Author: Abhishek Shukla

Owner of Sports India Live.
by Abhishek Shukla

Chanmari FC ousted I League champions Aizawl FC to seal place in the final

I-League champions Aizawl FC and current Mizoram Premier League champions Chanmari FC engaged in a gruelling battle today for a final spot in the Great Sports Independence Day Football Tournament.
The MPL champions rallied themselves very well to come from behind most of the match and come out winners with a 2-1 victory after extra-time.
Aizawl FC began on a positive note and after some back and forth action they took the lead when Rochharzela was the quickest to react after Chanmari FC keeper Muanawma had failed to safely collect his shot.
Muanzuala and Muanzova tried in vain to find an equaliser for Chanmari FC while Lalmuankima and David Lalrinmuana also came close for Aizawl FC.
The I-League champions again came out on top in the early stages of the second half and could have scored through Rinzuala, David Rinmuana and Liberian midfielder Alfred –  they struck the woodwork twice.
Mizo foootball legend S. Malsawmtluanga was making his debut for Aizawl FC late in the second half,  but his lack of match fitness could not make him the player he used to be.
Chanmari FC shook things up later in the second half with Thasiama and Zohera entering the fray, and the move paid dividends when Thomas Lalengkima scored their  equaliser four minutes into stoppage time from a keeping –  Aizawl FC goalkeeper could have done better.
And it was Chanmari FC who carried the momentum in extra time and they got their winner on the 103rd minute. Substitute Thasiama got on the end and applied the finishing touches on a corner delivered by Thomas Lalengkima.
02:30 PM Aizawl FC 1-2 Chanmari FC
(Rochharzela 17′) (Thomas Lalengkima 90-4′, Thasiama 103′)
Aizawl FC XI: Lalawmpuia,  Lalrinzuala Khiangte,  Ramdinsanga,  Lalrozama Fanai,  Lalramhmunmawia,  Alfred Kemah Jaryan, David Lalrinmuana,  K Lalthathanga,  H Lalmuankima,  Jonathan Lalrawngbawla,  Rochharzela.
Chanmari FC XI: F Lalmuanawma,  Lalrosanga,  C Lalmuanawma,  David Lalchhuanawma,  Thomas Lalengkima,  Rochhingpuia,  Lalmuanzuala,  Vanlalbiaa,  Lalmuanzova,  PC Zosanga,  Joseph Lalnunpuia.
August 11, Friday Semifinal Fixtures
02:30 PM Chhinga Veng FC vs Bethlehem Vengthlang FC
by Abhishek Shukla

Mumbai to host tri-nation football series

NEW DELHI: India begin their campaign against Mauritius on August 19 at the Mumbai Football Arena, Mumbai in the Hero Tri-nation Football Series. India will play their second match against St. Kitts & Nevis on August 24.

 

The Tri-nation Football series is part of the National Team’s preparatory process for the AFC Asian Cup Qualifying away match against Macau which is scheduled for September 5.

 

Thanking WIFA and MDFA for their cooperation, AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das said the “sporting culture” of Mumbai makes it stand out amongst others.

 

“We are overwhelmed by the eagerness of the authorities in Mumbai to host the three International matches in Mumbai. Mumbai has been the venue for the National Team since September 2016 when we hosted Puerto Rico,” he stated.

 

India are currently ranked 97 as per August 2017 FIFA Rankings. Indian Football and the National Team have been on the upsurge with a string of good results leading to a climb of 77 places in FIFA Rankings over the last two years. The Team has now won 13 of their 15 International matches having won their last 8 fixtures (including the unofficial match against Bhutan).

 

FIXTURES:

 

August 19: India vs Mauritius

 

August 22: St Kitts & Nevis vs Mauritius

 

August 24: India vs St. Kitts & Nevis

by Abhishek Shukla

Ravindra Jadeja should be watchful on ICC’s direct HIT

Number one Test bowler and all-rounder has been suspended under ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel breaching article 2.2.8 on accumulating six demerit points in second Test against Sri Lanka and that raised the question over ICC’s demerit points system.

Last ball of the day three’s play, Jadeja to Pushpakumara, Jadeja throws towards Wriddhiman Saha which was so closed to Pushpakumara who was just defended that ball and was in no mood to take a run. The throw was in a “dangerous manner” which costs Jadeja a suspension for Pallekele Test. Wait it is not just a Test match suspension he also costs Rs. 22.5 lakhs (50% of match fees from SSC Test and one full Test match fee). By this incident he crossed six demerit points (three for second Test incident and three for his previous incident in October against England where he received for running on pitch under ICC Code of Conduct article point number 2.2.11)

So before going in to depth, let’s understand first what are article 2.2.8 and article 2.2.11

  • 2.8 – Throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an International Match
  • 2.11 – Causing avoidable damage to the pitch during an International Match in breach of Law 42.13 or 42.14 (as applicable) of the Laws of Cricket, as modified by ICC Standard Test Match, ODI and Twenty20 International Match Playing Conditions clause 42.

According to ICC press release, this throw was “dangerous” and misses batsman narrowly. Such kind of throws is immature and against the spirit of game when batsman had no intention to take a run. Jadeja reached six demit points in second Test following his three demit points in October last year against England. If he reached the next threshold of eight points within a 24-month period, then they will be converted into four suspension points; meaning he could be suspended for two Test matches or four ODIs or four T20Is.

This was not the first instance in this series when such dangerous and unnecessary throws were seen by umpires. Virat Kohli India’s captain seen throwing such “dangerous” throw, each in both the Tests. Both throws came from midwicket towards Kusal Mendis and missed narrowly when he had no intension to take a run. On both the occasions, Mendis brought umpire’s attention against throw but umpires didn’t deem it in “a dangerous manner”. However Kohli didn’t get any warning or demerit point on the both occasions and this raised the questions over ICC’s objective of Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel.

Now flash back yourself in India’s previous long home season. Except New Zealand series, it was full of drama and action. Watch the below video.

Here Joe Root throws a ball intensely toward KL Rahul when Rahul had no intension to run. Check it again. What if Rahul could not duck in fractions of second? Can’t imagine. But umpires didn’t see it as dangerous. Not even third umpire Bruce Oxenford. And if you watch Australia series earlier this year you will imagine what intensity had that series. Even there was “brain fade” by opposition captain which deemed to be sportsmanship spirit by match officials and not even warning given to either player. There were no bans; no fine and not even single demit point. And in the recently concluded England-South Africa series, Kagiso Rabada was suspended for a Test for his WORDS which caught in mic.

Simply, the objective is not clear by ICC. You can take help from dressing room on DRS call, you can mouth off anybody off the mic, you can accuse your oppositions avoiding certain words.

The decision of allotting demit points is decided by umpires. Yes, you have seen umpire errors causing big games at crucial time. Being a human being, in a short period of time, we can understand those errors. But what about these demerit points? They have enough time to report match referee where word used are inappropriate or throw is dangerous or not. So when the next a bowler is punished for throwing the ball at a batsman will be debating point.

by Abhishek Shukla

Indian men begin FIBA Asia Cup 2017 with loss to Iran

Bengaluru/Beirut, 9th August 2017:  The Indian men’s basketball team began their FIBA Asia Cup 2017 campaign with a 54 – 101 loss against powerhouse Iran. India was slow out of the blocks, and fell behind 29 – 8 in the first quarter. From there on, the lead continued to grow as Iran outscored India in every quarter.

 

Iran are ranked 25th in the FIBA World Rankings, and showcased their offensive abilities in a clinical performance. They were shooting the ball at an impressive 51%, and had five players finish the game with scoring in double figures. Iran’s 7ft 2’’ centre Hamed Hadadi has played in the NBA (for the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns) and was at his imposing best against India, top scoring with 20 points and dishing out 8 assists.

 

For India, Amjyot Singh Gill was the only player who broke double figures with 10 points. India will be hoping to tighten up its game on both ends of the floor as it looks to qualify for the second phase of the tournament.

 

Iran (Hamed Hadadi 20 pts; Mohammad Jamshidijafarabadi 18 pts; Sajjad Mashayekhi 16 pts) bt India (Amjyot Singh Gill 10 pts; Talwinderjit Singh 9 pts) 101 – 54 [29-8, 21 – 14, 29 – 17, 22 – 15]

 

by Abhishek Shukla

Bengaluru FC sign Spanish striker Braulio Nóbrega

Bengaluru: Bengaluru FC announced the signing of experienced Spanish forward Braulio Nóbrega Rodríguez on a one-year deal, the club announced on Monday. The 31-year-old La Liga veteran becomes the fourth Spaniard at the club joining fellow countrymen Juanan Gonzalez, Dimas Delgado and Antonio Dovale.

The former Spain Under-20 international joins the Blues after netting an impressive ten goals in 15 league games along with two in the cup for Doxa Katokopias FC in the 2016-17 Cypriot First Division league while helping his side survive relegation.

Born in Puerto del Rosario on the Canary Islands in the Atlantic, Braulio, who came through the ranks at Atlético Madrid, turned professional in 2004 joining the reserve side of the Rojiblancos. He scored 17 goals in 26 games for the ‘B’ side while also playing frequently with the main team in the La Liga. During the second half of 2005-06 season, he joined fellow La Liga side Mallorca on loan before having another loan spell with UD Salamanca where he scored 14 times in the Segunda Division.

Braulio was then signed by La Liga side Getafe CF for the 2007-08 season where he not only featured regularly during the league campaign but even starred at the continental level scoring thrice in the UEFA Cup – the highlight being a fantastic back-heel goal against Tottenham Hotspur, along with a game-levelling strike past Oliver Kahn of Bayern Munich in the competition’s quarterfinal.

Thereafter, the striker had spells with a number of Spanish teams in Real Zaragoza (2008-11, La Liga & Segunda Division), Recreativo del Huelva (2010, 2014-15), FC Cartagena (2012, Segunda Division), Hércules CF (2012–13, Segunda Division), Caudal Deportivo (2016, Segunda ‘B’), apart from stints with Malaysian Super League’s Johor Darul Ta’zim (2013–14) and Greek Super League side AEL Kalloni F.C. (2015-16) before joining Doxa.

Braulio, who joined up with his teammates at the pre-season tour of Spain, was excited about his latest stint, “I’ve heard all I needed to about the club from the Spanish boys in the side and all I can say is that I’m thrilled to be part of it. I even heard a lot about the club when I was with Johor Darul Ta’zim.”

“I’ve already put in a couple of sessions with the team and I feel very comfortable. It feels like I’ve been training and playing with this bunch for a while now. I will be doing all I can to help the club achieve its goals,” he added further.

Bengaluru FC Head Coach Albert Roca welcomed Braulio to the Blues fold and said, “Braulio is an experienced player who fits into our style of play. He’ll provide the muscle up front and hopefully with the support that we have, he can contribute at the business end of the pitch.”

by Abhishek Shukla

Encore for Sathiyan, Pooja joins elite band

New Delhi, August 7: Second-seed G. Sathiyan and third-seeded Pooja Sahasrabuddhe lifted the men and women singles trophies without much of a sweat in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at theTable Tennis Foundation hall here today.

Their winning efforts fetched them Rs. 80,000 and Rs. 70,000, respectively. It was the successive title wins for Sathiyan, who blanked out Harmeet Desai 4-0, while Pooja claimed her maiden crown in a major tournament after accounting for national champion Madhurika Patkar 4-0.

The men and women singles finals as well as the semi-finals were similar in more ways than one. If the score-lines in the finals were same for the winners, the semi-finals scores in men singles were 4-1 and 4-2 in women; both the finals and semi-finals lacked the intensity and brilliance of the quarterfinal matches.

The men singles players may have warmed up more than required but Sathiyan took a little over 20 minutes to make Harmeet push and prod even as the winner kept finding winners after winners. Harmeet was absolutely in a daze and could not do anything against an in-form Sathiyan.

In women singles final, Pooja had very little resistance except being extended in two games. But Madhurika, who helped her team win title and doing so well until the final, was somewhat handicapped and failed to cross the final hurdle. Pooja, who won the first game comfortably, kept a nice tempo and continued it until the end.

Earlier in the day, the men and women singles semi-finals were similar in more ways than one. The 4-1 and 4-2 score-lines, respectively, for the winners apart, the intensity and brilliance of quarterfinals were missing.

Sharath Kamal, who had an excellent run this season, was found wanting against Harmeet Desai as Harmeet kept hammering in winners. His backhand matched every stroke of Sharath and despite losing the opening game, Harmeet played really well to beat the top-seed. Sharath, when he conceded the 2-1 lead, it looked as if he had thrown in the towel. And that is precisely what happened as Harmeet went on to pile on the agony of the top-ranked Indian in the world who failed to keep the ball on table, culminating in his exit.

Sathiyan proved too good for Arjun, who managed to take a game off his rival. Against the pace of Sathiyan, Arjun was rendered clueless even as his forehand seemed to have deserted him on the day. He became more error-prone except perhaps in the second game which made Sathiyan’s job a lot easier.

Ankita Das looked like giving a good fight to the top-seeded Madhurika who dropped two games. But Madhurika gained ascendancy as she kept attacking Ankita to keep her out of the match. Even Pooja Sahasrabuddhe did the same to Takeme Sarkar, also from Siliguri like Ankita, but representing the Railways. The tone was set in the opening game which Pooja won very comfortably. However, Takeme came back nicely twice to tame Pooja for a while but the PSPB girl could not be denied her place under the sun as she upped the ante after Takeme took her second game at 13-1 to level the score.

In men doubles, the PSPB pair of Sudhanshu Grover and Abhishek Yadav combined well to beat teammates Sanil Shetty and Jubin Kumar 3-2. The left-handed pairs did well to come back after being down 0-2 but wilted in the decisive fifth game to end up with the silver medal.

In women doubles, the RBI pair of Akula Sreeja and Ayhika Muherjee defeated their AAI rivals Moumita Dutta and Kaushani Nath 3-2 in a thriller. Down 0-2, the AAI came recovered to level the score but in the decider it was the RBI duo that pulled it off to win the title.

Results:

Men Singles: (Final): G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Harmeet Desai (PSPB) 11-5, 11-1, 11-4, 11-4; Semi-finals: Harmeet Desai bt A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4, 11-7, G. Sathiyan bt Arjun Ghosh (AAI) 11-6, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-6.

Women Singles: (Final):  Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) bt Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) 11-9, 12-10, 12-10, 11-7; Semi-finals: Madhurika Patkar bt Ankita Das (PSPB) 5-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Take Sarkar (RSPB) 11-1, 8-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7.

Men Doubles (Final): Sudhanshu Grover/Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty/Juin Kumar (PSPB) 11-9, 13-11, 10-12, 7-11, 11-3.

Women Doubles (Final): Akula Sreeja/Ayhika Mukheree (RBI) bt Moumita Dutta/Kaushani Nath (AAI) 11-6, 11-5, 8-11, 7-11, 11-5.

by Abhishek Shukla

Amalraj, Ghosh attend Sharath classes

New Delhi, August 6: Top-seeded A. Sarath Kamal and Madhurika Patkar sounded a grim warning to fellow players as they asserted their supremacy to enter the men and women singles semi-finals, respectively, in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here today.

In fact, credit must go to seventh seed Takeme Sarkar, whose enterprising display of strokes which led to the downfall of reigning champion and second seed Sutirtha Mukherjee, who began the procession. Pooja Sahasrabuddhe followed suit by sending Manika Batra, though seeded sixth, home in a comeback struggle.

Sharath, who disposed of Amalraj in the round of 16, was completely in control against Soumyajit Ghosh in the quarterfinal as is evident from the scores, especially in the fourth game which he won without conceding a point. Except for a few mistakes he committed in the third, Sharath had Ghosh on a tight leash and completed the job to win 4-1.

“Full credits to Sharath. When he plays the way he did today, hitting hard, the least I could do was to go for cover. I tried my best, but he was too good,” admitted Gosh.

Indeed, Sharath was. Even Amalraj, who became his victim in the pre-quarters, would vouch for it. But Sharath was modest to say that everything clicked for him. “I went all out and hard. Sometimes it pays off, sometime it doesn’t,” said the national champion.

Second, third and fourth seeds—Sathiyan, Arjun Ghosh and Harmeet Desai—too kept their date with destiny but Arjun struggled against floater Sougata Sarkar of LIC. The latter managed to take the second and third to lead 2-1 at one point before Arjun did what was expected of him. His win in the fourth, 13-11, really helped him gain self-confidence which he carried through to notch 4-2 triumph. Harmeet and Sathiyan won against left-handers Sanil Shetty and Abhishek Yadav 4-0, respectively.

For Takeme, it was the major victory and the first semifinal entry in a tournament of this magnitude. She had, however, made it to the last-four stages of the Central Zone national ranking championships at Indore in June.

Stroking well with clever use of flanks, the Northeast Frontier Railways player was in a punishing mood right from the start and it reflected in her game. On the other hand, Suthirtha was unable to return as she made far too many errors which made things rather easy for Takeme. Suthirtha did comeback in the fifth game, but despite being down in the sixth, Takeme sealed the fate of Suthirtha.

Pooja accounted for sixth seed Manika Batra in a thrilling comeback quarterfinal. Manika led 2-0 but Pooja launched well from the third to take the next four, including the fifth which saw deuce after deuce and Manika saving four game points. Pooja won on her fifth game point to go all out in the next and shut out Manika.

Eighths seed Archana put up a brave front against Madhurika and had even managed to take two games off her after being down 0-3. But that was all she should do under tremendous pressure. For another Siliguri girl Ankita Das, it was a profitable day as she beat Poulami Ghatak 4-1 to earn a match-up with Madhurikatomorrow.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles title went the way of PSPB pair Sail Shetty and Reethi Rishya, who beat RBI’s Raj Mondal and Akula Sreeja 3-1.

Results:

Men Singles: (QF): A. Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) 11-4, 12-10, 7-11, 11-0, 11-9, Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Sanil Shetty (PSPB) 11-5, 11-9, 11-5, 11-2, Arjun Ghosh (AAI) bt Sougata Sarkar (LIC) 13-11, 6-11, 9-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-9, G. Sathiyan (PSPB) bt Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4, 11-5.

PQF: A.Sharath Kamal bt A. Amalraj (PSPB) 4-2, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) 4-2, Sanil Shetty bt Raj Mondal (RBI) 4-2, Harmeet Desai bt Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) 4-0, Arjun Ghosh bt Devesh Karia (CRSB) 4-3, Sougata Sarkar bt Anirban Nandi (RSPB) 4-1Abhishek Yadav bt Subhajit Saha (PSPB) 4-1, G. Sathiyan bt Sourav Saha (PSPB) 4-2.

Women Singles: (QF): Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Archana Kamath (PSPB) 11-3, 11-7,16-14, 9-11, 9-11, 11-5, Ankita Das (SPPB) bt Poulami Ghatak (PSPB) 11-6, 11-7, 12-14, 11-8, 11-8, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) bt Manika Batra (PSPB) 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 16-14, 11-8, Take Sarkar (RSPB) bt Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) 5-11, 12-10, 14-12, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5).

PQF: Madhurika Patkar bt Manushree Patil (AAI) 4-0, Archana Kamath bt Reeth Rishya (PSPB) 4-2, Poulami Ghatak bt Anindita Chakraborty (RSPB) 4-3, Ankita Das bt Akula Sreeja (RBI) 4-2, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Shailu Noorbasha (AAI) 4-0, Manika Batra bt Mousumi Paul (PSPB) 4-3, Takeme Sarkar bt Priyadarshini Das (RBI) 4-0, Sutirtha Mukherjee bt Krittwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) 4-2.

Mixed Doubles (Final): Sanil Shetty/Reeth Rishya (PSPB) bt Raj Mondal/Akula Sreeja (RBI) 11-5, 11-5, 9-11, 11-5.

by Abhishek Shukla

Maratha Yoddhas beat Delhi Gladiators 12-10 to enter the final

New Delhi, 5 August 2017: The first semi-final of the inaugural season of Super Boxing League saw Maratha Yoddhas beat Delhi Gladiators by a score line of 12-10 to register their place in the final here at the Siri Fort Squash & Badminton Stadium.

 

It was Rakesh Lohchab, Shivani Dahiya and Gaganpreet Sharma who won their respective bouts for the Delhi Gladiators to put their team into a 10-6 lead after five bouts. However, it was Maratha Yoddhas’ Sandeep Chhikara who proved to be the hero for his team as he won the last bout of the match by a Knock Out as Maratha Yoddhas won 12-10. Earlier in the night, Mahesh Digari and captain Deepak Tanwar had also won their respective bouts. The match was witnessed by Delhi Gladiators’ owner and Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput who was joined by fellow actors Ayushmaan Khurana, Kriti Sanon and Rajkumar Rao.

 

The first bout of the night saw Delhi Gladiators’ Rakesh Lohchab take on Maratha Yoddhas’ Sandeep Singh in the Feather Weight category. The Yoddhas’ man Singh started the bout on the front foot as he threw some good combinations on his opponent in Round 1 while Gladiators’ Lohchab focused on keeping his guard up. It was a close fight as Lohchab threw some beautiful punches on Singh in Round 2 & 3 to take the lead. The last and final Round saw Lohchab push the pace as he aimed for the win and it meant that he smacked the better punches on his opponent to run away with the victory by Unanimous Decision as Delhi Gladiators took a 3-0 lead.

In the second bout of the night, it was up to Maratha Yoddhas’ Mahesh Digari to cut down the lead for his team as he faced Vanlalawmpuia from the Delhi Gladiators in the Welter Weight category. Both the boxers started Round 1 cautiously as they waited patiently to work out each other’s strategy. However, Round 2 saw Vanlalawmpuia get the better of his opponent as he hit Digari with some beautiful combinations. However, Digari finished the fight on the upper hand as he won Round 3 & 4 by hitting some barging combinations on Vanlalawmpuia to win the bout by Unanimous Decision and level the points at 3-3 after two bouts.

 

The third bout of the night saw Delhi Gladiators’ Shivani Dahiya take on Maratha Yoddhas’ Lalnunfeli in the Super Fly category. It was important for both the boxers to win the bout as it would give their side the lead in the semi-final. Dahiya started the fight brightly as she impressed with some barging blows on Lalnunfeli to get the Round 1 underway. Gladiators’ Shivani Dahiya utilised her experience in Round 2 as she dodged Lalnunfeli’s punches to hit her on the counter. The Yoddhas’ boxer was getting the better punches in the second Round. However, 22-year-old Dahiya came into her own in Round 3 & 4 to hit Lalnunfeli with strong jabs and combinations. The fight was very well matched between the two fighters, but it was Shivani Dahiya who got the better hits, which resulted in her being awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision to put the Delhi Gladiators into the lead 6-3.

 

The fourth fight of the night saw Maratha Yoddhas’ captain Deepak Tanwar face Delhi Gladiators’ captain Pawan Maan in the Middle Weight category. It was the bout of the night as both the captains were up against each other in an important match. However, it was Yoddhas’ skipper who proved why he is so dangerous in such matches as he started Round 1 with a flurry of punches on Maan to put him on the defence. Round 2 & 3 saw a similar story as Gladiators’ skipper Maan seemed to have slowed down as a result of getting hit and Tanwar made the most of it to hit him with some clean and strong combinations. Maan got the better hits in the last Round but it proved to be too little, too late for the Gladiators’ boxer as Deepak Tanwar was awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision which meant that the Yoddhas equalised 6-6.

 

The next bout was between Gaganpreet Sharma of the Delhi Gladiators and Bhupender Singh of the Maratha Yoddhas in the Super Middle Weight category. It proved to be a mistake from the Yoddhas as they fielded a debutant in the form of Bhupender Singh. Gladiators’ Gaganpreet Sharma started the first Round with some strong punches on Singh and continued the rhythm in Round 2 as he knocked some amazing punches. Sharma looked to have found the mojo on the night as he took advantage of Singh’s weaknesses and had put him into a bad spot which resulted in the referee stopping the fight after 2 minutes and 58 seconds in Round 2 after Sharma had knocked down Singh. It meant that the Gladiators’ Sharma was awarded the victory by Technical Knock Out to put his team into a 10-6 lead.

 

The last bout of the night was a crucial one as a win for the Delhi Gladiators would win the match for them, and a win for the Maratha Yoddhas would give them a chance to make a comeback. It was Delhi Gladiators’ Jagroop Singh who faced Maratha Yoddhas’ Sandeep Chhikara in the Heavy Weight category. The two boxers started the first Round slowly as they looked to maintain their shape. However, it was Yoddhas’ Sandeep Chhikara who dominated the fight in Round 2 to knock some impressive combinations on Singh. It meant that Singh lost some composure and Chhikara made the most of it as he struck the Knock Out blow in Round 3 to win the bout. The referee awarded a Knock Out victory to Chhikara which meant that he won the match for his side to beat the Delhi Gladiators 12-10.

by Abhishek Shukla

Madhurika overcomes Shruti, enters PQF of All India Inter-Institutional  TTChampionships

New Delhi, August 5: Top-seeded and reigning national champion Madhurika had to endure qualifier Shruti Amrute for more than she should have before overcoming in the women singles to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here today.

After the initial struggle Madhurika, who was down 1-3, struck a nice rhythm and recovered well in time to win 4-3. But for this aberration, all seeded players entered the round of 16. However, there were some problems with higher ranked players like Ayhika Mukherjee of RBI and Divya Deshpande of PSPB in the round of 32 who bowed out to lesser qualifiers. Ayhika was sent packing by Shailu Noorbasha of AAI 4-3 while Divya went down to Priyadarshini Das of RBI for a similar score.

Madurhika seemed down and out when the left-handed Shruti took a more than comfortable lead of 3-1. But the PSPB lass launched truly well with crisp shots in the fifth game and played like a champion that she is. Cutting out the net flaws she was prone to in the earlier games, she attacked on the flanks really well to push her opponent on the back foot.

Some service winners and a few high balls sent down by Shruti, too, helped her cause further. So much so, she shut her opponent out in the fifth game, allowing her just two points while in the next a couple more. And once she levelled the score, Madhurika went all out and won 5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 14-16, 11-2, 11-4, 11-8 as pain on Air India youngster’s forlorn face was palpable.

The men singles round of 32 was as easy for the seeded players as it was for some of among them who did not enjoy first-round byes. It was pathetic to see Sushmit Sriram of AAI, who has a reputation of upsetting big reputations, went down early and Railways Ravindira Kotiyan had to play out of his skin to beat Sarthak Seth, a junior player from UP.

It was business as usual for Sharath, Sathiyan, Soumyajit Ghosh, Amalraj, Harmeet Desai or, for that matter, Arjun Ghosh, Subhajit Saha and Sougata Sarkar.

Results (Round of 32):

Men Singles: A Sharath Kamal (PSPB) bt Zubin Taraporewall (IA&ID) 4-0, A. Amalraj (PSPB) bt Vivek Bhargava (Raj) 4-1, Sudhanshu Grover (PSPB) bt Pankaj Viswakarma (RSPB) 4-2, Soumyajit Ghosh (PSPB) bt Nitin Thiruvengadam (CB) 4-0, Raj Mondal (RBI) bt Ronit Bhanja (PSPB) 4-1, Sanil Shetty (PSPB) Airban Ghosh (AAI) 4-0, Harmeet Desai (PSPB) bt Sushmit Sriram (AAI) 4-1, G. Sathiyan b Manush Shah (AAI) 4-0, Ravindra Kotiyan (RSPB) bt Sarthak Sethi (UP) 4-3, Arjun Ghosh (AAI) bt Birdie Boro (PSPB) 4-1, Devesh Karia (CRSB) Jubin Kumar (PSPB) 4-0, Subhajit Saha (PSPB) bt Lalrin Puia (AAI) 4-1, Anirban Nandi (RSPB) bt Manav Thakkar (PSPB) 4-1, Sougata Sarka (LIC) bt Utkarsh Gupta (PSPB) 4-2, Sourav Saha (PSPB) bt Souvik Kar (RSPB) 4-1, Abhishek Yadav (PSPB) bt Mai Subhash (IA&AD) 4-2.

Women Singles: Madhurika Patkar (PSPB) bt Shruti Amrute ( AI)  4-3, Manushree Patil (AAI) bt Anusha Kutumble (MP) 4-3, Reeth Rishya (PSPB) bt Nikhat Banu (RBI) 4-1, Archana Kamath (PSPB) bt Abinaya Ramesh (FCI) 4-0, Poulomi Ghatak (PSPB) bt Shweta Parte (RBI) 4-1, Anindita Chakraborty (RSPB) bt Mariya Rony (KRL) 4-1, Ankita Das (PSPB) bt Anuska Dutta (RSPB) 4-0, Akula Sreeja (RBI) bt Priyanka Pareek (AAI) 4-2, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe (PSPB) bt Chipia Frenaz (AAI) 4-1, Shailu Noorbasha (AAI) bt Ayhika Mukherjee (RBI) 4-3, Mousumi Paul (PSPB) bt Shreya Deshpande (AI) 4-0, Manika Batra (PSPB) bt Amrutha Pushpak (RBI) 4-1, Takeme Sarkar bt Varuni Jaiswal (PSPB) 4-2,Priyadarshini Das (RBI) bt Divya Deshpande 4-3, Krittiwika Sinha Roy (PSPB) bt Sagarika Mukherjee (RSPB) 4-3, Sutirtha Mukherjee (WB) bt Manasi Chiplunkar (AI) 4-0).

by Abhishek Shukla

India v Sri Lanka: Stat highlights from day three of second Test

Ashwin goes past Harbhajan and Jadeja overtook Johnson.

2 Second quickest 150 Test wickets for India by Ravindra Jadeja, His spin partner Ravi Ashwin is the quickest who got there in 29 matches while Jadeja reached today in 32 matches.

32 Test matches taken by Jadeja to complete 150 wickets, the quickest among left-arm bowlers. Mitchel Johnson was the previous quickest in 34 matches. Jadeja is now 19th left-arm bowler and fifth from India to complete 150 Test wickets.

26 Five-wicket hauls for Ravi Ashwin in Tests, the second most for India in Tests behind his former coach Anil Kumble who has 35 five-for. Ashwin edged past Harbhajan Singh’s 25 five-for tally. He is now quickest to register 26 five-for in terms of matches played. He beats Richard Hadlee who got there in his 63rd Test match while Ashwin did it in his 51st match.

3 Third bigger first innings leads gained by India which is 439 in this match. Their other two bigger leads than this are 492 against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2007 and 478 against West Indies at Eden Gardens in 2011.

191 Runs added by Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis for the second wicket in the second innings; highest partnership  for Sri Lanka while following-on and third highest for any wicket against India when following-on.

by Abhishek Shukla

All India Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships – Sharath Kamal and Madhurika Patkar are top seeded players

New Delhi, August 4: With the team events having concluded yesterday in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships, it was time for players to show their prowess in singles at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here as the qualification processes began today.

With 122 men players, the main draw will be of 128 with six byes, while it will be a draw of 64 in women section with two preliminary rounds because of 33 groups.

The expanded draw has given wider opportunity—instead of one player qualifying from each group now two make it to the main draw—for the players. The main draw which begins tomorrow will see the seeded players joining action later in the day tomorrow. The competition department of TTFI had conducted the open draw on the first day for the seeded players with the top-heavy draw.

It also meant that the possibility of top-seeded Sharath Kamal running early into Anthony Amalraj (No. 16 seed) in the pre-quarters and Soumyajit Ghosh (No. 8) in the quarters. But for No. 2 seed G. Sathiyan, who is in the bottom half, is not expected to face any early troubles from the bottom half.

Top-8 seeds:

Men: A Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Arjun Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Raj Mondal, Sougata Sarkar, Subhajit Saha, Soumyajit Ghosh.

Women: Madhurika Patkar, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Pooja Shasrabuddhe, Akula Sreeja, Poulami Ghatak, Manika btra, Takeme Sarkar and Archana Kamath.

by Abhishek Shukla

Joshna and Dipika won bronze medal

Manchester: It was a day of disappointments for India in the WSF-World doubles squash championship here on Friday. The lone hope of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik doing something ended in failure in doubles semi-final when they flattered to deceive against Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters.

The English duo won 6-11, 11-6, 11-8. After winning the first game, the Indian pair, the second seed looked good to do more. But the brief interval before the second game commenced proved a big game-changer for the host pair. Both Jenny and Alison tightened their defence and varied the strokes to catch the Indians on the wrong foot mostly in the forecourt. The Indians though matched in the rallies failed to make progress and went down fighting till the last.

The loss notwithstanding Joshna and Dipika, as the semi-final loser get the bronze medal.

Joshna and Dipika had earlier come back from a game down to beat the lower seeded Canadians Samantha Cornett and Nikole Todd 10-11, 11-6, 11-8 last night and that ensured that India will return with one medal atleast.

However the happy tidings remained limited when things began to turn awry today with the pairs Saurav Ghosal/ Dipika and Vikram Malhotra/ Joshna Chinappa crashing out one after the other in the two quarterfinals held concurrently on side by side courts. The pity was that both these pairs had the chance of emerging winners but lost out in the final stretch of the extended contests. The second seed Saurav and Dipika were pitted against the top seed Paul Coll and Joelle King (something that should have come in the final in keeping with the seedings but the New Zealand pair had finished the next best in the league phase and thus this unexpected early meeting). The contest was close from start and turned closer as it warmed up. After the pairs had traded a game each the Indians had edged ahead in the decider before slipping at the business end. Coll and King won 11-7, 10-11, 11-9.

Similar was the fate of Joshna and Vikram against the Australians David Palmer and Rachael Grinham. The Indians bagged the first game and gave fair indication of being on song. But as the match wore on, the points ran close. The Australian pair inched ahead in the battle of rallies and as luck would have it Joshna and Vikram gave in. Palmer and Grinham won 8-11, 11-9, 11-9.

by Abhishek Shukla

Joshna and Dipika assure India of a medal

Manchester: After the good news late last night when Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik made it to the women’s doubles semi-final which has assured India of one medal, there was double disappointment today when both the mixed doubles pairs lost out in the quarterfinal round of the WSF-World doubles squash championship being held here.

In a match that started late and went close to midnight last night (India time), Joshna and Dipika, the second seeds came back from a game down to beat the lower seeded Canadians Samantha Cornett and Nikole Todd 10-11, 11-6, 11-8. The focus will now be on them for they form the last link for India in this Championship as they take on the England duo of Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters later tonight in the semi-final.

Just as the happy tidings were sinking in for India came the double blow on Friday when the pairs Saurav Ghosal/ Dipika and Vikram Malhotra/ Joshna Chinappa crashed out one after the other in the two quarterfinals held concurrently on side by side courts. The pity was that both these pairs had the chance of emerging winners but lost out in the final stretch of the extended contests. The second seed Saurav and Dipika were pitted against the top seed Paul Coll and Joelle King (something that should have come in the final in keeping with the seedings but the New Zealand pair had finished the next best in the league phase and thus this unexpected early meeting). The contest was close from start and turned closer as it warmed up. After the pairs had traded a game each the Indians had edged ahead in the decider before slipping at the business end. Coll and King won 11-7, 10-11, 11-9.

Similar was the fate of Joshna and Vikram against the Australians David Palmer and Rachael Grinham. The Indians bagged the first game and gave fair indication of being on song. But as the match wore on, the points ran close. The Australian pair inched ahead in the battle of rallies and as luck would have it Joshna and Vikram gave in. Palmer and Grinham won 8-11, 11-9, 11-9.

by Abhishek Shukla

India’s mixed pairs in world doubles championship quarters

Manchester: With a clean slate each, both the Indian pairs Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Vikram Malhotra and Joshna Chinappa topped their respective groups and moved in style into the quarterfinal of the mixed doubles competition of the WSF-World doubles squash championship here on Thursday.

Second seed Saurav and Dipika who had two matches today overwhelmed the Wales pair of Peter Creed and Tesny Evans in their last match in Group B while Vikram and Joshna who qualified last night itself after their third straight win in Group C completed their engagement with a hard fought win over the Australian pair of Cameron Pilley and Donna Urquhart.

Meanwhile the men’s pair of Vikram and Mahesh Mangaonkar fell in their last Group match to finish at the table bottom. They will now play for the placings matches from nine down.

The results:

Men: Group A: Adnan and Yuen (Mal) bt Vikram Malhotra and Mahesh Mangaonkar 11-8, 10-11, 11-8

Mixed doubles: Group B: Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik bt Bennett and vd Heijden (Neth) 11-4, 11-4; bt Delierre and Cornett (Can) 11-5, 11-5; bt Peter Creed and Tesny Evans (Wales) 11-8, 11-6 (Group C: Vikram Malhotra and Joshna Chinappa bt Andres Herrera and Catalina Pelaez (Col) 11-7, 11-4; bt Cameron Pilley and Donna Urquhart (Aus) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7.

by Abhishek Shukla

PSPB & RBSB won All India Inter-Institutional Championships for table tennis

New Delhi, August 3: The men from Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) put up yet another title-winning performance, for the 16th occasion, to defeat the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) 3-0 in the final of the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here today.

Earlier, their women squad added their 14th crown after beating RBI 3-1. Yesterday, PSPB boys had won the Youth championship in what was a profitable venture as the qualified for the nationals to be held at Varanasi. However, the PSPB girls had to be content with the silver as RBI upstaged them to grab the gold and seal their team’s entry in the nationals.

Both finals never reached the dizzy heights as they had turned out to be completely a one-sided affair. If there was some interested generated in the women team finals, thanks to Ayhika Mukherjee’s win over Manika Batra, there was none in the men final.

G. Sathiyan, in a zone of his own, finished his singles against Anirban Nandi in style and in double quick time. The veteran Railways player could not put up even a semblance of resistance against the rampaging Sathiyan. Equally disappointing was the second rubber when Soumyajit Ghosh went through the motions against Ravindra Kotiyan. The tall and lanky RSPB paddler, who promised a lot until a couple of years ago, was unable to shake off his self-doubts and play freely. This was evident against the shrewd Ghosh who disposed of him in straight games.

 The third singles between Harmeet Desai and E. Prabhakaran also went the PSPB way as one had anticipated. Prabhakaran, a gritty fighter, managed to win the second game, but the aggressive Harmeet did not give any liberty in the third and in the next to shut out whatever little challenge seemed to be brewing.

It was unfortunate that Railways had to satisfy yet again with the silver but their performance was far better than the previous edition at Jaipur. That will give them the much-needed confidence for them to do well in the future.

Manika, an aberration

Despite an indifferent start provided by Manika Batra—she lost her opening rubber to Ayhika Mukherjee—PSPB had the bench strength to pulled it off without much ado as Madhurika Patkar, who both her singles, first defeated Akula Sreeja and then accounted for Ayhika. In between Pooja Sahasrabuddhe ensured that she did her job to perfection, beating Amrutha Pushpak.

Manika, who lost to Takeme Sarkar in the semifinal yesterday, seemed to have gone into her shell after taking the first game. Ayhika, relatively inexperienced as compared to the former national champion, not only levelled the score but went on to mount pressure and Manika got buried under its weight. Madhurika, leading the charge like she did yesterday, had to retrieve the situation and she won the second rubber. This gave Pooja the impetus to go for the kill against Amrutha. Yet, the latter took her to some distance in a fighting third game which the former won 16-14. Returning to the table, Madhurika completed the demolition task rather easily.

Results (Team Championships):

Men: Final: Petroleum Sports Promotion Board bt Railway Sports Promotion Board 3-0 (G. Sathiyan bt Anirban Nandi 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, Soumyajit Ghosh bt Ravindra Kotiyan 11-4, 11-6, 11-4, Harmeet Desai bt E. Prabhakaran 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8).

Women: Final: Reserve Bank Sports Board bt Petroleum Sports Promotion Board 3-1 (Manika Batra lost to Ayhika Mukherjee 11-8, 7-11, 4-11, 4-11, Madhurika Patkar bt Akula Sreeja 11-9, 12-10, 11-4, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe bt Amrutha Pushpak 11-4, 11-7, 16-14, Madhurika Patkar bt Ayhika Mukherjee11-4, 11-4, 11-9).

by Abhishek Shukla

Clubs Allowed To Register Six Foreigners In Hero I-League

NEW DELHI: The AIFF Executive Committee have taken the final decision with regards to the number of foreign players in the upcoming Hero I-League 2017-18.

  • The clubs will be allowed to register 6 (six) foreign players out of which at least 2 (two) players have to be from an AFC member Association
  • The clubs can field maximum 5 (five) foreign players in a match out of which minimum 1 (one) player has to be from an AFC Member Association.

 

by Abhishek Shukla

PSPB Men & Women reign supreme on day 1 of All India Inter-Institutional Championships

New Delhi, August 1: As expected Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) topped group A with a clean slate, beating FCI and Ordinance Factory Sports Control Board with an identical margin of 3-0 and sounded a huge warning to the rest of teams in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships, which began at the Table Tennis Foundation hall here today.

It was business as usual for Airports Authority of India in group B as they defeated LIC and All India Electricity Board 3-0, respectively to top their group. RBI accounted for ESIC 3-1 and bet Ministry of Communications and IT 3-0 in group C. RSPB in group D retained the top slot with 3-0 wins over Defence Accounts and Department of Atomic Energy.

In group E, Canara Bank struggled past Air India 3-2 while it was a 3-0 cakewalk against BSNL and in the last group F, which consists of four teams, Indian Audit emerged on top with 3-2 triumph over Central Revenue and then beat both Air Force Sports Control Board and Major Ports Control Board 3-0 to move into the second stage. The second teams that qualified include FCI, IC, ESIC, Defence Accounts, Air India and Central Revenue.

With the top four teams getting first round byes, PSPB, AAI, RBI and RSPB will have the luxury of some rest before resuming their intense battle for the team title from second round onwards.

On the distaff side, it was a struggle for the PSPB team to begin with. However, three match points loss to Sanya Sehgal of Indian Audit against former national champion Poulami Ghatak meant a lease line for the champion side as they went on the strength of Manika Batra, who equalled the score after Archana Kamath went down to Swetha Kumaravel 5-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 10-12.

In the third rubber, Sanya was sitting pretty in the decider and had three match points but she squandered them to let Poulami off the hook as she won three deuces 11-9, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 15-13. Then Manika accounted for Swetha in her reverse singles to shut the door on Indian Audit. But for this stuttering start for PSPB, other women teams went through the motions to post easy wins. Despite one more round remaining to be played tomorrow, one does not see much of a change in the script of top teams qualifying for the second round. As of now, PSPB with two wins, like most others, are through to the second stage. But a clear picture on the second teams will be known only tomorrow.

But the story of the day could well be the open draw for the seeded players in singles which begin from the day after. The draw has thrown open the possibility of top-seeded Sharath Kamal running early into Anthony Amalraj (No. 16 seed) in the pre-quarters and Soumyajit Ghosh (No. 8) in the quarters. On the other hand, No. 2 seed G. Sathiyan is not expected to face any early troubles from the bottom half.

Top-8 seeds:

Men: A Sharath Kamal, G. Sathiyan, Arjun Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Raj Mondal, Sougata Sarkar, Subhajit Saha, Soumyajit Ghosh.

Women: Madhurika Patkar, Suthirtha Mukherjee, Pooja Shasrabuddhe, Akula Sreeja, Poulami Ghatak, Manika btra, Takeme Sarkar and Archana Kamath.

by Abhishek Shukla

Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal wins in first round World Doubles squash championship

Manchester: Second seed Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik made a flying start to their campaign with an easy 11-4, 11-5 win over the Colombian pair of Pelaez and Tovar in a Group B league here on Tuesday in the WSF-World Doubles squash championship.

The Indian pair, the second seed, needed just 14 minutes to complete their opening fixture in this three-team Group on a winning note.

Later Joshna teaming up with Vikram Malhotra in the mixed doubles won the first match in Group C against Leiper and Hallama of Scotland rather comfortably at 11-5, 11-6.

by Abhishek Shukla

Harinder pal Sandhu improved his ranking

Chennai: Harinder Pal Sandhu earned the reward for his recent performances_ two PSA title wins in July by jumping 12 rungs to be at 65 as per the August rankings issued by the Squash’s professional body, PSA today.

Currently among Indian male playersd, he is ranked third behind Saurav Ghosal (27) and Vikram Malhotra (63), both of whom remained where they were last month. Mahesh Mangaonkar dropped a place to 67.

However Joshna Chinappa remains the highest ranked Indian at 14. Her position has remained unchanged as was Dipika Pallikal Karthik’s (22). As for the rest, Sachika Ingale was at 84, Akanksha Saluankhe 129 and Sunayna Kuruvilla 156.

by Abhishek Shukla

Sharath prefers singles in All India Inter-Institutional Championships

New Delhi, July 31: Achanta Sharath Kamal has cleverly preferred singles in the LPS Bossard 47th All India Inter-Institutional Championships, starting at the Table Tennis Foundation tomorrow, giving a skip to the team event.  The top-ranked Indian in the world at No. 43, who turned 35 early this month, knew what suits him best at this stage and how long and well he can contribute to Indian table tennis.

Yet his absence in the team championships will, in no way, stop the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) juggernaut from adding the 16th title this year. In fact, his absence should serve as an opportunity to G. Sathiyan, Soumyajit Ghosh, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Subhajit Saha to keep the team flag flying high. Even otherwise, there is hardly a team that looks like derailing PSPB’s plans despite the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), who failed to qualify for the final last season and thus losing the opportunity in many years to compete in the senior nationals at Manesar (Haryana), strategizing differently this time.

Railways, instead of the usual mixed camp, had one camp for the women at Kolkata and another for their men at Bengaluru, plotting to secure a better position, if not try and upset the PSPB applecart. However, runners-up Airports Authority of India (AAI), with Sushmit Sriram, Sarthak Gandhi, Arjun Ghosh, Anirban Ghosh and Abhinav Belwal, look more compact and could be the team to pose questions to the superiority of PSPB.

In effect, it will be a contest between PSPB and AAI in the men while the rest of team in fray will merely look ahead to improve their last year’s positions. This means the focus, after the three-day team championships, will shift to the singles showdown where PSPB paddlers like Sathiyan, Ghosh, Harmeet and Amalraj with Sharath in fray, will be fiercely competing.

As for the women’s fare, PSPB will be spearheaded by reigning national champion Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra, Pooja Sahasrabuddhe, young Archana Kamath and veteran and former national champion Poulami Ghatak. They are obviously the best available from the PSPB pool and will aim to add their 14th silverware in team championships. But one cannot rule out the vulnerability in crunch situations as one witnessed during the Manesar senior nationals despite their opponents, including AAI, not posing any real threat on paper at least.

With 19 teams competing in men section, they have been divided into six groups of three each and four while the 13 teams in women’s category are bunched in four, led by PSPB in group A which has three teams.

In Youth team events, where only three and four teams each figure in Boys and Girls, respectively, the contest for title seems to be between PSPB and AAI in boys while in girls category, it could be between PSPB and RBI with AAI a third distant possibility. Both the boys and girls team championships will be a round-robin affair.

If Archana, who was part of AAI last year, has shifted the scales in favour of PSPB, RBI has the liks of Sreeja Akula, Ayhika Mukherjee and Harshavardhini and Priyadarshini Das. Similarly, PSPB have Manav Thakkar leading the charge with Ronit Bhanja, Birdie Boro and Utkarsh Gupta while AAI will look up to Anirban Ghosh, chopper Lalrin Puia, Snehit Suravajjala and Manush Shah, the last two named finishing among medals at the Jordan Junior and Cadet Open at Amman.

The doubles events—two teams in men and women and four in mixed allowed—may not be as glamourous but they do offer reasonable prize money in each category to motivate all top pairs to compete. The total prize purse of the championships will be Rs. 4.25 lakh.

“We will be using both STAG and DHS balls for the team events and singles, respectively, while Stag flooring and tables will be used during the championships,” said competition manager Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer. A.S. Kler will be the chief referee and he will be assisted by deputy referees Sridhar Srinivasan, Arundati Brahmachari and N.K. Lahiry along with 30 technical officials, including Blue Badge, International and national umpires, from all around the country.

The opening day matches are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. with the men team events.

by Abhishek Shukla

34 PLAYERS ARE CALLED FOR SENIOR NATIONAL TEAM CAMP IN CHENNAI

NEW DELHI, 31st JULY 2017: The Indian Senior National Team will be camping in Chennai prior to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifiers fixture which is scheduled on September 5, 2017.

After back-to-back wins against Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic in the first two fixtures, India will fly to Macau for their third match in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Qualifiers Group A match.

The boys would be assembling in Chennai on August 11, 2017.

Meanwhile, it’ll be the first Senior National Team Camp for Sarthak Golui, Davinder Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Anirudh Thapa and Manvir Singh who showed their grit in the recently-concluded AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers in Doha.

Out of the 34 players who are called upon by Constantine for the forthcoming camp, there’ll be 10 players who donned the National colour in the recently-AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers in Doha.

The list of probables stays as follows:

GOALKEEPERS: Subrata Paul, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Albino Gomes, Vishal Kaith, TP Rehenesh

DEFENDERS: Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Arnab Mondal, Anas Edathodika, Narayan Das, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Lalruatthara, Salam Ranjan Singh, Sarthak Golui, Davinder Singh

MIDFIELDERS: Dhanapal Ganesh, Jackichand Singh, Seityasen Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Bikash Jairu, Milan Singh, Udanta Singh, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, Md. Rafique, Rowllin Borges, Halicharan Narzary, Germanpreet Singh, Anirudh Thapa

FORWARDS: Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh, Balwant Singh, Manvir Singh

by Abhishek Shukla

Bidyananda, Robinson sign with Bengaluru FC

Bengaluru: Federation Cup champions Bengaluru Football Club, on Monday, announced the signings of midfielders Bidyananda Singh and Robinson Singh on two year contracts. While Bidyananda joins from ISL side Atletico De Kolkata, Robinson Singh joins the Blues from Mohun Bagan.

A defensive midfielder who progressed through the AIFF Academy ranks, Bidyananda joins the Blues after having represented India at the U13, U14, U15, U16 and U17 sides. The 19-year-old faced the Blues while playing for the AIFF U19s in a friendly in Bengaluru in 2015, a match in which he found the net.

“Bengaluru FC are the best in India and it is a big moment for me to sign for a club that wins trophies and competes with the best in Asia every season. I’m happy to get this opportunity and I’m looking forward to making the most of it,” said Bidyananda following the move.

Robinson, meanwhile, joins the Blues having represented Mohun Bagan for the last two seasons. The 20-year-old has also represented India at the U16, U17 and U19 levels. He was also part of the India team that took part in the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers in Doha, earlier in July.

“I’ve always believed that a move to BFC would be the best path for my career. In terms of the coaching, the professionalism and every aspect of football, this is the right place to be for any young footballer. This move is one that I’ve been working hard for, for a long time,” said Robinson.

by Abhishek Shukla

Super Boxing League: Delhi Gladiators, Haryana Warriors, Maratha Yoddhas & North East Tigers qualify for semi-finals

New Delhi, 31 July 2017: The last round of fixtures in the league stage of the Super Boxing League determined the four teams who have qualified for the semi-finals as Delhi Gladiators and North East Tigers won their respective matches to top Group A and Group B respectively.

 

It has been an exciting four weeks of boxing action here at Siri Fort Squash and Badminton Stadium which has also seen Haryana Warriors and Maratha Yoddhas register their berths in the semi-finals of the inaugural edition of the Super Boxing League. The penultimate weekend started with the Delhi Gladiators drawing their match against the OPM Punjab Sultans 9-9 to make it 7 points from their three matches to take top spot in Group A. OPM Punjab Sultans failed to qualify for the semi-finals as they could only play out a draw with Gladiators, on a night where they needed to win by a huge margin. It meant that Haryana Warriors qualified as the runners-up team in the Group with 6 points from their three games.

 

In Group B, Mumbai Assassins and Bahubali Boxers ended their campaign with a 9-9 draw as both the teams failed to win any of their three matches in the league, staying at the bottom of Group B with a point each. However, Sunday night determined the Group B toppers as North East Tigers beat Maratha Yoddhas 11-8 to maintain their 100% record in the league. North East Tigers and Maratha Yoddhas finished with 9 points and 6 points respectively from their three matches.

 

In the semi-finals, it will be Group A winners Delhi Gladiators who take on Group B runners-up Maratha Yoddhas on August 5 while Group B winners North East Tigers will face Group A runners-up Haryana Warriors on August 6.

 

Here is the semi-finals line-up for the next weekend of Super Boxing League:

 

Saturday 5th August, 2017 – Delhi Gladiators vs Maratha Yoddhas

Sunday 6th August, 2017 – North East Tigers vs Haryana Warriors

 

Please find below the Points Table at the conclusion of group stage of Super Boxing League:

GROUP A

TEAM P W D L PF PA PD PTS
DELHI GLADIATORS 3 2 1 0 40 15 25 7
HARYANA WARRIORS 3 2 0 1 36 21 15 6
OPM PUNJAB SULTANS 3 1 1 1 30 30 0 4
UP TERMINATORS 3 0 0 3 9 49 -40 0

GROUP B

TEAM P W D L PF PA PD PTS
NORTH-EAST TIGERS 3 3 0 0 35 23 12 9
MARATHA YODDHAS 3 2 0 1 32 26 6 6
MUMBAI ASSASSINS 3 0 1 2 24 33 -9 1
BAHUBALI BOXERS 3 0 1 2 24 33 -9 1
by Abhishek Shukla

Super Boxing League: North East Tigers beat Maratha Yoddhas 11-8 to clinch top spot in Group B

New Delhi, 30 July 2017: Action in the Super Boxing League continued tonight as the Maratha Yoddhas took on the North East Tigers in the last match of the league for both teams in Group B encounter here at the Siri Fort Squash & Badminton Stadium. It was the North East Tigers who won the match 11-8 as Indian Hockey team captain and goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh and one of the best drag-flickers in the world, Rupinder Pal Singh witnessed the action alongside Olympian boxer and Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Akhil Kumar.

It was Zoengmawia, Asha Roka, and Jitender Nandal who had given North East Tigers a 10-7 lead after five bouts as Basant Thapa and Ashish Ahlawat drew their bouts. Deepak Tanwar got a Knock Out victory for his side as Mahesh Digari and Parminder Singh also managed to draw their respective bouts which meant that the North East Tigers won the match 11-8.

 

The first bout of the night was between Satnam Singh from the Maratha Yoddhas and Zoengmawia from the North East Tigers in the Feather Weight category. The boxer from the North East Tigers, Zoengmawia started the bout strongly as he threw some good combinations on his opponent in Round 1 & 2 to set the rhythm for his team. Maratha Yoddhas’ Satnam Singh also impressed in Round 3 as he was looking to hit the youngster Zoengmawia on the counter. Round 4 saw Zoengmawia keep up his good work as he threw some nasty punches to seal the match by Unanimous Decision to give the North East Tigers a 3-0 lead.

 

In the second bout of the night, it was up to Maratha Yoddhas’ Mahesh Digari to cut down the lead for his team as he faced Basant Thapa from the North East Tigers in the Welter Weight category. Both the boxers started Round 1 with some good energy as they tried hitting each other on the counter; and both of them landed some huge blows. Round 2 & 3 were equally spread between the two pugilists as they both hit each other with some beautiful combinations, uppercuts and jabs. Neither of the boxers gave up the fight as they hit each other with some flurry of punches to make it a difficult fight to judge for the referees. In the end, the bout ended in a Draw as both teams were awarded a point each to make it 3-1 in Tigers’ favour.

 

The next bout was the most exciting one of the night as North East Tigers’ Asha Roka faced Maratha Yoddhas’ Luxmi in the Super Fly category. It was Tigers’ skipper Asha Roka who started the bout on the front foot by smacking some beautiful combinations on Luxmi. The latter seemed to have lost some composure in Round 2 as Roka continued her form.  Round 3 & 4 were dominated again by Asha Roka as she got into a good rhythm but Luxmi held on to last all the four Rounds and did not get Knocked Out. At the end of four Rounds, it was Asha Roka who was awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision to get the three points for her team as the scores read 7-1 in Tigers’ favour.

 

In the fourth fight of the night, it was upto Maratha Yoddhas’ skipper Deepak Tanwar to bring his team back into the match as he faced North East Tigers’ Ankit Janghu in the Middle Weight category. And Deepak Tanwar did not disappoint his team and his fans as he started the fight aggressively and was looking for a Knock Out. He maintained a good speed and thrust in the first two Rounds to push debutant Ankit Janghu on the back foot. Tanwar got into a great rhythm by Round 3 and he made the most of it by Knocking Out Janghu to win the bout by Knock Out to equalise the scores on the night 7-7.

 

In the fifth bout, it was North East Tigers’ Vivek Jangra who faced Maratha Yoddhas’ Jitender Nandal in the Super Middle Weight category. It was an important bout for both the teams as a win for either team would put them into the lead. It was Tigers’ Nandal who started the bout confidently as he aimed to get the top spot in the Group for his team. The Tigers’ man took an aggressive approach, which saw him dominate most of the fight with some amazing combinations. At the end of four Rounds, it was Jitender Nandal who was awarded the victory by Unanimous Decision to give the lead to his side North East Tigers 10-7.

 

In the deciding bout of the night, it was Maratha Yoddhas’ Parminder Singh who was up against North East Tigers’ Ashish Ahlawat in the Heavy Weight category. Tigers’ Ahlawat started the fight strongly in Round 1 & 2 as he hit a flurry of punches on Singh. But Yoddhas’ Parminder Singh fought through the bout even though he was bleeding heavily after a punch caught him on his head. Singh made a comeback into the bout and dominated the third and fourth Rounds to take the upper hand as Ahlawat struggled. In the end, both the boxers were awarded a point each as the bout finished in a Draw to make the scoreline 11-8 in favour of the North East Tigers.

 

by Abhishek Shukla

Indians dominate Jordan Open TT, juniors return with 24 medals

New Delhi, July 30: Against all odds and expectations, India dominated matters in the junior events, winning titles after titles, in the 2017 Jordar and Junior Cadet Open in Amman, which concluded yesterday.

The only exception was in the Cadet competitions where Chinese Taipei ruled the proceedings. Yet, India bagged seven gold medals, seven silver and 10 bronze to complete a sweep of sorts, making the trip to Amman most profitable.

But for Hsu p-Hsuan, who stopped the Indian surge, Payas Jain would have added one more to the gold tally but had to be satisfied with the silver after going down to the Taipei boy 4-11, 6-11, 6-11 in the Cadet singles final.

Even the team title was denied to India in the Cadet section when Payas, Yashansh Malik and Chinmaya Somaiya found the going tough against Hsu Po-Hsuan, Lin Yen-Cun and Peng Chih who claimed team gold, leaving India the second best finishers.

However, the Indian girls, following the footsteps of the boys’ team, ensured team title besides the Hopes Boys and Hopes Girls (Cadet) adding to the golden kitty on the concluding day. Payas overcame Iran’s Mohammad Amin Samadi to win the boys singles title with a 11-5, 11-9, 12-10 triumph while Anargya Manjunath grabbed the singles crown when she scored a 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 12-10 victory over Taipei’s Cheng Pu-Syuan in a needle final contest.

Following their impressive Junior Boys crown, Jeet Chandra, Manush Shah and ParthVirmani, the ‘A’ team India beat their counterparts in ‘B’ 3-1 to finish 1-2 in that order. Team B consisted of Snehit Suravajjula, Anukram Jain, Shivaji Roy and Mudit Dani.

Jeet beat both Shivaji (11-4, 11-8, 11-6) and Snehit (14-12, 12-10, 13-11), all extended sets, while Parth accounted for Snehit in the opening five-setter rubber. It was, indeed, a surprise as Snehit suffered three consecutive defeats, despite being the owner of the singles title which he won a day before. Earlier, India ‘A’ beat Thailand 3-1 in the quarterfinals and then Qatar 3-0 in the semi-final.