Wrestler Sakshi Malik sensationally clinches bronze to open India's medal account

August 18, 2016

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 18: Gritty woman wrestler Sakshi Malik ended India's painful wait for a medal at the Rio Olympic Games by clinching the bronze in the 58kg category, pulling off a sensational 8-5 victory over Aisuluu Tynybekova in the Play-off bout, here.

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The 23-year-old from Rohtak became only the fourth woman athlete from India to win an Olympic medal as she earned the dramatic win after falling behind 0-5 in the do-or-die bout on day 12.

Weightlifter Karnam Malleshwari (2000, Sydney), boxer MC Mary Kom (2012, London) and shuttler Saina Nehwal (2012, London) were the only other women players from India to have won a medal in Olympics.

Like in three of the four other bouts earlier in the day, Sakshi won the crucial bout after coming from behind. She, in fact, had lost 2-9 in the quarter-finals to Russia's Valeriia Koblova in the fifth bout of the day before getting a second chance in repechage when her conqueror reached the final.

Sakshi's victory brought cheers to the Indian contingent that had endured agonising 11 days without a medal.

Sakshi turned the tables on the Kyrgyzstan wrestler in the dying seconds of the bout as Tynybekova was in complete command in most part of the clash.

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Tynybekova grabbed Sakshi's leg and quickly earned two points before adding one more for the Indian's passivity.

She repeated her move and successfully bagged two more points to lead 5-0 at the break.

Sakshi could open the scoring only in the second period and got two points after throwing her rival down and out of the mat. She then managed to earn two points again with a similar move to bring down the margin to 4-5.

Thereafter, it was no looking back for the Indian girl and she took the opponent down to level the scores 5-5. But she did not stop there and gained three more points by pinning down the Kyrgyzstan wrestler in the dying moments of the match.

She had earlier stormed into the bronze medal play-off round with a dominating performance in her repechage round, where she thrashed Purevdorjiin Orkhon of Mongolia 12-3. Both the wrestlers matched each other in the first period and the scores were 2-2 at the break.

But Sakshi gave a more aggressive account of herself in the second period, pinning down her opponent from time to time, besides flipping her over for crucial points.

Starting with a double-leg take down to earn two points, she added two more crucial points to her kitty to lead 6-3 with a minute left.

In the last one minute, she kept attacking and gained four more points. In fact, Sakshi earned as many as 10 points compared to just one by the Mongolian in the second period to seal off the issue in style.

As Sakshi had reached the quarterfinals, she needed to fight only one repechage round as compared to the other two opponents of the Russian girl, whom she had beaten in the earlier two rounds ? pre-quarters and qualification.

Koblova had beaten Luisa Niemesch of Germany in the qualification round before defeating Mongolia?s Orkhon in the pre-quarterfinals.

Therefore, in the first repechage round, these two grapplers from Germany and Mongolia faced each other. And the winner of that bout (Mongolian girl) then took on Sakshi in repechage round 2 for a place in the bronze medal play-off.

Sakshi had to get the better of the Mongolian grappler in the repechage round 2 and she did just that to advance to the bronze medal play off.

In the bronze play-off too Sakshi's winning move that got her two points initially was challenged by her Kyrgyztan rival and it was reviewed and she was awarded an extra point by the judges much to her rival's chagrin.

The other bronze was won by Marwa Amri of Tunisia.

Earlier in the day, Sakshi went down in the quarterfinals losing 2-9 to Koblova.

Having conceded one point in the first period of her quarterfinal fight because of passivity, Sakshi did well to earn two points in the second period after taking-down the Russian girl.

But Koblova, with enormous strength, hit back almost immediately to pocket four points and then gained another two to open up a 7-2 lead.

The Russian then closed the door on Sakshi by bagging another two points to win the bout and make the semifinals. In the first two rounds, Sakshi came back from behind to register impressive wins.

Making a strong comeback from a 0-4 down, Sakshi defeated Sweden?s Malin Johanna Mattsson 5-4 in the qualification round She was down 0-4 after the first period but quickly made amends in the second period.

Sakshi managed to pull two points back before pushing her rival out of the mat to grab another point.

With just 10 seconds remaining, Sakshi desperately needed one more point to post a win and she held her nerves as she took down the Swedish girl in those dying moments to post a narrow victory.

In the pre-quarters, she once again eked out a narrow 5-5 win over Mariana Cherdivara Esanu of Republic of Moldova In the opening period of the pre-quarterfinal bout, Sakshi got 30 seconds to earn points but she failed and that gave Cherdivara a point.

The girl from Moldova then put Sakshi down on the mat to gain another two points and lead 3-0 at the break.

In the second period, the Indian failed to take advantage of the 30 seconds she got and handed Cherdivara another point. Sakshi then came back strongly to post a double take down, which earned her four crucial points at one go and helped her surge ahead to a 5-3 lead.

Although Cherdivara, with her own take-down, gained two points to make the scores level at 5-5 with just 19 seconds left on the clock, the Indian was declared winner on bigger points gain.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is known for his finishing heroics and ending the match with a big shot to send a billion people in a frenzy.

For over a decade, Dhoni's swashbuckling batting style, especially the famed helicopter shot, gave international bowlers a headache. As the former Indian skipper celebrates his 39th birthday today, let's relive his first century in international cricket.

It was on April 5, 2005, when Dhoni had registered his first international century. The former skipper registered the feat against Pakistan in the second ODI of the six-match series. The match was played at the Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Dhoni had made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004. However, he did not have a good outing as he scored just 19 runs in the three-match series. But the wicket-keeper truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005, as he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Visakhapatnam.

In the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The side lost Sachin Tendulkar's wicket in the fourth over of the innings and it brought Dhoni to the middle.

Dhoni, along with Sehwag, took on the Pakistan bowlers and the duo formed a 96-run stand, which saw Sehwag going past the 50-run mark. Sehwag (74) was sent back to the pavilion in the 14th over, but Dhoni then found support in Rahul Dravid and the duo stitched a 149-run stand.

Dhoni smashed 15 fours and four sixes in his innings and scored 148 runs from 123 balls, taking India's total to 356/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

India then managed to defend the total as the side bundled out Pakistan for 298 as Ashish Nehra scalped four wickets.

Dhoni has so far played 350 ODIs with his highest score being 183 against Sri Lanka. He also remains the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Also referred to as 'Captain Cool', Dhoni is known for his calmness and exquisite captaincy on the field.

Over the years, he has cemented his place as one of the finest wicket-keepers across the world. His agility behind the stumps has given India many breakthroughs as the Ranchi-based wicket-keeper has done successful stumpings in no time.

He is also known for his knack of opting for reviews and many have jokingly remarked to change the 'Decision-Review System's' name to 'Dhoni-Review System'.

In December 2014, he announced his retirement from Tests and gave a chance to the likes of Wriddhiman Saha. Dhoni called time on his Test career after playing 90 Tests, managing to score 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09.

Then in 2017, he handed over the captaincy to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format. However, the wicket-keeper enjoys a great camaraderie with the latter and the duo have been seen often taking decisions together on the field.

Under Dhoni's leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket. His Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has also won the tournament thrice under his leadership.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 during the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The 39-year-old has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup. 

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Lausanne, Apr 2: The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the shutdown of the sporting calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic are going to hit international sports federations hard financially.

Many sports that are part of the Games depend heavily on the payouts every four years from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The situation is tense and very gloomy. An assessment will be made, but clearly some posts are under threat," said an official of a major international federation.

The 28 international federations (IF) of the sports that were due to be present at the Tokyo Olympics, would have received substantial sums from the IOC.

However, the postponement of the Games until 2021 could lead to a freeze of their payment.

"We have a lot of IF with substantial reserves, but others work on a different business model, they have income from major events which are suspended, which can be a problem for the cashflow if they don't have enough reserves," said Andrew Ryan, director general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations (ASOIF), which is responsible for distributing this money.

The five additions to the Tokyo Games programme - karate, surfing, skateboarding, climbing and baseball/softball - are not eligible.

The Olympic payout totalled 520 million after the Rio Games, four years ago.

"The Olympic money could be less than for Rio 2016," Ryan warned before adding: "My advice is to budget the same as in Rio".

The federations receive money on a sliding scale determined by their audience and size.

The three largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) can expect approximately 40 million.

For the second tier, made up of cycling, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis, the sum is 25 million.

For group three, which contains eight sports, including boxing, rowing, judo and table tennis, it is 17 million.

The nine sports in the next level (including sailing, canoing and fencing) receive 12 million.

For the three in the last category (rugby, golf, modern pentathlon) the payout is 7 million.

For the largest associations, such as football's FIFA which has a 1.5 billion nest egg, or basketball body FIBA which has CHF 44.4 million (42 million euros) in reserves, IOC aid represents a small proportion of their income.

For others, it is vital.

"Some IF probably don't have the cashflow to survive one year," said Ryan.

For most federations, the postponement of the Olympic Games has a domino effect, forcing them to reschedule their own money-earning competitions.

"The revenues from these events will eventually come in," said Ryan. "But this impacts the cashflow." World Athletics has already postponed the 2021 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon to 2022.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) will have to do the same for its World Championships scheduled for next summer in Fukuoka, Japan, when they would probably clash with the Tokyo Games.

"One edition of the World Championships means for us 10 million in revenues," said one sports federation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If this income is postponed, totally or partially, for a year, we will face major problems, especially if the IOC money, originally expected in September, is not paid out."

The Singapore-based International Table Tennis Federation has already taken steps, with "the Executive Committee agreeing to reduce their expenses and senior staff offering to take a salary reduction," said marketing director Matt Pound, but, he added,"further cuts will take place if needed."

- 'Significant loss of revenue' -

The ITTF has suspended all its competitions until June and that is costly.

Kim Andersen, the Danish president of London-based World Sailing, said commercial revenues are not immune.

"The IOC will eventually pay out its aid, but what weighs most heavily is the uncertainty about whether our competitions will be held and whether our sponsors will be maintained," he said.

The IOC is not prepared to go into details of what it plans.

"It is not possible at this stage to assess the overall impact" of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, an official told AFP.

"It depends on a number of variables that are currently being studied." According to an official of one federation: "the IOC will discuss on a case-by-case basis, sport by sport".

Another option is for the federations to ask for a share of the public aid set up to deal with the coronavirus crisis, in Switzerland, where 22 ASOIF members are based and also in the United Kingdom, home of World Sailing.

"Can sports federations benefit from federal aid? The answer is yes, in principle," Philippe Leuba, State Councillor of the canton of Vaud, in charge of the economy and sport, told.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Mount Maunganui, Feb 12: India captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday berated his bowlers for their mediocre performance as he tried to explain the team's first ODI series whitewash in over three decades, saying that the visitors lacked composure all through.

The five-wicket defeat here meant that India lost the series 0-3 to an injury-plagued New Zealand that had been deflated by a 0-5 whitewash of its own in the T20 format just last week. It was India's first whitewash in 31 years in an ODI series in which all matches have been played.

"The games were not as bad as the scoreline suggests. It boils down to those chances that we didn't grab. I don't think it was not enough to win games in international cricket," Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

"With the ball, we were not able to make breakthroughs, we were not at all good on the field. We haven't played so badly but when you don't grab those chances, you don't deserve to win," he added.

"Batsmen coming back from tough situations was a positive sign for us, but the way we fielded and bowled, the composure wasn't enough to win games," he asserted.

The ineffectiveness of Indian bowlers can be gauged from the fact that the team's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah finished the series without a wicket and the attack couldn't dismiss the complete rival line-up even once.

Kohli lauded New Zealand for bouncing back after the T20 hammering.

"New Zealand played with lot more intensity. We didn't deserve to win because we did not show enough composure," he said.

The batting mainstay is looking forward to the Test series, which begins on February 21, to make amends for the disappointment.

"I think because of the Test Championship, every match has that more importance. We have a really balanced Test team and we feel we can win the series here, but we need to step on to the park with the right kind of mindset," he said.

His opposite number Kane Williamson, who missed the first two games due to injury, was lavish in his praise for the home team's grit.

"An outstanding performance, very clinical. India put us under pressure, but the way the guys fought back with the ball and kept them to a par total. The cricket in the second half was outstanding to see," he said referring to the side's effortless chase of a 297-run target.

"We know how good they (India) are at all formats but for us the clarity about the roles the guys had was the most important thing. Outstanding effort against a brilliant India side," he added.

Player of the Match Henry Nicholls, who scored 80 on Tuesday, said his team benefitted from good batting starts during the series.

"To come back and win 3-0 after the T20Is is nice. The way (Martin) Guptill played today allowed us to get ahead. We got a 100-run stand, but we were fortunate enough to get good starts this series," he said.

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