Indian sports News- November 2nd
November 2, 2019
Bytes: WI defeats Ind by 1 run, SGFI Notice, Formula One, Pooja wins wrestling worlds silver, SaarLarLux Open, Bermuda Championship, Hockey Olympic qualifier, South Asian Games, Indian Super League
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:
Sports Ministry:
SGFI Notice- India’s sports ministry has sent a show-cause notice to the School Games Federation of India. The order comes after SGFI did not provide complete information regarding the Pacific School Games in Adelaide, Australia, in December 2017. The event is not recognised by either International School Sports Games or the Sports Authority of India. The sports ministry took notice of the negligence by SGFI during the event and the ministry may revoke the recognition of the SGFI, The Times of India reported on Saturday. A 15-year-old footballer from Delhi, Nitisha Negi, had died after being swept away by a huge wave at the Glenelg Beach in Adelaide. The ministry questioned the roles of SGFI public relations officer Gaurav Dixit and his wife Aakansha Thapak, chef-de-mission, and all the general managers associated with the Games.
Cricket:
INDvsWI- West Indies took a 1-0 lead in the three-match One-day International series with a one-run win in what was a last-ball thriller at North Sound in Antigua on Friday. The three-match series is part of the ICC Women’s Championship, that determines automatic qualification for the 2021 World Cup. On a night when many of the Indian viewers were left disappointed because of broadcast woes, the result was a surprising one for India and dealt a blow to their hopes of clinching a spot in the World Cup by avoiding qualifiers. The YouTube link provided on the West Indies board’s channel was not made available in India, and many who had tuned in had no access to scorecards either. There was not a single update from the Twitter handle of BCCI women or their official website at the time of publishing. Over to the match, Windies skipper Stefanie Taylor (94 and 2/30) starred with the bat and ball for her side while spinner Anisa Mohammed (5/46) was instrumental in picking up regular wickets as the visitors stumbled in a run chase that they were in control of till the 40th over.
PCB- The Pakistan Cricket Board has invited Cricket South Africa to send its national team for a T20 series in Pakistan next March, according to chief executive officer Wasim Khan. Speaking to the media in Lahore, Khan said that they had also got positive signs from the Sri Lankan board that it would send a full strength side to play two Tests in Rawalpindi and Karachi in December. “The gates to international cricket returning properly to Pakistan are open and there is no doubt that the recent tour by the Sri Lankan team to play the T20 and ODI series has helped us a lot,” he said. He said the Sri Lankan board would confirm the tour in a week’s time. The PCB official said that talks were going on with Cricket South Africa to send their team for a T20 series.
Wrestling:
World Championship- India’s wait to find it’s first gold medallist at the Wrestling Under-23 World Championships was extended on Friday as Pooja Gehlot lost her final in Budapest. Competing in the 53 kg weight category, Gehlot lost to two-time senior world champion Haruno Okuno of Japan in one minute and 12 seconds. The Sonipat wrestler initiated the move in the final but Okuno cartwheeled to counter and bring Gehlot down on her back. Once in that position, it was difficult for Gehlot to escape from Okuno’s grip and she got pinned. Gehlot’s silver-medal performance matches India’s best result at the U-23 World Championships from 2017 when Ritu Phogat won the same medal in Poland. On Thursday, Gehlot had an impressive run to reach the final. The former junior national champion defeated Ekaterina Verbina of Russia 8-3 in the qualifiers and then notched up a commanding 8-0 win over Chinese Taipei’s Meng Hsuan Hsieh.
Badminton:
SaarLorLux Open-Young Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Kiran George will take each other on in the semi-final of the SaarLorLux Open on Saturday after coming through their respective quarter-final matches in straight games. Sen, seeded eighth in the tournament, needed just 29 minutes to win his quarter-final match in Saarbrucken against Germany’s Max Weisskirchen. The Youth Olympic Games silver medallist breezed through 21-13, 21-16 in 29 minutes. Sen’s compatriot George needed only 10 minutes more in an earlier match. The 19-year-old booked his place in the last four with a 21-14, 23-21 win against Christo Popov of France. George, ranked 156 in the world, is yet to drop a game at the Super 100 tournament and will be confident of causing an upset when he takes on Sen. George has already accounted for a seeded player, when he ousted sixth seed Toma Junior Popov in the second round.
Golf:
Bermuda Championship- Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri got off to a flying start with a five-under 66 in the first round of the PGA Tour’s inaugural Bermuda Championship in Southampton. Lahiri, who has had a modest start to the new season, is now lying tied-seventh while his senior colleague Arjun Atwal (69) was tied-23rd and Daniel Chopra (74) was way behind in 102nd place. Lahiri had seven birdies and two bogeys including three birdies in five holes between 13th and 17th. It was a sign of yet another fine start, but he now needs to sustain it. At the top, Scottie Scheffler closed with a bogey for a 9-under 62 and a one-stroke lead. Scheffler played his opening nine at hilly Port Royal Golf Club in 6-under 29.
Football:
ISL-FC Goa came up with yet another injury-time equaliser to salvage a point against NorthEast United FC in a thrilling 2-2 draw at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Friday. Goa did the same against Bengaluru FC in their previous match which finished 1-1. Hugo Boumous (31’) put Goa ahead in the first-half before NorthEast United came up with two second-half strikes from Asamoah Gyan (54’) and Redeem Tlang (74’). But despite a late red card to Seiminlen Doungel, Manvir Singh bagged a late equaliser for Goa. The share of spoils meant both sides missed a chance to go to the top of the table.
MoU- The All India Football Federation (AIFF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its German counterpart, DFB, in New Delhi on Friday. The signing of the agreement coincided with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to India. Kushal Das, General Secretary AIFF and Friedrich Curtius, General Secretary DFB, signed the document to formalise the relationship between the two football governing bodies. “The MoU covers a wide range of areas pertaining to Indian football such as coach education (including grassroots), talent scouting and promotion, deployment of professional referees to India, exchange between national teams and visit of DFB all-star team (if feasible), joint marketing initiatives and sports administration via discussions on their competition management solutions,” said the AIFF in a statement.
Hockey:
Olympics Qualifier- Indian women’s hockey team started off their two-match Olympic Qualifier against the United States of America with a commanding 5-1 win at the Kalinga Stadium in Odisha. Goals from Lilima Menz (28th minute), Sharmila Devi (40’), Gurjit Kaur (42’, 51’) and Navneet Kaur (46’) gave India a win by a margin that looked unlikely after a poor first quarter. The USA got one back in the 53rd minute through Erin Matson but it came too late in the game. The Indian team was slow to start the game and it was USA that dominated the early proceedings. The visitors moved the ball around better and the hosts did just enough to stay in the game. India will go into the second qualifier on Saturday with a huge four-goal advantage.
Kabaddi:
South Asian games- Former Indian captain Ajay Thakur has not been included in the 48-man probables selected for the national camp ahead of the South Asian Games in Nepal. The 33-year-old Thakur, who recently received the Padma Shri and Arjuna awards, captained the team at the 2017 Asian Championships and 2018 Kabaddi Masters where the team won gold, and at the Jakarta Asian Games where Indian team had to settle for a bronze after their first-ever defeat in the competition. However, left corner Surender Nada whose exclusion from India’s 2018 Asian Games squad had caused a stir has been included in the list despite missing the recently-concluded Pro Kabaddi season with an injury. Pro Kabaddi’s top performers Pawan Sehrawat and Naveen Kumar have made their first-ever national team probables list, so have the likes of Vikas Khandola, Vishal Bharadwaj, Baldev Singh, Nitesh Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhianswal and K Prapanjan who have all made a mark with their consistency in the last three seasons. Siddharth Desai is among the few notable players who have not been included in the probables despite good performances in the last two seasons. Left corner Sandeep Dhull is another surprise absentee from the list.
Motorsports:
Formula One- Lewis Hamilton signalled his intent to win his sixth drivers’ title in style on Friday when he comfortably topped the times in second practice at the United States Grand Prix -– but it was not enough to impress Max Verstappen. Hamilton, of Mercedes, who needs only to finish in the top eight on Sunday to retain his crown, wound up three-tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari while Verstappen was third fastest after topping the times in the morning in his Red Bull. “Lewis had a tow on the back straight so it’s not really [as big an advantage] – the lap time,” said the Dutchman, who has been bickering with the defending five-time champion since last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, where he finished sixth after being stripped of pole position.
Tennis:
Paris Masters- Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, fighting it out for the year-end world number one spot, edged closer to a possible Paris Masters final clash as both eased into the last four on Friday. The 33-year-old Nadal, who can secure the end-of-year top ranking ahead of Djokovic by winning his maiden Bercy title, beat French wildcard Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Nadal is bidding for a record-extending 36th Masters crown and will take on Denis Shapovalov in the last four on Saturday after the Canadian youngster thrashed Gael Monfils 6-2, 6-2. The Spaniard has reached the semis for the first time at the event since 2013, having withdrawn injured before the quarter-finals on his last appearance in 2017.
