Yashaswini shoots down gold, secures 9th Olympic quota

Agencies
September 1, 2019

Rio de Janeiro, Sept 1: An authoritative Yashaswini Singh Deswal secured India's ninth Olympic quota in style, upstaging the women's 10m air pistol's numero uno shooter Olena Kostevych of Ukraine for a gold in the ISSF World Cup here.

The 22-year-old former junior world champion on Saturday recorded 236.7 in the eight-woman final of the season's fourth ISSF World Cup for pistol and rifle shooters.

Ukraine's world number one Kostevych, also a former Olympic and world champion, claimed the silver with 234.8, while Serbia's Jasmina Milavonovic bagged the bronze with 215.7.

Such was the dominance of Yashaswini that she ended the final a massive 1.9 points ahead of the event's next best performer, Kostevych.

Yashaswini, a student of Economics, had also topped the qualifications by a mile, aggregating a score of 582.

Starting the finals with 10.1, 10.5 and 10.1, the Indian was third after the first five-shot series of stage 1.

A 10.6 pushed her to number two and a 10.1 to the top, eventually ending the stage as number one.

She started the elimination rounds with a bumper 10.4, which was followed by 10.0.

The standing was not disturbed despite a 9 as her lead was pretty big by that time.

She briefly slipped to second with a 9.1, but a humongous 10.8, soon after, firmly established Yashaswini's place at the top.

After confirming the quota, Yashaswini shot a perfect 10.9, extending her dominance and securing the top prize with an effortless performance.

Her two final shots were in the 9s, but importantly, both were higher than those of the Ukranian champion.

The brilliant performance saw Yashaswini join Sanjeev Rajput, Anjum Moudgil, Apurvi Chandela, Saurabh Chaudhary, Abhishek Verma, Divyansh Singh Panwar, Rahi Sarnobat and Manu Bhaker as India's other quota holders for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

This is also India's third gold in Rio, after Abhishek Verma and Elavenil Valarivan won the yellow metal in the men's 10m Air Pistol and women's 10m Air Rifle respectively.

Earlier in the day, Kajal Saini of India delivered a hugely improved performance in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) by finishing 22nd with a qualifying round score of 1167.

Former world champion in prone, Tejaswini Sawant finished 47th with a score of 1156.

In the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, Adarsh Singh and Anish Bhanwala shot 291 out of 300 in the first precision round to be in 13th and 14th spots respectively.

Anhad Jawanda, the third Indian in the fray, shot 281 to be in 48th spot.

The trio will come back for the final Rapid Fire round on Sunday to try and make it among the top six finalists.

The Indians also continued to do well in the non-competition Minimum Qualification Score (MQS) section. Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh finished 1-2 in the women's 10m Air Pistol, shooting scores of 580 and 577 respectively.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Kingston, Jun 10: "Enough is enough", said West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as he opened up on the raging issue of racism and called for "respect and equality" for black people, who have faced discrimination for years.

Bravo joined the likes of his former captain Darren Sammy and Chris Gayle in denouncing racism in the wake of African-American George Floyd's killing at the hands of a white police officer in the USA.

"It's sad to see what's going on around the world. As a black man, we know the history of what black people have been through. We never ask for revenge, we ask for equality and respect. That's it," Bravo told former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa in an Instagram live chat on Tuesday.

"We give respect to others. Why is it that we are facing this over and over? Now enough is enough. We just want equality. We don't want revenge, war.

"We just want respect. We share love and appreciate people for who they are. That's what is most important."

The 36-year-old, who has played 40 Tests, 164 ODIs and 71 T20Is for West Indies, said he wants the world to know that they are powerful and beautiful people and gave the example of greats such as Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan.

"I just want our brothers and sisters to know that we are powerful and beautiful. And at the end of the day, you look at some of the greats of the world, whether it is Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan we have had leaders who paved the way for us," he said.

Two-time T20 World Cup-winning captain Sammy had earlier alleged that a racist nickname was used to address him during his IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad and demanded an apology.

Sammy said he was called 'Kalu' while he was in India. 'Kalu' is a derogatory word to describe black people.

Gayle, who too plays in the IPL, took to Twitter to back Sammy, saying that racism does exist in cricket.

"It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game!!," Gayle tweeted.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: As India continues its fight against coronavirus, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly pledged to donate rice worth Rs 50 Lakhs to the needy people.
The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), in its statement, said Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice will provide rice to people who have been put in government schools for safety and security.
"#Sourav to provide Free Rice to the Needy It is heartening to note that Sourav Ganguly along with Lal Baba Rice has come forward to provide free rice worth Rs 50 lacs to the needy people who have been put in government schools for safety and security. Hope this initiative of Ganguly would encourage other citizens of the state to take up similar initiatives to serve the people of our state. #CAB," CAB said in a statement.
CAB President Avishek Dalmiya has also lent support to the needy people as he donated Rs 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund.
"CAB President donates 5 lakhs to the Government's Emergency Relief Fund to fight against #CoronaVirus/#Covid19," CAB said in a statement.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to contain coronavirus.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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