Sindhu enters semis, Saina, Marin stunned in Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2018

coastaldigest.com news network
February 3, 2018

New Delhi, Feb 3: Defending champion PV Sindhu geared up for an encore at the Yonex-Sunrise Dr. Akhilesh Das Gupta India Open 2018, a part of the HSBC BWF World Tour 500, by booking a semifinal spot here on Friday.

But the women's field suffered a massive jolt when it lost two big guns, Saina Nehwal and Carolina Marin, in the quarterfinal rounds at the Siri Fort Badminton Indoor Stadium.

Fifth-seed Beiwen Zhang of USA shocked Saina 21-10, 21-13 in 32 minutes while Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong accounted for second seed Marin 21-12, 21-19.

However, Sindhu kept the Indian flag flying high by going past eighth-seeded Beatriz Corrales 21-12, 19-21, 21-11 in 54 minutes.

The 25-year-old Corrales did well to claim the second game after losing the first 21-12. Down 13-20, the top seed, however, fought back by taking six points on the trot. She couldn’t the next two points though, failing to retrieve a shot despite a valiant dive.

Sindhu's semifinal opponent will be former World Champion and third seed Ratchanok Intanon, who handed out a 21-11, 21-11 drubbing to seventh seed Yip Pui Yin of Hong Kong.

It is not an easy matchup as the Thai star and current World No. 3 holds a 4-2 head to head advantage over the Indian. "She is a tricky opponent. It’s just that I have to play and give my best," Sindhu, who had defeated the 2013 World Champion 21-17, 21-17, three months ago in the Hong Kong Open, said.

Meanwhile, the Indian challenge in men's singles ended as eighth seed Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap and Sameer Verma bowed out in straight games to stronger opponents in the quarterfinals.

While Sai Praneeth lost to third seed Chou Tien Chien of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 13-21, Kashyap went down 16-21, 18-21 to Chinese Qiao Bin. The winners will clash in the first semifinal on Saturday.

Tien Chien, 28, who was last year's finalist here, held a 3-0 advantage over the Indian in their past three meetings and he extended that domination with a fluent victory in 43 minutes.

The 31-year-old Kashyap, who had lost to Qiao Bin in last year's China Masters, put up a spirited display but failed to get past his world No35-ranked rival.

Malaysian Isqandar Zulqarnain, who had upset Kidambi Srikanth on Thursday, continued his impressive run in the tournament defeating Verma 21-17, 21-14.

He will take on fourth seeded Shi Yuqi, who made it to the semis with a clinical 21-13, 21-12 victory over sixth seeded Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.

Eight seeded pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy were the only Indians to book a semifinal spot in the doubles defeating Chinese duo of Han Chengkai and Cao Tong Wei 21-8, 21-13 in the mixed doubles quarters.

KEY QUARTERFINAL RESULTS

Men's Singles

3-Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) bt 8-Sai Praneeth (Ind) 21-15, 21-13

4-Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt 6-Wang Tzu Wei 23-13, 21-12

Qiao Bin (Chn) bt Parupalli Kashyap (Ind) 21-16, 21-18

Isqandar Zulkarnain (Mas) bt Sameer Verma (Ind) 21-17, 21-14

Women's Singles

1-PV Sindhu (Ind) bt 8-Beatriz Corrales (Esp) 21-12, 19-21, 21-11

6-Cheung Ngan Yi (HKG) bt 2-Carolina Marin (Esp) 21-12, 21-19 

3-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt 7-Yip Pui Yin (HKG) 21-11, 21-11

5-Biewen Zhang (USA) bt 4-Saina Nehwal (Ind) 21-10, 21-13.

Men's Doubles

1-Marcus Gideon/ Kevin Sanjaya (Ina) bt Manu Attiri/ B Sumeeth Reddy 21-19, 21-19

4-Kim Astrup/ Anders Skaarup Rasmussen bt Francis Alwin/ K Nandagopal (Ind) 21-13, 21-14

Women's Doubles

1-Kamilla Rytter Juhl/ Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt 8-Kittipak Dubthuk/ Natcha Saengchote (Tha) 21-11, 21-13

2-Jongkolphan Kititharakul/ Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) bt Jakkampudi Meghana/ Poorvisha S Ram (Ind) 21-10, 21-15

Du Yue/ Li Yinhui (Chn) bt 6-Ashwini Ponnappa/ Sikki Reddy 21-17, 23-21

Mixed Doubles

5-Mathias Christiansen/ Christinna Pedersen bt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Ashwini Ponnappa 21-17, 21-11

8-Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ Sikki Reddy bt Han Chengkai/ Cao Tong Wei (Chn) 21-8, 21-13

SEMIFINAL LINEUP

Men's Singles

3-Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) v Qiao Bin (Chn)

4-Shi Yuqi (Chn) v Isqandar Zulkarnain (Mas)

Women's Singles

1-PV Sindhu (Ind) v 3-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha)

5-Beiwen Zhang (USA) v 6-Cheung Ngan Yi (HKG)

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.