India won the toss and elected to bat against West Indies in the fourth One-Day International match at the Brabourne Stadium here on Monday.

India made two changes to their team. Skipper Virat Kohli brought back Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav in place of leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and Rishabh Pant.

The West Indies, on the other hand made only one change, bringing in Keemo Paul for Obed McCoy.

Teams:
West Indies: Kieran Powell, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Shai Hope (w), Marlon Samuels, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Jason Holder (c), Fabian Allen, Ashley Nurse, Kemar Roach, Keemo Paul

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (w), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, K. Khaleel Ahmed, Jasprit Bumrah

IANS

India advanced to the semi-finals of the SAFF U-15 Championship as they blanked Bhutan 4-0 in their last Group league match played at the ANFA Complex in Kathmandu on Monday.

For India, Shubho Paul scored a brace while Subba Kushang and Xalxo Aman scored one apiece. India led 1-0 at half-time.

The Indians got off to a perfect start as the first goal came as early as the 4th minute when Shubho converted from the spot – placing it to the right of the rival goalkeeper Gyeltshen Dorji.

The rivals did manage to sneak into the Indian box on a couple of occasions, especially immediately after resumption.

The Indians’ perseverance soon paid dividends as the second goal came in the 66th minute, and it was all wrapped in individual brilliance. Receiving a loose ball in his own half, the irrepressible Subba ran past the entire rival defence, dribbled past three, entered the box and placed into the far corner.

The third goal came in the 83rd minute as Shubho completed his brace. It was a build-up which started in India’s half and after some casual exchanges, Shubho followed up a vicious long ball, sped past all and put it in.

Aman completed the rout in the 89th minute when he tapped into an empty net after the rival goalkeeper misread a Harsh Patre free kick.

The Delhi cabinet on Monday approved government jobs for those sportspersons from the city who excel in their field.

“Cabinet approves jobs in Delhi government for those sportspersons who excel in their sports. Rules to be notified within one month,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

The step was taken to encourage and support city-based sportspeople.

In August, the cabinet had increased the cash incentive for sportspersons from the national capital for their achievements in Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games including Para Games.

IANS

Star Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal crashed out of the Denmark Open as she lost to World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter-final match here on Friday.

The 28-year-old Hyderabadi shuttler lost to her opponent in straight games
20-22, 11-21 in just 36 minutes.

Saina’s poor run against Ying continued as she never looked in the contention right from the start but towards the end of the first game Saina bounced back but could not finished the things.

The second game saw Ying overpowering Saina. It was a cake walk for the World No. 1 as she outmuscled Saina with ease to enter the semi-final.

In other category, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semifinals, defeating their compatriot Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy 21-17, 21-11 .

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Freiburg defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1, preventing the visitors from moving into a tie with Borussia Dortmund for first place in the Bundesliga.

The hosts grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 1st minute as Nils Petersen converted a penalty after Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Yann Sommer fouled Luca Waldschmidt on Friday night.

Coming off big wins over Mainz and Bayern Munich, the visitors battled back to equalize in the 20th minute, when Thorgan Hazard connected from the penalty spot, reports Efe news.

Mönchengladbach dominated for the rest of the first half, but failed to translate that edge into more goals.

Freiburg punished their opponents lapses in the second half, with goals by Waldschmidt – in the 57th minute – and Lucas Holer, who scored into an empty net in stoppage time to make the final score 3-1.

Mönchengladbach, who last won at Freiburg’s Schwarzwald Stadion in 2002, remain second in the Bundesliga with 17 points, 3 behind Dortmund, who have a game in hand.

Freiburg are 8th, with 12 points from nine matches.

 Former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Friday dropped from the Indian T20I squads for the three-match rubber against the West Indies and also the subsequent three T20I matches against Australia.

Rohit Sharma will lead India in the upcoming T20I series against the Windies with regular skipper Virat Kohli being rested.Kohli, though, will be back to lead the men-in-blue in the three-match T20I series against Australia, that begins on November 21.

Dhoni isn’t part of both the T20I squads, with rookie keeper-bat Rishabh Pant set to don the big gloves, announced BCCI’s chairman of selectors MSK Prasad after its meeting here.

Assuring that the doors aren’t totally closed for Dhoni’s return to the shortest format, Prasad said: “Dhoni is not going to play the 6 T20Is because we’re looking at the second keeper slot. It is not the end of Dhoni in T20Is.ace

Meanwhile, the selection committee also announced the comeback of all-rounder Kedar Jadhav for the fourth and fifth One-day Internationals against the Windies.

The selection committee also announced the squad for the four-match Test series against the Kangaroos to be held later this year.

Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel will their return while Mayank Agarwal and Mohammed Siraj, both of whom earned their maiden Test call-ups during the Windies series, have been left out.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was stretchered off the field in the recently concluded Asia Cup, also failed to find a place in the 18-man Test squad.

Both Parthiv and Rohit last featured for India during the South Africa tour earlier this year.

With Wriddhiman Saha still recovering from his injury, Patel was named as a back-up wicket-keeper to Pant, who has fared decently with both the gloves and the bat after his debut in England earlier this year.

India squad for West Indies T20Is: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik, Manish Pandey, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed, Umesh Yadav, Shahbaz Nadeem.India squad for Australia T20Is: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed.

Squad for the 4-Test series vs Australia: Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Parthiv Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

IANS

FC Goa surged to the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) table after a comprehensive 5-0 win over Mumbai City FC at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

Star striker Ferran Corominas converted an early penalty (6′) to hand the hosts the lead before second half strikes from Jackichand Singh (55′), Edu Bedia (61′) made it 3-0. A late brace from Miguel Palanca (84′, 90′) condemned Mumbai City to a heavy defeat.

The game got off to an end-to-end start and Mumbai should have taken the lead when Arnold Issoko scuffed his effort from a corner.

From the ensuing counter, Souvik Chakrabarti brought down Coro with a horrendous challenge which left the referee no option but to point to the spot. The former Espanyol striker pulled off a Panenka which bewildered Amrinder Singh and handed Goa the lead.

The visitors had several opportunities to score the equaliser as they won several free headers inside the Goa box but just could not test Nawaz. Goa threatened themselves but Amrinder came to Mumbai’s rescue on occasions.

The floodgates opened in the second session when Seriton Fernandes’ cross into the box was turned into the net by Jackichand who got ahead of Souvik Chakrabarti to make it 2-0.

The Gaurs then added one more to the tally through Bedia’s stunning outside of the foot shot which sailed into the back of the net.

Goa were in cruise control by this time. Miguel Palanca, who came on in the 82nd minute, hammered the final nails in Mumbai City’s coffin with a well-taken brace.

First, Palanca took Manvir Singh’s cross in his stride and lifted a finish over substitute goalkeeper Ravi Kumar before sending a left-footed finish past the goalkeeper in the 90th minute after bringing Ahmed Jahouh’s cross from the right wing.

The victory would be proof for Sergio Lobera that his tiki taka ways were producing results. Goa have now scored 10 goals in their first three matches and will next face FC Pune City in the next home game on Sunday.

The win sees Goa climb above Bengaluru FC and NorthEast United on goal difference at the top of the table while Mumbai drop to the seventh spot.

IANS

Ritu Maliks efforts fell short in the 65 kg category bronze medal playoff as the Indian went down to Ayana Gempei from Japan 3-7 in the world championships at the Papp László Sportaréna here on Wednesday.

The Japanese, who won the under-23 world title last year and added this year’s World Cup crown, proved her superiority yet again.

By the end of the first period, the Japanese with a takedown and a step-out led 3-1 and, in the second, retained her aggression to score four more points, both on take downs even as Ritu managed a couple of points for the take down and one through hold.

But with time running out on her, Ritu could not overcome the deficit.

However, Ritu had done herself proud by holding on to her nerves to overpower her Bulgarian rival Sofiya Hristova Georgieva 9-8 in the repechage round and enter the bronze playoff.

It was a pulsating bout in which Ritu led 3-1 by the end of the first period. But the Bulgarian fought well in the second through a four-point throw to go 5-3 up.

However, Ritu returned the compliment and won a four-pointer and a step-out point even as the Bulgarian came too close for the Indian’s comfort as Ritu edged her rival out of contention.

Earlier, Japan’s Yukako Kawai outclassed Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik 16-2 in the 62 kg quarterfinals. The twice World Cup title winner was technically superior to Sakshi as she had very little chance against her, despite leading 2-1 in the first period.

However, the Rio Games bronze medal winner entered the repechange round after Kawai had reached the final.

In 50kg category, after a rousing start by Ritu Phogat in the pre-quarterfinal against Thi Yuan Nguyen of Vietnam with a technical superiority, the Indian lost her quarterfinal bout by fall to Yui Susaki.

The last year’s world champion in 48kg category won 11-0. Like Sakshi, Ritu too got luckier and entered the repechage round where she will meet Alina Emilia of Roumania on Thursday. The Japanese, who Ritu conquered her in the quarters, too entered the final.

Pinki (53kg) lost her quarterfinal to Poland’s Katarzyna Krawczyk 2-7 while CWG silver medallist Pooja Dhanda lost 3-4 to China’s Ningning Rong at the same stage in the 57kg.

Pooja should thank her quarterfinal opponent from China for giving her a lease of live in the repechage round as Rong entered the final, to be played on Thursday.

IANS

Pawan Sehrawat’s stunning 20-point raid helped Bengaluru Bulls outclass Haryana Steelers 42-34 in an inter-zonal challenge match of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) here on Wednesday.

Despite trailing in the first half, Bengaluru rode Pawan’s stunning raids to make a comeback in the second half as the raider collected 13 crucial points in the later part of the game. Apart from Pawan, Bengaluru skipper Rohit Kumar chipped in with eight raid points.

For Haryana, raider Vikash Kandola and skipper Monu Gayat collected 14 and 11 points respectively. However, their combined effort was overshadowed by Pawan’s extraordinary effort.

Haryana started with a 4-2 lead in the first four minutes before Rohit’s fine raid and Jasmer Gulia’s tackle points equalised the issue at 5-5 in the 6th minute. Pawan and Vikash kept on picking raid points for their respective teams as the contest was once again tied at 8-8 in the 10th minute.

Haryana took a slight 10-8 lead through successful raids by Vikash and Naveen before an unstoppable Pawan once again pulled things back to square things off at 10-10.

There was an equal raiding effort from both the sides in the last minutes of the first half but Haryana went with a slender 15-13 lead at the break.

Bengaluru came back with a spirited show in the second half, thanks to Pawan’s scintillating show. Pawan’s back to back raid points helped Bengaluru inflict an all out in the 24th minute as they took a 21-17 lead.

Pawan and Rohit’s combined effort saw Bengaluru taking a massive 27-19 lead and they went on to inflict the second all-out as Haryana trailed 23-32 in the 32nd minute.

Bengaluru kept their attacking display on and led the contest 36-27 with five minutes to go.

The last few minutes saw Haryana picking some quick points, but Pawan’s continuous successful raids saw Bengaluru winning the issue 42-34.

Indian stars Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwal entered the second round of the men’s and women’s singles categories respectively at the French Open badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Srikanth defeated Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in straight games in his campaign opener.

The Indian brushed off a tough challenge in the opening game to clinch a comprehensive 21-19, 21-13 verdict in 42 minutes.

Srikanth will now face the winner of the first round clash between Khosit Phetpradab of Thailand and South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun.

Saina also had an easy outing in her first round clash. Currently placed at the 10th spot in the world rankings, Saina needed just 37 minutes to beat Saena Kawakami of Japan 21-11, 21-11.

Saina will next take on the winner of the first round clash between Beatriz Corrales of Spain and Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.

IANS