Indian sports News- October 23rd
October 23, 2019
Bytes: Vijay Hazare-TN, BCCI President, COA, Squash titles, BWF Rankings, World Military Games, Swiss Indoors, AFC Cup final, ISL-JFC Triumphs, Iran Judo fed banned, French Open-Badminton
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:
Cricket:
BCCI President- Former India captain Sourav Ganguly officially took over as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Wednesday at the board’s Annual General Meeting. Ganguly had earlier piped Brijesh Patel in a see-saw battle and was the only presidential nominee as he became the president, unopposed at the AGM. “Obviously, it’s a great feeling as I have played for the country and captained the country. And I am taking over at a time when the BCCI has not been in greatest of position for the last three years,” Ganguly had said earlier when his nomination was confirmed. “[Board’s] image has got hampered quite a lot. It’s a great opportunity for me to do something good.” Ganguly’s tenure is not completely clear at the moment but it is going to be a short time at the helm, for sure. While earlier reports said Ganguly will serve as chief for about ten months because of the mandatory cooling off period of five years for officials (he has been serving as Bengal association’s chief since 2015), PTI reported he “will need to demit office by the end of July next year as per the provisions of the new constitution, which makes Cooling Off period mandatory after six years in office.”
Vijay Hazare TN- Indian Test cricketers Ravichandran Ashwin and Mayank Agarwal on Wednesday turned out for their state sides to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (domestic 50-over-a-side tournament) less than 24 hours after featuring for the national side in the final match of the three-match series against South Africa. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are two of the four sides remaining in the tournament as semi-finals take place in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Ashwin was named in the XI for Tamil Nadu who are taking on the Parthiv Patel-led Gujarat side at the Just Cricket Academy grounds. Agarwal, meanwhile, strengthens Karnataka’s batting lineup for the game against Chhattisgarh at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
BCCI-COA- Historian and author Ramachandra Guha and banker Vikram Limaye have declined the remuneration of Rs 40 lakh and Rs 50.5 lakh respectively which was due to them for their time as part of the Committee of Administrators. The amount was cleared by Supreme Court on Tuesday. “I had indicated in the first meeting itself that I did not expect or want any payment,” Guha told PTI. Limaye, who took up a position as CEO of the National Stock Exchange after quitting the CoA, is also expected to convey his reservation on Thursday. Both Guha and Limaye were part of the original four-member CoA, apart from Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, that was put in charge by the Supreme Court in January 2017. Guha quit four months after being appointed while Limaye left after six months.
Athletics:
World Military Games- Para-athlete Anandan Gunasekaran scooped two gold medals in the disabled men’s 100m and 400m IT1 events to open India’s medal account at the World Military Games in Wuhan on Tuesday. Gunasekaran clocked 12.00 seconds to win the 100m event, India’s first medal in the ongoing Games. Peru’s Casas Jose was second with a timing of 12.65 while of Fajardo Pardo Teodicelo of Colombia took the bronze with 12.72 seconds. Later, the 32-year-old clinched his second gold by clocking 53.35 seconds in the disabled men’s 400m IT1 event. Colombia’s Teodicelo (58.95) and Ranchin Mickael (1:00.31) took the silver and bronze respectively. The IT1 event is competed among ambulant athletes who have single or double below-the-knee amputation or substantial foot to knee damage. The IT4 event is competed among wheelchair participants who have spinal cord injuries or similar impairment but with full trunk function. Gunasekaran is a 2018 National Para Athletics champion in 200m and 400m. He had also won a silver in the 400m in the 2017 World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Dubai.
Tennis:
Swiss Indoors- World number six Alexander Zverev described his 7-6, 6-4 loss to Taylor Fritz as ‘flat’ as he was knocked out of the ATP Swiss Indoors on Tuesday. The German’s loss to the 21-year-old American came barely a week after defeat in the Shanghai Masters final to Daniil Medvedev and puts his chance of defending his ATP Finals title at risk. Zverev won the season-ending tournament last November, beating Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic back-to-back. The season points race will be determined next week at the Paris Masters as the last two of the eight spots are decided.
Lagos ITF Title- Riya Bhatia won an International Tennis Federation title after a gap of two years as she lifted the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday. This was the 22-year-old’s biggest career title, beating higher-ranked Nastja Kolar 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the final. In the semi-finals, she had beaten compatriot Rutuja Bhosale 6-4, 6-7(5), 5-7. This was Bhatia’s third career ITF title. She had last won the $15K ITF event in Colombo in 2017 and the $10K event in Sharm El Sheikh in 2016. On the ATP Tour, India No 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran began with a win at the ATP Challenger in Liuzhou, China. The top seed at the event beat Nicolas Barrientos 6-2, 6-1 and will play WuTung-lin in the next round. Earlier on Sunday, Divij Sharan and partner Artem Sitak were beaten 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 by Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the final qualifying round of the Basel Open.
Football:
ISL- A ten-man Jamshedpur FC overcame the odds and put up a spirited fight to defeat Odisha FC 2-1 at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. Farukh Choudhary broke the deadlock in the 17th minute fortuitously, but the lead was put in danger by a red card that Bikash Jairu picked up with ten minutes to go for the half-time whistle. Aridane Santana stuck soon after to restore parity for Odisha FC but a fighting second-half culminated in Sergio Castel finding a winner in the 85th minute for the hosts. The teams looked to get on the scoresheet early and it was Odisha FC that threatened first. Xisco Hernandez fed Jerry Mawhmingthanga down the right flank and the winger’s floating cross was headed just wide by Aridane Santana. Odisha continued to push and went close again four minutes later. Xisco split the Jamshedpur defence to send Jerry free down the right flank but the former Jamshedpur winger’s curling effort ricocheted off the post. A 10-man Jamshedpur were finally rewarded for their resilience in the 85th minute. Piti found Castel in space once again on the counter and the striker dinked the ball over onrushing goalkeeper Francisco Dorronsoro to net what turned out to be the crucial match-winner.
AFC Cup final- The final of the AFC Cup has been moved from Pyongyang to Shanghai, Asia’s football body said Tuesday, a week after North and South Korea played out a surreal World Cup qualifier in an empty stadium. The Asian Football Confederation said it had been “compelled” to move the match to a “neutral venue” after considering logistical hurdles including broadcast of the match. Commercial partners had warned of challenges in televising the final, the body said. The AFC’s statement did not mention last week’s inter-Korean showdown. But that match – a historic encounter between two countries still technically at war – took place with no live broadcast and no foreign media in attendance. Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min described it as “very aggressive” and one South Korean official likened it to warfare. The stadium for the final will be confirmed in due course, the AFC said.
Judo:
Iran Fed- The International Judo Federation said on Tuesday that it had banned Iran from competition indefinitely over the country’s refusal to face Israeli competitors. The federation issued a provisional ban last month while investigating a report that Iran had ordered a judoka to lose deliberately at the world championships to avoid facing an Israeli competitor in the subsequent round. Iranian fighter Saeid Mollaei, defending his title at the Tokyo World Championships in August, had said he was ordered to throw his semi-final rather than risk facing an Israeli in the final of the -81kg class. The Iranian, 27, lost the semi-final and then went on to lose his third-place fight. Mollaei said he had been instructed to withdraw from the competition by the presidents of the Iran Judo Federation and the Iran Olympic committee. Rejecting the charges, the Iranian federation denied that pressure had been applied to force Mollaei to withdraw from the championships. Judo is one of Iran’s sporting strong points and the ban comes as a blow just nine months ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. Tehran is expected to appeal against the IJF decision at the Swiss-based Court for Arbitration of Sport.
Badminton:
BWF Rankings- Ace Indian shuttler B Sai Praneeth jumped one place to reach career-best 11th spot while world champion PV Sindhu remained unchanged at sixth in the BWF world rankings released on Tuesday. Praneeth, who won a bronze in the World Championships in August, had a best men’s singles career rank of 12th before Tuesday. He had beaten Olympic champion Lin Dan in the Denmark Open last week in the round of 32 before losing to Kento Momota of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals. Kidambi Srikanth dropped one place to 10th while Sameer Verma also slipped one spot to be 18th in the list headed by Momota. In the women’s singles, Sindhu remained static at sixth while another Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal moved down one place to be the ninth in the list headed by Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.
French Open- World champion PV Sindhu began her French Open campaign with an easy win over Michelle Li in the women’s singles first round in Paris on Tuesday. The world No 6 Sindhu, who has been struggling of late, beat Li 21-15, 21-13 in a match that lasted 44 minutes. Sindhu had a 5-2 head-to-head record over the world No 8 Canadian before Tuesday’s match. The 24-year-old had beaten Li during the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia in their previous meeting. Sindhu will play against world No 26 Yeo Jia Min of Singapore in the second round of the BWF Super 750 tournament. Since claiming her first World Championships title in August, Sindhu has looked awfully out-of-form as she had failed to cross the second round in three tournaments. She faltered in the second and first rounds at the China Open and Korea Open respectively last month. Sindhu again exited in the second round in straight games against Korea’s An Se Young in Denmark Open last week. In the men’s singles, Subhankar Dey notched up an upset win over Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia to advance to the second round. The world No 42 Indian rallied to beat his world number 17 opponents 15-21, 21-14, 21-17 in a one hour 18 minutes first-round match. This was Dey’s second win over the Indonesian, a former world No 3, this year as the Indian had won 14-21, 22-20, 21-11 in the India Open in March. Dey had lost to Sugiarto in the New Zealand Open last year.
Squash:
Nationals- Top-seeds Yash Fadte and Sanya Vats won the boys and girls under-19 titles respectively in style, registering easy wins in the finals of the sub-junior and junior National Squash Championship in Chennai on Tuesday. While the promising Fadte eased past Sankalp Anand (Delhi) 11-2, 11-8, 11-4, Vats outplayed Amira Singh 11-5, 11-8, 11-6. Host Tamil Nadu finished with two titles as Darshil Parasrampuria and Arihant KS won in the boys under-11 and under-13 sections respectively. Tiana Parasrampuria (girls under-15), Yuvraj Wadhwani (boys under-15) and the talented Neel Joshi (boys under-17) from the START Academy near Mumbai, run by former PSA player and five-time national champion Ritwik Bhattacharya, emerged victorious.
Results: (All Finals): Boys under-11: Darshil Parasrampuria (3/4) (TN) bt Aryaveer Dewan (3/4) (Del) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7; under-13: Arihant KS (2) (TN) bt Ekambir Singh (1) (Maha) 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 11-1; Under-15: Yuvraj Wadhwani (5/8), (Maha) bt Shaurya Bawa (5/8) (Del) 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 4-11, 11-7; Under-17: Neel Joshi (1) (Maha) bt Arnaav Sareen (2) (Maha) 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-3; under-19: Yash Fadte (1) (Goa) bt Sankalp Anand (2) (Del) 11-2, 11-8, 11-4. Girls: Under-11: Akanksha Gupta (1) (Maha) bt Sehar Nayar (2), (CH) 11-9, 11-5, 11-7; under-13: Anahat Singh (1), (Del) bt Diya Yadav (Maha) 11-5, 11-2, 11-8; Under-15: Tiana Parasrampuria (3/4) (Maha) bt Pooja Arthi R (3/4), (TN) 11-7, 11-13, 11-7, 6-11, 12-10; Under-17: Aishwarya Khubchandani (1), (Maha) bt Ananya Dabke (2) (Maha) 11-5, 11-9, 11-8; under-19: Sanya Vats (1) (Del) bt Amira Singh (3/4) (Del) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6.
