Indian Sports News- October 17th
October 17, 2019
Bytes: Pro Kabaddi League, IAAF Trans rules, Denmark Open, Boxer Patrick Day dies, BCCI head, Fastest 200 in A-list cricket, Anil Kumble-Kings XI Punjab coach, IGF gymnastics, Women’s Champions League, AC Milan debt
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:
Kabaddi:
Pro Kabaddi League- Naveen Kumar was the star as Dabang Delhi on Wednesday beat defending champions Bengaluru Bulls 44-38 to book their berth in the summit clash against Bengal Warriors in seventh season of Pro Kabaddi in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. This is the first appearance in the final for both teams as the league is guaranteed a new champion in 2019. In the second semi-final, Bengal Warriors were made to sweat in the final stages as U Mumba staged a stunning fightback but even in the absence of Maninder Singh, the Kolkata side managed to hang on for a 37-35 win. In the first semi-final, the Delhi team produced an all-round performance, with Naveen impressing with his raids (15 raid points) and Anil Kumar dominating with his tackles (4 points) to win in front of a packed stadium. The Bulls, just like in the Eliminator against UP Yoddha, had a slow start, with Delhi dominating the first few plays. Ravinder Pahal seemed keen to maintain his dominance in duels against Pawan Sehrawat and started the match with a clean ankle hold of the star raider. Delhi dominated in all departments, with Naveen spearheading the attack, and inflicted the first All-Out of the match in the fifth minute to open up a six-point lead.
Athletics:
Trans rules- Female transgender athletes must lower their testosterone levels by half under new regulations introduced by the IAAF, bringing the rules into line with those for hyperandrogenous competitors such as Caster Semenya. Under the new eligibility rules announced this week, transgender athletes are no longer required to be recognised by law in their new gender but only need to provide a “signed declaration” that they identify as female. The International Association of Athletics Federations Council, which met in Doha, approved rules that require the concentration of testosterone in a female transgender athlete to be less than five nanomoles per litre continuously for a period of at least 12 months prior to being declared eligible. The previous limit was 10 nanomoles. Athletes must maintain their testosterone levels below the five-nanomole limit to keep their eligibility to compete in the female category. “Under the new regulations a transgender female athlete is no longer required to be recognised by law in her new gender but should provide a signed declaration that her gender identity is female,” an IAAF statement said. Similar rules apply to athletes with differences of sexual development, or hyperandrogenism, such as Semenya, South Africa’s double Olympic 800 metres champion who is currently ineligible to compete and was ruled out of this year’s world championships. Semenya is taking legal action to try to reverse the current IAAF ruling.
Badminton:
Denmark Open- Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first round losses in the Denmark Open women’s and men’s singles competitions on Wednesday. Nehwal struggles with form continued, losing to Japan’s Sayaka Takahashi 15-21 21-23 in a match that lasted 37 minutes to crash out of the $7,75,000 tournament. The 29-year-old London Olympics bronze medallist was the runner-up last year. The world number eight player been going through a tough phase with fitness issues since claiming the Indonesia Masters in January. She had also made first-round exits at the China Open and Korea Open earlier this year. World number 12 Takahashi had defeated Nehwal the last time they met at the Thailand Open in August. In the men’s singles first round, former champion Kidambi Srikanth lost to fourth seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark 14-21 18-21 in a match that lasted 43 minutes. Srikanth, who had skipped China and Korea Open due to a knee issue, had beaten Antonsen at the 2017 World Championships, but the Danish shuttler has come a long way since then, having reached the finals of this year’s World Championships in Switzerland.
Sameer Verma, however, crossed the first hurdle in the men’s singles when he beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-11 21-11 in 29 minutes to advance to the second round. The Indian mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy also made it to the second round with a 21-16 21-11 win over the German duo of Marvin Seidel and Linda Efler.
Boxing:
Patrick Day dies- American boxer Patrick Day died on Wednesday after suffering a serious brain injury during his knockout defeat to Charles Conwell last weekend, promoter Lou DiBella said in a statement. The 27-year-old super welterweight had undergone emergency surgery after being knocked out by Conwell on Saturday at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena. “On behalf of Patrick’s family, team, and those closest to him, we are grateful for the prayers, expressio ns of support and outpouring of love for Pat that have been so obvious since his injury,” DiBella said. Day, who had been in a coma following surgery at Northwestern Memorial hospital, died surrounded by family and friends. The American fighter had been carried unconscious from the ring on a stretcher on Saturday following his 10th round knockout. Conwell, a 2016 American Olympian, dropped Day in the fourth and eighth rounds and then landed a right hand in the 10th which caused Day to stumble. Day is at least the third boxer to die from injuries sustained in the ring this year. Argentine boxer Hugo Santillan died in July following a bout in San Nicolas, just north of Buenos Aires.
Cricket:
Vijay Hazare Trophy- Mumbai opener Yashaswi Jaiswal became the youngest cricketer in history to score a List A double century when the 17-year-old hit a 153-ball 203 against Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (India’s domestic 50-over tournament) Group A, encounter at the Alur Cricket Stadium III in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The opener, who has now scored three centuries in five group matches in the tournament, took control of the proceedings once Mumbai skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat. The opener, who has now scored three centuries in five group matches in the tournament, took control of the proceedings once Mumbai skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to bat. The 17-year-old, who made his List A debut in this tournament, did not allow new ball bowlers Rahul Shukla and Varun Aaron to settle down at the start of the innings and then changed gear as he raced to his double century in 149 balls laced with 17 boundaries and 12 sixes before falling to Vivekanand Tiwari in the last over of the match.
MS Dhoni- The Board of Control for Cricket in India president-elect Sourav Ganguly said that he would like to know the national selection committee’s plans on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s future and then give his opinion on the matter. The 38-year-old has been on a sabbatical post India’s World Cup exit and is unlikely to feature in three-match T20 series against Bangladesh, the team for which is set to be picked on October 24. While Dhoni has not announced his international retirement, the selectors said that they intend to move forward, keeping next year’s World T20 in mind. “I will find out from the selectors when I meet them on October 24. We will find out what the selectors are thinking and then I will put forth my opinion,” Ganguly said. Ganguly also said that he would like to speak to Dhoni and know what he wants. “We will have to see what Dhoni wants. I will also speak to him what he wants to do and what he does not want to do.” The former India captain made it clear that he will speak to the selectors and captain once he takes charge at the AGM on October 23. Earlier the selection meeting was scheduled on October 21 but now it will be held on October 24 along with selection of India A, B and C teams for the Deodhar Trophy.
Kings XI Punjab- Spin great Anil Kumble thinks that allowing the players relax was one of the things he learnt from his previous coaching stints, including the controversial one with the Indian team. Kumble resigned as India head coach after the 2017 Champions Trophy final due to an “untenable relationship” with skipper Virat Kohli although the team did well under his tutelage. The 48-year-old is back to coaching again, this time as director of cricket operations at Kings XI Punjab. He also held mentorship roles at Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians. Kings XI Punjab have never won the IPL and Kumble has come on board to end the title drought. Kumble, who wants to add more experience to the Punjab squad, will soon start strategizing for the IPL auction in December.
Football:
AC Milan- Troubled former Italian footballing giants AC Milan have suffered record losses, according to reports in Italy on Wednesday. Gazzetta Dello Sport claimed that in the year to June 30, 2019, losses rose by 16 percent to 146 million euros compared to 126 million euros for the same period the previous year. Gazzetta said the figures were far worse than the predicted loss of 90 million euros. US hedge fund Elliott took over the debt-ridden seven-time European champions from Chinese businessman Li Yonghong in July 2018. The club’s absence from European football has had an impact on merchandising and sponsors, with income from sponsors slipping by 6.7 million euros and ticket sales down by 1.2 million euros. However, revenues from TV rights rose from 109.3 million to 113.8 million. Milan finished fifth in Serie A last season but surrendered their Europa League berth after breaching Uefa’s financial fair play rules. Revenues from the sale of players in particular dropped from 42 million euros to 25.5 million euros. To keep the club afloat, Elliott have injected 325 million euros in total up until this September, Sky Sport Italia reported.
WCL- Manchester City’s hopes of reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals were left on a knife-edge on Wednesday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their last 16 clash. City were 1-0 up through Canadian international Janine Beckie after 13 minutes but the Spanish visitors hit back nine minutes from the final whistle through Charlyn Corral. Atletico, who knocked City out of last year’s tournament, boasted England’s Toni Duggan in their line-up. Duggan had an early chance against her former team but blasted the ball over the crossbar. Arsenal are well-placed to make the last eight after coming back from Slavia Prague with a 5-2 win. Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg opened the scoring after 17 minutes from the penalty spot. It was her 50th goal in her 49th match in the Champions League. Her 51st arrived in the second half, sandwiching a double strike from Eugenie Le Sommer.
Gymnastics:
IGF- Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra wrote to the International Gymnastics Federation , alleging that the head of the national federation Sudhakar Shetty has no interest in the sport and is even unaware that his signatures were “forged” by other officials. Batra wrote that “all is not well in the Gymnastics Federation of India and a smoke screen has been created (to show) that legally, all is well”. He asked the world body to look into the governance issue of the GFI. The GFI, which is slated to go to polls on November 3, has been mired in factionalism with rival groups claiming the right to run the sport in the country. The faction led by president Shetty is recognised by the FIG but does not have the recognition of the Sports Ministry and the IOA. In a letter (shared with media) addressed to FIG President Morinari Watanabe and General Secretary Nicolas Buompane, Batra said: “I have been made aware of the situation within GFI over 12 months that the GFI president is hardly aware of anything going on in GFI. He does not have time for GFI. Batra said in a telephonic conversation, he asked Shetty whether he knew of this October 1 letter from the FIG and his (Shetty’s) subsequent reply letter on October 7 wherein he said that the conditions prescribed in the letter (of October 1) of the world body were not required.
