Archives for 2018

India sealed the semi-final spot, thrashing arch-rivals Pakistan 41-17 in Group A match of the Kabaddi Masters at the Al Wasl Sports Club here on Monday.

This was India’s third consecutive win in this six-nation tournament and second win against Pakistan. Men-in-Blue will now face Kenya in a dead rubber on Tuesday.

It seemed like Pakistan had not learnt from their last defeat against India as they were making same mistakes on the mat. India, on the other hand, had a clear strategy of defending rather than to attack on their opponents half.

Rishank, Girish, Mohit and skipper Ajay Thakur continued to impress as they outplayed Pakistan easily.

Commenting on the crucial tie, Indian coach Srinivas Reddy said: “I knew the margin will be bigger this time. This time is was completed effort. Rohit’s raid completely changed the match. I just asked by players to enjoy the match and that provided us the result.

“Our strength is raid. We have best raiders in the world. I asked my boys that every raid is a do-or-die and that paid off,” he added.

Coming back to the match, Both teams started off on a good note but India slowly took two points lead through Ajay.

Some good defence from Mohit and Girish in the corners took few points and forced Pakistan to play with one man.

Rohit took the task to inflict the first all out of the match and got rid of lone-man Nadeem to make it 12-3 in just 10 minutes of play.

With just three minutes left in the first half, Pakistan got another jolt when their skipper Nasir got injured and was replaced.

India kept on swelling their lead through some brilliant defending while Pakistan struggled to hold India.

At the end of the first half, it was 18-9 in favour of India. The change of ends saw some more brilliant and composed game by the Indian players.

Ajay, once again proved why is one of the best raiders in the country, when he inflicted an all-out in just five minutes of the second half play to make scoreboard read 25-11.

There was no match of India in rest of the second half. Even the comeback of Nasir, who got injured, could not do anything impressive as India kept on taking points along with one more all-out towards the end to seal the issue comfortably.

In the other match, Iran also sealed their place in the semi finals, defeating South Korea 31-27 in a
closely contested match.

Korea squandered an early lead only to fight back in the second half but it was in vain. Mohammed Maghsoudlou scored 12 points and Mohammed Nabibaksh also contributed in attack and defence to lead Iran to victory.

Jang Kun Lee scored seven points and Dong Ju Hong scored five points for Korea.

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has summoned Umar Akmal on Wednesday after the batsman claimed in a TV interview that he was approached to fix matches, especially the contest against arch-rivals India in the 2015 ICC World Cup.

Akmal even went on to claim that he got spot-fixing offers every single time Pakistan played India, which has majorly been in ICC tournaments or the Asia Cup.

Besides the matches against India, Akmal revealed that he was also approached to fix matches in the Hong Kong Super Sixes, Pakistan’s series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates.

Akmal reportedly said he was made the offer in the 2015 ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand — a tournament in which Pakistan went till the quarterfinal stage.

Pakistan and India were in Group B and played their only contest at the Adelaide Oval where India maintained their unbeaten run against Pakistan in World Cup history, winning by 76 runs.

Akmal faced a mere four balls and fell for a duck to left-arm orthodox Ravindra Jadeja.

“I had got an offer during the World Cup to leave two balls alone and they were willing to pay me $200,000 for that,” Akmal said in the interview with Samaa TV.

“It was our first match against India in the 2015 World Cup… in fact, every match I play against India, they offer me money to make some excuse and opt out of the game. But I have told those people that I am very sincere about playing for Pakistan and to not talk to me on this topic ever again,” he added.

Akmal’s claims invited quick action with the PCB asking the 28-year-old to explain his comments.

“Notice served to Umar Akmal. He has been asked to appear before PCB Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) on June 27,” a tweet from the PCB’s handle read.

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) also sprung into action, saying that it wished to speak with the cricketer urgently.

“The ICC is aware of a recent interview given by Umar Akmal. Whilst we note that there is no suggestion that any ‘fix’ actually took place, the ICC is reliant on players to report any corrupt approaches in a timely manner,” the ICC said in a statement.

“This is critical to our efforts to gather information on potential ‘fixers’ and to disrupt and prevent their efforts to corrupt the game. As such we are taking Akmal’s comments very seriously.

“We have launched an investigation and wish to speak to Akmal as a matter of urgency. Our Anti-Corruption Unit is committed to working to uphold integrity in cricket and would urge anyone with any information to contact us via contactacu@icc-cricket.com,” the ICC statement added.

Saudi Arabia ended their FIFA World Cup 2018 campaign on a winning note, edging past Egypt 2-1 in their final Group A game at the Volgograd Arena here on Monday.

With the dead rubber inching towards a 1-1 draw, Saudi’s Salem Al Dawsari struck in the additional injury time to help his side notch up their only win in the tournament.

Earlier, Mohamed Salah found the back of the net in the 22nd minute to hand Egypt an early lead in the game.

However, Saudi’s Salman Al Faraj equalised, scoring minutes before the half-time.

The game saw Egypt keeper Essam El Hadary make World Cup history when he became the oldest player to appear in the final stage aged 45 years and five months.

Hadary saved a first half penalty from Fahad Almuwallad and produced several excellent stops in the second half but could do nothing to prevent Alburayk’s late finish.

Having lost both of their opening two clashes, Saudi Arabia and Egypt’s World Cup journey ended on Monday.

Uruguay finished on top of Group A after thrashing 10-man Russia 3-0 in their final group stage match here on Monday.

Luis Suárez gave Uruguay the lead after 10 minutes with a superb free-kick just outside the penalty area, taking advantage of a gap created by Sergei Ignashevich tussling with Edinson Cavani.

Russian Denis Cheryshev then had the misfortune to double Uruguay’s lead in the 23rd minute, a shot from Diego Laxalt that was going wide clipping his heels.

The hosts’ hopes were then finished off by Igor Smolnikov picking up two yellow cards in rapid succession.

Uruguay sealed the deal in their favour in the 90th minute when Cavani followed up a header from Diego Godín that was saved by Akinfeev after a late corner, only for Cavani to tuck away the rebound.

Uruguay will next play the runners-up of Group B in the last 16 on Saturday in Sochi.

Russia, meanwhile, have finished second and will play the winners of Group B in the last 16 on Sunday at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

India will open their campaign against New Zealand at Guyana in the opener of the ICC women’s World T20 2018 to be staged in the West Indies from November 9 to 24, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday.

The other teams in action on the opening day of the tournament are Australia, Pakistan and hosts & defending champions West Indies.

This is the first time that the women’s tournament is being held as a stand-alone event and all the matches will be broadcast live from Guyana, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda. This is also the first time that the Decision Review System (DRS) will be used in an ICC World T20 event.

The 10-team tournament, featuring three-time champions Australia, reigning ICC women’s 50-over World Cup winners England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and defending champions the Windies, plus two qualifiers, will be played across three venues in the Caribbean.

Defending champions the Windies are in Group A along with England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Qualifier 1 from the Netherlands event, while Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Qualifier 2 will be in Group B.

The last tournament was held in India in 2016 alongside the men’s event, which saw the girls from the Caribbean nation clinch victory.

The finalists of the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier in the Netherlands from July 7 to 14 will complete the line-up of the tournament.

The teams participating in the Qualifying event are Bangladesh, Ireland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, Uganda and the United Arab Emirates.

ICC Women’s World T20 Tournament Director, Jennifer Nero welcomed all the teams to the West Indies and also urged fans to come out and support the players.

“The West Indies is one of the great places in the world for sports, entertainment and culture…I want to urge the fans to come out and see the best players in the modern game,” Nero said in a statement.

“Women’s cricket is growing at a rapid rate as we saw from last year’s World Cup in England, and teams are getting stronger. Here in the West Indies, we are committed to playing a major role in the continued growth and development of the sport.”

“We want to invite the cricket world to be part of this exhilarating world-class event on and off the field,” Nero added.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said the countdown for the big event has now begun and her team is looking to do well in the tournament.

“The announcement of the schedule marks the countdown to this big event and we are all really looking forward to playing in the West Indies,” Kaur said in a statement.

“The ICC Women’s World Twenty20 will be a competitive tournament with some tough league matches early on and no team can take it easy at any stage. Naturally, expectations will be high from our team after our World Cup final appearance last year and we aim to be at our best during the tournament,” the explosive all-rounder added.

The two infants of the indigenous sport of Kabaddi — Kenya and Argentina — are slowly taking their stride on the international platform and are excited to be a part of the game.

But the two nations still have a long way to go, as they both lack basic facilities. The two nations need basic infrastructure like mats, training grounds, coaches and some exposure to excel in the sport.

There is a gulf in class between top four kabaddi nations — India, Pakistan, South Korea and Iran — and the two newbies of the sport, who are currently participating in the Kabaddi Masters in Dubai.

Kenya and Argentina were hapless in both their games. Kenya were thrashed by India and Pakistan by a huge margin while Argentina were also outplayed by South Korea and Iran in the other group.

So the excitement and desire to play the sport will not be enough as they need basic facilities and experienced coaching if they want to excel in it.

Kenya’s Chief Administrative Secretary and Minister of Sports Hassan Noor Hassan also agreed to the fact that there is plenty of excitement and desire to play kabaddi in his country but the lack of infrastructure could shatter the dreams of many athletes.

“Our biggest challenges are the coaches and trainers. We are in touch with International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) and we will be soon having bilateral series and training to increase the players’ capacity on the mat,” Hassan told IANS.

“In order to do something on a grassroots level, we need to organize more matches, (we need) more space for playing, and to improve the facilities,” he explained.

Hassan also said that in the brief four years of Kenya’s history in kabaddi, many youngsters wanted to be a part of the sport.

As a result, they are taking necessary steps to popularise the game in the African nation so that more people could join.

“We are playing this game for the fourth year now, and as a Minister of Sports and Heritage, our plan is to roll down the sports to the other parts of the country. Slowly, the people of our country are realizing that kabaddi is an international game and they also want to be the part of it,” he expressed.

Argentina also wants same things to be done for the further development of the game.

In fact, their coach Ricardo Acuna met IKF president Janardan Singh Gehlot and sought help to improve the standards of the sport in his country.

“Yesterday, I met Gehlot along with Chaturvedi and they promised us to give one mat to practice, and apart from that, an Indian coach for a month to know the technicalities of the game,” the coach said.

These are the kind of platforms the newbies need to flourish in the sport.

The coach also asserted that they are in this six-nation tournament just to gain experience because back home, there are no tournaments and proper facilities.

“We knew that we are going to face four defeats. We are little bit slower than rest of the teams here,” Acuna opined.

“So we are here to learn and not to win,” he added.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)