PV Sindhu still our best bet at major tournaments: Pullela Gopichand

News Network
November 13, 2019

Mumbai, Nov 13: Chief coach Pullela Gopichand on Tuesday rued that the tournament calender, packed with mandatory events, combined with the pressure of Olympic qualification has not given any respite to the players, who are now dealing with injuries and lack of form.

Gopichand, credited for transforming Indian badminton, said not only the Indians but almost all top players in the world are struggling.

"There is no respite. You are actually playing way too many tournaments. If you look at world badminton, a number of players have withdrawn (from tournaments) from Tai (Tzu Ying) to Carolina Marin," said Gopichand.

"Ideally Sindhu should have rested but world badminton makes it mandatory for you to play all the 1000s, 750s and 500s. So we almost end up playing 14-15 tournaments which are mandatory," he said.

Sindhu has been enduring a rough patch as she has not got a big result after winning the World Championship in August this year.

Gopichand hoped the players would achieve Olympic qualification as quickly as possible and Sindhu would make a strong comeback.

"She's good, she's strong, she's our best bet going into the big tournaments. This is what happened last year as well. She did not have a great result in October, November and in December at the year-end she beat everybody. So I'm confident that she'll make a comeback quickly," he said.

Gopichand lauds Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty

Gopichand was full of praise for in-form doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. They became the first Indian men's pair to win BWF Super 500 badminton tournament after they clinched the Thailand Open in August.

"Satwik and Chirag have really been stars. They played very well and have started to look threatening and consistent at the highest stage. It comes well with getting into the Olympics with this form and it is something that I would be very happy about."

The Hyderabad-based coach was speaking after launching an initiative Football Mania' by IDBI Federal Life Insurance in association with KheloMore, founded by former India batsman and current national selector Jatin Paranjpe.

Gopichand was pleased with the way season 2019 unfolded so far for India.

"We have had a decent year. I would say for the reason that the biggest tournament of the year was World Championships, and we have managed to have two medals there," he said.

In the World Championship, Sindhu won a historic gold while B Sai Praneeth clinched a bronze.

He yet again stressed that India need to produce more good coaches.

"We need to spend time and energy to identify where the good coaches are and give them awards, rewards, empower them and keep them motivated. That's the way to move forward. Indian badminton has a lot of potential," he said, adding "coaching as a profession hasn't taken off in our country."

"Till the time we produce coaches, we need foreign coaches. And even after we produce coaches, we still need them because they come out with another perspective which is needed.

"But we should clearly define what our country's policy is regarding the culture of sport. We cannot keep deviating from Malaysian to Indonesian to Chinese systems based on the coaches. A country can't change its stance and culture based on who we get. And the coach should help us get better," he stressed.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
March 10,2020

New Delhi, Mar 10: Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) and world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) were among three Indian boxers who secured Olympic berths by advancing to semifinals of the Asian Qualifiers here on Monday, taking the total number of the country's Tokyo-bound pugilists to eight.

Second-seeded Mary Kom notched up a comfortable 5-0 win over Philippines' Irish Magno in her quarterfinal bout for a ticket to her second Olympic Games. She won a bronze in the 2012 London Olympics when women's boxing was first introduced at the showpiece.

The 37-year-old will square off against China's Yuan Chang in the semifinals. Chang is a former Youth Olympics champion.

Earlier, world silver-medallist and top seed Panghal edged out familiar foe Carlo Paalam of Philippines in a 4-1 split verdict to be assured of his maiden Olympic appearance and a medal at the qualifiers.

In the last Indian bout of the day, world bronze-medallist Simranjit Kaur (60kg) upstaged second seed Namuun Monkhor of Mongolia 5-0 to secure her first Olympic place.

With this, the number of Indian boxers securing Olympic berths went up to eight after Satish Kumar (+91kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) advanced to the semifinals on Sunday.

"I dedicate my Olympic quota to my uncle Raj Narayan, it's his birthday and he is someone who gives me a lot of courage," said Panghal after his bout.

World bronze-winner and Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik, however, lost 2-3 to third seed Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia after an intense battle but is not out of contention for an Olympic berth just yet.

Kaushik has to win the box-off between losing quarterfinalists as the top six boxers will claim Tokyo tickets in the 63kg category. He will face Australia's Commonwealth Games champion Harrison Garside in the box-off. The two clashed in the CWG final in 2018 with Garside ending up on the winning side.

Panghal started India's winning run on Monday by managing to pull off a close win.

The 23-year-old, who is the reigning Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, had earlier beaten Paalam in the semifinals of the 2018 Asian Games and the quarterfinals of 2019 world championships, which were also split decisions.

"I followed the instructions given by my coaches. I ensured that he didn't get on top of me. I think I was pretty consistent in all three rounds," Panghal said.

Next up for Panghal is China's Jianguan Hu, who stunned world bronze-medallist and fourth seed Kazakh Saken Bibossinov 5-0.

"I have beaten him in the Asian Championships and I know how to get the better of him," Panghal said of his next opponent.

The Haryana lad didn't exactly look at his best during the bout but his trademark counter-attacking game fetched him the desired result against a rival, who is challenging him more with every fresh encounter.

Mary Kom, on the other hand, put out a near-perfect performance against the very spirited Magno. The Manipuri dictated the pace of the bout, drawing from her huge reservoir of experience to put Magno on the backfoot with a very effective counter-attacking strategy.

Simranjjit, also an Asian silver-medallist, will face third seed Shih-Yi Wu of Taiwan in the semifinals after a fine performance against Monkhor. Simranjit's right hand connected accurately all through.

Kaushik, who was up against an Asian Games silver-medallist, started well but lost steam in the face of relentless body shots by Baatarsukh, a two-time podium finisher at the Asian Championships.

Baatarsukh had lost to Kaushik in the second round of the world championships last year and he exacted revenge with an aggressive takedown of the Indian, especially in the final three minutes.

However, former junior world champion Sakshi Chaudhary (57kg) failed to secure an Olympic berth after going down to Korea's Im Aeji in the quarterfinals.

The 19-year-old Chaudhary lost 0-5 to Im, who is also a former world youth champion. Only the semifinalists are entitled to an Olympic berth in the women's 57kg category of the ongoing event.

Her next shot at Tokyo qualification would be the world qualifiers in May, provided she is selected for it.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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