Indian cyclists finish second with 16 medals in Track Asia Cup

September 17, 2016

New Delhi, Sep 17: The Indian Cyclists finished second in the Track Asia Cup campaign by winning 16 medals overall, including 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 7 Bronze here at the Indira Gandhi Stadium velodrome on Friday.

Asia

On the final day of the Track Asia Cup, India bagged eight medals including 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Hongkong took the top spot with 18 medals overall, including 11 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze.

On finishing second in the medal tally, Coach RK Sharma said "I am satisfied with the performance of our cyclists in the Track Asia Cup especially Junior cyclists have shown good performance in this prestigious event and lived upto the expectations. I am sure this event has been a great learning experience for all the cyclists looking ahead Asian Track Cycling Championship in 2017. We have ample time before our next event and our cyclists will surely improve their performance by then".

Onkar Singh, Secretary General, CFI said "5 years back, when we taken over Cycling Federation of India at that time Indian Cyclists were at 149th place in World Ranking but now Indian Cycling has been improved much and most of our riders are Under-10 rank in UCI World Ranking. The day is not so far when we will win the medals in World Championships, he added."

Indian cyclist Deborah Herold in her final Sprint event took the first position, grabbing a gold medal with a time of 12.576 and 12.493 in the first and second round respectively. She beat Zhaojuan of Hong Kong, who went on to take the silver medal, clocking 12.820 and 12.734 in both the rounds respectively. The third position was awarded to Farina Shawati of Malaysia with a timing of 12.552 and 12.342 in the rounds. While Kezia Vargheese of India was given the fourth in this event.

Deborah lost the gold medal in her favourite event 'Keirin' by a whisker and could manage only silver ahead of her teammate Kezia Varghesse (Bronze) while two other riders of Hongkong and Malaysia collapsed and fell down after which they were unable to complete the race.

Deborah turns out to be the star performer of the event with 3 golds and one silver medal with her.

On winning silver medal in her favourite event 'Keirin', Deborah said, "I am unlucky that I lost the easy gold, I lost my focus due to the collision of other riders, this happened to me even last year also because of which I failed to win any medal in this event and this time I don't want to repeat the history and lost the medal. I am determined to do better in the Asian Track Cycling Championship to be held in India in February 2017 where riders from nearly 31 countries will take part".

In the Men's elite Keirin event, Indian cyclist Amarjeet Singh fails to win any medal and finished 8th.

In the Men Junior Sprint final, the gold and silver was awarded to Chun Long and TSZ Chun from Hong Kong respectively. Chun Long was clocked at 11.315 and 12.842 in both the rounds respectively and Tsz Chun was timed at 11.445 and 13.098 for the rounds. The bronze medal was awarded to our Indian cyclist Sanuraj P with a timing of 12.203 and 12.322 in the first and second round respectively. Emerson was at the fourth position with timing of 12.225 and 11.352 in both the rounds.

In the Men's Junior Keirin, Emerson wins bronze medal for India.

The Women Junior Sprint final however saw India bag the first two positions adding another gold and a silver to the medal tally. Nayana Rajesh, was awarded the gold medal and was clocked at 12.658 and 12.865 in both the rounds respectively. Anu Chutia grabbed the silver position, with a timing of 12.764 and 13.178 in the first and second rounds. Hoi Wah of Hong Kong was at the third position with a time of 13.644 and 13.300.

However, the Men Elite Sprint Final could not manage getting any positions in the event, the gold and silver positions were awarded to Shih Fang from Taiwan and Ali Askari from Iran respectively. The bronze medal went to Shih Hsin from Taiwan. Shih Fang was timed at 11.085 and 11.091 and Ali Askari was clocked at 10.994 and 11.412.

In the team Elite Women's team pursuit, India bagged bronze medal comprising Raj Kumari Devi, Bidya Luxmi Tourangbam, Ratuja Satputhe and G Amritha Regunath.

The main attraction of the last day was the point race of 30 km, where 14 riders took part together and they have to complete the 120 rounds of the track. However, Indian couldn't win the medal in this race and Krishna Nayakodi and Ramesh Nagarajan could secure 8th place and 10th place respectively.

Ka Yu Leung and Chun Wing Leung of Hong Kong distributed Gold and Silver each other with 90 and 73 points respectively. The third place went to Yousif Alhammadi of UAE with a total of 40 points.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: As India continues its fight against coronavirus, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly pledged to donate rice worth Rs 50 Lakhs to the needy people.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), in its statement, said Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice will provide rice to people who have been put in government schools for safety and security.
"#Sourav to provide Free Rice to the Needy It is heartening to note that Sourav Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice has come forward to provide free rice worth Rs 50 lacs to the needy people who have been put in government schools for safety and security. Hope this initiative of Ganguly would encourage other citizens of the state to take up similar initiatives to serve the people of our state. #CAB," CAB said in a statement.
CAB President Avishek Dalmiya has also lent support to the needy people as he donated Rs 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund.
"CAB President donates 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund to fight against #CoronaVirus/#Covid19," CAB said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to contain coronavirus.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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