Paes, Sania, Bopanna win at US Open

September 1, 2016

New York, Sep 1: Indian tennis stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna began their US Open campaign on a sound note, winning their respective opening round matches at Flushing Meadows here.

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Bopanna kicked off India’s day with a sweat-inducing 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win with his Danish partner Frederik Nielsen over 16th seeds Radek Stepanek and Nenad Zimonjic in the first round men’s doubles on Wednesday.

Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova defeated unseeded American pairing of Jada Myii Hart and Ena Shibahara 6-2, 6-3 in a fairly comfortable fashion in women’s doubles.

Veteran Paes and his mixed doubles partner Martina Hingis also had a light workout at the court, securing a 6-3, 6-2 win against Americans Sachia Vickery and Frances Tiafoe.

The unseeded Indo-Danish pair of Bopanna and Nielsen fought 1 hour and 53 minutes to seal the win at Court 6.

Bopanna-Nielsen were up against a more experienced Czech-Serbian combination but began confidently to win the first set 6-3.

Stepanek-Zimonjic used all of their experience to claim the second set in a tie-break to pull level.

But Bopanna-Nielsen kept a hold on their nerves to win the decider 6-3. They converted four out of eight break points won, while their opponents only won 2 from 9, which ultimately created the difference among two teams.

They will now take on the US-New Zealand combination of Brian Baker and Marcus Daniell for a place in the pre-quarterfinals.

Seventh seeds Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova defeated unseeded American pairing of Jada Myii Hart and Ena Shibahara 6-2, 6-3 in a fairly comfortable fashion in women’s doubles.

They need an hour and nine minutes to complete the victory at Court 4.

World No.1 women’s doubles player Sania and Barbora carved out five break points throughout the course of the match, converting three of them to secure the win. They won 65 out of the total 116 points played.

Paes-Hingis weren’t even stretched that far.

The Indo-Swiss combination wrapped up the contest in 51 minutes.

They were at ease from the beginning and broke their opponents serve four times in a one-sided contest, claiming 56 out of the total 94 points played.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Dubai, Jan 11: India opener KL Rahul has retained the sixth position while skipper Virat Kohli and left-hander Shikhar Dhawan have advanced one place each in the latest ICC Men's T20I player rankings after the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka.

India won the T20I series 2-0 with one match getting washed out. Rahul, the highest-ranked Indian batsman, has gained 26 points and is now at the sixth spot with 760 rating points.

Rahul is just six points behind Australia's Glenn Maxwell after scores of 45 and 54 in his two innings against Sri Lanka.

Kohli, top-ranked in Tests and ODIs, is in the ninth position while Dhawan is on 15th. Manish Pandey has advanced four places and is ranked at the 70th.

India's fast bowlers have made notable gains in the first T20I update of the year and would be encouraged as they prepare for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Player of the series Navdeep Saini has rocketed from 146 places to 98th while Shardul Thakur has re-entered in 92nd position after both finished with five wickets in the series. Jaspreet Bumrah has gained eight places to reach the 39th position.

For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva has gained 72 places to reach 115th among batsmen after aggregating 74 runs while spinner Lakshan Sandakan has moved up 10 places to reach 29th position after grabbing three wickets in the series.

In the ICC Men's team rankings, India have gained two points but remain at fifth position with 260 points, while Sri Lanka have lost two points and now have 236 points and are at the eighth spot.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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