Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: India move to third spot after 3-1 win over Canada

April 10, 2016

Ipoh (Malaysia), Apr 11: India's hockey team claimed a 3-1 victory over Canada to move to the third spot in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Sunday.

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India, coming into the match with a 1-5 defeat against world champions Australia, caught a flying start with forward Nikkin Thimmiah scoring in the third minute. Keegan Pereira, however, made it 1-1 for Canada in the 23rd minute.

Later drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh gave India the lead in the 41st minutes before forward Talwinder Singh sealed the game in India's favour with just three minutes left on the clock.

With this win, India have six points -- two more than fourth-placed Canada. Australia are on top of the table with three wins from as many games -- they thrashed Pakistan 4-0 earlier in the day. New Zealand, who saw off Japan 4-1, are second on the table with eight points from four matches.

Rolant Oltmans' India had been criticised for poor show in the two matches so far, albeit they have a young team, bereft of at least six settled players.

However, on Sunday, they turned out in style, right from the push-back. A brilliant pass by Rupinder Pal Singh split the Canadian defence open to allow Ramandeep Singh who set up Nikkin for a simple tap in the third minute.

Chinglensana Singh had another attempt -- a superb reverse hit saved by the goalkeeper to ensure Canada went into the 150-second break just a goal down.

The Canadians responded strongly in the second quarter, coming back and matching India strength for strength. Even the statistics showed that.

Canada's best showing came in the second quarter as they managed a massive seven circle penetrations, and 50 percent of the possession. Appropriately, they scored the equaliser with six minutes of the quarter remaining via Pereira. The two teams walked into half-time level at 1-1.

Rudely awakened, India did not allow any such lapses in concentration in the second half as they came out looking to close the match strongly.

Having not been awarded a single penalty corner in the first half, India managed to win one ten minutes into the third quarter and duly converted it in style. India's young drag-flicker Harmanpreet scored his second goal of the tournament to give India the lead.

India did not let up in the fourth quarter, controlling the possession and had seven circle penetrations in the final period. In contrast, Canada managed a solitary penetration in the entire period. Another penalty corner by India was saved smartly by Canada.

The quarter saw a brilliant solo effort by captain Sardar Singh hit the post. Winning the ball in midfield, Sardar stormed down almost 50 yards before trying a reverse flick that hit the post and bounced back only to be cleared by the Canadian defence.

Not too long later though, India ensured the result did not change after a Sardar cross, and a Chinglensana mishit, left Talwinder with the clearest of chances inside the box to extend India's lead to 3-1 and ensured they took home the points.

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Agencies
March 13,2020

New Delhi, Mar 13: The remaining ODI series between India and South Africa has been called-off amidst the rising concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

"The second and third ODI between India and South Africa in Lucknow and Kolkata respectively are called off," the BCCI source told media persons.

The first match of the series was abandoned due to rain and wet outfield without a toss at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium on Thursday.

The second and third ODI was scheduled to be played at Lucknow and Kolkata on March 15 and 18 respectively. Earlier on Thursday, the BCCI has decided to play the remaining two ODIs behind closed doors.

"After holding discussions with the MYAS and MOHFW, the BCCI on Thursday announced that the remaining two One-day Internationals (ODIs) of the three-match series of South Africa tour of India, 2020, will be played without any public gathering, including spectators," the BCCI had said in a statement.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has advised all the federations to avoid large gatherings.

World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday had declared the coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' and expressed deep concerns.

The coronavirus disease was first detected in Wuhan in China's Hubei province, in late December, and has since spread worldwide.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Hamilton, Feb 5: Ross Taylor and Tom Latham played knocks of 109 and 69, respectively, as New Zealand defeated India by four wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series here at the Seddon Park on Wednesday.

Chasing 348, New Zealand got off to a steady start as openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put on 85 runs for the first wicket, however, India finally got the breakthrough in the 16th over as Shardul Thakur dismissed Guptill (32).

Tom Blundell and Nicholls then put on 24 runs for the second wicket, but their vigil came to an end in the 20th over as Kuldeep Yadav had Blundell (9) stumped at the hands of wicket-keeper KL Rahul, reducing Kiwis to 109/2.

Nicholls then retrieved the innings for the hosts as he found support in Ross Taylor. The duo mixed caution with aggression to stitch together a partnership of 62 runs. But with their back against the wall, skipper Kohli lifted the side up as he ran out Nicholls (78) in the 29th over, reducing New Zealand to 171/3.

Skipper Tom Latham, came out to bat next, and he increased the tempo of the Kiwi innings. He took a special liking to Kuldeep and kept on sweeping him to pick easy boundaries on the legside.

Taylor and Latham put on a stand of 138 runs to take Kiwis closer to victory. But with 39 runs away from the target, Kuldeep dismissed Latham (69) to revive India's hopes of making a comeback.

Mohammed Shami removed Jimmy Neesham (9) in the 46th over while Colin de Grandhomme (1) was sent packing via a run-out to send cat among the pigeons in the Kiwi camp. In the end, Mitchell Santner and Taylor took the hosts over the line by four wickets and with 11 balls to spare.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul's knocks of 103 and 88, respectively, helped India post 347/4 in the allotted twenty overs.

After being put in to bat, India got off to a quickfire start as openers Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal put on 50 runs. Colin de Grandhomme finally provided the breakthrough to the Kiwis as he sent Shaw (20) back to the pavilion in the eighth over.

Agarwal (32) was also dismissed soon after by Tim Southee and the Men in Blue were reduced to 54/2 in the ninth over.

Skipper Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer then retrieved the innings for the visitors as the duo put on 102 runs for the third wicket. Kohli brought up his 58th half-century in the 28th over.

Ish Sodhi got the crucial breakthrough of Kohli (51) in the 29th over as he clean bowled him to reduce India to 156/3. However, Iyer continued to march on and brought up his maiden ODI century in the 43rd over.

KL Rahul, who came in to bat at number five provided the much-needed impetus to the innings. He along with Iyer put on a stand of 136 runs for the fourth wicket.

Iyer (103) was finally sent back to the pavilion by Southee in the 46th over, reducing India to 292/4.

In the final overs, Rahul and Kedar Jadhav hammered the Kiwi players to take India's score past the 340-run mark. Jadhav remained unbeaten on 26.

Brief Scores: New Zealand 348/6 (Ross Taylor 109*, Henry Nicholls 78, Kuldeep Yadav 2-84) defeat India 347/4 (Shreyas Iyer 103, KL Rahul 88*, Tim Southee 2-85) by four wickets.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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