC Women's Football Committee meeting. In February, the AFC Women's Football Committee had recommended India to be hosts.

In a letter to the All India Football Federation, Dato Windsor John, General Secretary, AFC wrote: "The Committee awarded the hosting rights of the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 Finals to the All India Football Federation."

The tournament will likely be held in the second half of the year. In the 1979 edition, India had finished as runners-up.

"I need to thank the Asian Football Confederation for finding us suitable to host the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2022," AIFF President, Praful Patel said.

"The tournament will galvanise the aspiring women players and bring in a holistic social revolution as far as women's football in the country is concerned," he added.

The tournament will feature 12 teams, expanded from the previous slot of eight teams.

India qualifies directly as hosts. The event will also serve as the final qualification tournament for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

The tournament comes as the latest boost to AIFF as India is slated to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup next year.

India had also hosted the AFC U-16 Championships in 2016 and the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017.

"The tournament will play a huge role in further popularising women's football in India. The Women’s Asian Cup 2022 comes on the back of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup India 2020, and will help us sustain, and build on the momentum gained," AIFF General Secretary, Kushal Das said.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Mumbai, May 21: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has chosen legendary Sachin Tendulkar over current skipper Virat Kohli as a better batsman in the ODI format, considering the changed rules of the game and the Mumbaikar's longevity of career.

Tendulkar, who retired in 2013, played 463 ODIs and amassed 18, 426 runs with 49 hundreds at an average of 44.83.

Kohli, on the other hand, has played 248 ODIs and scored 11, 867 runs with 43 tons at an average of 59.33.

"Sachin Tendulkar, because probably with one white ball and four fielders inside the circle, not five fielders outside, it will be Sachin Tendulkar for me," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

Nowadays, a one-day innings is played with two white balls and with three powerplays.

In the first power play (overs 1-10), two fielders are allowed beyond the 30-yard circle, while in the second powerplay (overs 10-40) four fielders are allowed. In the last powerplay (overs 40-50), five fielders are allowed outside the 30-yard circle.

Gambhir, who was the star performer in 2011 ODI World Cup final which India won, feels that the change in rules has helped batsmen.

"It's difficult because Virat Kohli has done phenomenally well but I think the rules have changed as well, which has helped a lot of new batters," elaborated Gambhir, who played 58 Tests and 147 ODIs.

"The new generation, with 2 new balls, no reverse swing, nothing for the finger spin, five fielders inside for the 50 overs, probably that makes batting much easier.

He said he would also go with Tendulkar, considering his longevity and flow of the ODI cricket format at that time.

"Probably I’ll go with Sachin Tendulkar if we see the longevity and flow of the one-day cricket format.

"Look at how Sachin Tendulkar has played, different rules, that time 230 to 240, was a winning total," Gambhir signed off. 

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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