Hima Das nearing her best: High Performance Director

Agencies
July 22, 2019

New Delhi, Jul 22: Indian athletics' High-Performance Director Volker Herrmann feels star sprinter Hima Das is nearing her best, having won five successive gold medals in three weeks in Europe.

The 19-year-old Hima has won five races -- four in 200m and one in her pet 400m event -- in Poland and the Czech Republic since July 2. She has been improving on her timing even though the field in all the five races was mediocre.

"Hima is progressing in the right direction. If you want to run sub 50 seconds (in 400m) you also have to be able to run sub 22.80 in 200m. She is getting closer," Hermann said, explaining why she began with 200m races before switching to 400m in her last race on July 20 when she clocked a season-best time of 52.09.

Hima is yet to qualify in either 200m or 400m for the World Championships, to be held in Doha from September 26 to October 6. The World Championships qualifying mark stands at 23.02 and 51.80.

Her male counterpart Muhammed Anas has qualified for the World Championships after bettering his own 400m national record last week.

"We also have Muhammed Anas breaking his own record and that is quite promising," said the 38-year-old Hermann who took charge on July 1.

The highly qualified German, who has worked in a similar capacity in his native country and Singapore, said athletes around the world have been making changes in their training due to the World Championships happening late in the season, and the Indians are also adjusting accordingly.

"All around the world, athletes are facing the same problem. The coaches have to rush the whole preparation model. The athletes will need to peak twice, the first (peak) right now and second by the end of September.

"We are preparing a series of competition to raise our performance level and then we will continue on a slightly higher level with higher intensity towards World Championships," he added.

He said 25 to 30 Indian athletes can qualify for next year's Tokyo Olympics.

"In men's and women's 400m relay, the eight finalists at World Championships will directly qualify for Tokyo and in certain ways, that is the easiest for us to qualify. Mixed 400m relay is another one we can qualify. Then, we are in a good situation in javelin throw and 400m.

"Tokyo is exactly one year from now. We will work on the strengths and weaknesses of our athletes to do our best. But we need to look forward to 2024 and 2028 Olympics."

Hermann said his plan is to make three different strategies for the three upcoming Olympics.

"First for Tokyo, we will work with the current athletes in the high-performance team. Secondly for 2024, besides the current athletes, we have to find talented ones at youth and junior levels who have the potential to be at the top level in five years from now. They can be 15, 16 and 17 years of age," he said.

"For the 2028 Olympics, we have to work with 10, 11 or 12 years old children. To be honest, these are athletes with which we can initiate change in Indian athletics. We need to work at the state and district level, give proper foundation to these kids, more towards core training and technical model.

"India should develop its own philosophy and not copy from say USA or another country to face specific challenges it has. The working of officials should be streamlined and coaching methods should be the same throughout the country."

He said that training of high-performance athletes should focus more on increasing intensive quality sessions rather than on volume, and provide enough recovery time.

"The modern method of training is to increase the number of intensive sessions and achieve high quality. You cannot have high volume and high intensity. But you have to have enough recovery time. Otherwise, you will have an injury and mental fatigue.

"The ideal training is to ensure 100 per cent in a few events like the World Championships or Olympics. It is important to give one time 90m throw (in javelin) instead of five-time 85m.

"Unlike other sports, it is not enough to give 96 or 97 per cent in a top event, you have to be 100 per cent. The three or four per cent makes all the difference."

On India's high-performance pool of athletes, Hermann said, "130 or 140 elite athletes in national camps currently is too small a percentage of the total population. In the USA, there were 200 thousand athletes competing in the NCAA.

"But I am optimistic of Indian athletics making strides in coming years. The government and the AFI are working hard and other stakeholders are also interested in taking athletics forward. We need the involvement of state and district officials in a big way for grassroots development. We need a step-by-step approach to take Indian athletics to the next level."

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News Network
February 11,2020

Mt. Maunganui (New Zealand), Feb 11: KL Rahul struck a combative 112 but New Zealand completed a 3-0 whitewash of India by winning the third ODI by five wickets, here on Tuesday.

Rahul helped India recover from a shaky start to post a challenging 296 for 7 but the Kiwis overhauled the target with 17 balls to spare.

This is the first whitewash that India has suffered in an ODI series in more than a decade.

Sent in to bat, India were down 62 for 3 in the 13th over after the dismissals of Mayank Agarwal (1), captain Virat Kohli (9) and Prithvi Shaw (40) but Rahul got a useful ally in in-form Shreyas Iyer (62) to take India to a competitive total.

Rahul, who hit nine fours and two sixes during his 113-ball innings, and Iyer stitched exactly 100 runs from 18.2 overs for the fourth wicket to revive the Indian innings.

After the end of the promising innings of Iyer, Rahul shared another 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (42).

The Kiwis were off to a confident start in their chase with Martin Guptill (66) and Henry Nicholls (80) and putting on a 106-run stand. However, wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets to bring India back in the game.

Colin de Grandhomme (58) and Tom Latham (32), though, took their side past the finish line with an unbeaten 80-run partnership.

Brief Scores:

India: 296 for 7 in 50 overs (KL Rahul 112, Shreyas Iyer 62; Hamish Bennett 4/64).

New Zealand: 300 for 5 in 47.1 overs. (H Nicholls 80, M Guptill 66; Y Chahal 3/47).

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News Network
April 13,2020

Apr 13: Former India opener Gautam Gambhir says if IPL is not played this year, it will be difficult for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to make a comeback to the Indian team.

Dhoni last played for India in the World Cup semi-final against New Zealand in July last year.

Since then he hasn't played any competitive cricket and legends such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev have already said that it's getting increasingly difficult for the Jharkhand dasher to make an international return after such a prolonged sabbatical.

He was expected to be seen in action at this year's IPL but the chances of T20 league being played are remote due to the COVID-19.

"If the IPL does not happen this year, then it will become very difficult for MS Dhoni to make a comeback. On what basis can he (Dhoni) be selected since he’s not been playing for the last one or one and a half year," Gambhir said on Star Sports show 'Cricket Connected'.

The 38-year-old Gambhir picked KL Rahul, who has been keeping in ODIs, as an "apt replacement" for Dhoni.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

"Obviously his (Rahul's) keeping is not as good as Dhoni’s, but if you are looking at T20 cricket, Rahul's a utility player, can keep and bat at No. 3 or 4. If the IPL does not happen, then Dhoni’s chances for a comeback look dim.

"Ultimately, you are representing India, so whoever dishes out the best performance and can win the match for India should play for the team," added Gambhir.

The southpaw also felt that retirement was Dhoni's personal decision.

"As far as his retirement plans go by, that's his personal choice," said Gambhir.

However, his former teammate and test specialist VVS Laxman feels that Dhoni can continue playing IPL.

"Not only this IPL, he (Dhoni) will probably play in the next couple of IPLs, and then we will take a call about his future as a cricketer," Laxman said on the same show.

However, Laxman, a veteran of 134 Tests, said that the new selection committee, chaired by former spinner Sunil Joshi, will have to discuss Dhoni's future with him.

"Dhoni will be very clear, as far as his plans are concerned, I'm sure he must have communicated that with (captain) Virat Kohli, (coach) Ravi Shastri immediately after the 2019 World Cup in England," said Laxman.

"The new selection committee will have to sit down with MS Dhoni and understand his future, as far as Indian cricket is concerned. But MS Dhoni will continue to play for CSK and do well for CSK," said Laxman, who amassed 8,781 Test runs.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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