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Cristiano Ronaldo inspires everyone, he is on another level: Virat Kohli

Agencies
August 2, 2019

Zurich, Aug 2: An avid football fan, India cricket captain Virat Kohli says he draws inspiration from Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo as he successfully took up more challenges than his iconic Argentine contemporary Lionel Messi with an "unmatched" work ethic.

Ronaldo and Kohli have defied fitness scales to not just set new standards for themselves but also set benchmarks for those around.

"For me, Cristiano is above everyone else. His commitment and work ethic is unmatched. He wants it that bad - you can see it every game. I support every club at which he plays. He inspires me," Kohli, who is currently in Florida for a T20I series against the West Indies, told 'FIFA.com'.

Joining the never-ending Messi vs Ronaldo debate, Kohli said for him, the Portuguese captain has had a better career than the Barcelona talisman.

"In my opinion Ronaldo has taken on more challenges and succeeded at all of them. He's the most complete player I have seen and his work ethic is unmatched. He inspires people. I don't think many people do that. He's also a leader and I love that. Absolutely love it. He has amazing belief too," he reasoned.

The India captain further divulged that growing up, he enjoyed watching Brazilian greats Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, Messi, Croatia skipper Luka Modric and the Spanish World Cup winning duo of Andres Iniesta, and Xavi.

The 30-year-old revealed that his favourite football memories include watching the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.

"Brazil was amazing to watch in 1998 and 2002. I saw Ronaldo - 'The Phenomenon', play and was totally blown away by his skill and ability on the ball. One of the greatest ever.

"I like watching Portugal play now because they are maximising their resources along with having a legend in their team. They play with passion and belief, so I like watching them. Otherwise, in terms of pure ability and impact, France are very, very strong."

Lauding the efforts of Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri, Kohli said he was very optimistic about India's chances of qualifying for the football World Cup.

"We are not far off. We have improved drastically in our football over the last three-four years. With new talent coming in to make the difference, and our skipper Sunil Chhetri leading the team with amazing composure and inspiration.

"If anyone deserves it (to play in the World Cup), it's him. And the team should rally behind that motivation and qualify, and dedicate it to him. He's an absolute champion and an inspirational human being," Kohli said.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 1: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are aiming to set up their preparatory camp for the 13th edition of the tournament from early August.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, CSK players have been asked to report to Chennai first, following which they will leave for Dubai via a charter flight only after approval from the Indian government.

The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other key arrangements for the tournament. Also, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) around securing eight teams for 51 days across three venues will be formally established in that meeting.

CSK, who has the oldest squad in the IPL, are looking for a month's preparation before ahead of the tournament.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the side was the first team to start their training camp in March. Senior players like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu had begun training their training in December 2019.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
January 19,2020

Rome, Jan 19: India's star wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya kicked off the Olympic year in style, winning a gold medal each in their respective weight categories at the Rome Ranking Series here.

The 25-year-old Bajrang staged a remarkable comeback to secure a 4-3 win against USA's Jordan Michael Oliver in the summit showdown of the 65kg freestyle category.

Ravi, who competed in the 61kg category instead of his regular 57kg, also bagged gold after getting the better of Kazakhstan's Nurbolat Abdualiyev 12-2 in his final bout late on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old from Sonepat had made the final round after securing impressive wins over Moldova's Alexaandru Chirtoaca and Kazakhstan's Nurislam Sanayev.

Up against one of India's biggest medal prospects in the Tokyo Olympics, Oliver conceded that it was not his night against Bajrang.

The American lauded the competitive spirit of Bajrang.

"Wasn't my night… but I got a lot of work to do to be where I want to be! Hats off to @BajrangPunia dude is heck of a competitor! Until next time my friend," the American tweeted.

Bajrang had to sweat it out in the first round against Zain Allen Retherford of the USA before prevailing 5-4.

In the quarterfinal, the ace Indian wrestler went past another American Joseph Christopher Mc Kenna 4-2, before getting the better of Vasyl Shuptar of Ukraine 6-4 in the semi-finals.

However, it was curtains for Jitender in the 74kg and world championship silver medallist Deepak Punia in the 86kg category.

Jitender won his first bout against Denys Pavlov of Ukraine 10-1 before going down in the quarterfinals against Turkey's Soner Demirtas 4-0.

Jitender got a chance to fight in the repechage after Demirtas entered the final, but the Indian wasted the opportunity, losing 2-9 to Daniyar Kaisanov of Kazakhstan.

In the 86kg category, Deepak crashed out in the opening round, losing 1-11 to Ethan Adrian Ramos of Puerto Rico.

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