Mixed doubles, mixed feelings: Is it Paes or Bhupathi with Sania for London Olympics?

June 13, 2012

Sania_olympics

Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza's win in the French Open gives a fresh twist to India's London challenge. India's best chance for a medal in tennis, after all, is in the mixed doubles and not in the men's doubles.

An Olympic field is stronger than a Grand Slam lineup in doubles. In the majors all the top singles players sit out of doubles. In the Olympics, where the country equation comes into play, singles stars figure prominently in the doubles field.

Some of the likely combinations for London are Rafael Nadal and Marcel Granollers; Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka; Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic; Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; the Murray brothers Andy and Jamie; Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.


However, most of the top guns are likely to sit out the mixed doubles as three competitions in eight days would make it one event too many.

The All India Tennis Association is pushing for a wildcard for Sania in either singles or doubles so that she'll be eligible to play the mixed doubles. Not that the competition will be any lighter here with Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi; Serena Williams and Bob Bryan; Petra Kvitova and Radek Stepanek; Nenad Zimonjic and Ana Ivanovic likely to feature in the competition, but India has a committed combination in Bhupathi and Sania, who have won two Grand Slam titles together, the second one coming less than a week ago.

Still, AITA's selection committee, which meets in Bangalore on June 15, will debate who Sania should partner should the wildcard come through. Bhupathi, with eight Grand Slam mixed doubles crowns to his credit, should be the automatic choice for a number of reasons.

Paes, with six mixed Slam titles, is the option, but the fact that he also plays the forehand court, which is Sania's strength, works against the pairing.

Besides, Bhupathi and Sania have been playing together for a while now are great friends and work well as a team. Their combined ranking of 26 (Sania is ranked No.12 and Bhupathi No. 14) would help them make the cut.


Bhupathi, however, can play the mixed event only if he plays the doubles - with either Bopanna (they make the cut comfortably) or Paes.


Who India will field in men's doubles will be the focal point of the selection committee meeting later this week. If the selectors go with Bhupathi and Bopanna, they could field a second team with the No.7 ranked Paes playing with a partner of his choice.


India's best bet for a medal in the men's doubles at the Olympics was always going to be Lee-Hesh. Despite their lack of success in the Olympics, where they've played together four times, the old boys could've pulled off a trick or two at the All England Club in July. What they have is history. What they lack is trust.



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News Network
February 11,2020

Dubai, Feb 11: Two Indian players-- Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi -- and three Bangladeshis have been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for involvement in the quarrel just after the U-19 cricket World Cup summit clash in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Sunday.

Akash and Bishnoi and three Bangladeshi players -- Md. Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan -- were found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after a few players from both sides nearly came to blows after Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win their maiden U-19 World Cup title.

"Five players have been found guilty of a Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Support Personnel ... (they) were charged with violating Article 2.21 of the code, whilst Bishnoi received a further charge of breaching Article 2.5," the ICC said in a statement.

"All five players have accepted the sanctions proposed by ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Match Referee Graeme Labrooy," it added.

A near brawl broke out after Bangladesh’s historic win over India in the final. The Bangladesh players were aggressive during the Indian innings with lead pacer Shoriful Islam frequently sledging the Indian batsmen.

As soon as the match ended, Bangladeshi players rushed into the playing area.

"India's Akash accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years," the ICC said.

Compatriot Bishnoi accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of five suspension points, which equates to five demerit points.

"Bishnoi also accepted a level 1 charge of breaching Article 2.5 for a separate incident during the match, where he used language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter following the dismissal of Avishek Das in the 23rd over," said the ICC.

"For this he received a further two demerit points meaning seven demerit points will remain on his record for the next two years."

Bangladesh's Towhid Hridoy accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of ten suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Shamim Hossain accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Rakibul Hasan accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of four suspension points, which equates to five demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

All charges were levelled by on-field umpires Sam Nogajski and Adrian Holdstock, third umpire Ravindra Wimalasiri as well as fourth umpire Patrick Bongni Jele. Level 3 breaches carry a minimum penalty of four suspension points and a maximum penalty of 12 suspension points.

The suspension points will be applied to the forthcoming international matches the players are most likely to participate in at either senior or U-19 level. One suspension point equals a player being ineligible for one ODI or T20I, U-19 or A team international match.

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Agencies
January 14,2020

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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