Indian Sports News- October 10th
October 10, 2019
Bytes: SAFF Under-15 championship, World Junior Championship, Dutch Open, WOrld Youth Chess Championship, IndiavsSA second Test, Pro Kabaddi League, PakvsSL, Boxing men’s Nationals, Doping ban, WADA, Gymnastics World Championship, Athletics National Open, WTA Rankings
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:
World Junior C’ships- India’s Aditi Bhatt upset the 13th seed while Rohan Gurbani too won his match as India continued their proceedings at the individual event of the BWF World Junior Championships in Kazan, Russia on Wednesday. In girls’ singles, Bhatt’s resilient 14-21, 21-14, 22-20 win over the 13th seed Atitaya Povanon of Thailand was the biggest talking point of the day for the Indian contingent. The Delhi shuttler, after losing the first game, made a strong comeback to complete the upset win in 53 minutes and enter the fourth round. Up next for Bhatt is the fourth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia. In boys’ singles, Rohan Gurbani crushed Austria’s Nicolas Rudolf 21-7, 21-16 in just 23 minutes to enter Round 5 and set up a showdown with China’s Ren Cheng Ming. Sankar Prasad Udayakumar and Nafeesah Sara Siraj were also made to bite the dust by second seeds, China’s duo of Feng Yan Zhe and Lin Fang Ling. They lost 9-21, 4-21 in Round 3 after earlier winning against Slovakia’s Jakub Horak and Mia Tarcalova 21-16, 21-17.
Dutch Open- Top seed Sameer Verma, young shuttlers Lakshya Sen and BM Rahul Bharadwaj progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s singles competition at the Dutch Open Super 100 tournament in the Dutch town of Almere on Wednesday. Sameer, who had skipped events at China and Korea due to fitness issues, notched up a 21-19 19-21 21-13 win over fellow Indian Kiran George in the second round. He had received a bye in the opening round. He will face either Japan’s Yusuke Onodera or Germany’s Lars Schaenzler next. Lakshya Sen, who had claimed the Belgian Open last month, also entered the pre-quarterfinals after registering straight-game wins in the first two rounds. The 18-year-old from Almora defeated Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-19 21-17 in the opening round on Tuesday and then outclassed Cuba’s Osleni Guerrero 21-12 21-12 on Wednesday. The Asian Junior champion will face Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke next. Rahul too advanced to the next round after beating Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei. 21-18 21-13 in another match.
Football:
SAFF U-15 women- India defeated Nepal 4-1 to make a positive start to its campaign at the Saff U-15 Women’s Championship at the Chalimithang Stadium in Thimphu on Wednesday. Striker Lynda Kom Serto (38th, 56th minutes) scored a brace, while winger Sumati Kumari (7th) scored one and assisted another. Priyanka Sujeesh (66th) scored the remaining goal for India, while Man Maya Damai (62nd) netted the consolation goal for Nepal. India got off the blocks early on when Sumati Kumari slotted the ball past the near post after a receiving through pass behind the Nepal defence. India will play hosts Bhutan in their second match on Friday.
Cricket:
IndvsSA- South Africa paceman Kagiso Rabada struck early to claim Rohit Sharma’s wicket but India clawed back to make 77/1 at lunch on the opening day of the second Test on Thursday. Rabada got Sharma – who hit two centuries in the first game – edging a ball into the gloves of wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for 14. The hosts, who lead the three-match series 1-0, slipped to 25 for one in the 10th over after skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first in Pune. Opening batsman Mayank Agarwal then took charge to rebuild the innings with positive batting that took him to 34, with Cheteshwar Pujara on 19. The pair had put on 52 runs by lunch. Agarwal, who also scored a double century in Visakhapatnam, hit debutant paceman Anrich Nortje for three boundaries in one over. Six of his seven fours have come against Nortje, who remained one of the three quicks used by skipper Faf du Plessis in the morning session, alongside spinner Keshav Maharaj. Maharaj was introduced in the 20th over and Pujara greeted the bowlers’ left-arm spin with two boundaries. Victory for India in the series will see them beat the record of 10 straight home series wins they share with Australia.
PAKvsSL- Inexperienced Sri Lanka completed a 3-0 clean-sweep in their Twenty20 series with world number one Pakistan on Wednesday with a 13-run victory in Lahore. Chasing a modest 148-run target, Pakistan were on course for victory with Haris Sohail’s 50-ball 52 with four boundaries and a six but leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga turned the tables with 3-21 to restrict the hosts to 134-6 in 20 overs. Hasaranga had Sohail stumped in the 16th over and then dismissed Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed (16-ball 17) in the 18th to give Sri Lanka victory on a matchday designated as Pink Day for breast cancer awareness. Sri Lanka’s victory was their first-ever Twenty20 series whitewash and was achieved despite missing 10 of their top players, including regular T20 skipper Lasith Malinga, who refused to tour Pakistan over security fears after their team was struck by terror attacks in Lahore in March 2009.
BCCI AGM- Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Haryana Cricket Association have been barred by the Committee of Administrators from attending the Board of Control for Cricket in India Annual General Meeting in Mumbai on October 23 due to non-compliance in amending constitution. It has been learnt that even Maharashtra Cricket Association could be barred for non-compliance. CoA chief Vinod Rai, who is currently in the United States, was unavailable for a comment. The TNCA, which is under the control of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, was supposed to be represented by its secretary SS Ramasaamy while Haryana, under the rule of outgoing treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, was set to be represented by Mrinal Ojha. Even Maharashtra too could be barred from attending the AGM as the Charity Commissioner of the state had found anomalies in their amended Constitution. They were supposed to be represented by Riyaz Bagban.
Kabaddi:
Pro Kabaddi League- Bengal Warriors produced a clinical performance to beat Tamil Thalaivas 33-29 in a Pro Kabaddi match at Greater Noida on Wednesday. Sukesh Hegde (6 raid points), Mohammad Nabibakhsh (7 points) and Rinku Narwal (High 5 with 5 tackle points) impressed for the Warriors as they clinched the win to go to the top of the PKL standings at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex. Rahul Chaudhari scored seven points for the Thalaivas as they finished their woeful campaign with another loss. The star-studded Chennai-based team managed only four wins in the entire season. Tamil Thalaivas approached the match with confidence, having beaten Jaipur Pink Panthers in their previous outing, and opened a lead in the early minutes, thanks to Ajith Kumar and Chaudhari’s raids. Chaudhari moved well on the mat to pick up valuable points but Bengal’s defence got into the game with Nabibakhsh impressing. Soon Bengal were in the lead but Thalaivas regrouped well to stay in the match.
In another match of the day, Telugu Titans defeated the home team UP Yoddha 41-36 in the second game on Wednesday. Siddharth Desai scored 15 points for the Telugu Titans as they ended a disastrous campaign with a win. The Titans started on the front foot with Desai looking comfortable in the raids. The star raider, despite a healthy tall of overall points, did not have a season to match his high standards and would have been keen to end the season on a high. Titans clinched an all-out with around two minutes left in the match to get a two-point lead. The Titans’ defence held firm in the final minutes to see out the victory.
Chess:
World Youth Championship- India’s hopes in the Under-18 Open brightened as R Praggnanandhaa outclassed compatriot P Iniyan in the highly-anticipated battle between two Indian Grand Masters in the World Youth Chess Championship in Mumbai on Wednesday. Playing black, Iniyan opted for the Pirc Defence, which was easily countered by Praggnanandhaa, forcing him into inaccuracies in the opening itself. Praggnanandhaa kept increasing his advantage with every move and duly emerged victorious on move 38. With this crucial win, Praggnanandhaa joined Iran’s IM Aryan Gholami in the lead after the latter was made to settle for a draw by Indian IM Mitrabha Guha in 38 moves.
Key Results:
Under-18 Open: Aryan Gholami (IRI, 6.5) drew with Mitrabha Guha (IND, 6); R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 6.5) beat P Iniyan (IND, 5); George Stoleriu (ROU, 5) lost to Sargsyan Shant (ARM, 6)
Under-18 Girls: Vantika Agrawal (IND, 6) drew with Polina Shuvalova (RUS, 6.5); Tianqi Yan (CHN, 6) beat Alicja Sliwicka (POL, 5); Assel Serikbay (KAZ, 5) lost to Alexandra Obolentseva (RUS, 6)
Under-16 Open: Miguel Soto (COL, 5.5) lost to Moke Hans Niemann (USA, 7); Moksh Doshi (IND, 5) lost to Mohan Kushagra (IND, 6)
Under-16 Girls: Nazerke Nurgali (KAZ, 7) beat Alessia Ciolacu (ROU, 5.5)
Under-14 Open: LR Srihari (IND 6) lost to R Abinandhan (IND, 7); Marc Morgunov (AUT, 6) drew with Aydin Suleymanli (AZE, 6.5); S Maralakshikari (IND, 6) drew with Thien Phuc Vo (VIE, 6)
Under-14 Girls: Rakshitta Ravi (IND, 6.5) drew with Ekaterina Nasyrova (RUS, 6.5);Astghik Hakobyan (ARM, 6) drew with Eline Roebers (NED, 6.5); Erdene Mungunzul (MGL, 6) beat Dhyana Patel (IND, 5).
WADA:
Russia’s anti-doping agency chief Yuri Ganus believes data handed from the Moscow laboratory to the World Anti-Doping Agency has been intentionally manipulated, he told German magazine Der Spiegel on Wednesday, and expects “tough punishment”. “The changes to the data are so big and significant that it can’t be an accident,” said Ganus, RUSADA’s director general. Sports minister Pavel Kolobkov said earlier in the day Russia has responded in full to all questions raised by Wada concerning “inconsistencies” in data from Moscow’s anti-doping lab. Russia’s Athletics Federation has been banned from international competition since 2015 over a vast state-run doping conspiracy, and the International Association of Athletics Federations last month extended the ban. Also in September, Wada gave Russia three weeks to address the questions pertaining to data handed over by the Moscow lab from the years 2011-2015 when state-sponsored doping was prevalent.
Boxing:
Nationals- Services established their dominance at the Men’s Boxing National Championships after their boxers made it to finals of eight out of the ten weight categories. The two, who could not make the finals, ran into the finest boxers in the tournament. Rohit Tokas of Railways and Sumit Sangwan of Haryana stopped the Services juggernaut as the latter defeated Gaurav Chauhan in a thrilling encounter on Wednesday in Himachal Pradesh’s Baddi town. Tokas had defeated Vanhlimpuia on Monday and is now on track to win his second straight gold medal at the senior nationals. Last year, competing in the 63 kg, Tokas had won his first-ever national title. Now Tokas is looking to repeat that feat but in a new weight category – 75 kg. He defeated Rohit of All India Police by a unanimous 5-0 decision in the semi-final at the Baddi University. In the quarter-finals, he had defeated Ashish Kumar, India’s representative at the recently concluded World Championships. He will now face Ankit Khatana of Haryana in the final. Khatana blanked Pankaj Chauhan of Chandigarh in the semi-final. It is a similar situation for Sangwan who is playing his first national competition at 91 kg. After years at 81 kg, he made the shift after a couple of surgeries. Facing Chauhan in the semi-final, Sangwan was on the ropes early in the bout after getting two standing counts. But using all his experience, he took round two and three to win by a 5-0 unanimous decision.
Basketball:
NBA China- The NBA confirmed an annual exhibition game in China would go ahead on Thursday, rejecting calls to scrap the event over a free speech row that was ignited by an American basketball executive’s pro-democracy tweet. Superstar LeBron James is set to lead his Los Angeles Lakers against the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai on Thursday night, the first of two pre-season matches held each year to build on the league’s already huge popularity in China. An intense Chinese backlash against the world’s top basketball league – triggered by a Houston Rockets executive’s tweet last week in support of Hong Kong’s democracy movement – had thrown the games and the NBA’s larger interests in China into doubt. In an open letter, a bipartisan set of US lawmakers urged the NBA on Wednesday to suspend all activities in China until Chinese firms and broadcasters end their various boycotts of the league over the controversy. The open letter urged NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who came to Shanghai for Thursday’s game, to “take a stand.”
Gymnastics:
World Championship- Russia grabbed their first men’s team gold at the World gymnastics championships after China’s Sun Wei fell off the high bars in the closing routines on Wednesday. Russia finished with a huge score of 261.726, with China second on 260.729. Japan were third, just over 2.5 behind China but more than 3.5 ahead of the United States. Great Britain were fifth. It was Russia’s first world team title, although the Soviet Union collected the last of its eight golds in 1991. Less than a year before the Tokyo Olympics, Russia also took revenge for a narrow defeat at last year’s worlds in Doha, when China won by 0.049 of a point. China, Russia and Japan had exchanged the lead as the teams rotated through the six different elements.
Athletics:
National Open- Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will have to wait further to make a return to competition after being out of action for almost a year due to an elbow injury after the Athletics Federation of India instructed him on Wednesday to “go slow” and withdraw from the meet. Chopra, the Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, underwent elbow surgery last year and was looking forward to his first competitive outing in Ranchi this week and even practiced at the venue. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will have to wait further to make a return to competition after being out of action for almost a year due to an elbow injury after the Athletics Federation of India instructed him on Wednesday to “go slow” and withdraw from the meet. Chopra, the Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, underwent elbow surgery last year and was looking forward to his first competitive outing in Ranchi this week and even practiced at the venue. Chopra had to skip the World Championships in Doha last month as well.
Doping– Indian sprinter Nirmala Sheroen has been stripped of her two Asian Championships gold medals and banned for four years by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which manages track and field doping cases. The AIU came out with the order to ban Nirmala on October 7 for testing positive for the steroids drostanolone and metenolone at a competition back home in June 2018. According to AIU, the Indian athlete, whose biological passport also showed irregular blood readings, accepted the sanction and did not request a hearing. The period of her ban will start on June 28, 2018. Her results from August 2016 to November 2018 were also disqualified. Nirmala had won gold medals in the 400m and 4x400m relay at the 2017 Asian Championships in India. She also ran in both the events at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Tennis:
WTA Rankings- American teenager Coco Gauff reached her first WTA quarter-final on Wednesday, assuring herself of a place in the world top 100 for the first time. Gauff, currently ranked at 110, was 4-6, 6-4, 2-0 ahead when Ukrainian opponent Kateryna Kozlova retired from their Linz second round clash with a left leg injury. At 15 years and 214 days, she is the youngest player to reach the last-eight at a WTA event since January 2005 when Sesil Karatancheva made the quarter-finals at the Gold Coast, aged 15 years and 153 days. Gauff, who electrified Wimbledon by coming through qualifying on her way to the last-16 and then made the third round at the US Open, only secured a place in the main draw in Austria as a ‘lucky loser’ when sixth seed Maria Sakkari withdrew. She made the most of her late opportunity by beating Stefanie Voegele in the opening round on Tuesday. Gauff was 685 in the world at the start of 2019 and admitted that making the top 100 by the end of the season was one of her major ambitions.
