Indian sports News- November 26th
November 26, 2019
Bytes: Shotgun Nationals, PBL, Syed Modi badminton, Asia emerging Cup, NBA, ISL, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Ranji Trophy, ICC Rankings, Chess Tata tour, WADA ban on Russia, Asian archery championship, Weightlifting-South Asian Games
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:
Badminton:
PBL- World No 1 Tai Tzu Ying, in-form doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as well as rising star Lakshya Sen will be among the 154 players all set to go under the hammer as the players auction for the fifth season of the Premier Badminton League will be held on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Hyderabad Hunters have retained PV Sindhu for 77 lakhs, the maximum amount for a player. Other retained players include B Sai Praneeth for Bengaluru Raptors, B Summeth Reddy for Chennai Super Starz, Beiwen Zhang for Awadhe Warriors and Kim Gi Jung for Mumbai Rockets. The PBL, organised by Badminton Association of India and conducted by Sportzlive, will be held from January 20 to February 9, 2020. While each franchise will have a purse of 2 crore, the maximum amount that can be spent on one player will be are 77 Lakh. The teams can have a maximum of six foreign players and a minimum of three female shuttlers in a squad of not more than 11. A trading policy will be introduced for the first time as well. The format of the upcoming edition of the league remains the same with each tie consisting of five matches – two men’s singles matches, one women’s singles match, one men’s doubles match and one mixed doubles match. The 21-day event will witness seven teams Awadhe Warriors (Lucknow), Bengaluru Raptors (Bengaluru), Mumbai Rockets (Mumbai), Hyderabad Hunters (Hyderabad), Chennai Superstarz (Chennai), North Eastern Warriors (North East) and Pune 7 Aces (Pune). The matches will be played in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
Syed Modi- Saina Nehwal was among the many high profile withdrawals in the women’s singles draw of the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament that begins in Lucknow on Tuesday. A total of five of the eight seeds including top seed He Bingjiao and second seed Michell Li have withdrawn from the women’s singles draw leaving the field open for fourth seed Carolina Marin and the up and coming An Se Young of Korea. The men’s singles draw also saw second seed Ng Ka Long Angus and sixth seed Lu Guangzu pulling out along with Hong Kong Open champion Lee Cheuk Yiu. With Nehwal, who also announced that she will not take part in the Premier Badminton League this season to recover from injuries and illness, pulling out and Sindhu not participating, all eyes would be on Indian men’s contingent with badminton fans keen to see how Lakshya Sen manages to perform on the home soil. Sen, who won four of the five tournaments in Europe in the last two months, will take on France’s Thomas Rouxel of France in the opening round and could run into former world number one and seventh seed Son Wan Ho of Korea in the second round. Focus will also be on the men’s doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who won the Thailand Open Super 500 title and then reached the finals of French Open Super 750 this season.
Cricket:
ICC Rankings- India captain Virat Kohli’s commanding century in the day-night Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata has helped him bridge the gap with top-ranked Steve Smith from 25 to three points for the first time in the latest ICC Test player rankings this week. India fast bowlers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav reached career-high points tally after victory while opener Mayank Agarwal has reached the top 10 after India defeated Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs. Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim has gained four slots to reach 26th position after scoring a fighting 74 in the second innings of the Kolkata Test while Liton Das is up eight slots to 78th position. Elsewhere, Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and New Zealand’s Bradley-John Watling achieved career-best positions after their match-winning centuries. Watling is now the top-ranked wicketkeeper-batsman, having overtaken South Africa’s Quinton de Kock. Watling is not the only one New Zealand cricketer to gain big. Neil Wagner’s eight-wicket match haul has catapulted him to a career-best third position with a tally of 816 rating points, the third best ever by a New Zealand bowler after Richard Hadlee (909 points) and Trent Boult (825). England all-rounder Ben Stokes is in the top 10 list for batsmen for the first time after scores of 91 and 28 helped him gain three slots, while Joe Denly and Rory Burns have also made notable progress.
Syed Mushtaq Ali- Captain Suryakumar Yadav blazed his way to an unbeaten 94 as Mumbai defeated Karnataka by seven wickets in the group B Super League match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Surat on Monday. Mumbai were chasing a stiff 172-run target and Suryakumar, who has been in fine form, single-handedly guided the domestic giants to victory with an over to spare. Suryakumar (94 not out off 53 balls, 11 fours, 4 sixes) walked in to bat after Mumbai were in a spot of bother at 44/2, losing openers Aditya Tare (12) and Prithvi Shaw (30) and still needing over 100 runs to win. The aggressive right-hander steadied the ship by stitching together a 46-run stand with Shreyas Iyer (14) for the third wicket. However, Karnataka pegged Mumbai back by removing Iyer in the eleventh over. After Iyer departed, Suryakumar toyed with the Karnataka bowlers, who wilted under his blistering attack. He hammered 11 fours and hoisted four towering sixes to stamp his class. His 53-ball 94 would have surely impressed the national selectors.
Ranji Trophy- India players, including captain Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant were on Monday named among the 30 shortlisted players for the Delhi team for the Ranji Trophy camp beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday. Ranji Trophy begins on December 9 with Delhi opening their campaign against Kerala. While Kohli is unlikely to feature in the tournament because of his India commitments, the likes of Dhawan and Ishant, who don’t play all formats, will be available for selection if not on national duty. Pant, who is no more a certain starter in the Test eleven, can also feature in the tournament. The southpaw was part of the India squad that took on Bangladesh in the two-Test series which concluded on Sunday but did not get to play. Therefore, he was released to turn up for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy. Another India player in the shortlist is pacer Navdeep Saini.
Probables: Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Navdeep Saini, Kunwar Bidhuri, Jonty Sidhu, Nitish Rana, Shivam Sharma, Vikas Tokas, Pranshu Vijayran, Dhruv Shorey, Vikas Mishra, Tejas Baroka, Manan Sharma, Subodh Bhati, Hiten Dalal, Shivank Vashisht, Anuj Rawat, Simarjeet Singh, Karan Dagar, Kunal Chandela, Kulwant Khejroliya, Lalit Yadav, Gourav Kumar, Rajesh Sharma, Himmat Singh, Kuldip Yadav, Pawan Suyal, Kshitiz Sharma.
Asian emerging cup- India crashed out of the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup after losing to Pakistan by three runs in the first semifinal in Dhaka on Wednesday. Chasing a target of 268 to win, India looked on course to make it to the final as they needed just seven runs from the last over with three wickets in hand and a well set Chinmay Sutar (28 not out) at the crease. But right-arm pacer Amad Butt conceded just four runs and also picked up the wicket of Shivam Mavi to seal the win for Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistan rode on a strong top-order display to put up 267 for seven on the board after opting to bat. Openers Omair Yousuf (66 off 97 balls) and Haider Ali (43 off 60) put on a 90-run opening stand to lay a solid foundation.
Jofra archer- New Zealand Cricket has ordered increased security at the second Test against England in Hamilton after a crowd member racially abused visiting paceman Jofra Archer during the opening match in Mount Maunganui. Black Caps captain Kane Williamson described the taunt as “horrific”, while NZC said the culprit would be reported to the police and barred from cricket grounds if he was identified from the venue’s CCTV footage. “We’re incredibly disappointed, it’s just not acceptable and we won’t tolerate it,” NZC chief executive David White told Newstalk ZB radio. The 24-year-old later told ESPNcricinfo that the abuser was a solitary New Zealand spectator making comments “about the colour of my skin” after he was dismissed and walking toward the pavilion. The incident has overshadowed the result of the first Test ever played at Bay Oval, which New Zealand won by an innings and 65 runs.
Basketball:
NBA- Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James delivered exceptional scoring efforts as their conference-leading clubs stretched NBA win streaks to eight games on Monday. Greek playmaker Antetokounmpo scored 50 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and added six assists to rally the Bucks over the visiting Utah Jazz 122-118. The reigning NBA Most Valuable Player’s run of 17 double-doubles to start a season is the NBA’s longest since 1976. “I’m just trying to get better,” said Antetokounmpo. “Take it day by day, game by game and just get myself ready in games that matter the most.
Football:
ISL- The two-time champions, Chennaiyin FC who endured a goal-drought that had extended to more than 700 minutes of action, fired two goals in the space of five minutes on Monday at the Marina Arena. Chennaiyin FC thus secured their first win of season in the process, beating the newcomers 2-1 in a match that sprung to life in the final moments with all the goals coming in added time. The home team went ahead 1-0 in the first minute of added time when Maltese import Andre Schembri beat the rival goalie Kamaljit Singh. The substitute’s strike was neutralised almost immediately as Matthew Kilgallon headed in powerfully, rising above the Chennaiyin defence to beat the custodian. As the match headed towards a finish, Nerijus Valskis beat Kamaljit, who had a brilliant game otherwise, to get the first win of the season for Gregory’s men. Schembri and Valskis combined to send the latter through on goal and he tucked in an excellent finish to send the home crowd into raptures on the stroke of the full-time whistle. It was Chennaiyin FC’s first win in 289 days, bringing a lot of relief for Gregory, who two weeks ago was contemplating an exit.
Archery:
Asian archery Championship- Indian archer Atanu Das clinched bronze in the men’s recurve individual event of the Asian Championships in Bangkok on Tuesday. Das beat Jin Hayek Oh of Korea 6-5 in the shoot-off in the bronze medal match. India is competing as a neutral team under the World Archery flag due to the suspension of the national federation. Earlier on Monday, he had also won another bronze medal in the recurve mixed team event with Deepika Kumari. They had defeated Yichai Zheng and Shaoxuan Wei of China 6-2. The compound mixed team of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam will clash against the Chinese Taipei pair in the final on Wednesday. They beat Korea 159-154 in a one-sided affair to set up a gold medal clash with Chinese Taipei. The team eliminations are also scheduled to start on Wednesday while Indian women will also vie for Olympic quotas in the qualification round on Thursday.
Weightlifting:
South Asian Games- Mirabai Chanu and Jeremy Lalrinnunga, the two best weightlifters of the country have hit an unexpected roadblock in their qualifying path for next year’s Tokyo Olympics. The International Weightlifting Federation has stripped the weightlifting competition at the upcoming South Asian Games in Nepal of its Olympic qualification status for not adhering to its ‘whereabouts’ rule concerning dope testing of athletes. Now, India will send a second-string team to the competition with Chanu and Lalrinnunga missing from the squad. They will now participate in the International Cup in Doha, Qatar from December 19 to 24, which will now act as a qualification event, the Times of India reported. We were expecting such a problem,” Indian weightlifting coach Vijay Sharma said. “So we had entered in the Doha competition beforehand. It does not hurt our chances to qualify.” The SAG will be held from December 1 to 10 and India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and hosts Nepal are the participating nations. The weightlifting competition was a ‘silver level’ Olympic qualification.
Athletics:
WADA ban- The World Anti-Doping Agency’s Compliance Review Committee has recommended a series of sanctions against Russia after falsified data was handed over to investigators probing the country’s drugs scandal.
A four-year ban on participation in international sporting events. Russian government officials and representatives barred from boards or committees or any other bodies of any signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code.
Russian government officials/representatives may not participate in or attend any of the following events for four years – the Youth Olympic Games (summer and winter), the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (summer and winter); any other event organized by a major event organisation; and any World Championships organized or sanctioned by any signatory.
A four-year ban on staging sports events. Russia may not host major events, or bid for hosting rights, during this period.
Chess:
Anand- Indian ace Viswanathan Anand suffered two defeats but scored as many victories to stay in joint fifth place at the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz tournament, a part of the Grand Chess Tour. Reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen continued his dominating run as he took his lead to an almost unassailable five points and will need just two points from nine games to be played on Tuesday. Carlsen currently has 21.5 points to his credit out of a possible 27 points. American Hikaru Nakamura is currently a distant second with 16.5 points followed by his compatriot Wesley So, who has 13.5 points. Anish Giri (13) of Holland is in sole fourth place while Anand shares the fifth spot with Ding Liren of China and Nepomniachtchi. P Harikrishna holds the eighth spot on 12 points, ahead of Armenian Levon Aronian (11) who in turn is a point ahead of last placed Vidit Gujrathi at this juncture in this $150,000 tournament.
Shooting:
Nationals shotgun- Haryana’s Sangram Dahiya and Madhya Pradesh’s Varsha Varman won the men’s and women’s double trap titles respectively at the 63rd National Shotgun Shooting Championship in New Delhi on Monday. Sangram shot 142 out of 150 targets to leave behind former world champion Ankur Mittal of ONGC, who managed 137 hits over the five rounds of 30 targets each. Punjab’s Prithvi Singh Chahal won bronze with a score of 135. Varsha, in the women’s category of 120 targets each, had 97 to her name to clinch the gold ahead of state-mate Manisha Keer, who had 93 hits. Mahima Vishwakarma ensured a Madhya Pradesh sweep in the category, winning bronze with 92. Both Sangram and Varsha also won the team gold for their respective states.
