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South Asian Games: India win 19 medals on Day 1 including 14 golds

February 7, 2016

Guwahati, Feb 7: It was gold rush for India on the opening day of the South Asian Games with the country's wrestlers, swimmers and weightlifters showing their regional dominance by making a near clean sweep of top honours in Guwahati on Sunday.

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India clinched 14 gold, and five silver medals on a highly productive day to top the medals tally with an overall count of 19. Sri Lanka, despite having a higher overall medal count of 21, occupied the second spot in the table owing to a lesser tally of gold medals (4). Wrestlers were the stars for India, grabbing as many as five gold medals followed by the swimmers who clinched four gold and three silver medals

The weightlifters added three gold medals to the tally after the cyclists had opened India's account with two gold and an equal number of silver medals in the morning. Three women and two male grapplers finished on top of the podium as the proceedings went on expected lines on the opening day of the competitions. Rajneesh and Ravinder bagged the gold in Men's 65kg and 57kg divisions respectively.

In women's wrestling, Priyanka Singh claimed the top position in 48kg, while Manisha won the gold in 60kg and Archana Tomar clinched the yellow metal in 55kg categories. The Indians created quite a splash in the pool as well picking up three of their four gold medals by clocking record times. Asian Games bronze-medallist Sandeep Sejwal (men's 200m breaststroke), Shivani Kataria (women's 200m freestyle) and the women's 100m freestyle relay team set new Games record timings on their way to gold while Damini Gowda added another yellow metal in women's 100m butterfly.

Sejwal won his pet event in 2:20.66sec to better his own record of 2:21.03 which he had set in the last edition in Dhaka in 2010 and defended his title. Kiran Jasinghe of Sri Lanka and Mohd Shariful Islam came second and third in 2:26.17 and 2:26.99 respectively. In women's 200m freestyle, Kataria first set a new Games record in the morning heats with a timing of 2:12.13 and she bettered it in the evening with an effort of 2:08.68 on her way to gold. Machiko Raheem and Ishani Erandika Senanayake, both from Sri Lanka, were second and third respectively.

Damini Gowda then brought home the third gold for India in women's 100m butterfly as she clocked one minute and 4.92 seconds to finish much ahead of two Sri Lankans K A Hiruni Perera (1:06.89) and Machiko Raheem ( 1:07.24). The Indian women's 4x100m freestyle quartet completed the home side's dominance by winning the relay event, the last of the day, to the big cheer from the crowd. They clocked 4:01.95 to better India's own record of 4:08.72 set in the 2006 edition in Colombo. The Sri Lankan ( 4:05.07) and Pakistan (4:22.38) teams were second and third respectively.

As many as six Games records were set out of the eight competed today and expectedly Sri Lanka ran neck and neck with India by grabbing 3 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze. Pakistan won a silver while Bangladesh could win four bronze medals at the Dr Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex here. In men's 200m freestyle, India's Saurabh Sangvekar won the silver in 1:53.03. The second silver came in men's 100m butterfly through Supriyo Mondal in 55.86 seconds.

India established early dominance in the weightlifting competition as well by notching up three gold medals on the first day of competitions. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, Harshdeep Kaur and Gururaja bagged the yellow metal for India. Chanu, silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, opened the medal account for India in weightlifting in women's 48kg weight category. She lifted a total of 169kg (79kg in snatch + 90kg in clean and jerk). All her efforts in snatch, clean and jerk and total are South Asian Games records as women's weightlifting has been included for the first time in the SAG. Gururaja bagged the second gold for India by winning the men's 56kg event with a total lift of 241kg (104kg + 137kg) on the opening day of the competitions today.

Chathuranga Lakmal of Sri Lanka won the silver. India's third gold was won by Harshdeep Kaur in women's 53kg category with a total lift of 171kg (73kg + 98kg). Earlier, the day's tone was set by cyclists with India clinching both the gold and silver medals on offer. The Indians finished first and second each in both the men's 40km individual time trial and women's 30km individual time-trial finals to begin the cycling competition on a high.

Tourangbam Bidyalaxmi won the women's 30km individual time trial event in a time of 49 minutes 24.573 seconds ahead of compatriot and fellow Manipuri Elangbam Chaoba Devi, who clocked 49 minutes 31.311 seconds in the road race at the national highway number 37. In the men's 40km individual time trial final, Arvind Panwar clocked 52 minutes and 28.800 seconds to win the gold while his Indian team-mate Manjeet Singh was second in 54 minute and 1.183 seconds.

In Shillong, Indian archers assured themselves of four gold and as many silver medals in the individual recurve and compound sections. Defending champion Tarundeep Rai and Gurucharan Besra along with former world number one Deepika Kumari and Bombayla Devi Laishram stormed into the final of recurve men's and women's sections respectively in the morning session at the Polo Ground.

In the afternoon session, Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan posted contrasting wins, while Purvasha Shende and Jyoti Surekha secured easy victories in the men's and women's semis in the compound section to confirm their final berths India ruled the the roost on the wrestling mat as they ran away with all the five gold medals on offer on the opening day of competitions here.

Priyanka Singh (women's 48kg freestyle), Archana Tomar (women's 55kg freestyle), Manisha (women's 60kg freestyle), Ravindra (men's 57kg freestyle) and Rajneesh (men's 65kg freestyle) won gold with ease in a show of complete dominance at the DTRP Indoor Stadium. Priyanka opened the gold medal account for India by defeating Sumitra of Nepal 4-0, while Niroshan of Sri Lanka won the bronze.

Tomar bagged the second gold for India as she toyed with her opponent S Chaowdhary of Bangladesh in a 4-0 result. X P Kumari of Sri Lanka was third as she beat Sarmila Rai of Nepal in the bronze medal bout.

Manisha ensured India's clean sweep in the women's section as she got a 4-0 verdict against X Kabita of Nepal in the final bout. Rina Akhtar of Bangladesh won the bronze in that category.

Ravinder then gave India the gold in the men's 57kg freestyle with a 3-0 win over Mohammad Bilal of Pakistan before Rajneesh completed the memorable day for India with a 4-0 win over Pakistan's Nadar in the men's 65kg.

In men's football, India made a disappointing start to their campaign as they suffered a solitary goal loss to Sri Lanka. They will now have to beat Maldives in their group match on February 10 if they want to finish among top two and qualify for the semifinals.

India enjoyed the lion's share of possession at the SAI Center ground and dominated most of the proceedings but failed to convert the chances that came their way. Sri Lanka's all-important goal was scored in the 14th minute by captain MCM Rinas from a free-kick from around 30 yards.

In squash, top Indian players Sourav Ghosal, Harinderpal Singh and Joshana Chinappa easily made it to the semifinals while Sunayna Kuruvilla bowed out of the competition in the individual events.

Ghosal hardly broke a sweat as he beat Mohd Shumon of Bangladesh 11-5 11-1 11-3 in the quarterfinals while Harinderpal also sent packing Mohd. Shamil Wakeel of Sri Lanka 11-3 11-8 11-3 to enter the semifinals.

In women's individual event, Joshana toyed with Krishna Thapa of Nepal 11-6 11-4 11-4 to storm into the semifinals. However, Sunayna Kuruvilla failed to make it to the semifianls after losing to Mihilya Methsarani of Sri Lanka 11-6 9-11 11-4 5-11 10-12. In Volleyball, Indian men's team spanked Nepal 3-0 (25-15 25-16 25-16), while in Kho Kho, Indian men's team beat Nepal 23-21 and the women's side defeated Sri Lanka 16-14.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Dubai, Jul 24: The eagerly-awaited Indian Premier League will start on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the final slated on November 8, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI on Friday.

While the event's Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the BCCI has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

"The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL," Patel confirmed the development after PTI reported the dates on Thursday.

The IPL has been made possible by the ICC's decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic due to which the host country expressed its inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 threat is being prepared and the BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

"We are making the SOP and it will be ready in a few days. To allow crowd or not depends on the UAE government. Anyway social distancing has to be maintained. We have left it for their government to decide on that. Will also be writing to the UAE board formally," Patel said.

There are three grounds available in the UAE -- Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI will be renting the grounds of the ICC Academy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has two full-sized cricket grounds along with 38 turf pitches, 6 indoor pitches, a 5700 square foot outdoor conditioning area along with physiotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health protocol in Dubai, there is no need to be in quarantine if people are carrying a negative COVID-19 test report, but if they are not, they will have to undergo a test.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, the BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team's tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

"The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire," a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

"The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window," he added.

While the original schedule had five double-headers, Patel said the new one will feature around 12 double-headers which means two matches each on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month's time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was originally scheduled to start at the end of March but the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place to contain the virus, led to an indefinite postponement.

However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had always maintained that the event will be held some time this year.

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Agencies
May 22,2020

India's cricket board will not push for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia to be postponed but would consider staging the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October/November slot if it becomes available, a senior BCCI official has told Reuters.

This year's IPL, which is worth almost $530 million to the BCCI, has been indefinitely postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic while the World Cup, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 18, is also in jeopardy.

Reports in Australian media have suggested India's influential board may look to push for the World Cup to be postponed to open up a window for the IPL.

World Cup contingency plans are on the agenda at next week's International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting but BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said India would not be recommending it be pushed back.

"Why should the BCCI suggest postponing the Twenty20 World Cup?" Dhumal told Reuters by telephone.

"We'll discuss it in the meeting and whatever is appropriate, (the ICC) will take a call.

"If the Australia government announces that the tournament will happen and Cricket Australia is confident they can handle it, it will be their call. BCCI would not suggest anything."

While Australia has seen new infections of the novel coronavirus slow to a trickle and is gradually easing travel curbs and social distancing restrictions, hosting a 16-team World Cup would be a Herculean task for Cricket Australia.

Dhumal questioned whether the tournament should go ahead if it had to be played without spectators and said the Australian government would play a key role in any decision.

"It all depends on what the Australian government says on this - whether they'd allow so may teams to come and play the tournament," he added.

"Will it make sense to play games without spectators? Will it make sense for CA to stage such a tournament like that? It's their call."

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts was guarded about the prospects of staging the tournament as scheduled on Friday.

"We don't have clarity on that one, yet. But as the situation continues to improve, you never know what might be possible," he said.

"It's ultimately a decision for the ICC."

The ICC has said it was unlikely to make a final call on the fate of the World Cup until August but some boards are in the process of making contingency plans in the event of a postponement.

While the BCCI recognised an open October-November window would suit the IPL, Dhumal said there was no point in making plans until there was some certainty about the World Cup.

"If we have the window available, and depending on what all can be organised, we'll decide accordingly," he added. "We can't presume that it's not happening and go on planning."

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News Network
February 4,2020

Feb 4: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday said the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash has impacted his outlook towards life, which he feels, is sometimes taken for granted in pursuit of control over the future.

Bryant, a two-time Olympic gold-medallist and one of the most decorated basketball players of all time, died in a helicopter crash last month along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who was also a budding hoopster.

"Firstly, it was a shock to everyone. I grew up watching those NBA games in the morning and watching what he did on court. But when someone that you have looked up to in some ways, passes away like that, it does put things in perspective," Kohli said on the eve of the first ODI against New Zealand here.

"...at the end of the day, life can be so fickle. It's so unpredictable. I think a lot of the times we get too caught up in the pressures of what we have to do tomorrow...we really forget living life and enjoying life and just appreciating and being grateful for the life we have," he added.

Kohli said a tragedy like this makes one realise that nothing can be more important than enjoying every moment of existence.

"...it did put things in perspective for me massively. It just makes you feel like not wanting to have control of things in front of you all the time, and just embracing life and appreciating it.

"You start looking at things from a different point of view suddenly and you want to enjoy every moment you're going through. You realise that what you're doing at the end of the day is not the most important thing. The most important thing is life itself," Kohli signed off.

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