Sharmila Nicollet, Vani Kapoor to Lead Home Challenge at Women's Indian Open

October 23, 2015

Gurgaon, Oct 23: Indian golfers including Vani Kapoor and Sharmila Nicollet will lead the home challenge even as France's Gwladys Nocera returns to defend her Hero Women's Indian Open title when the event tees off at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Friday.

Sharmila

The three-day 54-hole tournament is a tri-sanctioned event, which will see some of the top stars from the LET, Ladies Asian Golf Tour (LAGT) and the Women's Golf Association of India (WGAI) vying for the title.

The country's only Ladies European Tour (LET) golf tournament with an increased prize money of USD 400,000 will see some of the top golfers in the fray as the foreign field will be led by Nocera, 2013 Indian Open winner from Thailand Thidapa Suwannapura, Cheyenne Woods, niece of US great Tiger Woods, Englishwomen Melissa Reid, winner of the 2015 Turkish Open, Hannah Burke, 2015 Tipsport Golf Masters title holder and Trish Johnson.

It was a good tournament last year for Indian players as Vaishavi Sinha and Gauri Monga finished fifth and tied eighth respectively.

While the duo returns to have a shot at the title, the strong Indian line up will have the likes of Vani Kapoor, Hero Order of Merit leader with four wins this season, Sharmila Nicollet, Amandeep Drall, Neha Tripathi, Smriti Mehra and amateur Aditi Ashok.

While seasoned Indian professionals can make their presence felt, there are high expectations from Aditi, who first grabbed attention as a 14-year-old at the 2011 Queen's Sirikit Cup and finished eighth at the 2012 Women's Indian Open.

Aditi has been in red-hot form this year, becoming the first Asian to bag the title of the St Rule Trophy and the Lawson Trophy at St Andrews, Scotland.

Earlier this year, she also became the first Indian to win the Ladies British Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship and the 81st Singha Thailand Amateur.

Aditi, who finished 14th at last year's Women's Indian Open, is entering this edition with a strong international winning record and will be one of the title contenders to watch out for.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: As India continues its fight against coronavirus, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly pledged to donate rice worth Rs 50 Lakhs to the needy people.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), in its statement, said Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice will provide rice to people who have been put in government schools for safety and security.
"#Sourav to provide Free Rice to the Needy It is heartening to note that Sourav Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice has come forward to provide free rice worth Rs 50 lacs to the needy people who have been put in government schools for safety and security. Hope this initiative of Ganguly would encourage other citizens of the state to take up similar initiatives to serve the people of our state. #CAB," CAB said in a statement.
CAB President Avishek Dalmiya has also lent support to the needy people as he donated Rs 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund.
"CAB President donates 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund to fight against #CoronaVirus/#Covid19," CAB said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to contain coronavirus.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

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