Indian sports News- September 24th
September 24, 2019
Bytes: IndiavsSA, Virat Kohli Fined, Wrestling World Championship ended, Badminton coach resigned, Korean Open, Big Bash League, SAFF U-18, Lionel Messi wins The Best award, Indian swimmers aims for Olympic Qualification, Pro Kabaddi League
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:
India vs SA Women’s- About 10 months back, things were rosy in Indian cricket as Harmanpreet Kaur and Co put together a superb winning run at the ICC Women’s World T20 in West Indies. The captain had hit a sparkling century against New Zealand, Pakistan were then defeated, and even the eventual champions Australia. Little did we know then that the semi-final defeat against England will kick-start one of the most tumultuous times for the women’s game in the country. Without assigning causality, in the shortest format, the Mithali Raj saga had coincided with a seven-match losing streak that started with that defeat in Antigua. And as the home season restarts for Harmanpreet Kaur and Co, it is well and truly time for Indian cricket to move on.
Indian women’s squad for first 3 T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Anuja Patil, Shafali Verma, Mansi Joshi.
South Africa women’s squad for T20Is: Sune Luus (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tasmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail, Sinalo Jafta, Ayabonga Khaka, Lara Goodall, Lizelle Lee, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukhune, Nondumiso Shangase, Mignon du Preez, Laura Wolvaardt.
Virat Kohli- India captain Virat Kohli on Monday received an official warning from the International Cricket Council and one demerit point for inappropriate shoulder contact with South Africa pacer Beuran Hendricks during third T20I against South Africa in Bengaluru. Kohli was found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct, the governing body said in a release. He was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “Inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an International Match.” In addition to this, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Kohli, for whom it was the third offence since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016. Kohli now has three demerit points after having got one demerit point each during the Pretoria Test against South Africa on 15 January 2018 and against Afghanistan in the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 on 22 June. Sunday’s incident occurred in the fifth over of India’s innings, when Kohli made contact with bowler Hendricks while taking a run, according to the release. Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points. When a player reaches four or more demerit points within a 24-month period, they are converted into suspension points and a player is banned while two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player.
BBL- The winner of the ICC World Cup final this year was decided by counting the number of boundaries hit by England and New Zealand in the match as the Super Over ended in a tie as well. This rule received considerable backlash as many felt it was an unfair way to decide the winner. In light of this, Cricket Australia has now decided that they will not use this rule in the Big Bash League this season. They will rather go with multiple Super Overs to decide the winner. Cricket Australia on Tuesday said that under the new rules, if two teams are tied at the end of a final and then again after a Super Over, subsequent Super Overs will be played until there is a clear winner in both the men’s and women’s T20 leagues. The new rule applies to all matches in the finals series, while a tied Super Over in a regular season game will see the points divided.
Badminton:
India’s coach- With less than a year to go for the Tokyo Olympics, South Korea’s Kim Ji Hyun has stepped down from her position as India’s women’s singles badminton coach to attend to her ailing husband in New Zealand. Kim Ji Hyun, who was roped in by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) early this year, had played a crucial role in guiding PV Sindhu to her World Championship gold last month at Basel, Switzerland. However, the 45-year-old from Busan had to rush to New Zealand to be beside her husband Ritchie Marr, who suffered a neuro stroke about a fortnight ago. “It is true, Kim has resigned as her husband is pretty unwell. He suffered a kind of neuro stroke sometime during the World Championship. So she rushed back. She needs to take care of him as it will take around 4 to 6 months for him to recover,” India’s chief national coach Pullela Gopichand told PTI. Kim had developed a good rapport with Sindhu, who time and again acknowledged the Korean’s role in her success.
Korea Open- Reigning World champion PV Sindhu will seek to bounce back quickly after her early exit at the prestigious China Open when she looks to win her second title this season at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament beginning in Incheon on Tuesday. Besides the World Championships gold, Sindhu has reached the summit clash of only one BWF World Tour event this year – the Indonesia Open Super 1000 – but the title eluded her then. In her first tournament after winning the World Championships, Olympic silver medallist Sindhu was knocked out of the China Open Super 1000 event by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second round last week. The 26-year-old Indian, who had won the Korea Open title in 2017, will have to sort out the little things that had led to her early ouster in China and turn her focus on the USD 400,000 tournament where she will face a familiar rival in USA’s Beiwen Zhang; a match that could prove to be a tricky opener. London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who had claimed the Indonesia Masters early in the season, hasn’t looked her usual self later part of this year. B Sai Praneeth, who had ended India’s 36 year old wait for a medal at the World Championships, will also look to continue his impressive run after a quarterfinal finish at China Open last week.
Football:
SAFF U-18- India were held to a goalless draw by Bangladesh in their opening match of the the Saff U-18 Championship on Monday. India started the match on an attacking note but an injury to goalkeeper Prabhsukan Singh Gill in the ninth minute forced coach Floyd Pinto to make an early change. With Bangladesh committing bodies in defence, the Indians found it difficult to get past their opponent’s backline with India’s best chances coming through set pieces. In the 36th minute, Sumit Rathi’s header came close to giving India the lead, but it flew inches over the bar. Changing over, India continued to dominate the possession but failed to create clear goal chances. India will play Sri Lanka in their last group stage match of the Championship on September 25. Sri Lanka had earlier lost 0-3 to Bangladesh and the top two teams from the group will qualify for the semi-finals slated for September 27.
The Best- Lionel Messi won the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award as beaten rival Cristiano Ronaldo stayed away from the star-studded ceremony in Milan’s iconic La Scala Opera House on Monday. Barcelona striker Messi’s victory was a surprise as he edged out Virgil Van Dijk, who won the UEFA player’s award last month after helping Liverpool to the Champions League last season. Juventus forward Ronaldo had also been shortlisted for the award, but did not attend the ceremony as he was named in FIFA’s World 11 best team along with Messi. Both Messi, 32, and Van Dijk, 28, are now in the running for the coveted Ballon d’Or which will be announced on December 2.
Racism- Fifa president Gianni Infantino on Monday made a plea to “kick racism out” of Italian football, during the Fifa Best Football Awards ceremony in Milan. “Tonight is a night to celebrate, but we should reflect a little bit,” the Swiss-Italian football chief told a star-studded gathering at Milan’s iconic La Scala Opera House. The problem is a recurring one throughout the peninsula. This season Inter Milan’s Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku and AC Milan’s Ivorian player Franck Kessie have both been targeted by monkey calls without any sanction being taken.
Wrestling:
World Championships- After a rather dull (and expected) start to the Wrestling World Championships in Nursultan, Kazakhstan, India’s campaign sprung to life with Vinesh Phogat’s sensational performance and culminated in the country’s best-ever medal return from the senior event. On Sunday, when Rahul Aware bagged a bronze medal in the 61kg (non-Olympic) category, he ensured Indian grapplers improved their best-ever medal haul at Championships: it was the country’s fifth medal in this year’s event. India’s previous best show was in 2013, when Amit Dahiya (silver), Bajrang Punia (bronze) and Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (bronze in Greco-Roman) had won three medals. The headline-maker was Deepak Punia, who was the only Indian to reach the final but had to finish with a silver medal without competing for gold, after having pulled due to injury.
Kabaddi:
PKL- Bengaluru Bulls and Dabang Delhi drew 39-39 in a closely fought Pro Kabaddi match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday. Delhi were in the lead for most parts of the match but a late comeback by the Bulls courtesy Pawan Sehrawat saw both sides settle for a tie in the encounter. Delhi’s Naveen Kumar finished the match with 14 raid points (his 15th consecutive Super 10) but was tackled in the buzzer raid to help Bengaluru secure a tie. Delhi’s match against the Bulls had been billed as the clash of the league’s best raiders in Naveen Kumar and Pawan Sehrawat but the early minutes proved why both of these raiders where just a significant part of a larger unit in a team sport. The defences of both teams looked ready for the challenge as both traded blows in the initial minutes. But a slightly more balanced Delhi unit allowed Naveen Kumar more time on the mat with quick revivals and the 19-year-old secured 8 raid points to clinch an all-out in the last minute of the half to give the Delhi side a four-point lead.
Vikas Khandola turned out to be the star performer for Haryana Steelers as they beat three-time champions Patna Pirates 39-34 in the earlier game on Monday. Khandola picked up a Super 10 (13 raid points) as Steelers produced a complete performance to quell the challenge of Pardeep Narwal and the Pirates. The victory helped Steelers consolidate their third position on the points table. With the loss, Patna Pirates’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread while Haryana Steelers are inching closer to the knockout stage.
Swimming:
Olympic ‘A’ Marks- The trio of Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will look to achieve the ‘A’ standard Olympic qualification mark when they spearhead the Indian challenge at the 10th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships, starting here on Tuesday. All the three swimmer have made the ‘B’ cut in the recent months. While Virdhawal had achieved it in the 50m freestyle event at the Senior Swimming Nationals last month, Sajan did that in 200m butterfly at the FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Srihari clocked the Olympic ‘B’ qualification time in 100m backstroke at the FINA Junior World Championships last month. Middle and long-distance freestyle swimmer Kushagra Rawat, sprinter Rujuta Khade, backstroker Maana Patel and middle-distance swimmer Shivani Kataria are expected to contribute to India’s medal tally in the event. A strong line-up in the Group I boys will see Tanish G Mathew lead the charge as he takes part in 50, 100, 200m butterfly. Hiten S Mittal, Sanjay CJ, Swadesh Mondal are among the other Group I swimmers expected to make podium finish. In the previous edition, India won a total of 40 medals (5 gold, 13 silver, 22 bronze) in swimming, while the country won 3 gold, two silver and three bronze medals in diving.
