Vidarbha crush Delhi by 9 wickets, win maiden Ranji Trophy title

Agencies
January 2, 2018

Indore, Jan 2: idarbha claimed their maiden Ranji Trophy after beating Delhi by nine wickets in the final of India s premier domestic tournament here today.

Chasing a target of 29, Vidarbha completed the task with loss of skipper Faiz Fazal s wicket.

Opting to field, Vidarbha bowled out Delhi for 295 in the first innings with Rajneesh Gurbani picking up six wickets.

In reply, Vidarbha notched up a mammoth 547 all out, as Akshay Wadkar struck his maiden century in first-class cricket.

Overnight 528 for seven with wicketkeeper Wadkar unbeaten on 133, Delhi quickly picked up the remaining three wickets in the morning.

Young pacer Navdeep Saini was the most successful bowler for Delhi, returning figures of 5 for 135 after bowling a marathon 36.3 overs.

Delhi were a bowler short through the Vidarbha first innings as left-arm spinner Manan Sharma remained off the field due to a knee injury. Manan, though, batted in the second innings.

In their second innings, Delhi were all out for 280 with Shorey scoring another half-century a 142-ball 62 while Nitish Rana struck 64.

Vidarbha chased down the 29-run target with a day to spare at the Holkar Stadium, which hosted the title clash of the tournament for the second successive time.

Trailing by 252 runs, Delhi lost opener Kunal Chandela with just 32 runs on the board. And a bigger blow was dealt on the seven-time winners when their most experienced campaigner, Gautam Gambhir, in what looked like a debatable decision, was adjudged out lbw off Gurbani to a ball that seemed to be heading down the leg side.

The out-of-favour India opener looked in good touch during his quick 36 off 37 balls (32 coming in boundaries), and could have helped Delhi s cause had he stayed longer.

First-innings centurion Shorey and Rana then added 110 runs for the third wicket.

The second session saw Shorey and Rana playing freely, hitting some lovely drives and flicks. However, as the team score reached 164, Delhi lost Shorey, who was given a reprieve by Wasim Jaffer in first slip, to the left-arm spin of Aditya Sarwate.

Rana followed suit as he nicked the impressive Gurbani to Wadkar behind the stumps. Like in the first innings, Gurbani was again bowling his heart out and swung the new ball to good effect.

Himmat Singh, who had a fifty in the first essay, was bowled by off-spinner Akshay Wakhare before he could open his account.

And then came a reckless shot by skipper Rishabh Pant (32), an attempted heave off Siddhesh Neral leading to his dismissal as Delhi ran out of batting options. This was an over after Pant was let off by Wadkar, who missed an easy stumping chance.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
July 9,2020

Tokorozawa, Jul 9: Olympic boxing hopeful Arisa Tsubata is used to taking blows in the ring but it is during her work as a nurse that she faces her toughest opponent: coronavirus.

The 27-year-old juggles a brutal training regime in boxing gloves with long, irregular hours in surgical gloves at a hospital near Tokyo.

Tsubata mainly treats cancer patients but she said the virus was a constant threat, with medical experts warning at the peak of the pandemic that Japan's health system was close to collapse.

"We always face the risk of infection at medical facilities," she said.

"My colleagues and I have all worked under the stress of possibly getting infected."

Like most elite athletes, the virus played havoc with Tsubata's training schedules, meaning she welcomed the postponement of this year's Tokyo Olympics until 2021.

"It was a plus for me, giving me more time for training, although I wasn't sure if I should be so happy because the reason for the postponement was the spread of the infectious disease," she said.

Tsubata took up boxing only two years ago as a way to lose weight but quickly rose through the ranks.

"In a few years after becoming a nurse, I gained more than 10 kilos (22 pounds)," she laughed.

"I planned to go to Hawaii with my friends one summer, and I thought I wouldn't have much fun in a body like that. That is how I started boxing."

She quickly discovered a knack for the ring, winning the Japan national championship and a place on the national team.

But juggling her medical and sporting career has not always been easy and the first time she fought a foreign boxer came only in January, at an intensive training camp in Kazakhstan.

"That made me realise how inexperienced I am in my short boxing career. I was scared," she admitted.

Japanese boxing authorities decided she was not experienced enough to send her to the final qualifying tournament in Paris, which would have shattered her Tokyo 2020 dreams -- if coronavirus had not given her an extra year.

Now she is determined to gain the experience needed to qualify for the rescheduled Games, which will open on July 23, 2021.

"I want to train much more and convince the federation that I could fight in the final qualifiers," she said.

Her coach Masataka Kuroki told AFP she is a subtle boxer and a quick learner, as he put her through her paces at a training session.

She now needs to add more defensive technique and better core strength to her fighting spirit and attacking flair, said Kuroki.

"Defence! She needs more technique for defence. She needs to have a more agile, stronger lower body to fend off punches from below," he said.

Her father Joji raised Arisa and her three siblings single-handedly after separating from his Tahitian wife and encouraged his daughter into nursing to learn life-long skills.

He never expected his daughter to be fighting for a place in the Olympics but proudly keeps all her clippings from media coverage.

"She tried not to see us family directly after the coronavirus broke out," the 58-year-old told AFP. "She was worried."

Tsubata now want to compete in the Games for all her colleagues who have supported her and the patients that have cheered her on in her Olympic ambitions.

"I want to be the sort of boxer who keeps coming back no matter how many punches I take," she said.

"I want to show the people who cheer for me that I can work hard and compete in the Olympics, because of them."

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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