Star Indian shuttler H.S. Prannoy admits that the pressure will be on top players at the Commonwealth Games (CWG), especially when they come across lesser-fancied rivals and that they need to be ready for any surprise elements.

The 25-year-old is ranked 12th in the world at the moment after reaching the quarter-finals of the All England Badminton Championships in mid-March. He is the third highest ranked in the men’s singles competition after compatriot and world No.2 Kidambi Srikanth and world No.7 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

Prannoy said that even though the level of competition at the CWG doesn’t match that of the top-tier BWF circuit meets or the Asian Games, he needs to be mentally ready in case a lesser-known player comes up with surprising performances.

Prannoy will open his singles campaign against Mauritius’ Aatish Lubah in the Round of 32 on Wednesday.

“There may be lesser number of strong players but lesser-known players from other countries who can come and trouble you on a particular day. The pressure is on you when you face lesser-known opponents. So you need to stay calm in the initial rounds and mentally ready to be up for a fight. But in the quarter-finals, there will be strong competitors,” Prannoy told IANS from Gold Coast in an interview facilitated by the CWG’s official broadcaster Sony Pictures Sports Network.

Before the All England at Birmingham, Prannoy had been sidelined for nearly two months due to a wart on his foot.

“In the first game in the opening round, I lost badly. Then Gopichand sir told me play to the atmosphere and don’t think out of the results. It was very comforting message. I was thinking that I am not in pain,” he recalled.

Prannoy has a 2016 South Asian Games team gold in his cabinet, as well as an individual silver from the same competition and bronze in the Asia Team Championships the same year. He also won the US Open last year as he moved into the top-10 in global singles rankings.

He also revealed that in the next six months his target is to take his ranking inside top-eight in his bid to extend his rising status.

“I am happy in maintaining my rankings around 10-15. Looking ahead, couple of good wins in the BWF circuit will help go up the rankings. In the coming six to seven months, my aim is to reach top-eight as it will help in getting good draws in the bigger events. Top-eight rank will help me in not running into the big players in the initial rounds,” Prannoy said.

(Ians)

The tournament was to be held in India but apparently, the decision arrived after Indian government’s refusal to host Pakistan.
The 2018 Asia Cup is set to be held in United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is learnt.

The decision was taken by the Executive Board members at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.
“This year’s Asia Cup will be held between 15-29th September at Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi”, a source speaking exclusively, said.

The tournament was to be held in India but apparently, the decision arrived after Indian government’s refusal to host the Pakistan cricket team.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the ACC will be held in Lahore few days before the Asia Cup and the presidentship of the ACC will be taken over by Bangladesh. The ACC presidentship is shared by the Test playing nations in Asia.

The final of the Emergent Trophy will be played in Sri Lanka and the matches involving Pakistan will be played in Pakistan and matches involving Indian team will be played in India.

Indian shooter Heena Sidhu won gold in the women’s 25 metre Pistol event at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) here on Tuesday.

Heena notched up a new CWG record of 38 points in the final to take the title in style.

Elena Galiabovitch of Australia scroed 35 to take silver while Malaysia’s Alia Sazana Azahari got bronze with 26.

This was the 11th gold medal for India in this year’s CWG and Heena’s first individual gold in three editions of this quadrennial event.

Heena, who has a total of four CWG medals to her name, had bagged bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol event on Sunday.

She had also won a gold in the women’s 10m air pistol pairs and silver in the individual event at the 2010 edition in New Delhi.

The fact that Heena managed to emerge champion on Tuesday despite an injury in her trigger finger, speaks volumes of her determination and makes the victory all the more creditable.

Annu Raj Singh, the other Indian in the fray, fizzled out in the final after an excellent performance during qualification, to take the overall sixth place.

Elena was the fastest off the blocks in the final and Heena was trailing behind the Australian till the fifth series.

Heena did well to close the gap by scoring with all her five shots in the fifth series before another perfect score in the sixth saw her take the joint lead.

The Indian took sole lead after the first shot in the seventh series and subsequently increased the gap.

With a two-point lead at the end of the seventh series, Heena found the target in four of the five shots in the eighth to be ahead by three points.

Although the Australian managed to close the gap by one point in the ninth series, Heena held her nerves in the 10th and final series to emerge champion.

Earlier, Annu finished the qualification stage at the second spot with a total of 584 points. Heena was third with 579.

Xiu Hong Teh of Singapore topped the qualification standings with 584.

Annu had taken pole position at the end of the Precision round with 293. She managed 291 in the Rapid round while Xiu scored 293.

Annu registered a series of 96, 99 and 98 in the Precision round. She was consistent in the Rapid round as well with scores of 98, 96 and 97.

Xiu, who was second after the Precision round with 291, registered 96, 100 and 97 in the Rapid stage to snatch the lead.

Heena meanwhile, started slowly before climbing up the standings with an awesome show in the Rapid round.

She was decidedly below par in the Precision round and was lagging at the seventh spot with 286.

Heena struggled with her opening couple of shots in the Precision round with disappointing efforts of 95 and 93 before recovering somewhat with a 98 in her third and last attempt.

Heena started the Rapid round poorly as well as she could only manage a 95in her opening attempt. But she saved her best for her last two shots, firing consecutive scores of 99 to zoom to the third spot.

India’s Sakina Khatun finished a disappointing fifth out of seven competitors in women’e lightweight para powerlifting at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday.

Sakina, the bronze medallist in Glasgow in 2014, finished with 93.2 points to finish fifth of seven competitors in the event.

Sakina successfully lifted 82 kilograms in her first attempt before her second attempt of lifting 85 kg was ruled out.

While she was able to lift the weight, the jury deemed that she wasn’t able to hold it close enough to her chest for long enough.

Sakina also failed in her third attempt of 86 kg to eventually end up fifth.

The city police has laid down multi-layered security to prevent any untoward incident during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here on Tuesday evening.

According to officials around 4,000 police personnel have been deployed for security.

Several fringe elements have threatened to agitate against the IPL match in protest against the central government not constituting the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) and Cauvery Water Regulatory Committee (CWRC) as mandated by the Supreme Court.

Protests are being planned near the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. The situation around the stadium now is calm.

A group in the Tamil movie industry, led by Director Bharathirajaa, R.K. Selvamani and V. Sekar, floated an association called Tamil Panpaattu Peravai on Monday here.

They told reporters that holding an IPL match when the state was fighting for Cauvery river water was an attempt to divide the youth.

Bharathirajaa said they will hold a protest against the match. Some political parties too have called for axing the match.

Earlier, DMK leader M.K. Stalin said the organisers of the IPL matches should understand the people’s problems. But he said the DMK was not against holding the IPL matches.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief Thol Thirumavalavan had also sought a ban on IPL matches in Tamil Nadu.

Spectators have also been told not to dishonour the Indian flag. No food or drink from outside will be permitted.

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) has banned spectators from bringing mobile phones, remote control car keys or any electronic devices, bags, briefcases, pagers, radios, digital diaries, laptops, computers, tape-recorders and even binoculars.

The banned list also includes musical instruments, video cameras, digital cameras, crackers, inflammable materials, firearms and ammunition, edibles, thermos flasks, water jugs, bottles, cigarettes, beedis, match boxes, lighters, razors, scissors, mirrors and glass, knives and batteries.

The use of mobile phones, transistors, computers, cameras or any other audio visual recording equipment for recording and for communication the match details, statistics and images has also been prohibited.

(IANS)

From weightlifting to boxing to table tennis to hockey, women formed the core of India’s stupendous day three at the 21st Commonwealth Games where a 16-year-old Manu Bhaker delivered a record-shattering shooting gold medal and the table tennis team shocked fancied defending champions Singapore to clinch the top honours for the first time in the event.

Another high point of the day was a 35-year-old M C Mary Kom advancing to the medal rounds in what is her first and probably last appearance at the Games. India held on to their fourth position in the medals tally, having claimed seven gold, two silver and three bronze medals so far.

From the shooting ranges in Brisbane to the weightlifting arena here, it was all about women today. And starting it all was Manu Bhaker, the teen sensation from Haryana, who shot down the Games record and the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event.

A distant silver-medallist in the event also happened to be a woman — Heena Sidhu. Shooting is an uncomplicated sport, take aim and shoot. That’s why it’s important not to think too much. If you think too much, then it becomes complex, explained Bhaker as she analysed her brilliant performance.

In the weightlifting arena of the Carrara Sports and Leisure Center, Punam Yadav (69kg) pulled off a personal best of 222kg (110kg+122kg) to improve the bronze she had won in the 2014 edition to add another gold to India’s haul.

The women’s hockey team showed tremendous grit to stun Olympic champions England in its third pool match in what can only be described as a morale-soaring 2-1 victory, which took them closer to a semifinal berth. And in the evening, the women’s table tennis team of Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das did what was not at all expected of them, beat defending champions Singapore 3-1 for a historic maiden gold.

On the badminton court, Saina Nehwal remained in brutally good form and guided India to a 3-1 triumph over Singapore in the mixed team event. The top seeds will be up against Malaysia in the summit clash tomorrow. Adding a dash of bronze to the weightlifting collection was Thakur (94kg), who lifted a total of 351kg (159kg+192kg) on a day when Papua New Guinea’s Steven Kari broke the Commonwealth as well as the Games record in clean and jerk for a total lift of 370kg (154kg+216kg).

Yadav and Thakur’s haul took India’s overall weightlifting medal tally to five gold, a silver and two bronze medals so far, a performance made special by the fact that most of them nursed varying niggles and did not have access to a full-time physio owing to an accreditation goof-up for which none has taken responsibility so far.

In shooting, Ravi Kumar let slip a golden opportunity to settle for a bronze medal in the 10m air rifle event where Deepak Kumar finished sixth after breaking the Games record in qualification. In the boxing ring, Mary Kom made the semifinals with a sound thrashing of Scotland’s Megan Gordon her victory assuring the Indian boxing contingent of its first CWG medal at the ongoing edition. Among the men, world bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) advanced to the quarterfinals.

“This will be my first Commonwealth Games medal and I am happy to achieve that but gold is what I’m after,” Mary Kom declared after her win. The high-profile athletics competition also got underway at the Carrara sports complex and India had a fairly decent day with race walker Khushbir Kaur finishing fourth in the women’s 20km event. In track and field events, shot-putter Tejinder Singh made the finals, while Mohammed Anas Yahiya topped his 400m heat to book a slot in the semifinals.

The men’s hockey team, meanwhile, continued to be slightly off and had to work hard for a 4-3 win over Wales in their second pool B match. They had yesterday settled for a disappointing 2-2 draw with a sloppy Pakistan, the equalising goal from the rivals coming in the final seven seconds of the match.

Mexican football club Chivas de Guadalajara has arrived in the US to take on New York Red Bulls in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday.

After winning the first leg 1-0 on Wednesday thanks to a goal by Isaac Brizuela, the Mexicans have to win or draw on Tuesday to reach the final, which will be played against either Mexico’s Club America or Major League football champions Toronto, reports Efe.

The team’s Argentinian coach Matias Almeyda rested some of his best players on Saturday in a domestic league match against Veracruz before setting off to the US.

Despite being one of the two most successful teams in Mexico with 33 titles, Guadalajara has only once won the Champions League, which includes teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean.

They beat Guatemala’s Comunicaciones 6-0 in 1962 and the team is now looking to play its first final since they lost to Pachuca in 2007.

On Wednesday, the Chivas did not play its best football but managed to win after Brizuela converted a Rodolfo Pizarro pass following a defensive error by Tyler Adams.

Almeyda, who has not revealed the probable line-up, will miss the services of defender Jair Pereira, who was suspended for two games after the first leg.

(IANS)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will look to take confidence from their thrilling one-wicket victory against defending champions Mumbai Indians when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here on Tuesday.

Chennai, back in the IPL after serving a two-year ban, rode on West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo’s incredible 68 off 30 to turn the tables on Mumbai in dramatic fashion as they played the season’s opening fixture at the Wankhede Stadium on April 7.

Needing 7 off the last over, an injured Kedar Kadhav (24 not out) unable to run due to hamstring problem played three dot balls before playing lap shot over fine leg off Mustafizur Rahman followed by a cover drive to end the match on a winning note.

Chasing a tricky target of 166, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led CSK were down in the dumps, but Bravo’s pyrotechnics turned it in favour of the two-time champions.

At the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday, CSK would want to iron out their flaws that led to the slump from which Bravo rescued them against a side who beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by four wickets in their opening game at home on Sunday.

CSK’s batting flopped completely against Mumbai the other day as openers Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu failed along with IPL’s highest run-getter Suresh Raina and ageing skipper Dhoni.

If it hadn’t been for Bravo’s salvo and Jadhav holding fort at the other end, CSK would have succumbed to a heavy defeat.

In the bowling front, the likes of Mark Wood, Watson, Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar kept things tight but failed to pick up regular wickets.

Against KKR, who rode on Nitish Rana’s all-round effort and Sunil Narine’s heroics with the bat, CSK would have to improve on all fronts to put up a show.

KKR recovered from early jitters in their game against Kohli’s RCB to chase down a challenging 177 target riding Narine’s 19-ball 50 as he opened the batting again with deadpan swagger.

Rana contributed with bat and ball, first picking up key wickets of on-song AB de villiers and in the very next ball removing captain Virat Kohli, and then playing a vital 25-ball 34 coming in at No.4 to help the hosts register the win.

Besides the pair, new-look KKR under skipper Dinesh Karthik, who was unbeaten on 35 against RCB, would want to improve their famed bowling attack that copped stick on Sunday at the Eden Gardens.

Veteran paceman R.Vinay Kumar was especially poor leaking 14 runs in the first over and 16 in the final though picking up two wickets.

None of the other bowlers of the ilk of chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson and even Narine could bowl well though the West Indian mystery spinner was economical.

KKR would also look to Aussie dashing opener Chris Lynn to deliver the goods after he failed in the first game.

RCB missed a trick on Sunday by bowling the same lengths to Narine who kept punishing the likes of Washington Sundar and Chris Woakes by hitting similar shots.

CSK would want to take a cue from that and get his wicket early as the men in purple don’t bat that deep.

Teams:

CSK: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Lungisani Ngidi, K.M. Asif, N. Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi.

KKR: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Dinesh Karthik (Captain & WK), Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.

Jitu Rai won gold and Om bronze in 10m Air Pistol final.

Indian shooting ace Jitu Rai claimed the gold medal in men’s 10m air pistol event by creating a new games record while compatriot Om Prakash Mitharval bagged a bronze at the 21st Commonwealth Games here today. World Championship silver medallist Rai shot 235.1 to comfortably finish top of the podium.

Mitharval, who had established a new qualification record with 584, eventually finished with the bronze medal after aggregating 214.3 in the eight-man finals at the Belmont Shooting Centre. Australia’s Kerry Bell managed to secure the silver medal with 233.5.

In the finals, Jitu led with 100.4 at the end of stage 1, while Mitharval was third with 98.1. In stage 2 elimination, Rai started with 10.3 and 10.3 to lead the pecking order, even as his compatriot moved up and displaced Bell at second place with two 10.1s. Championship

IPL 2018 Highlights, KXIP vs DD: Gautam Gambhir’s fifty took Delhi Daredevils to 166/7 in their quota of 20 overs.

Opener KL Rahul blasted his way to a fastest ever half-century in Indian Premier League as a new look Kings XI Punjab started their campaign on a resounding note defeating Delhi Daredevils by six wickets on Sunday. Ravichandran Ashwin marshalled his resources admirably restricting Daredevils to a mediocre 166 for 7 on a placid track. The KXIP captain himself bowled a few leg breaks during his disciplined effort of 1 for 23 in 4 overs. The surprise package was Afghanistan off-spinner Mujeeb-r Rahman, who finished with 2 for 28 in 4 overs. Courtesy Rahul, who smashed six boundaries and four sixes in his 16-ball-51, the match as a contest was over within the Powerplay as KXIP raced away to 73 for 2 in six overs. Karun Nair, who has had a mixed season, then helped himself to a 33-ball-50 as the home team reached the target in 18.5 overs. Only Yuvraj Singh’s 12 off 22 balls stuck out like a sore thumb as he once again looked a pale shadow of his old self. The star of the match certainly was Rahul, who started with a top-edged six and a couple of boundaries off Trent Boult.