Archives for August 2018

Badminton legend Prakash Padukone has no hesitation in calling four-time World Championship medallist P.V. Sindhu as one of the “greats” among Indian shuttlers even as he hoped that the Hyderabadi will break her silver medal run in major championships.

Sindhu recently returned with a second successive silver medal from the Nanjing World Championships after going down to her old nemesis Carolina Marin of Spain in the summit clash. The Spaniard had also defeated Sindhu at the Rio Olympic Games final.

The 23-year-old has settled for the second spot in four successive tournaments this season — India Open, Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Thailand Open and the World Championships — with many questioning her inability to win the finals of major tournaments.

However, Padukone, who was ranked World No.1 in 1980 — the same year that he became the first Indian to win the All England title — said performing at the top level with that kind of consistency is not easy.

“She has played quite well, it’s quite creditable that she has reached the second successive World Championship final. The competition at the top isn’t easy, but I think she should aim for the gold next time,” Padukone told reporters after the final of the PNB Metlife Junior championship season 4, here.

“On the whole, I reckon that’s a creditable performance. She beat two good Japanese players (Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi) to whom she normally loses. It’s unfortunate that she couldn’t win the final,” he added.

On being asked if Sindhu can be counted among the greats in Indian badminton, Padukone said: “She is definitely one among the greats. She is still very young, she’s got a long way to go.”

“She’s only 23, I think by the time she retires she will conquer many more milestones.”

While Sindhu has consistently raised the bar in global tournaments, the story of her compatriot and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal isn’t quite the same.

Padukone advised the Hyderabad-based star to manage her workload to get back to winning ways.

“Good that she is staging a comeback, she needs to be a little more consistent and manage her schedule a little better. You have to ask the coach, it depends on each individual,” he said.

On India’s chances in the upcoming Asian Games starting August 18, the 63-year-old said it will be tough considering the participation of all the top badminton playing nations.

“It will be tough because most of the top badminton playing nations are in Asia, a lot of them are preparing for the Asian Games.”

“It’s also so close to the World Championships, so it’s difficult for any player to pick in two important events but it’s not impossible. It depends on how they pick that week,” he said.

Padukone conceded that Indian players have started conquering the Asian wall, once dominated by the Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian shuttlers but at the same time wanted his country’s shuttlers to focus on consistency.

“We have already conquered it, it’s just that we have not been able to put it across in the important events but most of our top players have already beaten the top Asian players in some tournament or the other.

“It’s not that they are unbeatable, it’s just that we need to click at the important events,” he added.

The India U-16 football team defeated Yemen 3-0 to maintain their winning streak in the five-nation WAFF U-16 Championship here on Tuesday.

Centre-back Harpreet Singh headed in the first goal in the 37th minute with two goals coming in consecutive minutes immediately after resumption to take the tie beyond Yemen’s reach, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said in a statement.

While the second goal was headed in by Ridge Demello in the 47th minute, Rohit Danu lobbed it over the rival goalkeeper a minute later, providing the perfect finish to a promising build-up.

Indian head coach Bibiano Fernandes lauded the boys for their “fantastic display”.

“We are extremely proud of them. They came up with a superlative performance today and executed it to perfection. The tournament has helped us gauge where we stand and we go back much richer in experience,” he stated after the match.

The Indian boys thus finished their engagements in the tournament, winning three matches and losing a close battle to Japan.

While the Indian colts had made short work of Jordan 4-0 in their opening encounter and accounted for current U-16 Asian champions Iraq in their previous match by a solitary goal, they had lost the lead and the match to Asian powerhouse Japan 1-2 in their other match.

Jharkhand Sports Minister Amar Kumar Bauri has recommended to hand over the case related to financial irregularities in 34th National Games to the CBI, an official said on Monday, adding that the file has been sent for approval of Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

Jharkhand had hosted the 34th National Games in Ranchi and Dhanbad in 2011.

A former Indian Revenue Service official had alleged that the instruments used for the games were purchased at higher rates, and had written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Subsequently, the PMO had written to the Jharkhand government, asking for an appropriate action into the matter.

“Acting on the PMO’s letter, the Sports Minister has recommended a CBI probe. After the approval of the Chief Minister, the case could be handed over to the CBI,” an official of the Sports Department told IANS.

Currently, the state’s Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) is investigating the case.

After being named by the ACB in its charge-sheet, three of the four accused — former Sports Director P.C. Mishra, Organising Committee Secretary S.M. Hasmi and then Treasurer of the Games Madhukant Pathak — were sent to jail. At present, Mishra and Hasmi are out on bail while Pathak is still in jail.

Investigation is also going on against then Jharkhand Olympic Association President R.K. Anand.

The city of Kolkata will be the venue for the next event of the ‘CuppaSchoola’ karate tournament, run by the Indian Professional Karate Council (IPKC) and the Boutspro Ultimate Karate League, it was announced on Monday.

The IPKC and BUKL on Saturday hosted the ‘CuppaSchoola National Capital Region Karate Tournament’ at Talkatora Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, with the participation of around 300 competitors from leading schools and clubs from Delhi-NCR and surrounding towns.

Young athletes under 15 years of age participated in four different categories in the tournament. The winners of the regional tournament were awarded scholarships worth Rs 8,40,000.

IPKC Chairman ensei Rajeev Sinha announced here that the next event will be hosted in Kolkata, West Bengal, in October and it will be followed by the upcoming editions in Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ranchi.

Bengaluru FC suffered a 1-5 thrashing at the hands of UAE Pro-League side Shabab Al Ahli Dubai FC in their second game of the 2018 Spain Tour at the Meliá Villaitana Football Center here.

Bengaluru began Monday evening’s game on the offensive with Chencho Gyeltshen and Xisco Hernandez going agonisingly close in the opening 10 minutes, the Indian Super League outfit said in a statement on their official website on Tuesday.

Boithang Haokip had only the rival goalkeeper to beat but managed to hit it straight at him. Erik Paartalu then saw a header come off the post. Shabab finally managed to push up forcing Soram Poirei into making some decent saves before Sairuat Kima conceded a penalty at the quarter hour mark.

However, Poirei produced a brilliant save diving to his right to keep the scores level at 0-0.

But a defensive lapse just a minute later allowed an Ahli striker to beat Poirei from close and break the deadlock in the 16th minute.

Bengaluru kept pushing high before finally pulling level in the 42nd minute. Xisco who continued to impress, found Udanta Singh in space who controlled the ball well before slotting it home to make it 1-1 going into the breather.

The second half began in a disastrous fashion for Bengaluru who conceded three goals in quick succession (46th, 51st, and 54th minutes) after some defensive errors allowed Shabab Al Ahli strikers to capitalise in the final third.

Bengaluru went close to pulling a goal back in the 79th minute when Erik Paartalu tried to dink one over the goalkeeper but the ball came off the woodwork. A minute later at the other end it was Shabab who scored their fifth with a long-range strike.

In the final minutes it was Miku, playing his first game since firing Bengaluru to the Super Cup title, who created a good chance only to be denied by the rival custodian, after dribbling past a host of defenders with his trademark solo run as the game ended 1-5.

Bengaluru FC will next face Villarreal CF B in their third game on August 11.