Page 2122 - Sports
Australian Open: Kyrgios, Dimitrov through to third round
Australia's Nick Kyrgios stormed into the third round of the Australian Open as he outplayed Serbia's Viktor Troicki to register a straight-set victory on Wednesday.Kyrgios defeated the Serbian 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 despite a lot of distractions on the court.The 17th seed dealt with a bellowing fan, a malfunctioning umpire's microphone and was distracted by a helicopter but stayed composed to not concede a single set to his opponent.The Brisbane International winner will now lock horns with 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Round of 32.Meanwhile, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov avoided a defeat from American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald.The third seed eventually won the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 0-6, 8-6 in three hours and 25 minutes long match.Dimitrov won the second and third sets but McDonald gave a tough fight to the season-ending ATP Finals winner to take the match to a final set.He will now meet Andrey Rublev of Russia in the third round on Friday.
Kohli's wicket was a special moment, says Ngidi
South African pacer Lungi Ngidi today said that trapping Virat Kohli, one of the world's best batsmen, lbw in India's second innings of the second Test was a special moment. The Test debutant went on to take 6-39 on day five as India crashed to 151 all out and lost the series 2-0. "The moment for me I think was the captains wicket. That was a very special moment and I felt that I had worked hard and sort of figured out a gameplan of bowling towards him. So finally getting that really did mean a lot to me," Ngidi said after winning the Man-of-the-Match award for taking 7 wickets for 90 runs in this second Test. Playing on his home ground, where he represents the Titans, Ngidi was cheered by the crowd throughout this game, in particular when he dismissed Kohli. He was also given a standing ovation after he tore through India's line-up on day five. "To be honest, it's actually difficult to describe. It's not something I'm used to, so every time it really does hit me. You ..
Pleasing to beat India in 'Indian' conditions: Du Plessis
South African skipper Faf du Plessis has said that the 2015 series loss in India on raging turners motivated their team to win the series here in Centurion, on a pitch that "should have suited the visitors more". The hosts won the second Test by 135 runs on day five and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. "It was tough for us in India (in 2015). Personally and as a team we struggled there, and mentally it took a toll on us, even after that series. So the guys were extremely motivated for this series to put that right," said du Plessis in the post-match press conference. "I think you could see that in this Test especially. In conditions that should suit them more than us, we adapted really well and we fought every hour to get ahead in the game. It is very pleasing sitting here 2-0 up," said du Plessis on Wednesday. "The previous game we spoke about how Newlands was almost on fast forward mode, so it was an exciting game and this was completely the ...
Amineni enters quarters of ITF junior tennis meet
Third seed Shivani Amineni drubbed fellow Indian Kaavya Sawhney to enter the quarter-final of the girls singles Under-18 category in the ITF Juniors tennis championships here on Wednesday.
260 players in fray at Chennai Open chess
Around 260 players, including defending champion and fourth seed Grand Master (GM) Tukhaev Adam and 15 other GMs and 18 International Masters (IM), will be fighting it out for top honours at the 10th Chennai Open International Grandmaster Chess Tournament 2018 that starts here on Thursday.
Kohli loses cool during media interaction, hits out at scribe
India captain Virat Kohli on Wednesday lost his cool while answering a journalist's question during the media interaction after India's 0-2 Test series loss in South Africa.
Kohli questions team commitment, says mistakes unacceptable
India skipper Virat Kohli today questioned his team's commitment after the series loss to South Africa, saying that the repeated fielding mistakes and soft dismissals by the batsmen were simply unacceptable. In a fiery press conference which saw Kohli arguing with reporters on a couple of questions, the Indian captain pulled up his team-mates for repeated mistakes in the first two Tests. "At the end of the day one team has to lose. As a team you always try to win. You can accept defeat but not the way we played, the way we let the advantage slip out of our hands, which is not acceptable from a team's point of view," a visibly agitated Kohli said after the 135-run drubbing in the second Test. "So many soft dismissals hurt us a lot. Because you work so hard, prepare for a match, get into good situations, shift the game towards you, and then the momentum shifts because of these mistakes. "We have repeated these mistakes in both matches. That feels very bad as a team," he ..
Wadekar blames lack for time to 'acclimatise' for SA loss
Former cricketer Ajit Wadekar has blamed the lack of time for Team India to "acclimatise" in South Africa for their humiliating Test series loss to the Proteas. The 135-run defeat in Centurion today ended India's nine-Test series winning run as South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match rubber. The Virat Kohli-led side had lost the first Test in Cape Town by 72 runs. The 76-year-old former India skipper, however, praised the captaincy of Kohli. "He (Kohli) is a good captain, but basically (in) South Africa (it) is very difficult to win, because the wickets are very fast. "Our team did not have enough time to get acclimatised to those conditions (in South Africa) and that may be the reason (for the loss)," Wadekar told PTI. India had decided not to play the practise game going into the first Test at Cape Town, which eventually they lost as the batsmen faltered in the second innings and the team folded up for 135. A similar collapse was witnessed today ..
Koreas agree on united women's hockey team for Winter Olympics
The two Koreas today agreed to form a united women's hockey team for next month's Winter Olympics in the South, the latest in a flurry of cross-border talks. Following a working-level meeting held at the truce village of Panmunjom, the two sides also announced that their athletes would make a joint entrance carrying a pro- unification flag, according to Yonhap news agency. A North Korean delegation will visit the South next week to review the facilities at the Games venue, Yonhap reported. South Korea also agreed to send its athletes to the North's Masikryong ski resort for training ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics that run through February 9 to 25. North Korea's Olympic delegation, athletes, cheering squad, taekwondo delegation and reporters will travel by land through Kaesong, which lies on the main road from Pyongyang to Seoul. Nuclear-armed Pyongyang agreed last week to send athletes, high-level officials, performers and others to the Pyeongchang Games, taking place .
Tata Steel Masters: Adhiban holds Anand
Indian Grandmaster B Adhiban held five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand to a creditable draw in the fourth round of Tata Steel Masters Chess tournament now underway here. With two white wins and two draws with black, Anand is now sitting pretty on three points out of a possible four and the Indian ace seems poised for more looking for his sixth victory in this 80th edition of the event. Adhiban went for the reverse Volga Gambit with white pieces and Anand had little troubles equalising. Adhiban tried to stir things up with some lively play but that boomeranged as Anand seized the initiative for a short while. Adhiban realised well in time that to play for a win was futile and decided to enter a force sequence of moves that resulted in an opposite coloured Bishops endgame. The pieces changed hands quickly thereafter and the draw was a just result. Anand's co-leader after third round, Anish Giri played out an easy draw as white against top ranked Magnus Carlsen of ...
Pooja excited after conquering World champion
Yet to come to terms with the fact that she has defeated reigning World and Olympic champion Helen Maroulis in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL), rising Indian star Pooja Dhanda is looking forward to creating more landmarks in the tournament.
S. African captain du Plessis fined for over-rate offences
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was on Wednesday fined 40 per cent of his match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate during the team's 135-run win against India at Centurion.
India in Blind Cricket World Cup final
Dominant India continued their winning streak as they defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets to enter the final of the Blind Cricket World Cup at the MCC Ground in here on Wednesday.
Five share first round lead at Final Qualifying Stage
The first round of the PGTI's Final Qualifying Stage for the 2018 season saw five golfers shoot scores of two-under-70 for the joint lead at the Kensville Golf & Country Club. The lead was shared between Gurgaon's Lakshya Dev Mudgil, Jalandhar's Gunvir Rana, Lucknow's Rajesh Kumar Rawat and amateurs Dhruv Sheoran of Pune and Digraj Singh Gill of Ludhiana. Lakshya Dev Mudgil and Gunvir Rana, both playing their third season as professionals, sank three and four birdies respectively during their rounds. Mudgil, whose 20-feet birdie conversion on the eighth was the highlight of his round, had earlier finished runner-up at Pre Qualifying III. Lakshya said, "I'm carrying the momentum from the Pre Qualifying Stage where I played really well. Experience plays a key role at the professional level and I feel I have enough experience now to perform better on the PGTI this year after two ordinary seasons." Rana is also looking to put two quiet seasons behind him with a much ...
India enter final of Blind Cricket World Cup
A dominant India beat Bangladesh by seven wickets to set up a title clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the Blind Cricket World Cup, here today. Man of the Match Ganeshbhai Muhudkar's century steered India home comfortably. He scored 112 in just 69 balls. Bangladesh had won the toss and elected to bat. They scored 256 all out in 38.5 overs. Defending champions India will take on Pakistan on January 20 at Sharjah. It was not a good start for Bangladesh as they lost two early wickets with less than 50 runs on the board. For Bangladesh, a resilient unbeaten 108 by Abdul Mallik was the highlight. Indias strong bowling restricted them to a modest score as Durga Rao took 3 wickets in 3 overs by giving away only 20 runs. Deepak Mallik and Prakash bagged 2 wickets each. Another star player Deepak Mallik was retired out for 53 off 43 balls. While Naresh made a handy 40 runs in 18 balls.
U-19 CWC: Afg, NZ, SA progress to Super League
A scintillating double-century stand between New Zealand openers Jakob Bhula and Rachin Ravindra lit up the Hagley Oval as the hosts thrashed Kenya by a huge margin of 243 runs.Bhula's astounding innings of 180 was the highest individual innings in the history of U-19 ODIs, while his 245-run opening partnership with Ravindra (117) was the best-ever opening stand in U-19 World Cup (WC).The opening wicket partnership set the tone for more onslaught as batsman Finn Allen joined the party with a belligerent 90, that resulted in New Zealand notching a mammoth 436 for four. This was the second highest total in U-19 WC.In the same group match, South African batsman Wandile Makwetu scored an unbeaten run-a-ball 99 and fast bowler Hermann Rolfes took four wickets to help 2014 champions South Africa defeat last year's defending champions, West Windies by 76 runs.The result means New Zealand and South Africa have progressed to the Super League after two successive wins, while West Indies and ...
Batsmen let us down: Kohli
India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday blamed his batsmen for letting the team down after their 135-run loss in the second cricket Test at the SuperSport Park here.
Golfer Vani leads after round 2 of Hero pro meet
Ace golfer Vani Kapoor held on to a slender lead despite a fine under-par card from Neha Tripathi in the second round of the inaugural event of the 2018 Hero Womens Pro Golf Tour at Kalhaar Blues and Greens here on Wednesday.
U19 World Cup: Proteas, Kiwis, secure knockout berths
South Africa and New Zealand won their respective Group A matches to qualify for the knockout stages of the ICC U19 World Cup on Wednesday.
Federer gets double nominations for Laureus World Sports Awards
19-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer's impressive return to form after a knee injury, which saw him win his fifth Australian Open and eighth Wimbledon titles, sees him nominated in the 2018 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Laureus World Comeback of the Year categories.Federer, currently a four-time Laureus World Sports Awards winner could become the most decorated player here, at the 2018 ceremony in Monaco on February 27.Meanwhile, Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo is also up for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year with his team nominated for team of the Year.Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe is in contention for breakthrough of the year and FC Barcelona and Chapecoense nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the year award.Joining Federer and Ronaldo in the sportsman of the Year category is athletics world championships 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver medal-winning athlete Mo Farah, four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome, four-time Formula One world ...