Sindhu loses to Bingjiao again, Srikanth too ousted from China Open

Agencies
November 9, 2018

Fuzhou, Nov 9: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth were ousted from the China Open World Tour Super 750 on Friday after losing their singles quarterfinals matches here.

While Sindhu yet again struggled to go past China's He Bingjiao in women's singles, Srikanth fell in straight-games to world number 3 Chou Tien Chen in the men's singles event.

Third seeded Sindhu, who clinched three silver medals this season -- Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games -- lost 17-21 21-17 15-21 to the eighth seeded Chinese.

It was Indian shuttler's third loss to Bingjiao, who had defeated her at the Indonesia Open and French Open in July and October this year.

Later Srikanth paid the price for being too erratic as he lost 14-21 14-21 in 35 minutes to Chen, who has been in good form this season with three titles from five final appearances.

Earlier, the left-handed Bingjiao controlled the rallies by executing her strokes perfectly and used her deft touch to outwit Sindhu.

The Indian frittered away a 8-3 advantage early on to lose the opening game but made a roaring comeback in the second before losing the decider after a late charge.

Sindhu had started well to take a 4-1 lead early on before moving to 8-3 but Bingjiao managed to claw back at 9-9. The duo moved neck and neck till 15-15 when the Chinese moved ahead with three straight points. Sindhu made it to 17-18 before Bingjiao pocketed the opening game.

In the second game, Bingjiao surged to 4-2 but Sindhu turned the tables as she moved to 6-5 and then grabbed a 11-7 lead. She kept distance despite the Chinese snapping at her feet.

In the decider, Bingjiao was more sure-footed than Sindhu as she executed her plan well to take a 11-6 advantage at the interval. The Chinese managed to eke out a 15-8 lead before Sindhu produced a late charge to claw back to 15-16.

But Bingjiao didn't give any chance to the Indian after that as she reeled off the remaining points to cement her place in the semifinals.

In the men's singles match, Srikanth never seemed to pose a challenge to his Chinese Taipei opponent, who won titles in Germany, Singapore and Korea this year.

Chen played with a lot of confidence, something which the Indian seemed to have lacked during the match as he gave away easy points.

In the opening game, Srikanth did well initially to grab a 10-8 lead but after the break, Chen dominated the proceedings. Eventually a roaring smash earned him the game point and he sealed it when Srikanth's return went wide.

In the second game, Srikanth struggled again and was 4-10 down at one stage but he produced a towering smash and two unforced errors from his rival took him to 7-10.

A net error from Srikanth gave a 11-7 lead to Chen at the break.

After the breather, Chen again dominated the rallies even as Srikanth fell in a heap of errors.

Lagging 11-18, Srikanth produced another smash to take a point but Chen soon had eight match points when the Indian hit long.

Srikanth saved two match points before Chen sealed it with another precise return.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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