Have an empty space in shelf for Olympic gold: Sindhu

Agencies
September 12, 2019

New Delhi, Sept 12: The World Championship gold has healed the wounds of all past final debacles except the Rio Olympics, says Indian badminton ace P V Sindhu, who has kept an empty space in her trophy cabinet for the top prize, which she hopes to claim in Tokyo next year.

An Olympic silver-medallist, Sindhu clinched the historic World Championship gold at Basel after beating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7 21-7 in her third successive final.

Before that historic day, the 24-year-old Indian faced incessant lost in the finals of major events such as the Rio Games, World Championships (2017, 2018), 2017 Dubai Super Series Finals, the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Jakarta Asian Games.

"It (World Championships gold) takes care of all those losses. People have been talking about my final phobia, how I take pressure in the finals and I can say I gave the answer with my racquet," Sindhu, who has been recommended for Padma Bhushan, told PTI in an interview.

"But Olympics is a completely different feeling. Rio (Games) and World Championship gave me different memories, but, yeah, one gold medal is missing, so definitely I will work hard for that and would love to see myself win that Olympic gold at Tokyo.

"There is a vacant space (laughs) in my cabinet for that gold. The Olympic qualification is on and this win will give me the confidence to go further."

Sindhu, however, says the path to the Tokyo Olympic gold will be a tough one as now her opponents will look to exploit her weaknesses and she will need to add something new to her game to achieve success.

"(Rio) 2016 was my first Olympics and nobody knew me much. I was just one of the players but after Rio, everything changed and now after the world championship, everybody will try and learn new things. I should also learn new things in each tournament, because people will have some kind of strategy for me," she said.

"I have been working with Kim. She had some changes for me and it helped me. But now I have to learn few new things. I need to work on net-play."

Ranked fifth in the World currently, Sindhu has virtually sealed her Olympic qualification.

A higher ranking will help her avoid meeting top players when the draw is made at the Tokyo Games but Sindhu said she is unfazed about standings.

"Ranking matters because the draw depends on it but I don't really think about it because if I can play well, it will come up. At the end of the day, you will have to beat these top players again to achieve the gold," she said.

Asked if achieving the world No.1 ranking is on her mind, the former world No.2 said: "Yeah.. but I am not very particular about ranking and for now it is Olympics, it is ultimate goal, so after that it will be step by step.

"Next for me is China, so focusing on that," said the Hyderabadi, who is taking part in the China Open (September 17) and Korea Open (September 24) in the next two weeks.

While Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have put Indian badminton on top, there is a dearth of quality women's singles players in the country beyond them.

On whether she is concerned about lack of women's singles players, Sindhu said: "Well, after me and Saina, there is a little bit of gap. There are some junior players but it will take time. It is not going to be easy.

"A lot of players from other countries are doing well at the junior level whether it is Korea, Thailand or China. So I think it will take a few years till we have some players coming up.

"But they need to work hard. They have to be smart and be strong themselves about what they want," she signed off.

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News Network
April 6,2020

London, Apr 6: As the coronavirus brings the international sports calendar to a grinding halt, news agency Sport looks at three long-standing habits which could change forever once competition resumes.

Saliva to take shine off swing bowling

It's been a tried and trusted friend to fast bowlers throughout the history of cricket. But the days of applying saliva to one side of the ball to encourage swing could be over in the aftermath of Covid19.

"As a bowler I think it would be pretty tough going if we couldn't shine the ball in a Test match," said Australia quick Pat Cummins.

"If it's at that stage and we're that worried about the spread, I'm not sure we'd be playing sport."

Towels in tennis - no touching

Tennis players throwing towels, dripping with sweat and blood and probably a tear or two, at ball boys and girls, has often left fans sympathising for the youngsters.

Moves by officials to tackle the issue took on greater urgency in March when the coronavirus was taking a global grip.

Behind closed doors in Miki, ball boys and girls on duty at the Davis Cup tie between Japan and Ecuador wore gloves.

Baskets, meanwhile, were made available for players to deposit their towels.

Back in 2018, the ATP introduced towel racks at some events on a trial basis, but not everyone was overjoyed.

"I think having the towel whenever you need it, it's very helpful. It's one thing less that you have to think about," said Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas when he was playing at the NextGen Finals in Milan.

"I think it's the job of the ball kids to provide towels and balls for the players."

Let's not shake on it

Pre-match handshakes were abandoned in top football leagues just before the sports shutdown.

Premier League leaders Liverpool also banned the use of mascots while Southampton warned against players signing autographs and stopped them posing for selfies.

Away from football, the NBA urged players to opt for the fist bump rather than the long-standing high-five.

"I ain't high-fiving nobody for the rest of my life after this," NBA superstar LeBron James told the "Road Trippin' Podcast".

"No more high-fiving. After this corona shit? Wait 'til you see me and my teammates’ handshakes after this shit."

Basketball stars were also told not to take items such as balls or teams shirts to autograph.

US women's football star Megan Rapinoe says edicts to ban handshakes or even high-fives may be counter-productive anyway.

"We're going to be sweating all over each other all game, so it sort of defeats the purpose of not doing a handshake," she said.

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News Network
July 23,2020

New Delhi, Jul 23: With one year to go for the Olympic Games to begin in Tokyo on July 23, 2021, Indian women's hockey team skipper Rani Rampal on Thursday said the side has performed well against top teams in recent times and can do the same at the Olympics.

The Indian team has competed well against top teams in the recent past and has registered memorable victories at the FIH Series Finals and the FIH Olympic Qualifiers last year.

"We have competed against top teams in the recent past and we have shown that our team has the capability of winning a medal and making our country proud at the Olympics. We have a good group of experienced players, who are guiding the junior players very well. Our team has been getting better with each tournament we have played and we will definitely improve our game even further in the next one year," said the 25-year-old said in a statement.

Speaking about her participation at the Olympics, Rani said that the experience will help her make better decisions at the Tokyo Olympics.

"It was great to be a part of the Olympics in Rio. We made history by qualifying for the tournament after 36 years. It was a great feeling to be playing at the biggest of stages. Even though we didn't register the best of results, I have certainly learned a lot by playing the Olympic Games matches in 2016. I am sure all the players, who played in the 2016 Olympics, will make much better decisions on the pitch at the Tokyo Olympics, based on their experience in Rio," she said.

The Tokyo Olympics will be held from July 23 to August 8, 2021, while the Paralympics will take place from August 24 to September 5, 2021.  

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News Network
July 24,2020

Dubai, Jul 24: The eagerly-awaited Indian Premier League will start on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the final slated on November 8, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI on Friday.

While the event's Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the BCCI has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

"The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL," Patel confirmed the development after PTI reported the dates on Thursday.

The IPL has been made possible by the ICC's decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic due to which the host country expressed its inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 threat is being prepared and the BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

"We are making the SOP and it will be ready in a few days. To allow crowd or not depends on the UAE government. Anyway social distancing has to be maintained. We have left it for their government to decide on that. Will also be writing to the UAE board formally," Patel said.

There are three grounds available in the UAE -- Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI will be renting the grounds of the ICC Academy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has two full-sized cricket grounds along with 38 turf pitches, 6 indoor pitches, a 5700 square foot outdoor conditioning area along with physiotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health protocol in Dubai, there is no need to be in quarantine if people are carrying a negative COVID-19 test report, but if they are not, they will have to undergo a test.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, the BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team's tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

"The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire," a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

"The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window," he added.

While the original schedule had five double-headers, Patel said the new one will feature around 12 double-headers which means two matches each on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month's time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was originally scheduled to start at the end of March but the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place to contain the virus, led to an indefinite postponement.

However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had always maintained that the event will be held some time this year.

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