Indian sports News- September 16th
September 16, 2019
Bytes: Pankaj Advani wins 22nd World title, Saurabh wins Vietnam Open, Dinesh Kartik apologise, TNPL Fixing, 3 Gold medal in Dubai, Boxing World Championship, Ashes ends in 2-2 draw, Piloskva closes to 1st, National Shooting Trials, Pro Kabaddi League, WRC-Motorsports, Golf, Half-Marathon WR
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:
Billiards:
IBSF World Billiards- One of India’s most consistent sportspersons, Pankaj Advani, on Sunday increased his tally of world titles to 22 by winning a fourth straight final in the 150-up format at the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Mandalay, Myanmar. In a repeat of last year’s final against local favourite Nay Thway Oo, Pankaj re-enacted the one-sided match with the same eventual outcome as well as identical score lines of 6-2. The 34-year-old has brought home a world trophy every year ever since returning from a professional stint in the United Kingdom in 2014. In the short format of billiards, this is Advani’s fifth title in the last six years.
Badminton:
Vietnam Open- Sourabh Verma on Sunday bagged his second straight BWF Super 100 title after securing a hard-fought victory against China’s Sun Fei Xiang in the final of the Vietnam Open on Sunday. Verma, seeded second, beat Xiang 21-12, 17-21, 21-14 to clinch his third title of the year after the Hyderabad Open, which he won in August and Slovenia International Series. The final lasted 72 minutes. World no 38 Verma, who had won the National champion this year, will now play the USD 400,000 Korea Open World Tour Super 500 event to be held from September 24 to 29. Verma dominated the proceedings in the opening game as he jumped to a 4-0 lead early on and kept moving ahead. He enjoyed a 11-4 cushion at the break and surged to a 15-4 advantage after the breather.
Dubai Junior event & Myanmar- Indian shuttler Kaushal Dharmamer clinched the Myanmar International Series with a come-from-behind win over Indonesia’s Karono Karono in a thrilling men’s singles final in Yangon on Sunday. The 23-year-old from Mumbai, who had won the Hatzor International in October last year, recovered after dropping the opening game to outwit Karono 18-21, 21-14, 21-11 in a match that lasted an hour. He was seeded third at the tournament. Elsewhere, at Dubai Junior International Series, Indian shuttlers clinched three gold medals in the Under-19 categories. Indian junior shuttlers shone bright as they bagged a rich haul of six medals. Tasnim Mir won the girls’ singles title, while the mixed doubles pair of Ayan Rashid and Tasnim and the girls’ doubles duo of Tanisha Crasto and Aditi Bhatt also clinched gold medals.
Cricket:
BCCI- The BCCI Monday accepted Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik’s unconditional apology for violating a clause of his central contract by watching a Caribbean Premier League match from a participating team’s dressing room. Karthik tendered an “unconditional apology” for violating BCCI’s central contract clause by watching a Caribbean Premier League game from the Shah Rukh Khan co-owned Trinbago Knight Riders’ dressing room. “The BCCI has accepted Dinesh Karthik’s apology and the matter is now a closed chapter,” a Board official told PTI. As per the central contract, Karthik, who has played 26 Tests and 94 ODIs for India, should have taken permission from the BCCI before attending the match. His contract bars him from being associated with any private league.
TNPL- The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s anti-corruption unit has been investigating cases of alleged match-fixing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League and has zeroed in on an India player, an Indian Premier League regular and a Ranji Trophy coach, the Indian Express reported on Monday. According to the newspaper, bookies and match-fixers have taken control of a TNPL franchise through an illegal deal with the team owner and people linked to bookies are now spreading in different teams. BCCI’s ACU chief Ajit Singh told the newspaper that there were “a few instances when players were approached.” The ACU is likely to file an FIR with the state police in a few days after taking legal opinion on the issue.
Ashes- England crushed Australia by 135 runs in the fifth and final Ashes Test on Sunday to level the series at 2-2, ending their historic World Cup-winning season on a high. Victory for the home side means the Ashes ends in a draw for the first time since 1972, although holders Australia retain the urn. The tourists, chasing an unlikely 399 to win in a shade under two days, were in trouble early in their second innings when England paceman Stuart Broad removed openers Marcus Harris and David Warner cheaply. While former captain Steve Smith was at the crease, Australia retained a faint hope sealing their first Ashes series win in England since 2001.
Tri-Nation T20- Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman starred respectively with bat and ball as Afghanistan thrashed Bangladesh by 25 runs in their second match of the tri-nation Twenty20 international tournament in Dhaka on Sunday. Nabi hit an unbeaten 84 off 54 balls under pressure to guide Afghanistan to 164-6 before Mujeeb claimed a career best 4-15 to help his side dismiss Bangladesh for 139 in 19.5 overs for their world record 12 successive Twenty20 international win. Mujeeb took three wickets in his opening spell to reduce the home side to 32 for four before Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman put a little resistance with 58 runs for the fifth wicket.
Tennis:
WTA- World number two Karolina Pliskova claimed her fourth title of the year as she defeated Petra Martic in a rain-disrupted final at the inaugural Zhengzhou Open on Sunday. The final was delayed for six hours and then interrupted twice by heavy rain in central China, before finally taking place under floodlights. The final was delayed for six hours and then interrupted twice by heavy rain in central China, before finally taking place under floodlights.
Kabaddi:
PKL- Puneri Paltan produced a composed performance to beat Gujarat Fortune giants 43-33 in a Pro Kabaddi match in Pune on Saturday. Nitin Tomar was the lead raider for the Pune side (Super 10 with 11 raid points), but the defence more than lived up to its billing with Surjeet Singh and Balasaheb Jadhav picking up High 5s in a total domination by the hosts. Puneri Paltan dominated the entire first half, as they produced an all-round performance to thwart the advances from the Fortune giants.
In another match on Sunday, Naveen Kumar was once again the hero for Dabang Delhi as they beat Gujarat Fortune giants 34-30 in a Pro Kabaddi League match at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. Naveen Kumar picked up another Super 10 (13th consecutive) as Delhi produced a composed performance, despite being closely challenged in the second half by Fortunegiants, to pick up five points and consolidate their stay at the top of the points table.
Motorsports:
WRC- India’s top rally driver Gaurav Gill won commendations of his co-competitors in the World Rally Championship, overcoming mechanical failures and a series of punctures in the grueling Rally of Turkey before it all ended in heartbreak for him and the country in New Delhi on Sunday. Going into the final day with a top-five finish firmly in sight, the JK Racing ace underlined his mettle by finishing second in the first stage of the day. He continued in the same vein, taking third place in the next stage too, demonstrating phenomenal speed and control to post spectacular timings to inch up the leader-board. These two added up to a top-3 finish in five out of the 9 stages that he had conquered without a hitch, not counting the shakedown in which he proved to be the fastest among the lot.
Boxing:
World Championships- Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a hard-fought win over China’s Chen Zhihao in the World men’s Boxing Championships at Yekaterinburg on Sunday. The fifth seeded Indian left his opponent with a bloodied face before the judges ruled 3:2 in a split-decision verdict his favour after an exhausting bout during which both the boxers managed to connect very few impactful punches. The 26-year-old, who was a quarter-finalist in the 2017 edition and is among the strongest contenders for a medal this time around, stood out for his pace and endurance during Sunday’s bout. The Indian dominated the first two rounds. He connected atleast two hooks in the first and continued to heap pressure on Chen with his combinations in the second. With Bisht going on the defensive in the final round, Chen made a spirited comeback but the former had already done the damage.
Golf:
Golf & country club International Championship- A bogey on the 15th tee cost Rashid Khan the Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship title as Indonesia’s Rory Hie claimed the honours in Gurugram on Sunday. The title enabled Rory, who first played in India at the same club 10 years ago, end his long winless streak. Rory, once the world’s No 6 amateur, carded a final round of 68 to total 21-under 267 while Rashid, who last won the Asian Tour in 2014, carded 69 to finish at 19-under 269 alongside Korean Byungjun Kim (67). It was a start to finish win for Rory, who becomes the first Indonesian winner on the Asian Tour.
Shooting:
National Trials- World Championship silver medalist Anjum Moudgil, swept the women’s 50m rifle 3 Positions national trials on Sunday at New Delhi’s Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, to add to the title she won in the same event on Saturday. With this the Punjab girl has won four trials in all in this outing, claiming both the T6 and T7 Rifle Prone events before landing both the women’s 3P titles. Anjum shot 460.2 in the T7 final to improve upon her 456, which she shot to win the T6 on Saturday. This time she was second best to former world champion Tejaswini Sawant of Maharashtra in the qualification round, her 1162, falling two short of Tejaswini’s 1164. But she stamped her class in the finals, leaving both the veterans Lajja Gauswami of Gujarat (456.5) and Tejaswini (442.0) behind in second and third place respectively.
Marathon:
Half Marathon WR- Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor sliced 17 seconds off the world record at the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sunday as he won in 58min 01sec. Kamworor improved on the 58:18 set in Valencia last year set by his compatriot Abraham Kiptum. The 26-year-old Kenyan clearly likes the Danish capital as it was the scene of the first of his three world half-marathon titles. Kamworor broke away from the pack and raced alone for the final 11 kilometres, defying the heavy rain that fell briefly with 37 minutes on the clock. He covered the next five kilometres segment in a swift 13:31, reaching 15 kilometres in 41:03, 11 seconds inside sub-58-minute pace.
