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Paes, Sania lose in US Open doubles

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Paes-Sania

New Delhi: The Indians had a disappointing outing in the US Open with both Leander Paes and Sania Mirza losing their doubles matches with their respective partners here.

Mixed doubles defending champions Sania and Bruno Soares lost 3-6, 3-6 to Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova-Lukasz Kubot in a first round contest lasting 65 minutes.

Earlier in the day yesterday, Leander Paes and Fernando Verdasco lost their second round match 5-7, 6-4, 3-6 to unseeded American giant-killing pair of Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey.

Paes and his Spanish partner Verdasco got the better of Germans Florian Mayer and Frank Moder 6-2 6-3 in the opening round of the men’s doubles competition.

In women’s doubles, the top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair of Sania and Martina Hingis is scheduled to take on Swiss Timea Bacsinszky and her Taipei partner Chia-Jung Chuang in the second round.

(Agencies)

Ishanth, Pujara break into ICC top 20 rankings

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Ishanth_pujara

Dubai: Following their first series triumph in Sri Lanka in 22 years, pacer Ishanth Sharma broke into the Bowler’s top-20, while Cheteshwar Pujara stormed into the top-20 of Batsmen’s list in the latest ICC test rankings. This comes after Indians cricketers performed significantly in the last Test series against Sri Lanka.

ICC said in a statement, “Cheteshwar Pujara has broken into the top 20 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Batsmen for the first time in his career following the conclusion of the Colombo Test, which India won by 117 runs to clinch the series 2-1.”

The 27-year-old batsman carried his bat in the first innings and returned unbeaten on 145 not out, his seventh career century, which was the cornerstone of India’s first innings score of 312. For this performance, Pujara has been rewarded with a jump of four places, which puts him in 20th position.

Pujara is now the second India batsman to feature in the top 20, but following Virat Kohli’s drop to 11th (down by one place), the fifth-ranked side has no batsman inside the top 10.

Apart from Pujara, there were few other middle-order batsmen who made significant contributions to India’s cause at the Singhalese Sports Club, which, in turn, have helped them to head in the right direction.

Rohit Sharma has moved up two places to 48th, Ravichandran Ashwin has gained five places and is now in 50th spot, while Amit Mishra, who scored 59 in the first innings and featured in a 104 runs eighth wicket partnership with Pujara, has vaulted 56 places to 91st.

It was a disappointing Test for Sri Lanka batsmen. However, Angelo Mathews has retained his fifth ranking following his seventh career century (110 in the second innings). He is now 11 points adrift of fourth-ranked South Africa captain Hashim Amla.

Meanwhile, there were no changes to the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers. However, there were improvements for Ishant, who reached the 200-wicket mark after claiming match figures of eight for 86. As a result, the fast bowler has moved up three places to 18th.

Amit Mishra’s three for 72 in the match has elevated him two places to a career-high 37th, while Umesh Yadav has also improved his ranking by two places to 42nd. Sri Lanka trio of Dhammika Prasad (up three places to 22nd), Nuwan Pradeep (up 12 to 57th) and Mathews (up two to 71st) have also all made career-high gains.

(Agencies)

India beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs in 3rd Test at Colombo win series 2-1

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team-india

Sri Lanka: India beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs in the final test to win the three-match series 2-1 at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Tuesday.

It was Ishant Sharma who drilled the final nail into Sri Lanka’s coffin when he had Angelo Mathews out LBW for 110 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin then got rid of Rangana Herath and Dhammika Prasad in the same over before the last wicket was taken by Amit Mishra as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 268 and India won by 117 runs. India’s win gave them their first series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years and this is Virat Kohli’s first win as skipper.

Brief scores:

India 312 (Cheteshwar Pujara 145*, Amit Mishra 59; Dhammika Prasad 4 for 100) and 274 (Rohit Sharma 50, Stuart Binny 49, Ravichandran Ashwin 58; Nuwan Pradeep 4 for 62, Dhammika Prasad 4 for 69) lead Sri Lanka 201 (Kusal Perera 55, Rangana Herath 49; Ishant Sharma 5 for 54, Stuart Binny 2 for 24, Amit Mishra 2 for 25) and 268 (Angelo Mathews 110, Kusal Perera 70; Ishant Sharma 3 for 32, Ravichandran Ashwin 4 for 69) by 117 runs.

India inch closer to series victory against Sri Lanka

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Ravichandran-Ashwin

Colombo: India remained on course for an away Test cricket series victory against Sri Lanka after 22 years, as the hosts chasing a challenging target of 386 to win, struggled to reach 67/3 in their second innings at stumps on the fourth day of the third match here on Monday.

Opener Kaushal Silva (24 not out) and skipper Angelo Mathews (22 not out) were at the crease for Sri Lanka at stumps at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC). Indian pacers Ishant Sharma (2-14) and Umesh Yadav (1-32) struck yet again in the second innings to leave the visitors just seven wickets away from a memorable victory.

Virat Kohli-led India slumped to a 63-run loss in the first Test at Galle despite dominating much of the match, but shook off the disappointment by thumping the hosts to a 278-run loss in the second Test at the P. Sara Oval. India are eyeing their first Test series win in the island nation since 1993.

The fourth day of the ongoing Test belonged entirely to India which started off with their batsmen showing their class and composure to build a strong lead. Sri Lanka had managed 201 in the first innings in reply to India’s 312.

Sri Lanka came into bat in the second innings with a daunting 386-run target ahead of them and looked nervous right from the start as opener Upul Tharanga (0) fell in the sixth ball of the innings to Ishant.

Dimuth Karunaratne (0) too perished in the fourth over, leaving Lanka in a spot of bother at 2/2.

In-form batsman Dinesh Chandimal (18) too soon went back to the pavilion, leaving the hosts on a sticky wicket with a day remaining in the Test match.

Earlier, India resumed the fourth day at 21/3, with overnight batsmen Rohit Sharma (50) and Kohli (21) getting the proceedings underway by facing the Sri Lankan bowlers smartly on a bright sunny morning.

But Kohli edged one to first slip off the bowling of Nuwan Pradeep to hand the opposition their first wicket of the day. India were 64/4 then.

Then Stuart Binny joined hands with Rohit for a handy 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket to take the lead past the 200-run mark.

Just a few minutes before lunch, Rohit gave his wicket away while attempting a pull off a short delivery from pacer Prasad.

With the dismissal of Rohit, debutant wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha joined Binny in the middle as India reached 132/5 at lunch.

The partnership between Binny (49) and Ojha (35) ended soon after lunch as the team’s score reached 160.

After striking seven fours in his 62-ball 49, Binny edged a good length delivery from pacer Dhammika Prasad to Tharanga, who at first slip dived to his left and plucked a low catch.

His partner Ojha who was also looking set, soon fell to left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, leaving India wobbling at 179/7.

Two quick wickets did not matter for incoming batsmen Ravichandran Ashwin (58) and Amit Mishra (39) as the duo added some vital runs in a 55-run partnership to push ahead India’s lead.

Off-spinner Ashwin was the highest run-scorer for India and the last wicket to fall as India were bowled out for 274 in their second innings and set a challenging 386-run target for the hosts.

Pacers Nuwan Pradeep and Prasad clinched four wickets each for the hosts.

(IANS)

Pujara guides India to 292/8 at stumps

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Pujara

Colombo: Opener Cheteshwar Pujara’s sublime unbeaten 135-run knock helped India reach 292/8 at stumps on the second day of the third Test against hosts Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Saturday.

Rain forced early conclusion of the second day’s proceedings but not before Pujara, partnered by lower-order batsman Amit Mishra (59), put on a 104-run eighth wicket stand to revive India from a precarious position at 119/5.

The stand was India’s highest eighth wicket partnership against Sri Lanka and was also the highest for the eighth wicket at this ground.

At stumps, Pujara was accompanied by Ishant Sharma, who was unbeaten on 2. It was Pujara’s, who is playing the first match of the series, seventh Test century.

The umpires called for halt of play on Saturday when a late shower forced a delay in the proceedings. They then decided to call off play for the day due to a wet outfield in which India scored 292 runs from 95.3 overs bowled.

Sri Lanka’s pacer Dhammika Prasad has been the home team’s best bowler, with an analysis of 83/4 from 23.3 overs when stumps were drawn.

India began at their overnight score of 50/2 only to lose Virat Kohli (18) and Rohit Sharma (26), both of whom perished after getting sound starts.

Kohli was dismissed by Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews who induced an edge from him to be caught by wicketkeeper Kushal Perera. He was sent to the pavilion fairly quickly, in the ninth over of the innings, when, after a 50-run third wicket partnership with Pujara, he flashed at a wide delivery outside his off stump to give an easy chance behind the stumps.

Rohit joined Pujara and they batted with caution, wary of the moving delivery.

Pujara grew in confidence as his duration at the crease increased and reached his fifty in the 43rd over. He batted patiently to negotiate the early morning bowling venom of the hosts.

He and Rohit put together a 55-run third wicket stand but their effort was undone just at the stroke of lunch when the latter edged a moving ball to the first slip.

India were reduced to 119/4 in 45.5 overs at lunch. India scored only 69 runs in 30.5 overs in the morning session, losing those two crucial wickets in the process.

It went from bad to worse when play resumed after lunch with all-rounder Stuart Binny (0) getting out on the first ball of the post-lunch session.

Debutant Naman Ojha (21) forged a 54-run stand for the sixth wicket with Pujara but perished when things began to look up for India. Ravichandran Ashwin’s (5) quick dismissal increased India’s troubles as they lost the seventh wicket for 180 runs.

But from there Pujara, with Mishra in tow, began the revival process. He remained unmoved by the flurry of wickets and played well all around the park — especially elegant while playing the cut shots.

The 27-year-old cut down his strokes as he moved near the three-figure mark even as Mishra played freely. He reached his century in 214 deliveries with the help of nine fours and later added another four boundaries.

Pujara also got a reprieve at his personal score of 117 as Nuwan Pradeep dropped a catch at fine-leg off a Mathews delivery.

(IANS)

Sania gets Khel Ratna, Arjuna awards for 12 others

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Sania-Mirza

New Delhi: Tennis star Sania Mirza received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the country’s highest sporting honour on Saturday, while 12 others, including ace shooter Jitu Rai and hockey goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh were conferred with the Arjuna award.

This year’s ceremony had its fair share of controversy as well since a division bench of the Delhi High Court on Saturday stayed a single-judge order directing the Centre to give the prestigious Dronacharya award to former chief national wrestling coach Vinod Kumar.

The Dronacharya award — conferred on eminent coaches — went to Anoop Kumar Dahiya (wrestling), Harbans Singh (athletics), Swatantar Raj Singh (boxing), Nihar Ameen (swimming) and Naval Singh (para-athletics).

In a glittering function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, President Pranab Mukherjee also handed out Arjuna awards to wrestlers Bajrang Singh, men’s singles shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, archer Sandeep Kumar, 2014 Commonwealth Games medal winning gymnast Dipa Karmakar, kabaddi players Manjeet Chillar and Abhilasha Shashikant Mhatre, roller skater Anup Kumar Yama, weightlifter Sivalingam Sathish Kumar, wushu athlete Y. Sanathoi Devi and para-swimmer Sharath M. Gaekwad.

Boxer Mandeep Jangra, women’s 400 metre runner M.R. Poovamma, female wrestler Babita Kumari, cricketer Rohit Sharma and rower Swarn Singh Virk were also named for the Arjuna award, but could not attend the function.

Jangra, Poovamma, Babita and Sharma are currently participating in international competitions abroad while Virk, who won gold at the Asian Rowing Championship in 2013, is in hospital with an injury.

They will receive their awards at a later date from sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Former India volleyball captain T.P.P. Nair, Davis Cup captain S.P. Misra and former hockey goalkeeper Romeo James bagged the Dhyan Chand award.

Meanwhile, the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award went to Arunima Sinha and Jot Singh (both land adventure), Wing Commander Paramvir Singh (water adventure), Lt. Colonel (retd.) Satyendra Verma (air adventure) and Colonel (Retd.) Satish Chander Sharma (lifetime achievement).

Punjabi University, Patiala, was conferred the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy.

The Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskarar, intended to promote involvement of corporates and institutional boards in sports, went to Directorate General of Military Training, Haryana Police, Sports Coaching Foundation (Hyderabad) and Coal India Limited.

Sania, who became the first Indian woman to achieve the World No.1 spot in doubles, recently clinched the Wimbledon crown along with Swiss star Martina Hingis. She has four Grand Slam titles in her kitty.

The Hyderabadi is only the second tennis player after Leander Paes to be named for the top sports award. Paes received the honour in 1996 after clinching the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

She had also received the Arjuna award in 2004 and was awarded the Padma Shri — the country’s fourth highest civilian honour — in 2006.

Among those who received the Arjuna awards, goalkeeper Sreejesh played a key role in India winning the Asian Games hockey gold medal and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) silver in 2014.

Rohit has scored 4312 runs in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. He holds the record of most number of runs (264) in an ODI. The right-handed batsman also played a key role in India’s performance at the 2015 World Cup where the team reached the semi-finals.

Pistol shooter Rai emerged champion at last year’s CWG and backed it up with another gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games. He is also a bronze medallist at last year’s World Championships.

Athlete Poovamma was part of the team that won the gold medals in the 4X400 metres relay race at the Asian Games as well as the Asian Athletics Championships. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres race at the Asian Games 2014.

Kabaddi players Chillar and Abhilasha were part of the Asian Games gold medal winning men’s and women’s teams.

Wrestler Bajrang won the silver medal in the 60kg category at the 2013 World Championships. The promising young grappler also bagged silver medals at last year’s Asian Games and CWG.

Women’s World Wrestling Championships bronze medallist Babita also won a gold in the 55kg class at the 2014 CWG.

Woman gymnast Dipa got bronze medals in the CWG 2014 as well as at the Asian Championships.

Sathish is an Asian Games champion, while Sanathoi won a bronze medal in the wushu competition at the 2014 Asiad.

(IANS)

Indian women hockey team qualifies for Olympics after 36 years

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Women's-Hockey

New Delhi: Indian women’s hockey team will return to the Olympics after a long gap of 36 years as it qualified today for next year’s Rio Games, courtesy England making it to the final of the ongoing Euro Hockey Championships in London.

England’s semifinal victory over Spain, coming after the Netherlands’ win over Germany in the other semifinal in the European Championships freed one quota place as both the finalists have already qualified for the Olympic Games.

India took the quota place on the basis of its fifth-place finish in the women’s Hockey World League Semifinals in Antwerp, Belgium last month.

International Hockey Federation (FIH) confirmed that Indian women’s team has qualified for the Rio Games.

“India qualified after England defeated Spain in the semi-finals of the Unibet EuroHockey Championships in London, which ensured that the only teams — The Netherlands and England (as Great Britain) — who can now win the event have already qualified for Rio through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals,” the FIH said in a statement.

“The winner of the EuroHockey Championships will qualify for the 2016 Olympics as European continental champions, opening up a further qualification spot which India secure as the team who ranked highest at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals not already qualified,” it said.

Indian women’s team now join nine other teams, who have already qualified for 2016 Rio Games — Korea as Asian Games champions, Argentina as Pan Am Games champions and Great Britain, China, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and the USA through the Hockey World League Semi-Finals.

Indian women’s hockey team last featured in an Olympics in the 1980 Moscow Games, where they finished at a respectable fourth position.

Hockey India applauded the historic achievement of the women’s hockey team.

“It is a proud moment for Hockey India and the whole country. We have been waiting for this for the last 36 years and this achievement is the sweetest and the most memorable among all our previous feats in recent times,” HI President Narinder Batra said in a release.

“I congratulate all the players and coaching staff who made this dream real and this achievement also shows their commitment toward their responsibilities. Hockey India thanks all the coaches who trained these players at their respective academies, parents, sponsors and the entire hockey fraternity, who continuously motivated the players and without their support, we could not have achieved this success. I am sure the girls will make us proud at the Olympics,” he said.

Hockey India Secretary General Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said: “The Olympics qualification is indeed a great achievement for the Indian Women Team and the Indian hockey fraternity. The players and the Coaching Staff have done a commendable job and they are still training hard for the 2016 Olympic Games. Hockey India is doing its part and fulfilling all the requirements of the team.

“I congratulate the whole team and the people who have been working hard behind the scene to achieve this success. However, the job is still half done and the team now has to set a new aim of clinching the first Olympic medal,” he said.

India are the 10th team to qualify for Rio Olympics. The last two participating teams will be confirmed in the 2015 Africa Cup for Nations in Egypt and 2015 Oceania Cup in New Zealand in November.

The Indian women’s team will commence its outing from August 7 in the Rio Olympics.

(Agencies)

Rain mars first day’s play in third India-Sri Lanka Test

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Cricket-Sri-Lanka-Rain-India

Colombo: Rain forced an early end of the first day’s play of the third cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) here on Friday, with just about one hour’s play possible.

India were 50/2 against Sri Lanka when rain interrupted play before lunch. Opening batsman Cheteshwar Pujara (19 not out) and captain Virat Kohli (14 not out) were at the crease after 15 overs of play. The game didn’t resume after that.

Earlier, India lost opener Lokesh Rahul (2) and Ajinkya Rahane (8).

(IANS)

Rushab Shah adjudged the ‘Best Athlete Jr. Men U-20’ at the Karnataka State Junior and Senior Championship 2015

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Rushab Shah

Rushab Shah

Bengaluru: In a recently concluded Karnataka State Junior and Senior Championship 2015 held at Sree Kanteerva Stadium, Bangalore from 20th to 22nd August 2015 which was organised by Karnataka Athletics Association, Rushab Shah, son of Sanjeev Shah was adjudged the “Best Athlete Jr. Men U-20”.

He was placed as below:

1st in 100m Boys U-20
2nd in 100m Boys U-20

Usain Bolt wins fourth straight 200 metres title at World Championships

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Usain Bolt

Beijing: Jamaica’s Usain Bolt ran the fastest time of the year in 19.55 seconds to win a record fourth straight world 200 metres title and sweep the individual sprints at a major global championships for a fifth time on Thursday.

Five days after beating Justin Gatlin to win the 100 metres, the 29-year-old Olympic champion and world record holder again proved too strong for in-form American, who finished second in 19.74.

Anasco Jobodwana took bronze in 19.87 for South Africa ahead of Panama’s Alonso Edward, who was awarded the same time but lost out on a medal by two 1,000ths of a second. Jobodwana’s time was 19.861 and Edward 19.863.

The victory gave Bolt a record-extending 10th world championship gold medal and he could yet win an 11th as part of Jamaica’s 4×100 metre relay team on Saturday. Bolt, who had only run one race at the distance coming into the championships after an injury disrupted season, once again produced the goods when it really mattered.

The 29-year-old got out of the blocks quicker than Gatlin on his inside and was already in front at the bend, where the American picked up speed and looked like he might threaten the champion.

Puffing his cheeks out and swinging his arms high, though, Bolt pounded down the home straight to victory, thumping his chest with his fist as he crossed the line. Bolt and Gatlin had only faced each other once before in a 200 metres race, at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki where the American claimed his first world title in the event and teenager Bolt finished last.

That was the year before Gatlin, having just matched the world record, tested positive for a banned substance for a second time and was suspended for four years.

Gatlin, 33, had gone unbeaten since 2013 in both sprints coming to Beijing and his was the world leading time that Bolt bettered to take the title. “Usain Bolt’s a legend, man,” said Britain’s Zharnel Hughes, who finished fifth in a personal best time of 20.02 at his first major championships.

“Even myself, I even doubted him a bit. But Bolt is phenonmenal. He knows what to do when it comes to major championships. All credit to him.” Turkey’s Ramil Guliyevs (20.11) was sixth ahead of Femi Ogunode of Qatar (20.27) with Bolt’s compatriot Nickel Ashmeade bringing up the rear in 20.33.

(Reuters)

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