Page 473 - Sports
Don't compare 'legend' Dhoni with me, says Rishabh Pant
Gurugram (Haryana) [India], Mar 16 (ANI): MS Dhoni's resting from the last two matches of the concluded ODI series against Australia had opened the door for Rishabh Pant but the young wicketkeeper-batsman ended up receiving criticism for his work behind the stumps.The 21-year-old amassed only 52 runs in his two outings. However, it hardly took a while for the critics to draw a comparison between him and the master of the game.Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Pant said: "I'm not thinking about the comparison too much. As a player, I want to learn from him (Dhoni). He's a legend of the game. I don't want people to compare but I can't stop them from doing so. I'm close to him and talk to him about everything how I can improve my game on and off the field".Despite the failings during the series, Pant pointed out that he is been learning a lot of things from Indian captain Virat Kohli and former captain Dhoni."I've learned lots of things from them (Kohli and Dhoni) like discipline, how to take
Praneeth stuns Olympic champion to move to Swiss Open final
Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth toppled world number five and reigning Olympic champion Chen Long to breeze into the final of the men's singles event of the Swiss Open, here Saturday. World number 22 Praneeth initially faced stiff resistance from the former Chinese world number one and Rio Olympic gold medallist before prevailing 21-18 21-13 in the semifinal clash. While the first game was tight, the Indian shuttler completely dominated the second, ending the match in 46 minutes. It was Praneeth's first win over Long in three attempts. he had lost to him at the Indonesian Master early this year and at Asian Championship last year in April. Praneeth will now fight it out with top seed Chinese Shi Yuki in the final, which will be his first since the Thailand Open victory in June 2017. P Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram, Sameer Verma and Shubankar Dey also featured in the men's singles but none could go beyond the second round.
Special Olympics: SO Bharat continue its golden run on Day 2
The SO Bharat contingent continued its good run on Day 2 of the Special Olympics by clinching a whopping 55 medals, including 14 golds here Saturday. Indian roller skaters bagged a staggering 29 medals comprising nine golds, 13 silver and two bronze. The powerlifters of India also found the podium 23 times by the end of the second day of competitions. The cyclist fetched two yellow metals while the judokas brought in two more gold medals. The athletics and swimming contingents, who are competing in Dubai, were also successful in winning eight medals. The total tally of the country now stands at 70 medals, including 18 golds, 22 silver and 30 bronze.
Lakshya crashes out in semifinals of China Masters
Promising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen fought valiantly before crashing out of the China Masters after suffering a three-game defeat in the men's singles semifinals here Saturday. Lakshya, looked upon as the next big thing in Indian men's badminton, fought tooth and nail for one hour and two minutes before losing 9-21 21-12 17-21 against China's Weng Hongyang. Hongyang will play compatriot Liu Haichao in the final on Sunday. Haichao got the better of Malaysia's Iskandar Zulkarnain 21-9 20-22 21-16 in another engrossing semifinal contest.
Bhullar tied fourth, two behind leaders in Kenya
India's Gaganjeet Bhullar kept himself in the hunt with a 66 that now puts him two shots behind leaders Adri Arnaus and Guido Migliozzi in the Magical Kenya Open golf tournament here Saturday. Bhullar is 12-under with leaders Arnaus and Migliozzi at 14-under. They all took advantage of favourable conditions at Karen Country Club, with Arnaus (65) and Migliozzi (64) carding good scores going into the final day. One shot off the pace is overnight leader Louis de Jager (70). Also in the hunt is Kalle Samooja, who is tied fourth. Still in with a chance of winning back-to-back European Tour titles is South Africa's Justin Harding. The Qatar Masters champion signed for a two-under par round of 69 to remain four back with 18 holes to play.
CCI Snooker: Ishpreet, Pankaj, Brijesh have it easy
Mumbai's Ishpreet Singh Chadha Saturday came out all guns blazing against Asutosh Padhy and breezed to a 4-0 victoryin the best-of-7-frame round of 32 match ofthe CCI All India Open Snooker Championship. The Khar Gymkhana cueist fired in three substantial breaks of 63 in the second frame, 58 in the third and signed off with a composed 86 in the fourth to power his way to a 63-33, 69-14, 106-19 and 101-8 victory. Top-ranked Pankaj Advani of ONGChad a routine day in office as he strolled past Indias number two ranked woman cueist Arantxa Sanchis of Pune by a clear 4-0 margin. Pankaj showed his class and compiled another century effort of 112 and two runs of 54 and 68 to post a 102-15, 89-4, 73-25 and 112-12 victory. Defending champion Brijesh Damani of Indian Oil maintained his impressive run of form and sidelined Mumbais Hasan Badami by a facile 4-1 margin in another round of 32 match. Meanwhile, on a side table, Malkeet Singh of Railways blew hot and cold and recovered ..
CSK begin full fledged preparations for IPL-12
: The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings Saturday began full-fledged preparations for IPL-12 at the M A Chidambaram stadium here. Dhoni, who led the CSK to a third title triumph in the 2018 edition, trained with Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav, who were part of the Indian team that played a five-match ODI series against Australia recently. The CSK captain, who landed in the city late on Friday, got down to business and was seen discussing with head coach Stephen Fleming and batting coach Mike Hussey. Dhoni, Rayudu, Jadhav, Raina and the others batted at the nets under the watchful eyes of Fleming and Hussey. The domestic players in the squad, including Karn Sharma, KM Asif and Tamil Nadu 'keeper N Jagadeesan began training on March 6. India discard Suresh Raina and Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay joined the preparatory camp a few days later. The foreign players in the CSK squad are expected to join the training camp in the days to come as would South Africa ...
Mendis lifts struggling Sri Lanka
A half-century by Kusal Mendis and an adventurous lower order partnership lifted a struggling Sri Lankan team in the fifth and final one-day international against South Africa at Newlands on Saturday. Mendis made 56 in a Sri Lankan total of 225, which was boosted by an eighth wicket stand of 61 off 53 balls between Priyamal Perera and Isuru Udana. Even so, Sri Lanka fell three balls short of batting out a full 50 overs, continuing a sequence going back to October 2018. The only time in their most recent eight matches when they were not bowled out was in the rain-shortened third match of the current series when they were well short of the required run rate when play was halted. Mendis played a measured innings in making his second half-century of a series in which none of his fellow top-order batsmen reached the 50 mark. He was needlessly run out after a mix-up with Priyamal Perera in the 35th over at a time when he could reasonably have been expected to start accelerating. He faced 84
Kiera Byland wins Gold in her first race
British cycling star Kiera Byland won a gold medal for the team Great Britain (GB) which was her opening race at the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019.The 20-year-old athlete completed the race in 24 minutes and 24 seconds, making her the first across the finish line in the women's 15-kilometer Road Race Final held at Yas Marina Circuit.While talking about her performance in the World Games, Kiera said " I said to my teammates 'I hope I do really well in my first race' and then, obviously, I've done really good."Kiera put her victory down to months of hard training and preparation." I just hope I can continue this in my other races because I've done all the training and put the effort in with help from my coach and my family," she added.At the same venue, Kiera will next race in the 25km Road Race on March 18, followed by the 10km time trial on March 19.
Mary Kom to skip Asian Boxing Championships
Mary Kom is going to skip the Asian Boxing Championships to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from April 16 to 27. The six-time World Championship has decided to skip the event in order to focus on the World Championships to be held later in the year.There will be a 20-member Indian women's boxing team in the Asian Boxing Championship which consists World Championship Silver medallist Sonia Chahal along with former World Championships gold medallist Sarita Devi and former world junior champion Nikhat Zareen.Out of 46 boxers, these boxers were selected on the basis of the three-day trial which was held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.After seven successful editions, the women's competition will be held simultaneously as the men at the Asian Championships for the very first time. In the last edition, the Indian women grabbed a total of seven medals which included one gold, one silver and five bronze.
Indian athletes win four more gold medals at Asian Youth Championships
Vishvendra Singh broke the championship record with a timing of 44:09.75 in 10000m Race Walk as India bagged four gold medals on the second day of the Asian Youth Athletics Championships, here Saturday. The previous record was held by India's Sanjay Kumar (45:30.39). Paramjeet Singh Bisht won the bronze medal in same event by clocking 44.21.96. Usaid Khan maintained his overnight lead to win his first gold medal in the men's decathlon with 6952 points. He broke the earlier championship record of 6671 points held by Mohammed Alferas of Kuwait. Ansar Ali of India stacked up 5943 points to win the bronze. Thabitha P.M. of India leaped to 5.86m in her fourth attempt to win her second gold medal in the women's long jump event. Another Indian in the fray Ambrikha Narzary bagged the bronze medal with a jump of 5.73m in her fourth attempt. 400m Runner Abdul Razak carried his brilliant form from heats to win the fifth gold medal for India with a timing of 48.17s. Earlier in the heats held ...
People believe one needs power hitter at top but I trust my methods: Rahane
India's Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane Saturday said that there is a misconception that only power hitters are successful at the top-order as players have their own methods to keep the scoreboard ticking. It's been more than a year that Rahane is out of Indian ODI team but he still will like to stick to his own method. "People always talk about power at the top but it is important to believe in your abilities and your own methods. It's not all about power-hitting, someone has to play an anchoring role and guys around him can play power-hitting shots," the diminutive right-handed batsman told ESPN Cricinfo. "I always believed in my abilities and it's important to stick to your game. As long as you are focussing your game that's what matters." Out-of-favour Rahane last played an ODI for India in February 16, 2018 against South Africa in Centurion. Talking about the upcoming World Cup, Rahane said despite the loss to Australia in the five-match ODI series at home, India are still a ...
Three more held in Guj for playing PUBG video game on phones
In an ongoing crackdown on people playing PUBG online game in Gujarat, local police arrested three more persons for allegedly playing the video game on their mobile phones despite a ban, an official said Saturday. Several persons have been arrested across the state, after police in different districts banned the online multi-player game on the ground that it wasleading to violent behaviour among children and youth. Three persons were arrested from different parts of Satellite locality here on Friday night, after they were caught playing the game, a Satellite police station official said. Ahmedabad police commissioner had issued a notification banning the Player Unknown's Battleground game in the district with effect from March 14. The accused were booked under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the official said, adding that the trio were released on bail. On Friday, eight more persons were arrested from
Football mess in India after Super Cup saga
India have won the bid to host the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2020, which is great news for football lovers in the country. India have been able to add another feather to their cap after successfully hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup (boys).
Dharun Ayyasamy betters own 400m hurdles national record
Dharun Ayyasamy bettered his own national record to claim gold medal in the men's 400m hurdles at the 23rd Federation Cup even as eight athletes qualified for the Doha Asian Athletics Championships on the second day of the competition, here Saturday. Ayyasamy clocked 48.80 seconds to erase his own national mark of 48.96, which he had set at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Ayyasamy's effort was more than enough to meet the qualification standard of 50.00 for the Asian Championships, set by the Athletics Federation of India. "I can go even faster. My goal is to record a time of 48.50. Maybe I will do it at the Asian Championships," said Ayyasamy after the race. Ayyasamy finished far ahead of the field with Kerala's MP Jabir clocking 49.53s to claim silver. M Ramchandran of Tamil Nadu took the bronze medal with a time of 50.57. Saritaben Gayakwad of Gujarat set a new meet record in the women's 400m hurdles with a timing of 57.21. The previous meet record of 57.39 stood in the name of ..
I am no slouch in white ball cricket: Ashwin on ODI exclusion
On a day when country's seniormost speedster Ishant Sharma spoke about how perceptions affected his chances in ODIs" his Test teammate Ravichandran Ashwin also echoed same sentiments reminding that he is "no slouch with white ball". Ashwin has not played limited overs cricket since 2017 West Indies tour as selectors and team management felt that wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are better options. To be fair to both Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri, both Kuldep and Chahal have done well. "I don't know, it is a perception. I am no slouch. In the white ball format, my records are not bad like what it is perceived to be. It is out of perception that wrist spinners are required in modern one day cricket that I am sitting out," straight-talking off-spinner said when asked about the challenge of concentrating on one format. He also pointed out that in his last ODI game for the country against the West Indies in North Sound on June 30, 2017 he had returned figures of 3 for ...
Pak fans ask if ICC ban cricket in New Zealand after Christchurch terror attack
Cricket-mad fans from Pakistan have furiously been using Twitter to ask if the International Cricket Council (ICC) will ban International cricket in New Zealand after the Christchurch terror attack on Friday.In 2009, Sri Lanka team was attacked during their tour of Pakistan. Seven people were killed in the attack, although, the Sri Lanka cricket team was safe. After this, the cricketing body banned international cricket in Pakistan."Will New Zealand now be written and read terrorist country?," a Twitter user asked.Another user asked: "Will the ICC ban New Zealand from hosting cricket or that restriction is only for Pakistan?""Terror attack on Srilankan team in Pakistan, World: Ban cricket in Pakistan; Maasive terrorist attack on a mosque in Newzeland, World: Oops 404 Error" a tweet read.A user while comparing the Pakistan attack with New Zealand attack wrote "Yes but you should know that there were no casualties during attack on Sri Lanka Cricket team 10 years back but doors of ...
IPL: South Africa yet to decide on release of players
While the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to start in a week from now, there is tension brewing in South Africa as Cricket South Africa (CSA) is undecided on when they wish to release their players for the T20 league in India.
Teenaged Diksha Dagar creates history, wins South African Women's Open
Diksha Dagar became only the second Indian woman golfer to win on Ladies European Tour after clinching the South African Open, eking out a one-shot victory with a bogey-free final round, here Saturday. Dagar, 18, was trailing by two shots, but pipped the much-experienced Lee Anne Pace with a three-under final round. Dagar follows Aditi Ashok, who in 2016 became the first Indian to win on the LET. Aditi added two more LET wins and now plays on the LPGA. Diksha also has ambitions of getting to the LPGA, which on current form looks a strong possibility. Dagar played at the Women's Hero Indian Open as an amateur and made the cut. Her father, Narinder Dagar, who served in the Army, was on the bag for Diksha. Narinder helped her cope with the trauma of having hearing problems. She has been wearing hearing aids since the age of six. A left-hander, Diksha is well-known for brand of aggressive and fearless golf. Her brother, Yogesh, who is also deaf, also plays golf and has been playing in ...
Mary Kom opts out of Asian C'ship; Sonia, Sarita to lead Indian women boxing team
Legendary MC Mary Kom has decided to skip the Asian Women's Championship to prepare for the bigger events ahead and in her absence, world championship silver medallist Sonia Chahal will lead the 20-member Indian contingent at the event, to be held in Bangkok from April 16 to 27. Six-time world champion Mary Kom, who won India's solitary gold medal at the 2017 edition in Vietnam, wants to focus on the World Championships to be held later this year. In Mary Kom's absence, Sonia and former gold medallist Sarita Devi and ex-world junior champion Nikhat Zareen will spearhead the Indian contingent. A lot of talented youngsters has made it to the team on the basis of the three-day trials held at the Indira Gandhi Stadium. A total of 46 boxers appeared in trials. While Nikhat defeated Pinki Rani 4-1 to secure the pole position in the final of the trial in the 51kg, Pinki will be the reserve. Nikhat began the season in scintillating fashion by clinching the gold medal at the Strandja Memorial .