Indian sports News- September 5th
September 5, 2019
Bytes: Duleep Trophy, Ashes, IPL, Kabaddi, US Open,Nihal contract, FedererVSNadal, Natraj wins 3 Gold, FIH Pro League, Jinan Open, Asian Junior TT-Silver
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:
Duleep Trophy- Left-arm pacer Jaydev Undakat bagged a four-wicket haul to help India Red seize early initiative in the Duleep Trophy final as India Green were left reeling at 147/8 on the rain-hit opening day in Bengaluru on Wednesday. It turned out to be stop-start day after India Green captain Faiz Fazal opted to bat. Mayank Markande, batting at number eight, emerged top-scorer with his 32-run unbeaten knock as Unadkat and his bowling colleagues never allowed the rival batmen to settle by picking up wickets at regular intervals.Brief Scores:
India Green: 147/8 (Mayank Markande 32*, Akshdeep Nath 29; Jaydev Unadkat 4/58) vs India Red
IPL– Ravichandran Ashwin is all set to join Delhi Capitals for the next edition of IPL after Kings XI Punjab decided to release their skipper of last two seasons. KXIP releasing Ashwin was on expected lines after the franchise finished seventh in 2018 and sixth in 2019 under his leadership.
Ashes– Australia star Steve Smith looked like he had never been away as he marked his first Test since suffering concussion with a fourth fifty in as many innings against England this Ashes series at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Smith, a shining light for the tourists on a dull day in Manchester, was 60 not out in a stumps total of 170-3 on a rain-marred first day of the fourth Test where only 44 overs out of a scheduled 90 were bowled. This was Smith’s eighth successive Test fifty against England – a run that started during Australia’s 4-0 home series win in 2017/18 – with the 30-year-old extending his own Ashes record.
IndvsSA– South Africa A have defeated India A in the 4th unofficial ODI. The Proteas won by 4 runs via D/L method. The visitors finished with 137/1 after rain reduced the game to 25 overs-a-side. In reply, India A could manage 188/9 in 25 overs with Shikhar Dhawan getting a 43-ball 52.
Chess:
Contract– Nihal Sarin has signed the biggest sponsorship deal by an Indian chess player since the great Viswanathan Anand. The 15-year-old has been taken on as brand ambassador by Akshayakalpa, an organic milk manufacturing company based in Bengaluru. Sarin, the youngest Indian ever and third-youngest player in history to break the 2600 barrier, is the current Asian Continental Blitz Chess Champion. This is the youngster’s only big sponsorship deal after the one he received from Tata Trusts two years ago. As chess is an expensive sport at the international level, this latest deal will help him compete in big tournaments around the world and hire good trainers.
Tennis:
US Open- Rafael Nadal will play Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the US Open semi-finals after the 18-time Grand Slam champion defeated Argentine 20th seed Diego Schwartzman 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. Second seed Nadal – a winner at Flushing Meadows in 2010, 2013 and 2017 – beat a spirited Schwartzman for the eighth time in as many meetings in a nearly three-hour match that finished early on Thursday morning. Schwartzman put up firm resistance against Nadal and twice fought back from double-break deficits in the first two sets, but the Spaniard found another gear at crucial moments to secure an eighth semi-final berth in New York.
In women’s Canadian Bianca Andreescu became the first teen US Open semi-finalist in a decade, rallying to defeat Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Wednesday and advance to a last-four matchup with Belinda Bencic. Andreescu, a 19-year-old from suburban Toronto, downed 25th seed Mertens 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to book a Thursday clash against fellow Slam semi-final debutante Bencic, the Swiss 13th seed who beat Croatian 23rd seed Donna Vekic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Fedal– South African tennis fans bought 48,000 tickets in under 10 minutes on Wednesday for a Cape Town exhibition match next February between world superstars Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. The game at the Cape Town Stadium, built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is set to break the attendance record of 35,681 for a tennis match set by Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams in 2010 in Brussels.
Jinan Open– Top-seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the Jinan Open with a straight-set win over Japanese qualifier Renta Tokuda on Wednesday. Playing his first tournament after losing the US Open first round, the left-handed Indian raced to a 6-2, 6-2 win in the second round of the USD 162480 hard court ATP Challenger tournament. In the doubles, fourth-seeded Indian pair of Saketh Myneni and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan overcame Japan’s Shintaro Imai and Toshihide Matsui 6-4, 6-3 in their opening round.
Swimming:
Nationals- Srihari Nataraj and Kenisha Gupta ended their campaign in style, claiming gold medals in men’s 100m backstroke and women’s 100m freestyle events respectively on the final day of the Senior National Aquatic Championship in Bhopal on Wednesday. Natraj created a national record in the men’s 100m backstroke, his last individual event of this meet. He finished with a time of 55.63s. He broke his own record of 56.53, which set last year. It was an easy win for Nagraj, who dominated the race with SSCB’s Madhu PS finishing almost 3 seconds behind him at 58.30 to settle for the silver medal. Rakshith Shetty of Karnataka (58.89) took home the bronze medal. In the women’s 100m freestyle event, Maharashtra’s Gupta piped record holder Shivani Kataria of Haryana to take home the gold.
Molestation- The Goa Swimming Federation has terminated the contract of coach Surajit Ganguly after a video of him molesting a trainee was circulated on whatsapp and the matter was brought to the notice of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.The Goa Swimming Federation has terminated the contract of coach Surajit Ganguly after a video of him molesting a trainee was circulated on whatsapp and the matter was brought to the notice of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.The 15-year-old, who hails from West Bengal but is in Goa to train swimmers, has alleged that the coach was molesting her for over six months and shot the video herself on the mobile camera.
Kabaddi:
Pro Kabaddi- Naveen Kumar dished out a superlative performance as Dabang Delhi beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 46-44 in a Pro Kabaddi match at the Sree Kanteevara Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The raider picked up 16 points, including a record-setting 10th consecutive Super 10, as the Delhi side overcame a stiff challenge from Jaipur Pink Panthers to consolidate their position on top of the points table.
Badminton:
World Junior- The Badminton Association of India on Wednesday announced a 23-member Indian squad for the BWF World Junior Championships to be held in Kazan, Russia between September 30 to October 13. The boys’ singles challenge will be led by Tamil Nadu’s Sathish Kumar who has amassed an impressive total of 925 points from the All India Junior Ranking tournaments held in Panchkula and Bangalore in August. Besides Sathish, Nagpur’s Rohan Gurbani, Manipur’s Maisnam Meiraba and Pranav Rao Gandham of Telengana will be representing India in boys’ singles. The girls’ team will be spearheaded by Gujarat’s Tasnim Mir who secured a total of 813 points from the two ranking tournaments. Tasnim will be joined by Uttarakhand’s Aditi Bhatt and Unnati Bisht, and Karnataka’s Trisha Hegde.
Table Tennis:
Asian Junior- India settled for a silver medal at the Asian Junior and Cadet Championships after losing the final 0-3 to top seed China at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Wednesday but the second-place helped them qualify for the World Junior Championships. Coach Brett Clarke began the proceedings with Raegan Albuquerque but it did not work as the Mumbai lad went down 7-11, 8-11, 9-11 to Xu Yingbin. The individual events at the Championships begin from Thursday.The World Junior Championships will be held at Korat, Thailand in November later this year.
Hockey:
FIH Pro League- The Indian men’s hockey team will open its campaign in the FIH Pro League against the Netherlands at home in January next year. According to the schedule of the FIH Pro League season 2 released on Wednesday, India, who pulled out of the inaugural edition of the tournament, will play the Dutch on January 18 and 19 next year. India will then host world champions Belgium on February 8 and 9 followed by two more home fixtures against Australia on February 22 and 23. The Indian team will then leave for the away games in Germany (April 25 and 26) and Great Britain (May 2 and 3).
