Indian sports News- November 27th
November 27, 2019
Bytes: Tata steel chess tour, Asian Archery Championship, South Asian Games Volleyball team, IOA 2023 session, Australia selection committee, RSM Classic, NBA, Syed Modi 300 badminton, Euro 2020 Russia, ISL- FC Goa go down 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:
Archery:
Asian Archery Championship- Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam claimed the top honours in compound mixed pair event to fetch India’s lone gold at the 21st Asian Archery Championships, which ended in Bangkok on Wednesday. India finished with a tally of seven medals. Verma and Vennam won the mixed pair gold by overwhelming their Chinese Taipei opponents Yi-Hsuan Chen and Chieh-Luh Chen 158-151. India ended with one gold, two silver and four bronze medals. Earlier in the day, Verma endured some disappointment, missing the compound team gold medal by just one point after losing to Korea 232-233 to settle for a silver. The top-seeded trio of Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Mohan Bhardwaj were 58-58 in the first end but the Korean team of Jaewon yang, Yonghee Choi and Eun-Kyu Choi slowly seized the momentum by taking a one-point after the second end. Three 9s in the penultimate end proved costly for the Indians as the Koreans took a crucial three-point lead. In the final end, the Indians shot 59 compared to Korea’s 57 but it was not enough. Defending their title in the compound women’s team event, Jyothi, Muskan Kirar and Priya Gurjar also lost the battle to Korea, going down 215-231 in a one-sided affair. But Verma and Jyothi returned strongly in the compound mixed pair final. They made a solid start, shooting 39, including two Xs (closest to the centre), from a possible 40 to lead by two points in the first end. The second end turned out to be a perfect 40 for the Indians as they extended their lead by four points midway into the gold medal clash. The men’s team has already secured their Olympic quota from the World Championships. The women’s team will look to bag the berths from the continental championship which is offering six places for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Badminton:
Syed Modi 300- Third seed Srikanth Kidambi sailed past Russia’s Vladimir Malkov in straight games to set up a second-round clash with compatriot Parupalli Kashyap at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow on Wednesday. Srikanth prevailed 21-12, 21-11 in his 36-minute opening round clash, while Kashyap got a walkover from Frenchman Lucas Corvee in the BWF World Tour Super 300 level tournament. With top seed Shi Yuqi ousted in the opening round (25-23 21-17 by Malaysia’s Soo Teck Zhi), this tournament presents a great chance for Srikanth to end his two-year wait for a title. Fourth seed B Sai Praneeth also moves into the next round, defeats Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain 21-16, 22-20 in 47 minutes. The 2019 world championship bronze medalists faces multiple-time junior world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn next. Among other Indian players in action, 18-year-old Lakshya Sen, who won the Scottish Open last week for his fourth title of 2019, also got a walkover after another French shuttler Thomas Rouxel withdrew from the competition. Sen will face former world No 1 Son Wan Ho next. India’s Alap Mishra also moved into the round of 16 with a 21-16, 21-16 win Georges Julien Paul from Mauritius.
Football:
ISL- Jamshedpur FC returned to winning ways and handed FC Goa their first defeat of the season (1-0) in the 2019-’20 Indian Super League at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa on Tuesday. In a closely-contested match, Sergio Castel’s 17th-minute strike, his fourth of the season, proved to be the difference between the two sides. Castel climbed to the top of the goalscoring chart and Jamshedpur moved to the second spot on the table with 10 points after five matches. Goa slipped to fourth and have eight points. Goa were quick to take control of the game and threatened the visitors’ goal early on. Edu Bedia dribbled forward and released Jackichand Singh down the right flank before the winger’s powerful shot from a tight angle was blocked by an alert Subrata Pal. Jamshedpur found an opening in the 12th minute when Castel dropped deep to pick up the ball and found Robin Gurung’s overlap to his right. The full-back’s floating cross was met by CK Vineeth at the far post but the Keralite’s acrobatic effort flew wide. Minutes later, the on-loan Atletico Madrid striker put Jamshedpur in the lead, utilising the open space in the hosts’ defensive third. The Spanish striker collected a Farukh Choudhary cross from the right, used his first touch to outfox Mourtada Fall in the box and confidently slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Euro2020- The Euro 2020 football tournament is excluded from the ban on Russia recommended by the World Anti-Doping Agency after it accused Moscow of falsifying laboratory data handed over to investigators, a source said on Tuesday. The Wada source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the European championships were “not a major event and not a world championships” so were exempt from the four-year ban from major sporting competitions on Russia proposed by a key Wada committee earlier in the day. The Russian city of Saint Petersburg is one of 12 locations across Europe scheduled to host matches in next year’s tournament. In a statement on Monday, Wada’s Compliance Review Committee called for the sanctions, which would see Russia banned from next year’s Tokyo Olympics, to be approved at a Wada executive committee meeting in Paris on December 9.
Olympics:
2023 IOC- The IOA has kept New Delhi as a back-up venue to host the 2023 International Olympic Committee Session, for which it has made a bid, after failing to get confirmation from sponsors for the event. The Indian Olympic Association had initially proposed to host the 2023 International Olympic Committee session in Mumbai, which is expected to choose the host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics. The IOA had already submitted the formal bid to the IOC chief Thomas Back on the sidelines of the governing body’s 134th Session in June this year. But after failing to get a confirmed offer for the event, that will need funds to the tune of USD 8-9 million, the IOA has now asked IOC whether there is any provision to change the host city from Mumbai to New Delhi. Batra also informed the IOC that IOA has constituted a five-member committee of Anil Khana, Sudhanshu Mittal, Adille Sumariwalla, Anandeshwar Pandey and RK Sacheti to finalise and sign a contract or agreement with a business house to sponsor the 2023 IOC Session.
Golf:
RSM Classic- India’s Anirban Lahiri ended tied 50th at the Fall Season of the PGA Tour at the RSM Classic. Lahiri finished the week with two-over 70 and a total of six-under 276. In the final round, Lahiri had two birdies against four bogeys in the last event on the PGA Tour in 2019. Tyler Duncan won his first PGA Tour title with a birdie on the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff over Webb Simpson after both players were tied at 19-under. A day after he shot 18 pars, Duncan shot 65 on the final day at Seaside course, while Simpson, the 2017 Players champion, carded 67. Simpson went into a playoff but extended his streak of rounds of 68 or better to eight leading up to the 2019 Presidents Cup. Sebastian Munoz (68) at 18-under was third. The focus was on the 54-hole leader Brendon Todd, who was seeking to become the first player to win in three consecutive weeks on the PGA TOUR schedule since Tiger Woods in 2006. Todd shot 72 and finished fourth. Duncan, 30, joined the Tour in 2017-’18 and now moved to eleventh on FedExCup standings. He birdied three of his last four holes to reach the playoff. The top-10 finish was his fourth career top-10 on Tour. His previous best finish on Tour was tied 5th, in Safeway in 2017 and the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson.
Volleyball:
South Asian Games- The Indian volleyball teams will leave on Wednesday for Kathmandu to participate in the South Asian Games amid reports of a delay due to various issues, federation officials said. The volleyball competition in the SAG (formerly South Asian Federation Games) gets underway on November 27, while the opening ceremony is scheduled for December 1. Both the men’s and women’s teams open their campaign on November 28, against Bangladesh and Nepal respectively. Meanwhile, there were reports of the team’s departure being delayed owing to various reasons. However, an official denied the reports and the federation is making all efforts to ensure the teams leave for the Nepal capital on Wednesday. He alleged there were some delays with regard to procurement of tickets and kits, but said the federation has taken steps to sort them out and taken it up with the Indian Olympic Association. The Indian women won the gold in the previous SAG in 2016 in Guwahati.
Chess:
Tata Steel Chess Tour- Viswanathan Anand ran out of steam and got eliminated from the Grand Chess tour, getting just one point in the last five games of the Tata Steel Rapid and Blitz tournament, which concluded in Kolkata on Tuesday. Magnus Carlsen finished the tournament with a whopping 27 points and broke his own record in the Grand chess tour, bettering his 26.5 points scored at Abidjan, Ivory Coast earlier this year. The Norwegian was not at his best on the final day but still came up with some exemplary victories to win by a huge four-point margin over Hikaru Nakamura of the United States, who finished second with 23 points in all. Such was Carlsen’s dominance that the tied players on third place Anish Giri of Holland and Wesley So of the United States – scored only 18.5 points a good 8.5 points less than the champion. Ding Liren of China finished fifth on 18 points and the sixth place was taken by a resurgent Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. A full point behind was Anand, on seventh with 16 points, while the Indian duo of Gujrathi and Harikrishna ended in tied eighth spot on 14.5 points each. Levon Aronian of Armenia ended at the last spot and even this was enough to seal a berth to London. Anand, who turns 50 next month, missed the Grand Chess tour finale by a whisker. The Indian ace was in the thick of things and looked poised to finish sixth when five rounds were remaining and he had scored back-to-back victories.
Basketball:
NBA- Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, playing together for only the fourth NBA game this season, powered the Los Angeles Clippers over the Dallas Mavericks 114-99 on Tuesday. Leonard had 28 points and eight rebounds while George had 26 points and six steals as the Clippers improved to 13-5, 2 1/2 games behind the Western Conference leaders, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers stretched their winning streak to six games and so did the Denver Nuggets, who defeated visiting Washington 117-104 in the night’s only other league game. Leonard, last season’s NBA Finals Most Valuable Player after leading Toronto to the league title, jumped to the Clippers in part because he wanted to play alongside George – and the dynamic duo showed what they could do after only a week together and healthy.
Cricket:
Australia’s Selection committee- Former Australia T20 International captain George Bailey was appointed on Wednesday as one of the country’s three national selectors, replacing the retired Greg Chappell. He joins chairman Trevor Hohns and coach Justin Langer and will draw the curtain on his long playing career after the domestic Big Bash League in early February to take on the role full-time. Bailey, 37, played five Tests, 90 one-day internationals and 30 Twenty20s for Australia. He has also been a stalwart for Tasmania, the Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars since making his first-class debut in 2004. He is currently 12 runs short of 10,000 first-class runs. Bailey replaces former Australian skipper Chappell, who had been Cricket Australia’s national talent manager for the past nine years as well as a selector before calling it quits in September.
