Indian sports News- August 27th
August 27, 2019
Bytes: Sumit Nagal vs Roger Federer, Serena advances, National athletic meet, Duleep Trophy, NZvsSL, Anirban Lahri reclaims PGA Tour card, Aditi Ashok in Candian Open, CWG, CK Vineeth to Jamshedpur FC
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:
Tennis:
US Open- India’s Sumit Nagal impressed on his Grand Slam debut, winning the first set against Roger Federer before the third seed fought back to advance to the second round.The 38-year-old Swiss ace secured a battling 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 190-ranked Indian qualifier in two and a half hours, early on Tuesday morning in India. The five-time US champion produced 19 unforced errors to surprisingly drop the first set against the qualifier from India, who is yet to win a match on the ATP World Tour.
In another match, India No 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran went down to fifth seed Daniil Medvedev from Russia 4-6, 1-6, 2-6 in an hour and 25 minutes in the first round of the US Open on Monday night.
The world No 88 played a solid first set but was unable to sustain the same level in what was his debut at Flushing Meadows. The most telling number from the match was the sheer volume of unforced errors. Both players had the same number of winners at 20 but the Indian made 36 errors to his opponent’s 20 as he went for a high risk high reward play and ended up missing his shots.
In women’s, Serena Williams began her quest for a 24th Grand Slam singles crown by crushing five-time major winner Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 Monday to reach the second round of the US Open. Williams needed only 59 minutes to rout her Russian rival, improving to 20-2 all-time against Sharapova with her 19th consecutive victory in the rivalry.
Athletics:
National Athletics- Some of India’s top stars will be giving it a miss as the 59th National Inter-State Athletics Championships begin in Lucknow on Tuesday with the likes of sprinter Dutee Chand and triple jumper Arpinder Singh eyeing World Championships qualifications. Most of the athletes who are currently training in Europe have decided to skip the event. They include the likes sprint sensation Hima Das, Asian champion shot putter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor, javelin throwers Shivpal Singh and Annu Rani and top male quarter miler Mohammed Anas (in individual 400m event). Anas will, however, run in the men’s 4x400m relay race with the other national team members as the country seeks to make sure it qualifies in the event for the World Championships.
Golf:
Albertson Boise Open- Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri reclaimed his PGA Tour card after finishing tied 5th with a bogey-free five-under 66 in the final round of the Albertson Boise Open at Boise, USA. With a tied 7th finish achieved in the previous week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, Lahiri has now secured enough points to earn one of the 25 PGA Tour cards at stake in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The 32-year-old former Asian No.1 sent down three closing birdies to finish three shots behind winner Matthew NeSmith of the United States.
Canadian Open- Indian golfer Aditi Ashok shot a one under 71 en-route to a season best tied-13th place finish at the CP Women’s Open at Ontario on Monday. Ashok fired one birdie and one bogey in the front nine and then had another birdie on the back nine and finished with a week’s total of 12 under. Top-ranked Jin Young Ko of South Korea, and Nicole Broch Larsen of Denmark, started the final round as co-leaders with Henderson two shots back in third place. But Ko fired an 8-under 64 to pull away from the field.
Cricket:
NZvsSL- New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 65 runs in the second Test in Colombo on Monday to square the two-match series 1-1. The victory was achieved with an hour left on day five when Lasith Embuldeniya edged a short delivery from Trent Boult to Kane Williamson at gully. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 122 runs after New Zealand declared their second innings on 431 for six with a first-innings lead of 185. New Zealand squared the two-match series having lost the opening Test match in Galle last week.
Bapuna Cup- Arjun Tendulkar, son of cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and a left-arm pacer, has been named in the 15-member Mumbai squad for the upcoming ‘Bapuna Cup’ to be held in Nagpur. The squad, to be led by Suryakumar Yadav, was announced by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on its website on Monday. The Bapuna Cup is a pre-season tournament organised by the Vidarbha Cricket Association. This year, it will be played in the 50-over format and will begin from September 5.
Duleep Trophy- Karun Nair hit an unbeaten 166 for India Red as their Duleep Trophy match against India Blue ended in a draw in Bengaluru on Monday. Red gained three points for taking the first-innings lead and took a big step towards securing a spot in the final while Blue got one point to finish with two points. In their last league encounter, India Red will take on India Green at the Alur cricket stadium in Bengaluru from August 29. India Red made 285 in the first inning before restricting their opponent to 255. They scored 297/6 declared in the second innings. India discard Nair, who missed out on a century in the first innings by a run, looked in good touch and played several handsome strokes on the way to his unbeaten knock.
ICC Ban- The International Cricket Council on Monday banned two Hong Kong players, including one who has already served a 30-month ban from all cricket for life for breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code in matches played between 2014 and 2016. Irfan Ahmed, who was banned from all cricket for two-and-a-half years in April 2016 after admitting breaches of the code, was found guilty on nine charges, Irfan’s older brother Nadeem Ahmed on three. The pair were banned for life. Teammate Haseeb Amjad received a five-year ban. The ICC Anti-Corruption Tribunal “heard evidence that all three players fixed or contrived to fix matches, failed, for reward, to perform and failed to disclose approaches to fix during a number of international fixtures across a two-year period”.
Football:
ISL- Jamshedpur FC have signed former Kerala Blasters and India forward, CK Vineeth on a one-year deal for the upcoming season of the Indian Super League. Jamshedpur will be the third Indian Super League outfit that the 31-year-old will play for in his career. Born in Kerala, Vineeth made his senior professional club debut for Kolkata-based I-League side, United Sports Club in 2012. He played 23 matches that season and scored seven goals. The following campaign, he made 14 further appearances for the club before making the move to Bengaluru FC midway through the season.
CWG
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has played down the calls to boycott the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games over shooting’s exclusion, saying it is too early to make a decision of such magnitude. Shooting has been axed from the 2022 edition by Birmingham Organising Committee, citing logistical issues. The move triggered angry reactions from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the national shooting federation (NRAI).
