Indian sports News- December 7th
December 7, 2019
Bytes: Kohli 94 in India’s win against WI, Women’s IPL, IND defeats NZ 4-1 in hockey, Squash, Boxing medals at South Asian Games, Satnam Singh not in Indian Basketball team, NBA, Gokulam Kerala FC wins, Neroca FC wins, East Bengal FC wins in I-league, Caroline Wozniacki to retire after Australian Open
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:
INDvsWI- Virat Kohli showed his class with yet another sublime innings, as his career-best 94* helped India pull off their highest successful run chase in a T20 International to beat West Indies by six wickets in the first match in Hyderabad on Friday. KL Rahul also struck an impressive 62 off just 40 balls as India eventually chased down the target of 208 with eight balls to spare. The earlier highest successful run chase for India in a T20I was the 207 against Sri Lanka in Mohali in 2009. India, thus, took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The second T20 International will be played in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Opening the innings in the absence of injured Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul played fluently to score his seventh T20I fifty, during which he hit five boundaries and four sixes to make a case for himself to be in India’s squad for next year’s T20 World Cup. Kohli, who played the second fiddle till Rahul was around, stamped his authority after struggling early on. The skipper guided India to a rather comprehensive win as the home side reached 208/4 in 18.4 overs.
Women’s IPL- The popularity of women’s cricket is on the rise but a full-fledged women’s Indian Premier League is at least four years away, Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly told India Today. In India, women’s cricket has seen a steady increase in popularity ever since Mithali Raj and Co reached the final of the 2017 ICC World Cup in England. Following that, the BCCI conducted an exhibition women’s T20 match – which featured several international stars – before Indian Premier League 2018. The success of that trial prompted the Indian cricket board to introduce the Women’s T20 Challenge earlier this year, which was a three-team event played in Jaipur. Despite all this progress, though, Ganguly believes now is not the time to launch a separate IPL for women.
Hockey:
INDvsNZ- Sharmila Devi struck twice as the Indian junior women’s hockey team secured a solid 4-1 win over New Zealand in its third match of the 3-Nations Tournament in Canberra on Saturday. India came from a goal down to defeat their opponents after New Zealand’s Olivia Shannon (4th minute) had scored for her side. It was Sharmila Devi (12th, 43rd), Beauty Dungdung (27th) and Lalrindiki (48th) who scored the goals for India in their impressive victory. In a shaky start to the match, India conceded a penalty corner in the 4th minute, and New Zealand made the most of it as they scored through Olivia to make it 1-0 in their favour. New Zealand did try to pose a threat in the remaining minutes, but could not penetrate through the Indian defense which meant India registered their second win in three matches of the 3-Nations Tournament. India will face hosts Australia in their fourth and final match on Sunday.
Basketball:
Satnam Singh- Satnam Singh, the first Indian player to be drafted in America’s National Basketball Association, was provisionally suspended by the National Anti Doping Agency for failing a dope test, according to a report by The Indian Express. The substance over which he was banned was not confirmed. The dope test was conducted last month during the national camp in Bangalore ahead of the South Asian Games, which began in Kathmandu. After the test returned positive, the 23-year-old was provisionally suspended on November 19, continued the report. Satnam is not part of the Indian squad at the ongoing South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal. However, team officials and Basketball Federation of India are said to be unaware of the suspension. Satnam had made history when he was drafted in the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks with the 52nd overall pick. The 7’2 Punjab lad played for the Mavericks in the NBA’s Summer League and spent two years with the Texas Legends, a G-League affiliate of the franchise. He has represented India in at the Asian Championships, 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2019 World Cup Qualifiers.
NBA- Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrated his 25th birthday with 27 points Friday in the Bucks’ crushing 119-91 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo scored also pulled down 11 rebounds, but it was a superb effort by his supporting cast that made for the mammoth margin of victory. Five other Bucks players scored in double figures, with starting forward Khris Middleton contributing 17 and Pat Connaughton and Eran Ilyasova adding 13 apiece off the bench.
The Golden State Warriors – battling injuries and languishing in last place in the Western Conference after reaching the last five NBA finals – grabbed just their fifth victory of the season, 100-98 over the Bulls in Chicago. Glenn Robinson led the Warriors with 20 points, seven rebounds and two steals. Star forward Draymond Green scored just nine, but he contributed four steals in a dynamic defensive effort and it was Green’s lob to Robinson for a dunk that completed the scoring with 1:03 left to play.
Football:
I-league- Kolkata giants East Bengal will square off against former champions Punjab FC in a Hero I-League match at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Saturday. Punjab FC did not have a great outing against Churchill Brothers FC Goa, where they went down by a scoreline of 3-0. Playing their first match at home, Punjab FC will be under pressure as they are without the services of captain Anwar Ali, who was sent off in the match against the Red Machines. The defence may be an area of concern for Punjab head coach, Yan Law, as they were left exposed against Churchill Brothers. East Bengal, on the other hand, will be disappointed with a 1-1 draw at home in their last game against Real Kashmir, considering the fact that they dominated the match with 64 percent possession, and had the lion’s share of chances. Their Spanish imports looked sharp in midfield but lacked the killer instinct and failed to pick up three points in front of 11,000-odd strong home support.
In another match of the day, Neroca FC registered their first win of this I-League season by beating former champions Aizawl FC 1-0 at the Khuman Lampak ground in Imphal on Friday. Ousmane Diawara scored the all-important goal in the 28th minute to give the home side all three points. Neroca had lost 1-2 to Gokulam Kerala in their campaign opener. Aizawl FC, who dominated possession, failed to convert any of their 15 shots in the match. The first big chance of the first half came in the 13th minute for the home team but Chanso Horam, who had a clear sight of goal, failed to convert the same.
In the second game of the day, Ugandan forward Henry Kisekka’s clinical finish helped title contenders Gokulam Kerala FC beat Indian Arrows side by a solitary goal at Tilak Maidan in Goa on Friday. The Arrows gave the in-form Gokulam a mighty scare, particularly after the Malabarians had to play the last 15 minutes of the match with 10 men. Gokulam have won both their opening games and now sit pretty on top of the table with six points.
Boxing:
South Asian Games- World Championships bronze medallist Manish Kaushik (64kg) and senior pugilist Vikas Krishan (69kg) made it to the semi-finals on the first day of boxing event at the 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu on Friday. National Champion Ankit Khatana (75kg) was the third Indian to progress to the last four as he knocked out local boy Deepak Shrestha in the first round of his bout. Kaushik thoroughly dominated his quarter-final bout against Pakistan’s Suleman Baloch to register a commanding 5-0 victory. In the 69 kg quarter-final, Krishan marked his return to amateur circuit after a gap of 15 months with a superb performance against Bhutan’s Dorji Tshering in a unanimous verdict. Seven male boxers: Vinod (49kg), Sparsh (52kg), Sachin (57kg), Varinder (60kg), Sachin (81kg), Gaurav Chauhan (91kg) and Narender (+91kg) and four women boxers: Pinki Rani (51kg), Shiksha (54kg), Parveen (60kg) and Manju Bamboriya (64kg) are already in the semi-finals, thus ensuring India at least 16 medals. The semi-final bouts will be played on December 7 and 8 followed by finals on December 9.
Squash:
SAG- India started off well in squash individual events as both the men and women assured themselves of a medal during the South Asian Games in Kathmandu on Friday. The women’s singles set the tone for the day for India with top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla coming on first to swiftly set aside the challenge of Fathoum I Issadeen of Sri Lanka 11-5, 11-7, 11-4. With eight players in the draw, the very first match happened to be a quarter-final and Sunayna thus made it to the last four. Except for the second game where she trailed 1-4 at one stage to bounce back smartly, the Chennai girl hardly worked up sweat. Players from five countries are in the fray in the men’s section – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal and four in the women’s – India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Tayyab Aslam and Mehboob Farhan, both from Pakistan are the top two seeds in the men’s section.
Tennis:
Caroline Wozniacki- Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki announced on Friday that she will retire from tennis after next month’s Australian Open. The 29-year-old Dane won her only Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne last year in what was her third major final. “I’ve accomplished everything I could ever dream of on the court,” she said in an Instagram post. “I’ve always told myself, when the time comes, that there are things away from tennis that I want to do more, then it’s time to be done.” Wozniacki, who turned professional at the age of 15 in 2005, spent 71 weeks at the top of the WTA rankings after first becoming the world’s best player in October 2010. She has won 30 WTA titles so far in her career, including the 2017 Tour Finals in Singapore. Wozniacki, who finished 11 straight seasons in the world top 20, is currently ranked 37th after struggling with injuries and poor form in 2019, reaching only one final. She said she wanted to focus on family life with her husband and former NBA champion David Lee, as well as raising awareness of the auto-immune disease she suffers from, rheumatoid arthritis.
