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Praneeth stuns Lee; Saina, Srikanth and Sameer reach 2nd round

March 10, 2016

Birmingham, Mar 10: Unheralded Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth scripted one of the biggest wins of his career, stunning two-time Olympic silver medallist and former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the opening round of the prestigious All England Championship here.

PraneethIn a match that lasted 50 minutes, Praneeth punched way above his weight as he eked out a 24-22 22-20 win over three-time champion and second seed Lee Chong Wei in a men's singles match late last night.

He will next take on Denmark's Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, ranked 26th in the world. The Indian had retired midway in their only meeting in 2013 French Open.

Besides, ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma too entered the second round of the USD 550,000 tournament at the Barclaycard Arena here.

World No. 2 Saina, who is making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, dispatched Commonwealth Games champion Michelle Li of Canada 21-17 21-12 to set up a clash with Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungphan.

World No. 10 Srikanth too showed the door to England's Rajiv Ouseph, a silver medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, 21-17 21-12. The Guntur lad will meet Japan's Kento Momota, seeded fourth, here.

Young Sameer also dished out a superb performance as he dismantled Hong Kong's Hu Yun 21-10 21-14 in another men's singles match and will meet Chinese eight seed Tian Houwei next.

For two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, P V Sindhu, it turned out to be yet another disappointing tournament as she lost 21-18 17-21 12-21 to Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand.

But the star of the day for India was Praneeth as he Indian stunned fans around the world into silence, dumping Lee Chong Wei in the first round.

The Malaysian legend inexplicably squandered huge leads of 11-3 and 15-7 in the opening game and 16-10 and 17-12 in the second game to succumb to a humiliating defeat at the hands of an unheralded Indian.

"This is a big shock to me. I am very happy. I have been waiting for a big result like this. I got more confidence when I levelled the score 15-15 in the first game and I just kept playing my shots," said the 23-year-old Indian after snapping Lee Chong Wei's 21-match winning streak.

World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei, who has been in good form in recent months with three World Superseries titles and one Grand Prix Gold title to his name, said: "This is totally unexpected for me. I came here to win.

"Praneeth has improved a lot since we played in the Canada Open last year. I think he has a great future," said the 33-year-old.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: West Indies flamboyant batsman Chris Gayle has lashed out at former teammate Ramnaresh Sarwan calling him 'worse than coronavirus'.

Gayle, the colossal figure in the shortest format of the game blamed Sarwan for his departure from Caribbean Premier League (CPL) franchise Jamaica Tallawahs.

The left-handed batsman joined St Lucia Zouks as their marquee player for the 2020 CPL season after Tallawahs chose not to retain him.

Gayle has played for Tallawahs and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the past. He has won the CPL title twice with the Tallawahs and played in the final with the Patriots in 2017.

"The owner of the franchise is a very nice man, I have no problem with him. I think he was actually persuaded to get rid of Chris Gayle," Gayle said in three parts on his YouTube channel.

"So someone has to be in his years telling him to get rid of Gayle. Sarwan, you are worse than the coronavirus right now. What transpired with the Tallahwahs, you had a big part to play.

Sarwan, you are a snake. You know, you are not the most loved person in the Caribbean. You are still stabbing people in the back," he added.

Gayle is the leading T20 run-scorer of all time as well as the man with the most centuries in the format. He is also the leading CPL run-scorer of all time, having amassed 2,344 runs in the tournament.

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Agencies
April 25,2020

London, Apr 25: Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.

Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mar 13: The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation," the BCCI said in a statement.

The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars.

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