Sports

Tokyo, Nov 5 (IANS) Pramod Bhagat and Nitesh Kumar will fight it out for the men's singles SL3 gold medal as Indian shuttlers made it to three finals at the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships here on Saturday.

The other Indian shuttlers to reach the summit clash as youngster Manisha Ramadass in women's singles SU5 and Manoj Sarkar, whom Bhagat will be pairing up for the men's doubles SL3-SL4 final.

Bhagat defeated Japan's Daisuke Fujiara but only after he was stretched to the limit in the first game by the local star 22-20, 21-14.

In the other semifinal, Nitesh got the better of former Worlds bronze medallist Sarkar 21-10, 21-13 to reach his first World Championship final in singles event.

"It was a good match. I was confident of pulling off the match right from the start. But I was also aware of Manoj Bhaiya's ability; he could make a comeback at any point. It feels good to enter my first singles final in a World Championships," said Nitesh, who himself is a coach in an academy in Karnal, Haryana.

"We play quite often and know each other's games. So tomorrow, the plan will be not to make any mistakes," added Nitesh of his final against Bhagat.

Dream debut

Meanwhile, it is turning out to be a dream debut for promising Ramadass who entered the final of women's singles SU5 final. The 17-year-old overcame a second-game scare from Denmark's Cathrine Rosengren to win it 21-19, 17-21, 21-17.

Otherwise, India encountered several upsets on the day, with defending champions Manasi Joshi and second seed Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan crashing out of the World Championship losing their respective women's singles last-four matches.

After losing his men's singles SH6 and men's doubles SH6 quarterfinals, Paralympic champion Krishna Nagar faltered in the mixed doubles SH6 semifinal along with Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan losing to Peru's Nilton Quispe Ignacio and Giuliana Poveda Flores 21-16, 21-18.

In men's singles SL4, Sukant Kadam exited too with a 22-20, 21-15 loss to Indonesia's Fredy Setiawan, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) informed in a release on Saturday.

In women's semifinal SH6, Sivan fought hard but wasn't enough as she lost against Rina Marlina 21-19, 12-21, 21- 19, while Joshi faltered against Ukrainian Oksana Kozyna in straight games 18-21, 18-21 in yet another upset.

On the other hand, Turkey's Halime Yildiz made light work of seasoned star Parul Parmar 21-11, 21-6 while the men's doubles SU5 pairs of Rajkumar and Chirag Baretha and Hardik Makkar and Ruthick Ragupathi lost their matches too.

The finals will be played at the Yoyogi Stadium on Sunday.

--IANS

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Paris, Nov 5 (IANS) Holger Rune took his stellar late-season form to another level on Saturday at the Paris Masters, where he snapped Felix Auger-Aliassime's 16-match winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 victory to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final, here.

Rune took control early in a meeting between two of the in-form players on the ATP Tour, using his aggressive groundstrokes to dictate play wherever possible and heap pressure on the Auger-Aliassime serve.

Both players were competing for a spot in their fourth consecutive ATP Tour final, but the 19-year-old Rune converted three of eight break points to wrap up a comprehensive 88-minute win.

"It was an unbelievable match from my side today. I really was sticking to the game plan for the whole match and just taking every chance I got. Putting Felix under pressure, that's what my game plan was all about, and I managed to do it almost perfectly. I am super proud of how I handled everything," said Rune after the match.

Having moved past Hubert Hurkacz, Andrey Rublev, Carlos Alcaraz and Auger-Aliassime in his past four matches in Paris, Rune will now aim for five Top 10 victories in as many days in Sunday's championship match.

His opponent will be six-time Paris champion Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas, with a win for Rune set to lift the 19-year-old into the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday.

Saturday's semifinal was the second meeting between Rune and Auger-Aliassime in the space of six days, following the latter's straight-sets triumph in the Basel final on Sunday. Yet the Canadian could not match Rune's intensity or quality in Paris as the Dane convincingly halted Auger-Aliassime's unbeaten run.

Rune had been unable to break the Auger-Aliassime serve across two tight sets in Basel but he was able to forge a breakthrough in just the third game of the match this time around.

A combination of some smart returning and Auger-Aliassime netting a straightforward forehand drive volley on break point gave the Dane a 2-1 lead, and he held on comfortably to claim a set in which he made 89 percent (24/27) of first serves.

Despite some flashes of brilliance, Auger-Aliassime struggled to match the level he had shown throughout his remarkable winning streak. The Florence, Antwerp and Basel champion could find no way to regularly counter Rune's forays to the net, and the Dane raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set en route to completing his 18th tour-level win in 20 matches.

That strong recent record includes Rune winning his second ATP Tour title in Stockholm, in between runs to the championship match in Sofia and Basel.

His exploits this week in Paris have lifted the 19-year-old six spots to No.12 in the ATP Live Rankings, and the Dane's excellent performances have also strengthened his position as one of the favourites for next week's Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

--IANS

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Mumbai, Nov 5 (IANS) Senior India player Shikhar Dhawan gave a rare glimpse into the life of Virat Kohli on Saturday, saying that the former India captain had to dig deep into his process to get out of the long slump that he went through recently.

Kohli had not scored a hundred for nearly three years before getting his 71st international hundred in a Super Four Game of Asia Cup 2022 against Afghanistan in August.

Dhawan said all cricketers go through such a phase during their career and it is the process that they have believed in from their formative years.

"When someone does not perform, you go through stress. You dig deeper and go through self-reflection. Every phase in life teaches you something and it is about the journey and not the destination. Once the individual realises that it is about the journey, it is more fun," Dhawan said on the matter.

After getting back his form in the Asia Cup 2022, Kohli has gone from strength to strength and is currently doing well in the ongoing Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

Asked about Kohli's change of fortune from the Pakistan game in the T20 World Cup, Dhawan said that for a cricketer like Virat Kohli, it was more important to follow the process rather than listen to the criticism about his performances.

"Fans believe in the end result and their emotions are moulded by the end result, but cricketers do not think that way. They have their process, and they believe in it and that is where the difference lies.

"As a sportsman, you have to have the strength and willpower to shield yourself from negative comments. If you start getting affected by it, your positivity goes away," Dhawan explained how a player deals with criticism.

The batter wished Kohli on his 34th birthday and wished him the best of luck for his future. "Virat Kohli is doing very well in this tournament, so many congratulations to him. I wish him a very happy birthday, from the depth of my heart. India is peaking at the right time and I am rooting for them," Dhawan said.

Dhawan said Kohli's self-belief, strong willpower and positive mindset helped him overcome the rough patch.

"Virat's self-belief is very strong, his mindset is very positive when you talk to him and it's all about how you talk to yourself. You can be your best friend or your own victim, that is totally dependent on you. He is quite disciplined as well, he ate everything and was quite fat and he changed all of that with his willpower. This mixed with his skill got him success," Dhawan said in the India Today Conclave on Saturday.

Asked if there was something special about Delhi players, Dhawan said that it was their bold attitude in the field that sets them apart.

"For the players from Delhi belt, that have strength and boldness to perform that is why Delhi players are special," Dhawan said.

--IANS

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Sydney, Nov 5 (IANS) Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka feels his side played good cricket in patches at the Men's T20 World Cup 2022 but primarily injuries to key players hampered their chances of winning the title in Australia.

The 2010 World T20 winner England held their nerves to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in their final Super 12 game at the Sydney Cricket Ground and book their berth in the semifinals of the Men's T20 World Cup 2022 on Saturday.

Sri Lanka were already out of the semifinal race before the game and with the loss, they ended their campaign on a disappointing note. The Dasun Shanaka-led side won just two games out of their five super 12 matches.

"We played good cricket in patches but we started with a few injuries so it cost us the tournament. Our main fast bowlers who played in the Asia Cup got injured. If the injuries were not there, we could have done better," said Shanaka at the post-match presentation.

The skipper highlighted the areas where the team needs improvement going forward.

"When we go home, we have to certainly polish up the areas where we didn't do well. Hasaranga has been outstanding throughout and Theekshana, both are doing the job for us. The thing is the other bowlers. Today Lahiru Kumara and Kasun Rajitha bowled well in the latter part and Dhananjaya de Silva but still, there are other areas to improve," he said.

"Power-hitting is a key area that we make sure when we come to the next World Cup, we have to get that power from somewhere and look for new talents. Catching has been a problem in this tournament, but in the last year we have been outstanding so we have to polish that as well," he added.

The Sri Lankan captain thanked the spectators, who supported the team throughout the World Cup

"I must thank the colourful and wonderful spectators who have been supporting the team throughout this World Cup. Everywhere we go, they follow us. The supporters back home, I must thank them as well, so a big cheer for them," said Shanaka.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) Indian boxers Kapil Pokhariya and Sparsh Kumar bow out of ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships after losing their respective Round of 16 bouts in Amman, Jordan on Thursday.

According to information received here, Kapil (86 kg), who was making his international debut, was up against Iran's Pouria Amiri.

The boxer from Uttarakhand started the bout in an attacking fashion and dominated his opponent to comfortably win the first round.

His Iranian opponent showed his experience and came back strongly in the second round with a flurry of relentless punches. Kapil tried to counter-attack but conceded a lot of punches in the process. Pouria continued to control the bout against a tired Kapil and secured a comfortable 5-0 win.

Late on Wednesday night, Sparsh (51kg) went down fighting and lost the bout 1-4 against the Olympic bronze medallist and reigning World Champion Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan.

Later on Thursday night, Savita (50kg) will be in action against the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Tsukimi Namiki of Japan in the pre-quarterfinal bout.

Five Indian men boxers including 5-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will be in action on Friday. The other four boxers who will take the ring are Ananta Chopade (54kg), Etash Khan (60kg), Amit Kumar (67kg) and Sachin (71kg). All of them will be playing in the pre-quarterfinal bouts.

The competition is witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.

--IANS

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Sydney, Nov 3 (IANS) Shadab Khan produced a brilliant all-round show while Iftikhar Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi played their roles to perfection to keep Pakistans slim semifinal hopes alive in the Men's T20 World Cup with a 33-run victory over South Africa via DLS method in a rain-reduced Group 2 match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.

The victory for Pakistan, who made 185/9 in 20 overs and restricted South Africa to 108/9 in 14 overs as per the adjustments by the DLS method, in Super 12s also meant that they maintained their perfect record over the Proteas in the history of Men's T20 World Cups with their fourth victory in as many meetings. Pakistan are now in third place in Group 2 points table, pushing Bangladesh to fourth place.

On a chilly evening, South Africa made early strikes to push Pakistan on the back foot. Captain Babar Azam (6), Mohammad Rizwan (4) and Shan Masood (2) fell to Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell and Anrich Nortje respectively.

Young right-handed batter Mohammad Haris, who had earlier come into the squad as a replacement for Fakhar Zaman in the 15-man squad, entertained a near full-house crowd for some time with his 11-ball knock of 28, laced with two fours and three sixes at a strike-rate of 254.55 before being trapped lbw by Nortje.

Iftikhar stepped up to resurrect Pakistan's innings as he built a 52-run stand with Mohammad Nawaz (28 off 22 balls) and then established a crucial 82-run stand off just 35 balls for the sixth wicket with Shadab, who struck the second fastest fifty by a batter from the country in T20Is, to take Pakistan to 185/9, which looked absolutely impossible at one point.

While Iftikhar scored 51 from 35 deliveries, hitting three fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 145.71, Shadab's knock proved to be the game-changer for Pakistan as he smashed 52 from just 22 deliveries, including three fours and four sixes at a strike-rate of 236.36. The duo's efforts helped Pakistan get a very challenging total.

They were also helped by a sloppy fielding performance from South Africa, who squandered a good start with the ball in power-play. They dropped five catches apart from several fumbles on a greasy outfield.

In reply, Shaheen dismissed Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw cheaply in the first three overs. But captain Temba Bavuma shrugged off his lean form with a 19-ball 36, hitting four fours and a six to lead the chase well until Shadab arrived in the eighth over.

In his first over of the night, Shadab found Bavuma's outside edge as the keeper completed the catch. One brought two for the leg-spinner when Aiden Markram was castled for 20. By the time play was interrupted due to rain after nine overs, South Africa were 69/4.

An hour's interruption caused by rain cut six overs from the chase and when play resumed South Africa needed 75 runs off the remaining five overs, with the target readjusted to 142 in 14 overs as per the DLS method.

Tristan Stubbs and Heinrich Klaasen, who came in as David Miller was ruled out to back spasms, hung around to hit some boundaries. But the pressure of a high asking rate was always going to be huge as Shaheen, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf picked up wickets in impressive fashion for Pakistan to stay alive in the race for the semifinals.

Pakistan now need to win their next match against Bangladesh at Adelaide on Sunday and then hope that either India or South Africa lose their final Group 2 matches to Zimbabwe and Netherlands respectively.

South Africa now need to defeat the Netherlands at Adelaide on Sunday, with their match happening before the Pakistan-Bangladesh clash on the same day to be in the reckoning for the last-four stage.

Brief scores: Pakistan 185/9 in 20 overs (Shadab Khan 52, Iftikhar Ahmed 51; Anrich Nortje 4/41, Wayne Parnell 1/31) beat South Africa 108/9 in 14 overs (Temba Bavuma 36, Aiden Markram 20; Shaheen Shah Afridi 3/14, Shadab Khan 2/16) by 33 runs (via DLS method)

--IANS

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Bengaluru, Nov 3 (IANS) The Haryana Steelers head coach Manpreet Singh termed his team's thrilling 29-27 victory over Bengaluru Bulls in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 as a result of working on their mistakes and expected it to be a confidence-builder for his team.

Speaking about their victory on Tuesday, Manpreet Singh said, "A team will always go through ups and downs in a league. We have lost a lot of close games in this competition, but we worked on our mistakes and now we are on the right side of the result and the win has come against a good team in the tournament."

The head coach also heaped praise on Bengaluru Bulls' head coach Randhir Singh, "I have a lot of respect for Randhir Singh. He is a really good person and a good coach. He helps people a lot. He has produced a lot of good players as well. So, for us to win against Randhir Singh's team will give us a lot of confidence."

The match between Patna Pirates and U Mumba will be a cracker of a contest as both sides are in stupendous form. While raider Sachin will lead the charge for the Pirates, U Mumba's defender Rinku will pose a strong challenge for the Patna side.

The Dabang Delhi K.C. and Jaipur Pink Panthers will be desperate to end their losing streaks when they face off against each other. Naveen Kumar will be the key player for Delhi, while Jaipur will bank on their star raider Arjun Deshwal.

The Puneri Paltan will be hoping to continue their form after registering a victory against Delhi in their last game. However, the Pune side will face stiff competition from U.P. Yoddhas' raiders Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill.

--IANS

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Thiruvanthapuram, Nov 3 (IANS) Ahead of the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar from November 20 to December 18, the Kerala government has announced a basic football training progamme for one lakh school students across the state.

State Sports Minister V. Abdurahman announced the scheme named 'One million goals' which is being implemented by the State Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs and Sports Council with help from educational institutions and local self governments.

"Students aged between 10 and 12 years will be given football training as part of the 'One Million Goal' programme which will run from November 11 to 20. A total of 100 children each will be trained in 1,000 centres for 10 days," said Abdurahman.

He added that those who excel in the training camps will continue to get professional training.

The campaign will be assisted by former footballers from the state who have been selected as 'One Million Goal' ambassadors in each of the 14 districts to lead the training programme.

The minister also pointed out that a special scheme called 'Goal' will be launched later wherein similar training will be provided to five lakh children.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 30 (IANS) Malayalam superstar Mohanlal has come up with a musical tribute to the FIFA Football World Cup, which is scheduled to begin later this year in Qatar.

Aashirvad Cinemas, the production house producing actor Mohanlal's first directorial venture 'Barroz', on Sunday made this announcement.

Taking to social media, the production house tweeted: "Releasing this October 30th 2022, from the people of God's own country, a musical tribute for the Fifa Football World Cup 2022. All for football. Football for all."

The song, which is to be released on Sunday, has been sung by Mohanlal himself. The musical video has been directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar while music for the tribute has been scored by Hesham Abdul Wahab.

Sources say that Mohanlal will be in Qatar for the launch of the music video.

--IANS
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Pune, Oct 30 (IANS) The Pune Half Marathon is set to make a grand comeback with its third edition announced for November 27, 2022 and registrations for which have begun in full swing.

This year, the event has also declared prize money of approximately Rs 28 lakh, up from Rs 21 lakh in the second edition, to be won across its race categories.

After a pandemic-induced break of two years, the marquee event of Pune's long-distance running is making a comeback and the race organisers have announced Rs 10 lakh prize for national records in the half-marathon category, for both men and women.

The Pune Half Marathon primarily features four categories, which include the half marathon (21.1km), a 10km run, a 5km run and a 3km (family and fun) run.

Vikas Singh, CEO APG Running and Fitpage said, "It gives us immense pleasure to announce the return of the half marathon. We promise our participants, volunteers and spectators that their wait of two years will be made worthwhile with a best-in-class experience this year. Also for the first time, we are introducing the fitpage app, a technology-driven endurance-first platform, for the participants. This will ensure that participants understand their current fitness levels better and start training using methods that are best suited for each individual. We are confident that the third edition is destined for a grand success."

The first edition of the half marathon saw over 15,000 registrations and the second, held in 2019, saw more than 20,000 running enthusiasts participate. Kenyan Janet Cherobon-Bawcom, the 2011 Boston Half Marathon champion, was the brand ambassador in the second edition.

--IANS

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