South Asian Games: India's archers on target, women's football team disappoints

February 6, 2016

Shillong, Feb 6: Returning from a prolonged layoff, defending champion Tarundeep Rai produced his best along with country's Olympic hope Deepika Kumari to top their respective qualification rounds as India reigned supreme in recurve archery competitions of the 12th South Asian Games here.

AsianGames

India also topped in the compound section with Abhishek Verma and Purvasha Shende claiming the honours in men's and women's sections respectively at the Polo ground.

Following the Asian Games protocol, two archers from each country made the cut into the elimination round as India's Olympian archer Jayanta Talukdar made an exit with promising Army archer Gurucharan Besra (666 points) making the last-16 along with topper Tarundeep, who logged 676.

The next best was Bangladeshi Sojeb Shiek who had a score of 653 to finish third in the men's recurve.

Having finished top two, the Indian duo will get a bye into the quarters as they also topped the team event along with Jayanta Talukdar as the hosts will get a bye into the semifinals of the team event which has a draw of eight.

In the women's recurve event, former world number one Deepika lived up to her expectation to finish top along with Bombayla Devi Laishram with scores of 668 and 646 respectively as Laxmirani Majhi, who had won the national ranking here in January, failed to make the cut.

Laxmirani with scores of 632 joined Deepika and Bombayla in the team event as India also topped in the women's recurve section.

However, there was disappointment for reigning champions India as they had to be content with a goalless draw against lower-ranked Maldives in the women's football competition, the only other discipline that kicked off the Shillong leg of the SAG here.

Nepal, meanwhile, shocked Bangladesh 3-0 in the women's football to top the group.

The Indian eves dominated the proceedings but could not find a goal as Maldives, who are ranked 129 in FIFA women's football compared to India's 57, stole a point.

It was a display of attacks after attacks by the eves but the only missing link was finding the net as none of their raids resulted in a goal.

Coached by Sajid Yousuf Dar, the Indian eves played with a 4-3-3 formation but their forwards could not find their coordination going.

"It's disappointing we could not capitalise on our chances and find a goal. We did not expect this but we must give credit to their defence who stood out," the Indian coach said.

Sajid further said it would be tough for the defending champions from now as the top two will only make the final but he hoped the return of their star forward Bala Devi against Sri Lanka on February 9 will "make a difference".

India almost had all the possesion in the second-half with Maldives defence kept on toes all the while.

Indian forward Sasmita Mallick had some attacking moves from the left flank but she had very little assistance from central forward Kamala Devi as several of their first-half raids went in vain.

After the changeover, Indian eves scored a goal but the linesman showed the flag out ruling it an off-side.

It was a moral victory for the Maldives, their Japanese coach Naoko Kawamoto said as she credited the entire side, especially defender duo of Aminath Zaahiya and Sanfa Ibrahim Didi.

"It was tough playing conditon in the severe cold climate and some of our players had breathing problem but our defence stood out and warded off all their challenges," Kawamoto said.

Maldives will next take on table leaders Nepal on February 7.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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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
June 25,2020

New Delhi, Jun 25: India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Thursday called the 1983 World Cup win as the 'landscape' changing moment for the game of cricket in the country.

Today, India is celebrating the completion of the 37 years of the maiden World Cup triumph under the leadership of Kapil Dev.

"Today 37 years ago, changed the cricketing landscape in India. Thank you @therealkapildev and team for making the game a career for many of us today. Deeply indebted," Ashwin tweeted.

In 1983, in the finals between India and West Indies, the latter won the toss and opted to bowl first.

The Kapil Dev-led side managed to score just 183 runs as Andy Roberts took three wickets while Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, and Larry Gomes picked up two wickets each.

Defending 183, India did a good job of keeping a check on the Windies run flow, reducing the side to 57/3.

Soon after, the team from the Caribbean was reduced to 76/6 and India was the favourites from there on to win the title.

Mohinder Amarnath took the final wicket of Michael Holding to give India their first-ever World Cup title win.

In the finals, West Indies was bowled out for 140, and as a result, India won the match by 43 runs.

Kapil Dev lifting the trophy at the balcony of Lord's Cricket Ground still remains an image to savour for all the Indian fans.

In the finals, Mohinder Amarnath was chosen as the Man of the Match as he scored 26 runs with the bat and also picked up three wickets with the ball.

India has been the regular participant in the World Cup from its beginning to the latest edition. The first edition was held in 1975 and from there on, it has taken place after a span of every four years.

West Indies won the first two World Cup titles (1975, 1979) and was the runner-up in 1983. India has won the title two times, in 1983 and in 2011.

MS Dhoni captained the 2011 team to win their second title after 28 years. Australia has won the tournament five times (1987, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2015).

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