Valiant Sumit Nagal gives Roger Federer a scare before going down at US Open

Agencies
August 27, 2019

New York, Aug 27: Roger Federergave India's Sumit Nagal a harsh introduction to Grand Slam tennis as the five-time champion weathered an early storm for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win on Monday to reach the second round of the US Open.

When the match began, it was Federer who surprisingly looked intimidated under the Arthur Ashe Stadium lights as he sprayed errors all around the court but the Swiss great woke from his slumber in time to turn the match resoundingly in his favour.

"I thought I played like my beard today, I was rusty," Federer, who was sporting a few days worth of stubble, said in his on-court interview.

"I'm going to clean it up for my next match."

World number 190 Nagal, who has never earned a tour-level victory and only qualified for the year's final Grand Slam last week, came out swinging and even put a rare look of incredulity on the faces of those inside third seed Federer's box.

The 22-year-old Indian used impressive court coverage and sent heavily-spinning shots over the net during his dream start but his legs started to look more wobbly as the match wore and Federer righted the ship.

Still, the start to the match for former world number one Federer, who is chasing his first New York title since 2008, could not have been worse as he made 19 unforced errors in the first set.

Federer, playing in his first Grand Slam since he failed to convert two championship points on his own serve against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, was down 0-40 while serving for the match but won six of the next seven points to hold for the win.

Up next for Federer, who is seeking a record-extending 21st career Grand Slam title, will be Bosnia's Damir Dzumhur, who beat Frenchman Elliot Benchetrit earlier on Monday.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Washington D.C., Jan 6: 'The Irishman,' and 'Two Popes' were shut out from the winners list despite getting multiple nominations, the movies didn't win a single award at the Golden Globes Award held on Sunday (local time). Other movies in the list include 'Bombshell,' 'Dolemite Is My Name,' 'Harriet,' 'Jojo Rabbit,' 'Knives Out' and 'Little Women.'

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 'The Irishman' may have gone into the 2020 Golden Globes with the second-highest number of film nominations, tied with 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' with five nods, but Martin Scorsese's highly anticipated mob epic for Netflix was completely shut out at the award ceremony.

Netflix landed the most film nominations of any company with 17 mentions, but it won only one award which is the best-supporting actress for 'Marriage Story's' Laura Dern. Netflix's nominated films 'Dolemite Is My Name' and 'The Two Popes' was tied with 'Joker' with four mentions each and failed to grab any awards.

'Dolemite Is My Name' star Eddie Murphy was expected by a number of pundits to win for best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy.

'Bombshell', 'Harriet',' Frozen 2', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Knives Out', 'The Lion King', 'Little Women' and 'Pain and Glory' are among the other films that received multiple nominations but didn't win a single award.

On the TV side, Netflix's 'Unbelievable' tied in the race to most small-screen nominations with 'Chernobyl' and 'The Crown' with four nominations, and 'The Crown' won only one award, for star Olivia Colman.

The three-time nominees 'Barry', 'Big Little Lies', 'The Kominsky Method' and 'The Morning Show' also didn't grab any award. 'Catch-22', 'Killing Eve', 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' and 'The Politician' who were two-time nominees that were also iced out.

'Hustlers' star Jennifer Lopez failed to take home the best-supporting actress award as she was predicted to win the award by a number of pundits. Billy porter also failed to make history with the best drama actor win for his role on 'Pose,' if he would've won the award, he reportedly would have been the first openly gay African-American to win that award.

'Chernobyl' won two of its four nominations. Despite that, star Jared Harris didn't win the best actor in a limited series Globe which was predicted by many prognosticators. The award was bagged by Russell Crowe for his portrayal of Roger Ailes in 'The Loudest Voice.' But the star was absent from the ceremony.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Rajkot, Jan 16: Skipper Virat Kohli is set to be back at his regular number three position after the strategy of coming two-down boomeranged in the lung-opener as India take on a resolute Australia in the must-win second ODI here on Friday.

India go into the game 0-1 down after Australia registered a 10-wicket win in the lung-opener at Mumbai, courtesy David Warner and Aaron Finch, who hit unbeaten hundreds.

In a bid to field all three in-form players -- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul --, Kohli dropped himself down the order but the plan backfired spectacularly as he was unable to convert his start.

Opener Dhawan later said he was ready to bat at number three if asked to by the team management, but since Kohli has been successful at that position, the skipper would be more than willing to walk in one-down.

Kohli batting at three also provides stability to the middle-order.

With a concussed Rishabh Pant out of the second game, Rahul is a certainty as he will keep wickets.

So, like in the last game, Rohit and Dhawan, who made a dogged 74 off 91 balls in Wankhede, could open, and there could be a toss-up between Rahul and young Shreyas Iyer at number four. Iyer had a rare failure on Tuesday.

Pant's absence could pave the way for the inclusion of Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey, who made optimum use of the opportunity that he got in the third T20 against Sri Lanka in Pune.

It would also be interesting to see which among the experienced Kedar Jadhav and rookie Shivam Dube makes the squad.

Rohit, who had a phenomenal 2019, failed in the first game, but given the form he is in, the opener is expected to bounce back strongly here.

Ditto for Kohli, who is just one hundred short of equalling cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar's record of most hundreds on home soil for India.

The bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah had a forgettable outing at the Wankhede and they would be more than eager to make a strong comeback and prove their mettle.

Bumrah, since his comeback, has not been as effective as earlier and he would like to change the perception.

It would be interesting to see whether India play Delhi speedster Navdeep Saini or persist with Shardul Thakur, who gave away 43 runs in Mumbai.

Ravindra Jadeja looks a certainty and so the choice would be between chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who conceded 55 runs in the first ODI and Yuzvendra Chahal as the lead spinner.

On the other hand, a high on confidence Australia will be looking to seal the issue to register back to back series wins in India, a rare feat for any visiting team. The Finch-Warner combination will look forward to carry the momentum.

Their middle-order comprising the experienced Steve Smith, in-form Marnus Labuschange, Ashton Turner and Alex Carey looks more or less settled.

If all of them fire in unison, along with the openers, then it will hard for the opposition bowlers.

However, it will be quite a test of their middle-order at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.

Australian bowlers also showed at the Wankhede, why they are considered among the best.

Led by pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, they bundled out India for a sub-par 255 and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins would be raring to go once again.

Spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, not only contained the runs, but provided crucial breakthroughs and are expected to play a similar role again in the middle overs.

The track here is expected to be a belter and India can draw confidence from the home series against New Zealand in 2017, when they won 2-1 after losing the opener, co-incidentally in Mumbai.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami.

Australia: Aaron Finch (Captain), Alex Carey (Wicket-keeper), Patrick Cummins, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschange, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner and Adam Zampa.

Match starts at 1.30.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has donated an undisclosed amount to financially help 4,000 underprivileged people, including children from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tendulkar made the donation to the Hi5 Foundation, a non-profit organisation based out of Mumbai.

“Best wishes to team Hi5 for your efforts in supporting families of daily wage earners,” Tendulkar tweeted.

The organisation, through a tweet, thanked Tendulkar for doing his bit for the needy.

“Thanks @sachin_rt for proving once again that #sports encourages compassion! Your generous donation towards our #COVID19 fund enables us to financially aid 4000 underprivileged people, including children from @mybmc schools. Our budding sportspersons thank you, Little Master!”

The legendary batsman had earlier contributed Rs 25 lakh each to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the country’s fight against COVID-19. Tendulkar had earlier pledged to bear the cost of feeding 5,000 people for a month in a couple of areas in Mumbai.

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