Indian sports News- August 17th
August 17, 2019
Bytes: Olympic Test event, India’s Coach, Second Ashes Test, Durand Cup, Doping in Weightlifting
YoGems makes sure that you won’t miss a thing in the field of sports, so here is a quick recap to all the happenings from the last 24 hours:
Wrestling:
Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna Award- Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia was on Friday nominated for India’s highest sporting honour – the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award. His name was finalised by a 12-member selection committee on the opening day of a two-day meeting. The panel comprises of the likes of Bhaichung Bhutia and MC Mary Kom among others. “Bajrang has been nominated for the Khel Ratna award. His name was a unanimous choice,” an official was quoted as saying by PTI.
Hockey:
Olympic Test event- The Indian men’s hockey team will open its campaign against Malaysia while the women’s side will take on hosts Japan in the Olympic Test event in Tokyo on Saturday. Both the Indian teams have secured their places in the International Hockey Federation Olympic Qualifiers, to be held later this year, by winning their respective FIH Series Finals.
Meanwhile, the 10th-ranked Indian women’s team will have a relatively easy opener against Japan. Then, Indian women will face their toughest test in world No 2 Australia, before facing world No 11 China.
Cricket:
India’s Coach – The Cricket Advisory Committee on Friday extended Ravi Shastri’s tenure as the coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, awarding him a two-year contract that runs till World T20 2021. CAC member Anshuman Gaekwad said: “Being a current coach, knowing the boys and problems in the team, he is well-versed in the system. Somebody knows the system and knows the players very well, he has the advantage.”
Second Ashes – England fast bowler Jofra Archer marked his Test debut with a wicket as Australia suffered a top-order collapse before rain cut short play at Lord’s on Friday. Australia lost three wickets for 11 runs en route to slumping to 80/4 when rain forced an early lunch on the third day of the second Test. That left Australia 178 runs behind England’s first-innings total of 258. The 24.1 overs that took place in the morning session represented the only action on Friday, with persistent rain leading the umpires to eventually abandon play for the day at 5:22 pm local time [9:52 pm IST] in a match where Wednesday’s scheduled first day had already been washed out without a ball bowled.
Football:
Durand Cup- Former Indian Super League champions ATK rode on Hitesh Sharma’s early strike to pip Mohammedan Sporting by a solitary goal in a rain-interrupted 129th Durand Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Friday, PTI reported. The result also meant that 16-time champions Mohun Bagan sealed a semi-final berth from the group with a match in hand. Mohun Bagan, who lead group B table with six points, face Indian Navy (one point) in their last group fixture on Saturday. Sharma set the pace with his second-minute goal after the match began half an hour late because of heavy downpour.
Long Jump:
Indian Grand Prix V- Season best for Sreeshankar
Long jumper M Sreeshankar was the star of the day at the Indian Grand Prix V as he clinched gold with a season-best of 8meter Long Jump.
Sreeshankar has already qualified for the World Championships.
Tennis:
Cincinnati Masters- Novak Djokovic controlled Lucas Pouille 7-6 (7/2), 6-1 on Friday to move closer to a second straight title at the ATP Cincinnati Masters. The top seed, won the 15th of his last 16 matches as he beat the Frenchman for the second time this season after a win in the Australian Open semi-finals. Djokovic will play for a final berth on Saturday against Russian Daniil Medvedev, losing finalist last week in Canada against Rafael Nadal.
Weightlifting:
Doping- Seven more Russian weightlifters, including two who have already been stripped of Olympic medals, were charged with doping offences on Friday, bringing the total from the country to 12 this week, officials said. The International Weightlifting Federation said the seven were Dimitriy Lapikov, Chingiz Mogushkov, Adam Maligov, Magomed Abuev and Maksim Sheyko as well as female lifters Nadezda Evstyukhina and Yuliya Konovalova.
