Indian sports News- December 3rd
December 3, 2019
Bytes: Test Championship, Ranji Trophy-Team announced for Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, IPL Auction, ISL, Lionel Messi wins record 6th Ballon d’Or, South Asian Games- men’s team in finals, Kho-Kho team to face SL, Women’s Boxing Nationals, Doping- Indian Boxer banned, NBA, Tiger Woods- Jack Nickaluas
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:
Cricket:
Ranji Trophy- All-rounder Vijay Shankar was named captain of the Tamil Nadu team for the Ranji Trophy, beginning on December 9. In-form batsman Baba Aparajith will be Vijay Shankar’s deputy as Tamil Nadu look to continue their strong start to the domestic season. The southern state has already reached the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-over tournament) and Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 (20-over tournament) in the 2019-’20 season. The team was announced by the State Selection Committee of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and includes India’s premier off-spinner Ashwin Ravichandran and out of favour opener M Vijay.
And for Mumbai squad, Ajinkya Rahane and Prithvi Shaw were named in the 15-member squad for their opener against Baroda. The two made to the 15-member squad, which was picked by the Milind Rege-led ad-hoc selection panel on Monday itself, but the official announcement was made by the cricket body on Tuesday. Mumbai, the 41-time Ranji Trophy champions, play their first game of the 2019-20 season against Baroda in Vadodara from December 9. The squad is being led by batsman Suryakumar Yadav, with experienced wicket-keeper Aditya Tare as his deputy.
IPL Auction- Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has opted out of the Indian Premier League for a second successive year even as his teammates Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn are among seven players who have listed their names in the player’s auction to be held on December 19 in Kolkata. The 29-year-old Starc last featured in the IPL in 2015 when he represented Royal Challengers Bangalore. In the 2018 IPL auction, the left-arm quick had been signed by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 9.4 crore, but was unavailable for the entire tournament because of an injury. Earlier this year, Starc was recovering from injury ahead of the IPL 2019 auction and had opted out to give priority to Australia’s World Cup campaign. England’s Test captain Joe Root is another notable absentee from the auction pool of 971 players. Glenn Maxwell and Chris Lynn, however, will be up for grabs and have set their base price at the maximum of Rs 2 crore.
Test Championship- The inaugural edition of the ICC Test Championship, which began on August 1, 2019, will see the top nine teams in the world competing in 71 matches across 27 series for a period of over two years. Organised by the member boards, the matches are being played just like any bilateral series, but with the added context of a competition and one champion team. Every game in the series has points on offer as the world’s best teams go head to head with a total of 120 points on offer for each series. After the end of all the games, the top two teams with most points will take part in the ICC WTC final in June 2021 in the United Kingdom where the winners will be crowned champion.
Football:
ISL- Sergio Castel’s fine form in front of goal continues but it was not enough for Jamshedpur FC as NorthEast United’s fightback earned them a pulsating 1-1 draw at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Monday. The hosts were the dominant side in this Indian Super League encounter and Spanish striker Sergio Castel’s fifth goal of the season in the 28th-minute seemed to have given all three points for Antonio Iriondo’s men. But a 90th-minute equaliser from Panagiotis Triadis ensured NorthEast United’s unbeaten record remained intact. The result sees Jamshedpur second on the table, level on points (11) with ATK at the top while NorthEast are now fourth with 10 points to their name. Jamshedpur started on the front foot and looked dangerous going forward. Six minutes into the game, Noe Acosta dribbled to the byline on the left flank and chipped the ball to the centre of the box for Farukh Choudhary whose acrobatic overhead kick flew just over the bar. But yet again, there was a twist at the death as NorthEast came up with an equaliser against the run of play in the 90th minute. Gyan flicked a long ball into the path of Triadis who attacked the space left unattended by Gurung and Memo to flick a finish past Subrata Paul to ensure the Highlanders had a share of the spoils.
Ballon d’Or- Lionel Messi said he hoped to carry on undimmed by age after claiming a record sixth men’s Ballon d’Or award at the age of 32 in Paris on Monday, while USA World Cup superstar Megan Rapinoe took the women’s prize. Rapinoe was not at the Chatelet Theatre in the French capital, unable to make the trip back to the country where she led the USA to victory in July. However, Messi was there with his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, and two of their children. It is Messi’s first Ballon d’Or since 2015 and his sixth overall as he moves one ahead of old rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
South Asian Games:
Badminton- Indian men’s badminton team expectedly claimed the gold medal after beating Sri Lanka 3-1 in the finals of the 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu on Monday. K Srikanth started the proceedings for the defending champions and had to fight back from a game down to beat the experienced Dinuka Karunaratne 17-21, 21-15, 21-11 in the opening match. Siril Verma then gave India a 2-0 lead after his opponent Sachin Dias retired with the scoreline reading 21-17, 11-5 in the Indian’s favour. Arun George and Sanyam Shukla, however, suffered a 18-21, 21-14, 11-21 loss to Sachin and B Tharindu D Dumbukola Goonathilake as Sri Lanka grabbed one point to make it 1-2.
Kho-Kho- Continuing its unbeaten run, Indian men’s Kho Kho team entered the semi-finals of the 13th South Asian Games after clinching two wins in a day at Kathmandu on Monday. India first thrashed hosts Nepal by an innings and 12 points with scores of 17-5 and later in the evening, went on to beat Bangladesh by an innings and two points with scores of 12-10. It was India’s third win in as many games in the ongoing tournament. After finishing top of the points table, India will now take on bottom-placed Sri Lanka in the semi-final on Tuesday. In the other semi-final, Nepal will play against Bangladesh. Maharashtra’s Abhinandan Patil and Sagar Potdar were the chief architects of India’s win over Nepal. While Patil impressed everyone in the chase, Potdar showed his skills in the defence.
Boxing:
Nationals- Punjab’s Minakshi, Chandigarh’s Rituz and crowd favourite Anchu Sabu emerged winners on the opening day of the fourth National Boxing Championships in Kannur on Monday. A total of 235 boxers from 33 teams will be seen in action at Mundayad Indoor Stadium. A total of 23 matches were played on the first day with Punjab pugilist Minakshi (48kg) displaying superb control and movement to beat Meghalaya’s Eva Marbaniang 5-0. Rituz also began her campaign emphatically as she defeated Ladakh’s Dechen in a one-sided affair in the light flyweight category. The referee had to stop the contest as early as the first round.
Buoyed by home support, Anchu Sabu (48kg) sprung the surprise of the day as she landed a string of power-packed punches on Manika Kumari from Bengal and bagged the bout with an RSC verdict in round 2. However, the most exciting bout of the day was played between Assam’s Priya Gorh and Madhya Pradesh’s Anjali Sharma in the 48kg category. Both the boxers fought neck and neck in all the three rounds before Priya prevailed in the end with a split 3-2 verdict. The fourth edition of the tournament will witness silver medallist Sonia Chahal (57kg), junior youth champions Jyoti Gulia (51kg) and Shashi Chopra (60 kg), President’s Cup gold medallist Monica (48kg), Cologne world Cup gold medallist Meenakumari Devi (54kg) and India Open gold medallist Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) in action. The pugilists will be competing in all the 10 weight categories – 48kg, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81kg and +81kg. Last year, Haryana finished at the top of the podium followed by Railways. The preliminary matches will be played on the first four days followed by the knockout stages starting from December 6. The final matches will be played on December 8.
Doping- International medal-winning Indian boxer Neeraj, who was among the probables for 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test. The Haryana-based boxer tested positive for performance-enhancing drug Ligandrol and other anabolic steroids. A former national champion, Neeraj won a bronze medal at the prestigious Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria and a gold at a tournament in Russia this year. She was also a gold-medallist at this year’s India Open in Guwahati. Her sample was collected on September 24 and was tested at Qatar’s anti-doping lab, which gave its findings earlier last month.
Golf:
Tiger-Jack Nicklaus- Having made one of the greatest sporting comebacks earlier this year, American golf icon Tiger Woods says he is at peace with himself and not in hot pursuit of the three Majors that would tie him with the legendary Jack Nicklaus. In April, the 43-year-old won his 15th major title, the first time he did that after not leading the pack, heading into the final round. It was also his first win at Majors since the US Open in 2008. His countless fans started believing more that he would actually equal Nicklaus’ record 18 titles when he won a record equalling 82nd PGA Tour title in Japan in October to go level with Sam Snead.
However, Woods is not losing sleep over adding another one to his Majors tally. “It has taken Jack a lifetime to get there, until he was 46. I’m just proud of what I’ve done, to come back from where I came back from to win another major championship but also to do it in a different way,” Woods told a select group of media in Nassau (Bahamas) on Monday.
NBA:
Basketball- Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points as the Milwaukee Bucks stretched their winning streak to 12 games on Monday with a 132-88 demolition of the hapless New York Knicks. The Eastern Conference leaders showed no mercy to the worst side in the division, outscoring the Knicks by 33-15 in the first quarter and showing no let-up through a one-sided encounter. Antetokounmpo was on court for just 21 minutes, adding 15 rebounds and shooting 10-of-14 while leading the scoring. The Greek star was backed by Khris Middleton with 16 points and D.J. Wilson, who added 19 off the bench.
No fewer than six Milwaukee players finished in double digits, including Antetokounmpo’s elder brother Thanasis who chipped in with 10 points from his 12 minutes on the court. The win saw the Bucks improve to 18-3 at the top of the Eastern Conference, while the Knicks remained rooted to the bottom of the standings with just four wins against 17 defeats. Antetokounmpo meanwhile said Milwaukee were not thinking about their winning streak but rather looking ahead to their next game.
