Indian sports News- October 31st
October 31, 2019
Bytes: Delhi T20I, Code of ethics- Rahul Dravid, Asia Cup, T20 WC, Oman cadet TT, Punjab Football Club, Indian Super League, U-23 World Championship, Boxing Olympic Test event, Marry Kom ambassador, Lakshay Sen into next round
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:
Delhi T20I- Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said that the first Twenty20 International between India and Bangladesh will go ahead as scheduled in New Delhi despite calls from several quarters to move the match away from the capital citing its diminishing air quality. “Yes, it will [go ahead as planned],” the former India captain was quoted as saying by ANI. After Diwali, Delhi’s Air Quality Index had slipped to the ‘severe’ category in several areas. Earlier, former India opener and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gautam Gambhir called for the match, scheduled on November 6, to be moved out of Feroz Shah Kotla. It is worth noting that in 2017, a few visiting Sri Lankan players fell ill and were seen wearing face masks while fielding during a Test match in Delhi.
Ethics officer- BCCI ethics officer D K Jain has asked Rahul Dravid to appear in person for the second time, on November 12, for “further submissions and clarifications” on the conflict of interest allegations levelled against him. The 46-year-old former India captain had earlier explained his case in the personal hearing held in Mumbai on September 26. MPCA life member Sanjiv Gupta had filed the complaint against Dravid, alleging a conflict of interest in his current role as National Cricket Academy Head and being an India Cements employee. Dravid is currently the NCA Director in Bengaluru besides being a vice-president in the India Cements group, which owns the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings.
Asia Cup- India claimed the Women’s Emerging Asia Cup 2019 after beating hosts Sri Lanka by 14 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in Colombo. Devika Vaidya and Tanuja Kanwar bagged four wickets apiece in the final on Tuesday after Tanusree Sarkar’s 47 and Simran Bahadur’s 34 helped India A post 175/9 in 50 overs. Chasing a revised target, the Indian bowlers produced a disciplined show and bowled their opposition for 135 in 34.3 overs to win the tournament at R Premadasa Stadium. For the home team, Kaveesha Dilhari picked up three wickets for 27 runs in her 10-over spell, while Harshitha Samarawickrama made 39 off 64 balls.
T20 WC- Oman defeated Hong Kong by just 12 runs on Wednesday in a do-or-die T20 World Cup qualifier to reach the finals in Australia along with Scotland who thrashed United Arab Emirates by 90 runs. Oman and Scotland join Namibia, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea and Ireland, who had already booked their places in the 2020 showpiece but are still competing for the winner’s trophy in UAE. Chasing just 135 to win, Hong Kong collapsed to 18-5 with left-arm seamer Bilal Khan taking three wickets to fall on his way to match figures of 4-23.
Boxing:
Olympic Test event- Shiva Thapa (63kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) clinched gold medals, while Ashish (69kg) took home silver, ending India’s brilliant campaign at the Olympic Test Event for Boxing in Tokyo on Thursday. Four-time Asian medallist Thapa outpunched Kazakhstan’s national champion and Asian bronze-winner Sanatali Toltayev 5-0 to claim the top honours. Thapa is also the reigning national champion and a former bronze-medallist at the world championships. Former Asian Games bronze-medallist Rani edged past Australia’s Caitlin Parker to ensure that the Indian women’s contingent also had a gold. Rani had claimed a silver medal at the Asian Championships earlier this year. Ashish (69kg), however, lost to Japan’s Sewon Okazawa to sign off with a silver medal. Earlier, former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Simranjeet Kaur (60kg) along with Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Vahlimpuia (75kg), in the men’s draw, lost their respective semi-final bouts to end with bronze medals on Wednesday.
Ambassadors- Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom has been included in a 10-boxer athlete ambassadors group to represent boxers in the build-up to next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games by the International Olympic Council’s Task Force for the sport. Mary Kom will represent the Asian bloc in the group, which also comprises the likes of Ukrainian legend Vasyl Lamachenko (Europe), a two-time Olympic and world gold-medallist who now plies his trade in the professional circuit, and five-time world champion and 2016 Olympic gold-winner Julio Cesar La Cruz (Americas) among others.
Badminton:
SaarLorLux Open- Young Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath, BM Rahul Bhardwaj, Kiran George progressed to the pre-quarter-finals of the SaarLorLux Open Super Tour 100 in Germany on Wednesday.
Lakshya Sen and Mithun Manjunath had a bye in the opening round and began their campaign in the second round. Dutch Open champion Sen, the eighth seed, was tested in his opener by Finland’s Eetu Heino. He ultimately prevailed 21-18, 18-21, 22-20 in a tight third game after 56 minutes. Sen will next face Lars Schaenzler. Mithun got the better of Yee Han Chong of Malaysia 21-15, 21-14 in his first match. He will take on fifth seed Toby Penty next. Bhardwaj beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer 21-13, 21-15 in a match that lasted 40 minutes. He had earlier beaten Belgium’s Rowan Scheurkogel 21-15, 21-9 in the opening round. He will take on Nhat Nguyen next.
Wrestling:
World Championship- Wrestler Ravinder opened India’s medal account at the Under-23 Senior World Championships as he clinched the silver medal in the men’s freestyle 61kg category in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday. Ravinder went down 3-5 in a closely contested bout against Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdasbekov. The Indian grappler had a 1-0 lead going into the second period of the bout after a cagey first three minutes. The second period saw his opponent receive medical attention halfway through but the Kyrgyzstan wrestler bounced back after that to bag two two-pointers with less than a minute to go. Wrestler Ravinder opened India’s medal account at the Under-23 Senior World Championships as he clinched the silver medal in the men’s freestyle 61kg category in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday.
Ravinder went down 3-5 in a closely contested bout against Kyrgyzstan’s Ulukbek Zholdasbekov. The Indian grappler had a 1-0 lead going into the second period of the bout after a cagey first three minutes. The second period saw his opponent receive medical attention halfway through but the Kyrgyzstan wrestler bounced back after that to bag two two-pointers with less than a minute to go.
Football:
Indian Super League- Chennaiyin FC’s poor start to their Indian Super League campaign continued as they succumbed by a solitary goal against ATK at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. After a goalless first half, ATK took the lead in the 48th minute through David Williams, scoring the ISL’s 1000th goal in the process. The visitors proceeded to hold on to their advantage and inflict a second defeat on Chennaiyin, who are yet to score this season. The result sees ATK join Jamshedpur FC at the top of the table with six points from three games, while Chennaiyin remain eighth with just a point. Though the teams started with intent, it was the home team who had the best of the chances in the opening period. Edwin Vanspaul found Nerijus Valskis with a cross in the third minute, only for the Lithuanian striker to head it over. The Marina Machans continued to pile the pressure on a rock-solid ATK in a bid to find an equaliser. But they were frustrated by a well-drilled defence as ATK returned home with three points.
Minerva Punjab- Former I-League champions Minerva Punjab FC has been renamed as Punjab Football Club, a statement from the club said on Wednesday. All teams of Minerva Punjab FC will now be known as Punjab Football Club as per an agreement with Round Glass Sports Private Ltd. Round Glass Sports has expanded their youth and grassroots football talent program by including the players of Minerva Punjab FC’s U-11 to U-18 teams.
The players are already training under UEFA/AFC/AIFF certified coaches at Round Glass Sports. International medical, nutritional, educational and lifestyle facilities are being provided to all the players to help them develop their skills. The club’s director Ranjit Bajaj said, “There is a sense of positivity and excitement for the upcoming season and we are confident of putting up a good show. This is the best thing to have happened to football in north India, and Punjab in specific, and it will ensure an even stronger presence of football in the region.”
Table Tennis:
Oman Cadet and Junior Open- Young Indian paddlers Swastika Ghosh and Kavya Sree Baskar came up with impressive performances to secure bronze medals at the Oman Junior and Cadet TT Open in Muscat. Swastika, who was earlier part of the silver medal-winning team in the tournament, took her form into the girls’ singles as well. She remained unbeaten in the group stages, picking up six points from her three matches. She was awarded a bye in the round of 16 to make it to the quarterfinals round. She beat Wan-Hsuan Lee in the quarters 4-3 to advance to the medal round. Taking on the talented Yi-Chen Hsu of Chinese Taipei, however, she went down 1-4 to clinch the bronze medal. Kavya Sree also had a good run in the tournament, which is part of the ITTF Junior Circuit Premium, remaining invincible in the group stage. She continued the momentum into the knock-out stages too, scoring a comprehensive 3-0 win over Rinad El-Hasani of Jordan in the round of 16 before beating Yi-Tian Yeh of Taipei 3-0 to make it to the semis. However, she stumbled at this stage and lost 1-3 against eventual champion Pu-Syuan Cheng of Taipei in the Cadet Singles to be finished with the bronze medal.
