Sindhu loses epic semifinal at All England Championship

Agencies
March 18, 2018

Birmingham, Mar 18: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu let history slip out of her hands as she lost an epic semifinal against world no 2 Japanese Akane Yamaguchi to bow out of the USD 1000,000 All England championship here today.

On the cusp of history, Sindhu failed to build on a handsome lead in the decider to go down 21-19 19-21 18-21 to Yamaguchi after battling for an hour and 19 minutes. This was the ninth victory on the trot for the 20-year-old Japanese, who had won the German Open early this month.

In scenes similar to the one that went down to the wire in the summit clash of last year's Dubai Super Series Final, both Sindhu and Yamaguchi threw themselves on the court, traversing diagonally again and again during a series of punishing rallies, which defined the edge-of-the-seat thriller.

However, in the end, it was Yamaguchi, who showed better nerves to walk away with the match and cement a place at the finals against World No 1 Taiwanese Tai Tzu Ying at the Arena Birmingham here.

Despite being on the court for almost 3 and a half hours during the three-game matches in last three days, Sindhu didn't show any sign of fatigue and matched the nimble-footed Yamaguchi as they looked to outdo each other. But a slight lapse of concentration in the dying moments and the match was over in the end.

Sindhu, who has come out victorious in six of their nine previous matches, made an aggressive start with a smash and rode on unforced errors from Yamaguchi to jump to a 5-0 lead. Playing with the drift, the Japanese struggled to keep the shuttle inside court initially.

A couple of shots going out from Sindhu and a tight net play saw Yamaguchi make it 3-8. Sindhu hit a stunning down-the-line smash but twice she erred at the forecourt as the Japanese moved to 5-9. However, Sindhu enjoyed a healthy 11-5 lead at the first break.

The Japanese dynamo made Sindhu work hard with her attacking game. The Indian too tried to create angled strokes to put her opponent in difficult situations. Yamaguchi hit one at long and found the net twice as Sindhu lead 14-7.

Yamaguchi continued to commit unforced errors as Sindhu doubled her lead at 16-8. However, the Indian missed one at the forehand forecourt and made a bad judgement to allow Yamaguchi reach double figures.

The Japanese kept fighting and started forcing Sindhu into error to narrow the lead to 15-17. A long rally ensued next which ended with Sindhu failing to send one across at the forecourt. Another missed chance at the backhand forecourt and it was 17-17.

It was again a couple of unforced errors which broke the run of points as Sindhu lead 19-18. A great judgement at the back line gave Sindhu two game points. Yamaguchi saved one with a half smash before Sindhu sealed the opening game with a smash and celebrated with a fist pump.

The fast-paced rallies continued after the change of sides as the duo looked to outdo each other. Yamaguchi dictated the rallies but Sindhu kept up with her rival as the duo split the initial 14 points.

It was quite a task to tame the baby-faced Japanese as she was extremely fast on the court and retrieved most of the diagonal strokes that Sindhu threw at her. In the end, a jump cross court angled smash and then a return after catching the shuttle early helped Yamaguchi reach 11-9 lead at the interval.

After the break, a tight net play followed by a smash and then an easy mistake by Yamaguchi saw Sindhu make it 12-12.

Yamaguchi, however, soon opened up a four-point lead at 18-14. A cross-court drive earned the Indian a point. But she couldn't reach the forecourt to retrieve a slow drop by the Japanese.

A backhand flick near the court by Sindhu and a couple of miscued stroke by Yamaguchi meant the deficit narrowed down to one point at 18-19.

Another long excruciating rally ended with Sindhu missing the line as Yamaguchi had two game points. Sindhu saved one when the Japanese hit long. But in the end, a lucky net chord sealed the game in Yamaguchi's favour and kept her alive in the contest.

The battle of supremacy continued in the decider and after the first six points, Sindhu unleashed a couple of fantastic down-the-line smashes on both the flanks to grab a 6-3 lead. She extended it to 8-5 with another attacking return.

Yamaguchi won another 44-shot rally, while Sindhu saw one get buried at the net as the Japanese narrowed it to 7-8. Sindhu let out a scream after the Japanese sent one to the net and then unleashed a precise smash to go into the interval with a four-point advantage.

After changing sides for the last time, Sindhu grabbed two more points before Yamaguchi produced a body smash. The Japanese kept putting the shuttle in difficult positions and won another long rally -- 51 shots -- to keep snapping at her heels. A bad judgement at the backline and another wide shot saw Yamaguchi level score at 14-14.

The testing rallies continued as the duo moved neck and neck till 18-18. Sindhu lost a video challenge and a smashing follow-up return earned the Japanese two match points and she sealed it with another smash as Sindhu was left crestfallen.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Karachi, Jan 10: Former Pakistan batsman and current U-19 head coach Ejaz Ahmed feels that his side can beat defending champions and arch-rivals India in the forthcoming ICC Youth World Cup beginning in South Africa on January 17.

"India has a very good cricket system and it is organized but I know that we have more passion than them when we play against each other and that is how we also beat them in the semi-finals of the recent Asian Emerging Nations Cup," Ejaz said.

Ejaz, who has played 60 Test and 250 ODIs, was head coach of the Pakistan Emerging side which beat India before eventually winning the title in Bangladesh last year.

"Even in the past, we beat India because of our greater passion and this time also I know the passion of our players will prevail over them although they have a very strong outfit," he added.

The 51-year-old Ejaz, however, said at the end of the day it would be all about how a team plays on that particular day.

"It is the same in the World Cup it does not matter which team is number one or defending champions what will matter is how a team plays on a given day. I personally feel our team is well balanced," he said.

Ejaz did not believe that India would get advantage of having played a four-nation tournament with South Africa, New Zealand and Zimbabwe in South Africa before the World Cup.

"Our players have also trained hard in Lahore and we have played around 11 matches. We will also reach South Africa nine days before the World Cup and we have some practice games and I think our preparations are also very good for the tournament," he said.

The former batsman also said the absence of fast bowler Naseem Shah will not impact much on the team's performance. Naseem was withdrawn from the Pakistan U-19 squad after he played for the senior team in three Test matches against Australia and Sri Lanka.

"Look there was no controversy at all. The way we now see things is that you can't expect a MBA to go and take BA exams. That is how we look at Naseem Shah, he has made the grade for Pakistan and now he should be performing for the senior team," said the head coach.

"We have a couple of exciting young talent in the ranks. I expect Rohail and Haider to play for the senior team in two to three year's time, they are that good."

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