Page 184 - Sports
I have understood how to deal with India's expectations: Kohli
India skipper Virat Kohli says he has learnt to deal with aspirations of a cricket-mad country but making right decisions consistently on a cricket field is a gradual process. Ready to lead India as captain in an ODI World Cup for the first time, a billion people want their skipper to score a hundred every time he walks out to bat. Kohli has had the distinction of scoring centuries in India's opening games in the 2011 (vs Bangladesh) and the 2015 (vs Pakistan) editions. Ask him if he could complete coveted hat-trick against South Africa in India's World cup opener on Wednesday, Kohli said dealing with such expectations is now part and parcel of his life. "Look, when you perform and you perform for a long time, expectations are always there and I sort of understood how to go along with the expectations. You don't go out there to prove anything to anyone, which is a fact, but you have to accept that expectations are going to be there," Kohli said ahead of India's opening game. Just like
World Cup players attend Eid prayers
South Africa cricketers Hashim Amla and Imran Tahir attended Eid prayers at a Southampton mosque on Tuesday ahead of their team's crucial World Cup clash against India. The two players were warmly greeted by fellow worshippers, with selfie-seekers making a beeline to grab a photo with them. Both players are veterans in the South Africa side, who have lost their two opening matches at the World Cup in England and Wales. The 40-year-old Tahir, a Pakistan-born leg-spinner, is set to quit one-day-internationals after the tournament. Top-order batsman Amla, 36, missed the team's second World Cup game against Bangladesh on Sunday after being hit on the head by a bouncer in the tournament opener against England. Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar, who is standing at the World Cup, also accompanied the South Africa duo for Eid prayers. Pakistan players visited a Nottingham mosque a day after their dramatic 14-run victory over tournament hosts England as fans gathered to congratulate them. The ...
Squash tourney: Pradhan, Agarwal to face-off in summit clash
Top seed Abhishek Pradhan Tuesday stormed into the men's singles final of the 4th NSCI All India Open (Junior and Senior) Squash Tournament here. Pradhan, representing Maharashtra, overcame the challenge of teenager Rahul Baitha in the first semi-final in three straight sets -- 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 -- to book a place in the final, to be played at the NSCI squash courts Wednesday. Pradhan will now face compatriot and second seed Abhishek Agarwal in the final after the latter prevailed over Naveen Jangra of Services 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8 in the second semi-final. Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Urwashi Joshi, the top seed, crashed out, losing to unseeded Aishwarya Khubchandani, also from Maharashtra, in a long-drawn five games in a womens semi -final match. Khubchandani produced a strong challenge and managed to come out trumps, pulling off a 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5 and 11-8 victory to secure a place in the final. However, second seed Sachika Balvani of Maharashtra strolled into the .
Will work to improve Olympic medal count multiple times, no meddling with NSF autonomy: Rijiju
New Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Tuesday said that the government will work to improve India's medal count multiple times in the next three Olympic Games and called for entrenchment of sports culture in the country. Rijiju, who interacted with cycling, boxing and gymnastics national campers at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Complex, also said that his ministry will not meddle with the autonomy of the National Sports Federations. The minister, who took charge a few days ago, Tuesday visited the facilities here and interacted with the players to have a first hand knowledge of their conditions. He also had a brief mock sparring with Olympic bronze medallist M C Mary Kom at the boxing training centre. "With the kind of support the government is giving to sport, I am very confident that in the next four to eight years, that is in the three Olympics from now, we will make tremendous improvement, not just nominal improvement but by multiple times' rise in terms of medals," he told ...
Can't let the junior players suffer from self-pity, says Du Plessis
'Murphy's Law' is an adage that fits aptly with the condition of the South African cricket team -- "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". South Africa have lost the first two games and in a space of 24 hours, their premier pacer Dale Steyn has been ruled out of World Cup with a shoulder injury while another fast bowler Lungi Ngidi is nursing a Grade 1 hamstring injury. It's worse than a nightmare but letting the youngsters in the team wallow in self-pity is the last thing skipper Faf du Plessis would want ahead of their crucial game against world no.2 India. Du Plessis said he is addressing the situation with some strong worded message to the junior players. "For me, the natural thing that happens in a team is you find that your confidence goes down and naturally younger guys in the team, coming to their first World Cup, they will potentially go into their self-pity cycle. So, for me, it was strong words in the sense that that won't be allowed over the next couple of days," Du ...
Sri Lanka collapse against Afghanistan in World Cup before rain intervenes
Afghanistan off-spinner Mohammad Nabi ran through a panic-stricken Sri Lanka top order in the World Cup on Tuesday with an astonishing spell before rain stopped play. Sri Lanka came out of the blocks quickly under leaden skies in Cardiff, reaching 144 for one before the halfway point of their innings and were on course for a morale-boosting big score against their unfancied opponents. But Nabi, who had earlier removed captain Karunaratne for 30, turned the match in the Welsh capital on its head, with three wickets in five balls as Sri Lanka slumped to 146-4. Shell-shocked Sri Lanka kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, with extras the second top-scorer when rain stopped play after 33 overs. The turning point of the match was the dramatic 22nd over. Nabi bowled Lahiru Thirimanne for 25 before having Kusal Mendis caught by Rahmat Shah in the slips for two runs. Angelo Mathews was next to go, for a duck, also caught by Shah. Fast bowler Hamid Hassan then had Dhananjaya de Silva ...
Anand finishes joint eighth in blitz, to face Carlsen in Norway opener
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand settled for a joint eighth place finish in the blitz phase of the Altibox Norway chess tournament that had put him against reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen in the first round of the classical format. While the blitz results are in no way detrimental to normal tournament as the scores are not counted, it does affect the number of white games that a player can get. Anand after a rather forgettable performance will get four white games while the top five finishers in blitz will get five whites against four black games in the 10-player round-robin tournament. For the records the blitz tournament was won impressively by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France scoring 7.5 points out of a possible nine. Levon Aronian of Armenia finished tied second with Carlsen on six points while Azeri Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was fourth on five, a half point ahead of Ding Liren of China. Wesley So of United States tied for the sixth spot with Yu Yangyi of China and ...
China confirmed as host of AFC Asian Cup 2023
China was confirmed as the host of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 at the AFC Extraordinary Congress here on Tuesday.
Konta first British woman in 36 years to reach Roland Garros semis
Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 36 years to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals when she swept past Sloane Stephens of the United States on Tuesday. Konta, the 26th seed, downed last year's runner-up 6-1, 6-4 and will face either Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova or Croatian 31st Petra Martic for a place in the final. Jo Durie was the last British woman to make the French Open semi-finals in 1983. The 28-year-old Konta had not won a match at Roland Garros in any of her previous four visits. However, she now finds herself in her third semi-final at a major after runs to the last-four at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017. "To play on the new Chatrier court for the first time was wonderful especially against one of the world's best players," said Konta after her third win in 2019 over Stephens. "I am super happy because the conditions were so windy and Sloane is the kind of player who can run away with a match. "So I had to be prepared to keep her on the ...
In big setback to SA, Steyn ruled out of World Cup
In a big blow to South Africa, pace spearhead Dale Steyn was Tuesday ruled out of the World Cup after failing to recover from a shoulder injury, a development that could hasten his international retirement. South Africa have named left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks as his replacement after approval from the Event Technical committee. There is hardly any chance of a return in forseeable future for the 35-year-old Steyn, who had sustained a second shoulder injury during IPL where he played a couple of games for Royal Challengers Bangalore. "The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 has approved Beuran Hendricks as a replacement player for Dale Steyn in the South Africa squad for the remainder of the tournament," a media release stated. "Bowler Steyn has suffered a second shoulder injury which has not responded to treatment and has ruled him out of bowling for the foreseeable future. His replacement Hendricks is a left-arm fast ...
Ravi Shastri trolled over pic with two women
A self-proclaimed Pakistan cricket team fan, Australias famous Twitter personality Dennis Freedman has trolled India chief coach Ravi Shastri on the eve of their opening World Cup game against South Africa by posting a picture of Shastri with two women who seem to be excited to be sharing the frame with the coach. There is another person in the frame, but he is not associated with the Indian team.
Indoor shooting range to come up in Mohali
An "Olympic standard" indoor shooting range will come up in Mohali by March 2020, Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi said here Tuesday. The two-storey range will have 80 targets and will also be equipped with electronic scoreboard. "The state-of-the-art 10 meter indoor shooting range which will be set up by the state government will be ready by March 2020. It will cost Rs 8.18 crore," said Sodhi after laying the foundation stone of the range. "Punjab government is undertaking wholehearted efforts to uplift sporting standards in the state. Apart from a sports university at Patiala, sports infrastructure is being strengthened. A shooting range at Mohali is already functioning whereas the new range will be of Olympic standards," said Sodhi. He further said that work on setting sports infrastructure projects like hockey astro turf, athletics track worth Rs 100 crore was already underway in the state.
Sri Lanka collapse against Afghanistan in World Cup
Sri Lanka suffered a dramatic collapse in their World Cup match against Afghanistan on Tuesday, with Mohammad Nabi wreaking havoc with three wickets in five balls. The batting side made a bright start under heavy skies in Cardiff, passing the 100 mark in the 15th over and looked comfortable at 144 for one. But off-spinner Nabi, who had earlier removed Dimuth Karunaratne, then created panic in the Sri Lankan ranks, taking three wickets in an over. Nabi bowled Lahiru Thirimanne for 25 before having Kusal Mendis caught by Rahmat Shah in the slips for two runs. Angelo Mathews was next to go, for a duck, also caught by Shah. Fast bowler Hamid Hassan then had Dhananjaya de Silva caught behind the stumps for nought by Mohammad Shahzad to leave Sri Lanka shell-shocked. They were in even deeper trouble when Thisara Perera was run out for two, leaving them 159-6. Earlier, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib won the toss and put Sri Lanka in to bat, hoping to take advantage of the favourable ...
Honda starts National Championship on Moto3 machines
Honda 2Wheelers India on Tuesday announced the start of National Racing Championship on Moto3 machines where eight of India's most promising talent will race in the inaugural NSF250R Cup.
Indian team has number of good players: Curacao head coach Remko Bicentini
Curacao head coach Remko Bicentini on Tuesday lauded the Indian football team, saying there are many good players in the current 'Blue Tigers' lineup."The Indian team has a new coach on board, who will understandably transfer his ideas to the team. A number of good players are currently playing in India including Sandesh Jhingan and Sunil Chhetri. We will certainly take that into account," Curacao coach Bicentini was quotedas saying by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).India and Curacao will take on each other in the King's Cup opener. The Curacao coach said the team would use the King's Cup as a platform to prepare for the Gold Cup, which is scheduled to be played next year in the USA."We will use the King's Cup as a platform to prepare for the Gold Cup which is due next in the USA. The King's Cup is a competitive tournament in Thailand," he said."The circumstances here are ideal for training, and hence, we are focussing on getting ready for our next two matches, the first one
Lahiri qualifies for US Open after finishing 2nd at Sectional meet
Former Asia number one and two-time European Tour winner Anirban Lahiri qualified for his third US Open and 16th Major championship after securing second position at the Sectional Qualifying event held on Monday at the Brookside Golf & Country Club and Scioto Country Club in Columbus, Ohio in the United States.
6-member all-woman team for JK Tyre-FMSCI racing championship
After a rigorous country-wide selection process, six talented women drivers have been shortlisted to take part in the JK Tyre-FMSCI National Racing Championship 2019 (JKNRC) under Team Ahura. The brainchild of former racer and team owner of Ahura Racing Sarosh Hataria, this one-of-a-kind all-womans team will compete in the popular LGB-4 Formula Car category at the JKNRC for the second year running. Two women from Mumbai (Natasha Puri and Ojasvi Mehta), two from Delhi (Shivani Gaurav and Aman Jubbal) and one from Bengaluru (Pragathi B) and one from Dehradun (Anushriya Gulati) have been selected to compete in the four rounds of JKNRC, starting on July 26, J K Tyre press release said Tuesday. Team Ahura conducted trials on a zonal basis, choosing Gurgaon (North), Mumbai (Central Zone) and Bengaluru (South) for the selections. Each zone tested over 75 ladies, both young and old, and they were taken through beginners and advanced training on karts before the final in the ...
Honda India Racing Team set to debut in pro-stock 200-300 cc
IDEMITSU Honda India Racing Team is all set to make its debut in the marquee Pro-Stock 200-300cc category of Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship during the 2019 season. The names of six riders who would take part in the Honda Ten10 Racing Team have been announced. Last year's 165 cc champion Anish Shetty along with Talent Cup CBR250R champion Abhishek Vasudev and experienced rider Sarath Kumar would take part in the Pro-Stock 200-300cc category of Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship. B Aravind, Yashas RL and K Kannan would take part in the Honda's triple crown victory Pro Stock 165 category for the fifth consecutive year, a company release said. Two-wheeler major Honda Motorcycles and Scooters, as part of strengthening motorsport, would focus on two areas - brand leadership and structural development in 2019, company president and CEO Minoru Kato said. The 2019 plans are the next step 'to develop Iconic Indian rider for National and International ...
Pakistan PM Imran Khan congratulates team after win over England
Pakistan Prime Minister and former skipper Imran Khan has congratulated the team after their splendid win over favourites England at Trent Bridge on Monday. Sarfaraz Ahmed's team put on a quality display as they beat Eoin Morgan's men by 14 runs.
South Africa pacer Dale Steyn ruled out of WC
In a major blow, South Africa pacer Dale Steyn been ruled out of the 2019 World Cup after failing to recover from the shoulder injury he sustained during the Indian Premier League. Steyn had already missed the first two games of the showpiece event against England and Bangladesh and skipper Faf du Plessis was hopeful that he would be fit in time for the game against India.