Saina scripts sensational victory against World Champ Marin

December 11, 2015

Dubai, Dec 11: Saina Nehwal scripted a remarkable victory over reigning World Champion Carolina Marin to turn around her campaign at the BWF Super Series Finals even as Srikanth faced exit after suffering his second straight loss in the men's singles here today.Saina

Facing early exit after her capitulation against Japan's Nozomi Okuhara yesterday, Saina rose like a phoenix to notch up a memorable 23-21 9-21 21-12 win over the World No. 1 in a women's singles match that lasted an hour and 15 minutes. The Indian plays defending champion Tai Tzu Ying in her final league match tomorrow.

World No. 8 Srikanth's campaign is almost over after he went down 13-21 18-21 to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen in a Group B match. His hope of progressing any further hinges on a match between Japan's Kento Momota and Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.
The 22-year-old from Guntur will meet Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen tomorrow in his final Group B match in the round-robin stage.

In the women's singles match that saw a lot of vociferous cheering and vocal celebrations and pumping of fist, it was Saina who walked away with a smile on her face.
Saina came out with a positive attitude and it reflected in her game as she used her repertoire of strokes to tame her formidable opponent, who was not as nimble-footed as Okuhara and also committed too many errors on her forehand.

In the opening game, Saina led 9-4 but she misjudged a couple of shots and Marin too stepped up the pressure by dominating the net to grab the lead with six straight points. However, Saina ensured she had the advantage at the break.

Marin tried to keep the shuttle at the forecourt by drawing Saina close to the net and marched ahead to 15-12. Saina fought back and wrested control at 16-15 when the Spaniard hit the net. Saina continued to surge ahead with Marin succumbing to unforced errors, reaching 19-16.

Marin then drew level at 19-19 before Saina earned the game point with Marin finding the net. But a couple of wayward shots and it was 21-20 in favour of Marin. However, another forehand return going to net and a wide shot by Marin gave the game point to Saina, who grabbed it this time.

The second game started on an aggressive note with the duo battling like warriors. Saina kept her poise and even smiled at her mistakes while pumping her fist after winning crucial points.

Marin kept the shuttle at back hand and deep forehand of Saina, testing her all the time. She moved into the lead at 7-5. The Spaniard was called for a fault when her racquet touched the net but unfazed, she continued to race ahead and entered the interval with a five point advantage.

Saina tried to slow down the pace of the rallies after the break but Marin continued to dominate by playing her acute angled strokes. The Indian also faltered with a few unforced errors to allow Marin to gallop away with the second game.

The decider started on an aggressive note again as once again the duo fought tooth and nail. Saina moved into a slender 10-5 lead at one stage before Marin reduced it down to 8-11. However, a mistimed shot gave Hyderabadi an 11-8 lead at the interval.

Saina continued to exert pressure on her opponent after the break and pushed her to commit errors. Marin's unforced errors fuelled Saina's charge as she extended her lead to 16-8. A couple of terrific angled smashes took Saina to 19-9. Marin grabbed three points then but Saina moved into the match point when Marin hit wide and closed the issue comfortably in the end.

In the men's singles, Srikanth, who had beaten Viktor twice early this year en route to his triumph at Swiss Open and India Open, could not produce his best.

In the first game, World No 6 Viktor moved into a 6-3 lead in the opening game but Srikanth kept breathing down his neck and played some exciting rallies by mixing his shots. The Indian clawed back to level the scores after catching his rival in the forecourt.
However Viktor entered the break with a 11-10 lead after Srikanth misjudged a shuttle as it fell on the baseline.

A few unforced errors and some sharp strokes helped Viktor to swell the lead to 16-11 after the interval.

Srikanth tried to keep the shuttles in the corners but he couldn't control it properly as Dane led 20-13 and went on to win the game.

In the second game, Srikanth seemed little unsure of his strokes as his smashes went wide and Viktor too used his variation to dominate the proceedings. He once again opened up an 8-4 lead and entered the break with a six point advantage.

After the interval, Viktor stepped on the gas and his smashes got more precise even as Srikanth struggled with his returns going wide and buried at net. Viktor quickly moved to an 18-10 lead.

Srikanth then started playing better and came up with some steep smashes and low returns to trouble the Dane and narrowed the lead down to 15-19.

Viktor then played an amazing shot to move to match point. The Indian saved three match points but Viktor sealed the match with another cross court smash.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Lausanne, Mar 30: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday announced that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be 'celebrated' from July 23 to August 8 next year while the Paralympics Games will be held from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
"The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan today agreed on new dates for the games of the XXXII Olympiad, in 2021. The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be celebrated from 23 July to 8 August 2021. They also agreed on new dates for the Paralympic Games, which will be celebrated from 24 August until 5 September 2021," the IOC said in a statement.
Earlier, the Tokyo Olympic Games were slated to be held from July 24 to August 9, while the Paralympic Games were scheduled to be held from August 25 to September 6. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of the event.
IOC said the new dates are 'exactly one year' after those originally planned, giving the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the games maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape caused by the coronavirus.
"These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement read.
"The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020 (Olympic Games: 24 July to 9 August 2020 and Paralympic Games: 25 August to 6 September 2020), also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the IFs. Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented," it added.
The IOC president Thomas Bach thanked all the International Federations (IF) for their support.
"I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days. I would also like to thank the IOC Athletes' Commission, with whom we have been in constant contact," Bach said in a statement.
"With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government, and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge. Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel," he added.
IPC president Andrew Parsons said the new dates will provide certainty to the athletes.
"It is fantastic news that we could find new dates so quickly for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The new dates provide certainty for the athletes, reassurance for the stakeholders and something to look forward to for the whole world. When the Paralympic Games do take place in Tokyo next year, they will be an extra-special display of humanity uniting as one, a global celebration of human resilience and a sensational showcase of sport," Parsons said.
"With the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 512 days away, the priority for all those involved in the Paralympic Movement must be to focus on staying safe with their friends and family during this unprecedented and difficult time," he added.

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