Sindhu's Macau win caps best year for Indian badminton: Gopichand

December 1, 2014

GopichandMacau, Dec 1: After successfully defending her title at the Macau Open, India's teen sensation P V Sindhu today said she was happy to win her first title of the year and end the season on a high.

Two-time World Championship bronze medallist, Sindhu outplayed Kim Hyo Min of Korea 21-12 21-17 in the summit clash that lasted 45 minutes at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion.

"It was a good win. She played really well. I knew it won't be easy. She had beaten some good players coming into the finals. The scoreline might say it was a straight game win but it was tough. I am happy I could play my game and I am happy with my performance," Sindhu said.

"It has been a good year for me. I beat some very good players and won some important medals in big events such as World Championship and Asian Games. I will look to work harder and do better next year," she said.

Talking about the losses this year, Sindhu said: "There are some defeats which will always bother you as a player like the loss at Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. At Glasgow, gold medal was for the taking but I could not do it.

"Also at Asian Games, I could have won but I guess that is part and parcel of the game. Good thing is that I came back to do well at the World Championship," she added.

Chief National coach Pullela Gopichand also heaped praise on Sindhu for defending her women's singles title at Macau Open and said it was her consistency which helped her to do well this season.

"It is a good win for Sindhu. She played really well. I think she has been very consistent throughout the year. She beat some good players such as Michelle Li and Busanan (Ongbumrungpan) getting into the finals. The Korean also beat Sun Yu to get into final. More importantly what she showed on court was good. She was sharp," said Gopichand.

"We have seen her play in Korea. She played in the Asian Games. She had beaten P C Thulasi. We knew she is good. She had beaten some good players like (Nichaon) Jindapon. It was a tough match and a good quality match. Both the players played brilliantly," he said. .

Sindhu scripted some historic moments for Indian badminton this year as she became the first Indian to win two back-to-back medals in the World Badminton Championships. She also won the bronze medals at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and Asian Games at Incheon.

The 19-year-old also won a team bronze at the Uber Cup, which was hosted by India for the first time.

Gopichand said despite the losses Sindhu has shown that she can beat the top Chinese players on a given day.

"Overall, it has been a hectic year with lots of big events and she has shown that she has the cheek to beat the Wang Shixians and Wang Yihans. Every 2-3 months, she had had good results this year and so she has been consistent," he said.

"Of course, there has been some losses but at 19 if she starts winning everything that will be surprising. There has been few ups and downs but the ups have been good and that what matters," said Gopichand.

Asked about the tournaments that she will play next, Gopichand said: "She will next play in Malaysia and India GP Gold. She could not play the China Open as she had cold and she was recovering. So it will be a break for a month. She will be playing a mix of Grand Prix Golds and Super Series, may be 2-3 GP gold and rest super series events."

The former All England Champion, Gopichand said it has been the best year for Indian badminton.

"Over all it is great for Indian badminton. It has been the best year for Indian badminton. The Uber Cup and Asian games medals have been first ever and these are really big and it shows team strength," he said.

"Again by the end of the year, Srikanth beating Lin Dan and then also doing well at the Hong Kong. That is also a great performance. We had three different champions and it is always good to see," Gopichand said.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.

The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.

"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.

"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.

Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.

Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.

Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ex-New Zealand player and coach had arrived in India on March 5 for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but was stuck in the country after the lockdown was imposed and all flights were suspended.

"What a wonderful sight after spending over a day on a bus to get to Mumbai airport. The staff on @FlyAirNZ were simply outstanding on our return to New Zealand," Hesson tweeted.

He also thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Zealand Embassy in India, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"Special thanks to Down pointing backhand index @NZinIndia @MFATNZ @narendramodi @jacindaardern #repatriationflight #india #NZ" he added.

To stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, India and New Zealand had announced lockdowns in their respective countries last month, alongside travel restrictions, forcing the 45-year-old to stay in Bengaluru.

While India remains in lockdown till May 3, New Zealand eased its stringent measures on Tuesday.

The IPL, which was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, has been suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.

The cornavirus outbreak, that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected over 30 lakh people across the world while killing more than two lakh.

All sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics, have either been cancelled or postponed.

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