Saina raises Olympic medal hopes, lifts Indonesia Open trophy

June 18, 2012

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Jakarta, June 18: Raising hopes for a medal in next month's London Olympics, Indian badminton ace Saina Nehwal today won the Indonesia Open Super Series title after beating world number three Xuerui Li of China in a hard-fought summit clash here.

The fifth-seeded Indian, who had won the Thailand Open last week, defeated Li 13-21 22-20 21-19 in an hour and four minutes to lift her third title of the year -- the first being the Swiss Open.

Today's title triumph -- her third of the same tournament -- also served a warning to the formidable Chinese shuttlers ahead of the Olympics as Saina is expected to face stiff challenge from them in her quest for a medal in the London Games.

Saina, 22, is expected to take a break to recharge herself for the gruelling contest ahead of the July 27 to August 12 mega sporting event. "It was a really, really tough and I love the crowd here. It's really nice here. Whenever I enter the court, I feel like a champion here," said Saina, who had earlier clinched this title in 2009 and 2010 and was a runner-up last year.

It was a battle of attrition for Saina against an opponent to whom she had lost four times and won just once -- that too way back in 2010 -- previously.

"It is a very good victory for Saina. It was a tricky situation because we had a very tough schedule. There were many tight matches and it has been a very tough week and what was good is that she kept pushing," national coach Pullela Gopichand told PTI from Jakarta.

"The mental tenacity that she showed all through the last two weeks is commendable because even when she lost a game, she was mentally stubborn," he said. The start was ominous for Saina as she conceded four successive points. The two players seemed engaged in a battle of smashes and were at par with each other when it came to baseline rallies.

But it was the netplay in which Li enjoyed the upperhand with her delicate winners that Saina found hard to counter in the opening game. Li took an 11-6 lead with her seventh smash winner of the game leaving Saina with a lot of catching up to do. The Chinese girl's strategy was to engage Saina in aggressive baseline rallies before forcing her to commit errors from close range.

The exhaustion of a couple of hard-fought matches in the previous rounds also showed on Saina's on-court movement and her returns seemed sluggish. The Indian could not breach the lead that Li had taken at the very start and although the Chinese floundered a bit in the middle of the game, Saina failed to capitalise and lost the opener in 15 minutes. In all, Li sent down 13 smash winners against Saina's eight.

Li's superior netplay clinched seven points for her while Saina settled for just four in the opening game. In the second game, Saina staged a recovery and finally got into the lead at 7-4 after a couple of miscued shots by the fourth seeded Li at the far court.

Fortunes fluctuated sharply in the exhausting second game. An erratic Saina, who led 11-7 and 18-14 at one stage, lost her way for a while before saving a championship point at 18-20 and going on to win the game and stay afloat in the match.

Saina played to her strength, smashing 16 winners as Li's baseline game became erratic even though she kept breathing down the Indian's neck all through. Statistically, there was hardly anything to separate the two players, but a few errors in judgement by Li proved decisive.

Pumped up after equalising, Saina started off dominantly in the decisive third game and took a 5-2 lead. But after that it became a see-saw battle with Saina trailing 10-11 at break.

But the Indian managed to nose ahead, grabbing a 19-16 lead. However, Saina let slip a championship point before clinching the game, match and the trophy when Li smashed a backhand stroke into the net.

"She played on Sunday last week and reached here on Monday night. From Wednesday onwards, to put up the same intensity and physical effort match by match each day and go through so many up and downs with all the adrenaline, it was good to see her managing all that well," Gopichand said.

The national coach said there are a few aspects of Saina's game that need to be worked upon as she continues her build-up to the Olympics next month. "We need to go and then assess her performance and work on the weaknesses. It would be very important for her to maintain her fitness and ensure that she peaks at the right time before the Olympics. These two wins will give her confidence a big boost," he said.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Filipina weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz noticed live-streamed concerts were collecting money for coronavirus relief and was struck by inspiration: why not raise funds with an online workout?

Since then the Olympic silver-medallist -- and strong contender for her country's first Games gold -- has made enough money to buy food packs for hundreds of hard-hit families in the Philippines.

Diaz has done it all from Malaysia, where she was training to qualify for the now-postponed Tokyo Olympics when much of the world locked down against the virus in March.

"I thought (distribution) would be impossible because I'm not physically present," Diaz, 29, told news agency.

"It's a good thing that I have trusted friends and trusted family members who understand why we need to do a fundraising."

That circle of supporters has handed out the packages, which include vegetables, eggs and rice, to more than 400 families.

The food was bought with donations from about 50 people who joined sessions that lasted up to three hours, and gave them a rare chance to train with an elite athlete.

Diaz rose to fame in 2016 after snagging a surprise silver in the 53 kilogramme category in Rio, becoming the Philippines' first female Olympic medallist and ending the nation's 20-year medal drought at the Games.

Two years later, she won gold at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

However, her quest to qualify for Tokyo is on hold ahead of the Games' rescheduled opening in July 2021.

"I thought all the hard work would soon be over... then it was extended," she said. "But I'm still thankful I can still continue with (the training) I need to do."

Still, the lockdown broke her daily training regimen, keeping her away from weights for 14 days for the first time in her career.

"I felt like I was losing my mind already. I've been carrying the barbell for 18 years and all of a sudden it's gone. Those were the kinds of anxiety that I felt," she said.

But she got access to some equipment, and with her coach's urging, got back to work. She was relieved to find her strength was still there.

Instead of a Tokyo berth, the past months have been about a different kind of accomplishment for Diaz: helping her countrymen get through the coronavirus crisis.

Rosemelyn Francisco's family in Zamboanga City, Diaz's home town, is one of the first to get help from the athlete's initiative, and is deeply grateful.

Her family was not wealthy to begin with, and the pandemic has cost her husband his construction job.

"The food she donated has all everything we need, including eggs," said Francisco, 27.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Mumbai, Apr 27: The pressure to replace iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps was "immense" due to high expectations from fans says K L Rahul, who has been doing the wicket-keeping duty for India in the limited overs format for some time now.

Dhoni quit Test cricket in 2014 and has not played for India in the limited overs format since last year's ODI World Cup in England.

Rahul kept the wickets in the limited overs series against Australia in January this year and also during the team's tour to New Zealand.

"I was nervous when I was doing it for India because of the crowd pressure. If you fumble, people feel that you cannot replace MS Dhoni. The pressure of replacing a legendary wicket-keeper like MSD was immense as it involved people accepting someone else behind the stumps," Rahul told Star Sports on its show 'Cricket Connected'.

Rahul, who has played 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is, said keeping the wickets is not alien to him since he dons the gloves during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and also when he plays for his Ranji side Karnataka.

"People who follow cricket know that I haven't been away from wicket-keeping for too long as I donned the gloves in the IPL and every time I played for Karnataka," the 28-year-old said.

"I am always in touch with wicket-keeping but am also somebody who is more than willing to take up the role if the team needs me to," he stressed.

Dhoni's career is a matter of intense speculation. Many former players feel that it won't be easy for Dhoni to make it to the national squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Australia. 

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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