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Katie Ledecky on verge of history, Adam Peaty strikes double gold

August 6, 2015

Kazan, Aug 6: Katie Ledecky claimed her third world championships gold on Wednesday to leave her poised to make history while Adam Peaty`s breaststroke double capped an outstanding night for Britain in Kazan.

Katie

Ledecky underlined her status as the stand-out performer in the Kazan pool by claiming victory in the 200m freestyle final just 24 hours after breaking the world record for the second time in winning the 1500m freestyle final.

The USA`s triple world record-holder had already won the 400m gold last Sunday and she can become the first women to win four freestyle world titles when the 800m heats start on Friday with the final on Sunday.

"I have trained a lot to be able to do these races and I knew I could trust my training and this confidence has filled my swims this week," said the 18-year-old, who won the 200m freestyle final in 1min 55.16sec.

"I have a couple of races left to give my all in.

"I have been preparing all year for the whole year for these world championships."

Fresh from setting the world 50m breaststroke record of 26.42secs in Tuesday`s semi-final, Britain`s Peaty added to his 100m world title with victory over the sprint distance on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old won the 50m final by clocking 26.51 in the final with South Africa`s Cameron van der Burgh, the 2013 world champion, taking silver, at 0.15sec back.

The Briton has matched David Wilkie`s breaststroke 40-year-old double when the Scot won the 100 and 200m golds at the 1975 world championships.Peaty then backed up his individual win by helping the British team win the 4x100m mixed medley event in a new world record time.

It was the third time the event`s record had fallen on Wednesday alone after Russia, then the USA broke it in the morning`s heats and it means world records have now fallen on ten occasions in Kazan.

With two gold and two world records from his worlds debut here, Peaty can still claim a third individual title when the 200m breaststroke heats begin Thursday.

"It`s my first world championships, so I never thought I`d walk away with three gold medals, but I fought for every centimetre and every inch," said Peaty.

"All my training was for the 50m final tonight and then the 100m in the relay.

"It`s been the stuff dreams are made of, but head down now for the 200m heats in the morning."

Chinese long-distance expert Sun Yang claimed his second gold with victory in the 800m freestyle final, but he was made to work to retain his title after Italy`s Gregorio Paltrinieri pushed him all the way.

Sun clocked seven minutes, 39.96secs, but Paltrinieri swam a new European record at 0.85secs back as Australia`s Mack Horton took bronze at 4.06.

Defending Olympic and world champion Chad le Clos had to settle for silver in the men`s 200m butterfly final as Hungary`s Laszlo Cseh beat him on the wall to capture his first major title for a decade.

Cseh clocked 1min 53.48sec to beat Le Clos by just 0.20sec.

Ryan Lochte of the USA is on course to win his fourth consecutive world 200m individual medley gold as the quickest into Thursday`s final in 1:56.81.

Australia`s Cameron McEvoy is also the name to beat in the men`s 100m freestyle final, also on Thursday, having been the only qualifier from the semi-finals to go under the 48 seconds mark.

"There is a lot of excitement around the 100m freestyle," said McEvoy.

"It`s just a matter of recovering as much as I can before then and I`ll be using the same race plan regardless of who is in the final."

Russia`s Vladimir Morozov, who had posted the world`s joint fastest time this year coming into Kazan, was disqualified in his semi-final after leaving his blocks too early.

Olympic champion Nathan Adrian of the United States was fifth fastest.

Fresh from winning the women`s 100m world title on Tuesday, Australia`s Emily Seebohm was fifth fastest into Thursday`s 50m final as China`s Fe Yuanhai clocked the quickest time of 27.18secs.

Japan`s Natsumi Hoshi was the fastest into the women`s 200m butterfly final on Thursday at 2:06.36 secs, but the big surprise was Hungary`s `Iron Lady`, Katinka Hosszu failing to qualify as 13th fastest in the semi-finals as the 200m IM champion missed out.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

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News Network
January 28,2020

New Delhi, Jan 28: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is clear that while they have no problem with the Pakistan Cricket Board hosting the 2020 edition of the Asia Cup -- set to be a preparatory ground for the T20 World Cup in Australia -- the venue needs to be a neutral one as travelling to the neighbouring country isn't an option at present.

Speaking to news agency, a BCCI official said that the hosting rights is not an issue and it is just a case of picking a neutral venue as the Indian team wouldn't be travelling to Pakistan for the T20 tournament that will see the top Asian teams in action.

"The question isn't about the PCB hosting the tournament. It is about the venue and as things stand now, it is quite clear that we would need a neutral venue. There is no way that an Indian team can visit Pakistan to even participate in a multi-nation event like the Asia Cup. If the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is ok with an Asia Cup minus India then it is a different ball game. But if India is to participate in the Asia Cup, then the venue cannot be Pakistan," the official said.

In fact, issues in obtaining visa for Pakistan players to come and play the 2018 edition of the Asia Cup in India was one of the major reasons why the tournament was shifted out of the country with BCCI hosting the event in UAE.

The official said that the PCB can do just the same and host the event in a neutral venue. "A neutral venue is always an option. BCCI did it in 2018," the official pointed.

Cricket returned to Pakistan after a decade when Sri Lanka toured the nation in 2019. While Sri Lanka was the first nation to play a full series in the country, Bangladesh is currently in the country as they just finished playing three T20Is. They will play a Test from February 7 to 11 and then play a one-off ODI before playing the second Test from April 5 to 9.

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