Indian sports News- November 29th
November 29, 2019
Bytes: Davis Cup- India leads against Pakistan, Indian Super League, Mumbai City FC acquired by City Group, Arsenal sacks Unai, Wrestling Nationals, ITTF WC, INDvsAFG U19, NZvsENG, Bangladesh Cricket Board, South Asian Games, Syed Modi 300, Asian Archery Championships, BasketbalL- Indian NT
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:
Davis Cup- A ruthless Indian team raced to a 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup tie dropping just two games in two matches combined as Ramkumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal outplayed their inexperienced opponents from Pakistan in Nursultan on Friday. The tie started with a massive mismatch as Ramkumar double-bageled (6-0, 6-0) 17-year-old Muhammed Shoaib in just 42 minutes in the opening singles match. The only time Shoaib made it look like a contest was in the sixth game of the second set when he stretched Ramkumar to two deuce points. Nagal then earned his first-ever Davis Cup win, beating Hufaiza Mohammed Rehman 6-0 6-2 in the second singles which lasted 64 minutes. Pakistan badly missed its top players who pulled out protesting against shifting of the matches to a neutral venue, with the match being played in the Kazakhstan capital. While the first match was an easy outing for Ramkumar, promising Pakistani youngster Hufaiza resisted Nagal as much as possible by engaging the Indian in long rallies. Twice he pushed Nagal to deuce points in the second game of the second set and finally put Pakistan on board by holding the third game after squandering four game points. He returned and dished out another hold, staying close to Nagal. However, it just delayed the inevitable as Nagal wrapped up the match in the eighth game. Veteran Leander Paes and debutant Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will now look to seal the tie when they clash with Hufaiza and Shoaib in the doubles rubber on Saturday. A win on Saturday will stretch Paes’ record for most number of doubles wins in Davis Cup history. He is leading the chart with 43 wins. The winner of the tie will travel to Croatia for the World Group Qualifiers, to be held on March 6-7.
Football:
ISL- Chennaiyin FC and Odisha FC shared the spoils after a thrilling 2019-’20 Indian Super League encounter finished 2-2 at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai on Thursday. After a barren first-half, Nerijus Valskis (51’) handed Chennaiyin the lead. But Odisha equalised through Xisco Hernandez (54’). Valskis thought he had given Chennaiyin the win with a second goal in the 71st minute, but Aridane Santana (82’) ensured Odisha returned from Chennai with a point. The result sees Chennaiyin climb to eighth spot in the table with five points from six games while Odisha, who played out a third consecutive draw, are sixth with six points.
Odisha, as expected, had most of the early possession and the first real chance did come their way. Masih Saighani gave away the ball in midfield in the eighth minute, allowing Jerry Mawihmingthanga to intercept and move forward. The ball eventually fell to Xisco Hernandez inside the box and his snap-shot was saved by an alert Chennaiyin goalkeeper Vishal Kaith.
Mumbai City FC- The owners of Premier League champions Manchester City on Thursday acquired Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC, making the franchise their eighth club in their global football empire. The Abu Dhabi-controlled City Football Group announced the take over of the Indian side the day after a US equity fund pumped $500 million in new cash into CFG, taking its value to $4.8 billion.
Premier League- Arsenal on Friday sacked Unai Emery and his coaching staff after a string of poor results across tournaments. The London club announced that they have appointed former player Freddie Ljungberg as interim head coach of the first team. Arsenal are winless in their last seven matches, with their most recent defeat coming against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night. The Gunners are in eighth position in the Premier League at the moment, with just four wins from 13 games.
Table Tennis:
ITTF WC- India’s top-ranked paddler Sathiyan Gnanasekaran reached the main draw of the ITTF World Cup 2019 after beating two higher-ranked players in the preliminary group stage in Chengdu, China on Friday. He is the only Indian in action at the season-ending tournament, for which he qualified after a sixth-place finish in the continental qualifier event. Sathiyan topped Group D after winning both his first-stage matches. First up, he registered a brilliant fightback from 0-2 down against world No 23 Simon Gauzy. Sathiyan beat the Frenchman 4-3 (11-13, 9-11, 11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8). After Gauzy’s win in his second match, the Indian (ranked 30 in the world), was guaranteed a place in the main draw if he won the third tie of the group. Sathiyan then beat world No 24 Jonathan Groth 4-2 (11-3, 12-10, 7-11, 16-14, 8-11, 11-8) to make sure he will be part of the main draw featuring the top eight paddlers in the world along with qualifiers from the preliminary stage. Sathiyan is making his debut appearance at the ITTF Men’s World Cup. The round of 16 matches will be played on Saturday.
Cricket:
INDvsAFG U19- Left-arm spinner Manav Suthar snapped five wickets as the Indian Under-19 team took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series over Afghanistan with a comprehensive five-wicket win in the fourth Youth ODI in Lucknow on Thursday. Suthar returned figures of 10-1-19-5 as India U-19 team dismissed Afghanistan for 113 in 35 overs after asking them to take first strike. The hosts then returned to overhaul the target, scoring 114/5 in 28.1 overs to complete the win. With this win, the Indian U-19 team has taken an unassailable lead in the series. The fifth and final ODI is scheduled to be held on November 30.
Bangladesh Cricket Board- Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission has barred a top cricket official from leaving the country as it steps up an investigation into the sport’s national body, a spokesman said Friday. Mahbubul Anam is one of at least two senior Bangladesh Cricket Board directors under suspicion. The commission told immigration police in a letter on Thursday that Anam was under investigation for manipulating tenders and appointments and abusing his power in the selection of cricket board sponsors. Anam, a former BCB general secretary and vice-president, denied any wrongdoing. “I am not involved with any BCB tender process or sponsorship. The allegation is not true,” he said. The BCB has faced regular corruption scandals. Another BCB director, Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, was arrested in September for running an illegal casino in a sports club. He was remanded in custody in November on charges of accumulating illegal wealth and remains under investigation.
NZvsENG- Tom Latham’s unbeaten hundred and his century stand with Ross Taylor laid a solid foundation for New Zealand before rain brought an early end to day one of the second Test against England in Hamilton on Friday. Latham was on 101 when the rain swept in, just three deliveries after the tea break with New Zealand 173/3. While Latham played down his 11th Test century as “nice”, England were left to regret dropping the left-hander on 66 and not meeting expectations after winning the toss and bowling first. Latham has 15 fours in his 101 off 164 deliveries while Taylor faced 100 balls for his half-century which included eight boundaries. Woakes finished the day with two for 41 while Broad had one for 33.
Wrestling:
Nationals- Amit Dahiya is the only wrestler left in the hall at the Punjab Armed Police Complex, Jalandhar. He is applying some final touches to his training before competing at the senior National Championships, which begin on Friday. On a normal day, Dahiya would have not been so nervous about wrestling at a competition but on Thursday, he wanted everything to be perfect. He checked his weight which was 66 kg – one more than the category he will be competing in the tournament. More than four years after his last competition in the 57 kg weight category, Dahiya, who will be wrestling for Jharkhand after not being cleared to wrestle for Haryana, has decided to move up two weight categories to 65 kg to revive his career, which has not seen any success since winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal. There are more than one reasons to change the category. The trouble he puts his body through in reducing weight with age taking a toll on his performance and body. Eight years ago, Dahiya stormed onto the wrestling scene by winning the 55 kg title at the 2012 Asian Championships aged just 17, and a year later, qualified for the London Olympics. He created a huge upset by beating then world champion Hassan Rahimi before losing in the quarter-finals and then in repechage.
Badminton:
Syed Modi 300- It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers in Lucknow as former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth and Sourabh Verma advanced to the quarter-finals of the Syed Modi International badminton tournament on Thursday while HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and B Sai Praneeth tasted defeats. Third seed Srikanth, who had lifted the title in 2016, eked out a thrilling 18-21, 22-20, 21-16 win over compatriot Parupalli Kashyap, who is also a former two-time champion in Lucknow. The world no 12 Indian will next square off against seventh seed Son Wan Ho of Korea in the Super 300 tournament. Sourabh, who has won two Super 100 events in Hyderabad and Vietnam this year, defeated fellow Indian Alap Mishra 21-11, 21-18 to set up a clash with Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, who accounted for World Championships bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth 21-11, 21-17 in another round two match. Lakshya, 18, who has been on a roll with title wins at Belgian International, Dutch Open, SaarLorLux Open and Scottish Open last week, couldn’t produce his best and went down to the experienced Son Wan Ho, a former world no 1. The teenager said he was not physically at his best after the defeat due to the exertions of the European tour. Ajay Jayaram was also ousted from the tournament after his gallant fight ended with a heart-breaking 18-21, 21-14, 28-30 loss to China’s Zhao Jun Peng. In one of the craziest scorelines at the tournament so far, Ajay led 13-4 in the third game and then had eight match points. But he eventually lost the match in 56 minutes. Kuhoo Garg and Anoushka Parikh beat another Indian pair of Sheshadri Sanyal and Lavanya Sharma 21-13, 21-6 to set up a meeting with Hong Kong’s NG Wing Yung and Yeung Nga Ting. Among other Indians in fray, Kapil Chaudhary and Akshay Kadam, Maneesha K and Rutaparna Panda faltered in the second round to bow out of the competition.
Archery:
Asian Archery Championship- Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat produced a 1-2 finish, clinching gold and silver medals respectively in the women’s recurve event at the Asian Championships in Bangkok on Thursday. The duo had earlier reached the semi-finals of the women’s recurve event, in the process earning an Olympic quota spot. Indian archers Deepika Kumari and Ankita Bhakat produced a 1-2 finish, clinching gold and silver medals respectively in the women’s recurve event at the Asian Championships in Bangkok on Thursday. The duo had earlier reached the semi-finals of the women’s recurve event, in the process earning an Olympic quota spot. Bhakat took on Karma from Bhutan in the semi-final and won 6-2 while Kumari defeated Nguyet Do Thi Anh from Vietnam by the same scoreline in four sets. In the final, top seed Kumari led from the start to finish to clinch the gold in straight sets (6-0) with scores of 27-24, 27-26, 27-26. Competing under a neutral flag with the Indian federation being suspended, the archers had entered the final four after impressive wins in the quarter-final rounds. Kumari defeated Narisara Khunhiranchayo from Thailand (6-2) while Bhakat overcame Anastassiy Bannova from Ukraine (6-4). Kumari has already won a medal at the event. She had clinched the bronze medal in the recurve mixed pair event, partnering Atanu Das, where the duo defeated Yichai Zheng and Shaoxuan Wei of China 6-2 without breaking a sweat.
Basketball:
India team-Basketball players Amjyot Singh and Arshpreet Bhullar, will not be a part of the Indian contingent for the upcoming South Asian Games in Nepal after the inquiry committee set up to investigate their controversial brawl recommended a long suspension for their part in the scuffle. The players have not yet been informed about the period of the suspension after the committee submitted its report to the Basketball Federation of India on Wednesday evening, said a report in The Times of India. They could also miss the 3×3 basketball Olympic qualifiers in March in India. Amjyot Singh and Arshpreet Bhullar, along with Amritpal Singh, were allegedly involved in a roadside scuffle in Bengaluru and were injured on their way back to the national camp earlier this month, which caused the police to be involved. However, the accident turned out to be the result of a drunken fight and was at the centre of allegations of foulplay and death threats. Amjyot has alleged that he is facing a threat to his life from BFI and that he was beaten up by his Arshpreet. Former India captain Amritpal Singh and a junior national camper, who were also part of the incident, are said to be let off with a warning. This is not the first time Amjyot and Arshpreet have been involved in a controversial incident. Amjyot had allegedly slapped the other while the team was in Gold Coast during the Commonwealth Games. The incident prompted him to be banned, which was lifted in May this year.
Volleyball:
South Asian Games- India made a fine start to their campaign at the 13th South Asian Games with the men’s and women’s volleyball teams registering wins over Bangladesh and Nepal respectively in their opening matches in Kathmandu on Thursday. The Indian men’s team beat Bangladesh 25-18 25-14 25-15, while the women’s side defeated hosts Nepal 26-24 25-12 25-16. Now in their last group A matches, the Indian women’s team will take on Bangladesh, while the men’s side will clash with Nepal on Friday. Though formal opening ceremony of the 13th South Asian Games will take place on Sunday, some sports events have already begun. Over 2700 athletes will compete for 1119 medals, including 319 gold, in 26 game categories. As many as 499 athletes from India are participating in the biggest sporting event of South Asia. The closing ceremony will be on December 10.
