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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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New Delhi, Oct 30 (IANS) After a five-hour gruelling battle, 11th seed Woman Grandmaster Priyanka Nuttaki shocked top seed and former Asian women's champion Tania Sachdev, while Saina Salonika downed fourth seed and 2016 edition winner Bhakti Kulkarni in the fourth round of the Asian Continental Women's Chess Championship, currently underway at Leela Ambience Convention Hotel here.

In the Open section, top seed R. Praggnanandhaa defeated IM Pranav Anand to join overnight sole leader Leon Luke Mendonca and four others on the leaderboard. Pragganandhaa and Mendonca now have the company of compatriot Karthikeyan Murali, Harsha Bharathakoti, Turkmenistan GM Maksat Atabayev and IM Koustav Chatterjee, who are sharing the lead with three-and-a-half points.

Mendonca showed great defensive skill to hold second seed Narayanan SL, while Karthikeyan Murali outwitted Aditya Mittal in a fine crafted play with a pair of bishops. Harsha Bharthakoti joined the leaders after capitalising on crucial errors made by his Indian GM rival Sandipan Chanda, while Koustav Chatterjee had a lucky escape against Kazakh No. 1 GM Rinat Jumabayev to secure full point from the outing.

The lone non-Indian among the leaders, Atabayev got the better of Grandmaster Aryan Chopra in a long battle that ended after 90 moves.

In other important encounters in the women's section, Nandhidhaa PV beat Vantika Agrawal, while Vietnamese WGM Vo Thi Kim Phung defeated Liya Kurmangaliyeva to be joint leaders along with Priyanka, Nandhidhaa and Soumya Swaminathan, who beat Thi Mai Hung Nguyen of Vietnam in the fourth-round encounter.


Important Results Round-4 (Indians otherwise stated): Leon Luke Mendonca (3.5) drew with Narayanan SL (3); Pranav Anand (2.5) lost to R. Praggnanandhaa (3.5); Aditya Mittal (2.5) lost to Karthikeyan Murali (3.5); Koustav Chatterjee (3.5) beat Rinat Jumabayev of Kazakhstan (2.5); Raja Rithvik (3) drew with Adhiban B (3); Sandipan Chanda (2.5) lost to Harsha Bharathakoti (3.5); Shyam Sundar M (3) drew with Saparmyrat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (3); Aryan Chopra (2) lost to Maksat Atabayev of Turkmenistan (3.5); Pranesh M (2) lost to GM Sethuraman SP (3); Srihari LR (2) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (3); Abhimanyu Puranik (2.5) drew with Aditya Samant (2.5); Vokhidov Shamsiddin of Uzbekistan (3) beat Amartuvshin Ganzorig of Mongolia (2); Alisher Suleymenov of Kazakhstan (2) lost to Sanket Chakravarty (3); Samed Jaykumar Shete (3) beat Batchuluun Tsegmed of Mongolia (2); Karthik Venkataraman (2.5) drew with Nitish Belurkar (2.5).

Women's Round-4: Priyanka Nutakki (3.5) beat IM Tania Sachdev (2.5); Vantika Agrawal (2.5) lost to Nandhidhaa P V (3.5); Rakshitta Ravi (3) drew with Nilufar Yakubbaeva of Uzbekistan (3); Vo Thi Kim Phung of Vietnam (3.5) beat Liya Kurmangaliyeva of Kazakhstan (2.5); Thi Mai Hung Nguyen of Vietnam (2.5) lost to Soumya Swaminathan (3.5); Saina Salonika (3) beat Bhakti Kulkarni (2); Divya Deshmukh (2.5) drew with Cholleti Sahajasri (2.5); Kiran Manisha Mohanty (2.5) drew with Mary Ann Gomes (2.5); Padmini Rout (2.5) beat Mrudul Dehankar (1.5); Nisha Mohota (2) drew with Eesha Karavade (2).

--IANS

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Sydney, Oct 30 (IANS) New Zealand cricketer Glenn Phillips has quashed speculation that pace bowler Trent Boult could be used as a pinch-hitter during the team's ongoing campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup here, saying the Rajasthan Royals experiment is unlikely to be repeated in the national side.

New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 65 runs in a Super 12 Group 1 match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Saturday with Boult returning superb bowling figures of 4-0-13-4, while Glenn Phillips smashed a century as the Black Caps earned two points and currently lead the table with five points from three games.

Boult has recently been seen in practice sessions improving his pinch-hitting skills, prompting questions in the post-match press conference whether the pace bowler could be pushed in that role for the country.

However, Phillips said there was no such plan. "I know he did it for Rajasthan (Royals in IPL) a little bit, but I don't think he would actually enjoy that as much as you think he does. He very much enjoys the nets. My goodness, he's great fun to watch. And even when he comes out in the game, it's absolutely brilliant. But I don't think with the line-up we've got, we'll see him pinch hitting any time soon," said Phillips.

On his four-wicket haul in the match which left Sri Lanka in a shambles, Phillips said, Boult said he brings a lot of skill and energy to the team.

"He brings a phenomenal amount of energy, I'd tell you that. His bowling skills have come so far. The experience and the years that he's played, whether it's at the IPL or for international levels and anywhere around the world. He brings so much skill, so much temperament. He seems to know what the bat is going to do before he's even bowled it. He's got so many deliveries under his belt that, when they all come together and things go right, things like 4 for 13 happen. It's great to see.

"And he leads our seam attack, both him and (Tim) Southee lead it with -- it's pretty hard to find two guys that work well together like they do. Obviously we've got Lockie (Ferguson) as a bit of fire power there as well," added Phillips.


--IANS

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Perth, Oct 30 (IANS) Virat Kohli would be eyeing ICC Hall of Famer Mahela Jayawardena's record as the most prolific run-scorer across T20 World Cups when India take on South Africa in one of their most crucial Super 12 outings here later on Sunday, with the charismatic batter just 28 runs away from the landmark.

While the legendary Sri Lankan cricketer has 1,016 runs from 31 matches in T20 World Cups, Kohli is on 989 runs from just 23 games. India skipper Rohit Sharma is currently fourth in the list with 904 runs from 35 T20 World Cup games.

Following a lean phase earlier in the year, the 33-year-old Kohli found his groove in the Asia Cup in the UAE and in the bilateral series leading up to the event against Australia and South Africa, and blossomed in the game against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.

Kohli has attributed his success to fitness and meticulous preparation, and in the build-up to the tournament he had said those are the two most important things for him.

"Fitness for me is probably more important than having cricket practice. I honestly feel that having a fit body makes you think better as well," Kohli had said in the build-up to the event. "So, it could help people in their work, sport, anything. When you're fit, you just want to start your day well, look forward to doing a lot more, on an everyday basis rather than just dragging yourself through the day."

Kohli is also dubbed 'Master of the Chase' and his T20 World Cup scores while chasing fortify the point.

In chases across the five T20 World Cup campaigns, Kohli has made 541 runs at a strike rate of 135.92. Dismissed only twice in his 10 knocks, Kohli's latest match-winning chase against Pakistan means his average has soared to a staggering 270.50. Outside of an unbeaten two runs against Scotland coming in at the end of their winning chase in 2021, Kohli's lowest score is 23 (27) in Nagpur back in 2016.

Former New Zealand cricketer Ian Smith recently spoke highly about Kohli's unbeaten 82 after his chase against Pakistan.

"He's a genius, the way he plays, and he's a genius in the way he's worked the game out. And he's a genius in that he knows exactly what to do, when to do it, and when to push the go button," said Smith to ICC.

"When he finished, we had shots of him kneeling down and punching the pitch surface, punching it to relieve the pressure on himself."

As for Kohli's record chase, a failure against South Africa may just be delaying the record. When asked on Kohli's form, and the record beckoning, Proteas pace bowler Anrich Nortje re-iterated South Africa's primary focus -- to continue on their winning ways after the big win over Bangladesh.

"(We're) focused on what we have to do. That's all," said Nortje.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has questioned the umpires for their decisions during Sunday's India-Pakistan T20 World Cup 2022 encounter after a no-ball was given in the final over of the game.

The delivery proved decisive as India went on to win the game on the final ball of the match.

With 13 needed off the last 3 deliveries, left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz bowled a high full toss, which Kohli dispatched over the deep square leg fence.

The stylish batter protested after hitting the ball, asking the umpires to review it for a no-ball. The umpires eventually called it a no-ball.

Akhtar seemed unhappy with the decision and posted a cryptic tweet.

"Umpire bhaiyo, food for thought aaj raat ke liye," he tweeted.

Earlier, Kohli reiterated why he is one of the best chasers in cricket, slamming an unbeaten 82 off just 52 balls to power India to an incredible victory over Pakistan in front of 90,293 fans.

After the right-left fast-bowling duo of Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh picked three wickets each to help restrict Pakistan to 159/8 in their 20 overs, Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40) shared a match-winning stand of 113 off 77 deliveries, lifting India from 31/4 to 160/6 on the last ball to get their campaign off to a winning start.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) India won silver and a bronze in the Women's 25m Pistol Team and the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (3P) events respectively on competition day 11 of the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol at the Egypt International Olympic City (EIOC) Shooting Range in Cairo on Sunday.

With this win, India ended their Paris 2024 Olympics quota quest at two from the championship. Their tally now stands at 12 gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals.

The Women's 25m Pistol team comprising Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker and Abhidnya Ashok Patil first qualified for the top eight stage with a sixth-place finish in stage one of qualification where they totalled 873. Ukraine topped the stage with 880. They then came second with a combined effort of 443 in stage two with China topping with 444, setting up a gold medal clash with the Indians.

The Chinese however, were too good for the Indians and did not offer them a whiff of a chance in the decider winning it 16-0.

In Men's 3P, Aishwary Tomar, Swapnil Kusale and Niraj Kumar topped stage one of qualification with a combined score of 1324. In stage two though, they finished fourth with a total of 873 and were drawn against the USA in a bronze medal shoot-out. They edged that 17-15 in their favour. Norway won gold and France silver.

In the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, which had four Paris quotas up for grabs, India's Vijayveer Sidhu shot 289 in the rapid-fire round for a total of 583 to finish 11th.

Peter Florian of Germany took the eighth and final qualifying spot with a score of 584. Former Olympic silver medallist Vijay Kumar shot 581 in his comeback championship to finish in the 13th spot. Anish, the third Indian in the field was further back in 28th with a score of 575.

Also in the 3P Mixed Team event, the pair of Anjum Moudgil and Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar finished 17th with a score of 873 and Sift Kaur Samra and Swapnil Kusale shot 866 to end in the 31st spot.

--IANS

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New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar jumped in delight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after Virat Kohli led India to a nail-biting 4-wicket win over Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday.

The 73-year-old, who is part of the ICC commentary team, was standing near the boundary alongside the likes of Irfan Pathan and Kris Srikanth, and as R Ashwin hit the winning runs, Gavaskar jumped and clapped continuously in jubilation.

Irfan shared the video on Twitter and captioned it: "What scenes here at the MCG. Even the great sunny ji couldn't stop dancing. Virat you are the real king indiaaaaa. indiaaaaaaaaaa."

Virat Kohli reiterated why he is one of the best chasers in cricket, slamming an unbeaten 82 off just 53 balls to power India to an incredible victory over Pakistan in front of 90,293 fans.

After the right-left fast-bowling duo of Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh picked three wickets to help restrict Pakistan to 159/8 in their 20 overs, Kohli and Hardik Pandya (40) shared a match-winning stand of 113 off 77 deliveries, lifting India from 31/4 to chasing 160 on the last ball to get their campaign off to a winning start.


--IANS
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Melbourne, Oct 23 (IANS) In front of 90,293 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), India were in deep trouble at 31/4 in 6.1 overs. A mix-up in the middle for a non-existent single resulted in a run-out of Axar Patel, with Hardik Pandya walking in to join Virat Kohli at the crease.

Kohli and Pandya took some time before the latter drilled a straight drive off Shadab Khan and smacked two sixes over long-on and deep mid-wicket off Mohammad Nawaz, sandwiched between Kohli launching a glorious six over long-on to make it 20 runs off the 12th over.

Apart from collecting plenty of twos with Pandya, Kohli brought out his deft touch with a fine glance off Shaheen Shah Afridi, cutting off his wrists past deep-cover off Shadab and flicked past diving short fine leg off Naseem Shah to collect three quick fours, thus paving the path for him to be smiling with his arms aloft and dishing out a chasing masterclass in front of a packed MCG with equations going from 48 off the last three overs to 16 off the final over.

Captain Rohit Sharma, who was seeing all the action from the dugout after being dismissed in the Power-play, revealed that he was confident in the abilities of Pandya and Kohli and knew they can script an improbable win for India with their match-winning stand of 113 off 77 deliveries.

"When you have guys like those battle in the middle, you always believe that you're going to get the scores because Hardik has especially batted in that type of situation a lot, and Virat with his experience, with the kind of batsman he is, we always believed that these guys can pull us off from that situation."

"Of course, it was not an easy situation. We required 62 I think in five overs, which is not an easy task, and with their bowling attack, you will back those guys to get the job done," said Rohit in the post-match press conference.

With Pandya being kept in check by the Pakistan pacers, Kohli had to turn the situation around all by himself and he did by smacking back-to-back sixes off Haris Rauf in the 19th over -- a straight loft down the ground was followed by using the pace of the ball to flick off wrists over fine leg -- to make it 16 runs needed off the final over.

"But it was probably one of the best I've witnessed the partnership, and then obviously Virat was brilliant. Those two's success off Haris Rauf, I think that was the turning point. Not the turning point I would say; this is where the game actually came towards us a little bit because we always knew there was one over of spin bowling."

"So inside in the dressing room we were thinking if we can keep about 15 to 18 runs in the last over, the guy is going to be under pressure to bowl that last over. He bowled that last over against us in Asia Cup and Hardik played some shots against him."

Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz dealt a huge blow on the first ball of the final over when Pandya miscued the slog and thick edge went to cover point. On the fourth ball, Kohli smacked a waist-high full toss high over a deep square leg fence for six, which was on a no-ball.

After Nawaz conceded a wide, Kohli and Dinesh Karthik ran three byes on the free-hit delivery before the latter was stumped on the fifth ball. Nawaz conceded a wide yet again when Ravichandran Ashwin sidestepped for a down leg ball to pass and would finish off the chase with a loft over mid-off to win a thriller for India.

"Obviously it's not easy when you have to bowl the last over being a spinner and only 15 or 18 runs to defend. It's not easy. It sometimes plays both ways. The pressure is always on the bowler, I believe, in that type of situation. We held our own pretty well in the last three overs. That was good to watch," added Rohit.

Rohit also showered praise on Kohli for his astonishing knock which left people at the stadium and around the world enthralled. "From the situation, we were in, and to come out with a victory, I think it has to be one of India's best knocks, not just his best knock, because until the 13th over we were so behind the game, and the required rate was just climbing up and up."

"But to come out and chase that score was an extremely brilliant effort from Virat, and then obviously Hardik played a role there, as well. I thought both of them because these guys have played under pressure so many games for us, so they knew exactly how to handle that kind of situation, and they did pretty well in that situation."

Asked about the difference he saw between Kohli on Sunday and his struggling with his lean patch in the last two-three years, Rohit brushed aside the theory that he was struggling with form or anything else.

"He was batting as good as he was, but with him, the expectations is always so high that even if he gets a good 30 or 40, people tend to talk about it. From the team management perspective, I thought he was in good space right from the Asia Cup where he got a month off and then he came back to Asia Cup."

"He was fresh, got a brilliant hundred there, got a couple of fifties if I'm not wrong, and then leading up to the World Cup, we know the quality that he has, and he's done so well in these types of conditions in all three forms."

"He used his experience today more than anything else, staying calm under pressure, and we know how good he is when the score is in front of him. He's one of the best chasers in the world. I thought that partnership between both of these guys, the hundred-run partnership, was a game-changing moment."

--IANS

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Melbourne, Oct 23 (IANS) Long before Virat Kohli dished out a chasing masterclass of 82 not out off 53 balls in India's incredible four-wicket win over Pakistan in their first Super 12 match of Men's T20 World Cup at a sell-out Melbourne Cricket Ground, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya played crucial roles with their respective three-fers in keeping Pakistan to 159/8.

Last month, Arshdeep was viciously trolled on social media for dropping Asif Ali's catch in a tense Super Four match between the two teams at Asia Cup in Dubai. On Sunday, with the desire to make his team win, Arshdeep swung the early momentum in India's favour.

After Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded just a wide in his opening over and found some swing, Arshdeep bowled a perfect first delivery in T20 World Cup debut by trapping Babar Azam lbw for a golden duck with a full, straight delivery coming in from over the wicket.

In his next over, Arshdeep had another scalp when his short and angling away ball cramped a sluggish Mohammad Rizwan for room. The right-hander attempted to hook at it, but was hurried for pace and extra bounce as the top-edge was snapped easily by fine leg.

Arshdeep also became the first bowler to dismiss Pakistan's prolific opening pair of Azam and Rizwan for single digit scores in the same innings. He then returned later in the innings and struck on the fourth ball of his second spell, bouncing out Asif Ali, who was awkwardly looking to fend away and gave the keeper a simple catch off the glove edge.

Pandya, on the other hand, was initially hit for some boundaries. But his return in the 14th over brought more cheer for India when he had Shadab Khan and Haider Ali holing out to the outfield within five balls.

Mohammad Nawaz thrived on width from Pandya, smashing a brace of fours through the off-side. But the all-rounder had the last laugh as Nawaz went for the cut, but was cramped for room and could only nick behind to keeper. Arshdeep and Hardik led the way for India's brilliant use of the short deliveries, majorly in the back of the length region, to keep Pakistan for a score under 160 where 76m and 81m were square boundary sizes along with front boundaries at 82m, 80m and straight boundary at 79m.

Overall, the back of the length and short ball regions fetched six wickets for India, illustrating a nagging accuracy on a pitch generating swing and extra bounce while bowling tons of deliveries on the good length which yielded the most dots and contributed in stemming the run-flow of Pakistan, an aspect which pleased captain Rohit Sharma.

"That back of length, slightly back of length, slightly full, was not easy to hit, and what happened in today's game will tell you that. A lot of the guys got wickets bowling that back of length because, like I said, at the toss, as well, there was a little bit of grass on the pitch and a bit of weather, quite nippy, as well."

"So we knew if you keep hitting that length, it's going to be challenging, and that is something that we kept constantly putting in bowlers' ears, that challenge them -- if they hit you a couple of successful there, it's fine."

"Actually we got rewarded bowling that length, as well. Hardik in particular bowling that kind of length and a couple of their batters trying to play cross-batted short got the top edge, and we got the wicket, and that is something that we spoke of at the start," said Rohit in the post-match press conference.

In between, Bhuvneshwar and Arshdeep got to beat the batters too. "That felt really good. We spoke of certain things in our team meetings and stuff like that. We spoke of how we want to utilise our bigger boundary and try and challenge the batsmen a little bit. You've got to sometimes understand what the pitch is doing, as well."

"With the way Bhuvi and Arshdeep were swinging the ball, our initial plan was to just try and pitch it up and see if we can get the ball to swing. The first four or five overs was brilliant to watch, honestly. For a little while it felt like a Test match because of the way the ball was moving around and the carry in the pitch, as well. It was a good cricketing pitch," concluded Rohit.


--IANS
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Melbourne, Oct 23 (IANS) One of the best batters in the contemporary era, Virat Kohli hit an unbeaten 83 as India pulled off a miracle four-wicket nail-biting win over Pakistan in a final over at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Melbourne on Sunday.

After Virat Kohli's epic 82 not out in 53 balls, the official Twitter handle of the International Cricket Council (ICC) shared a graphic showing Kohli sitting on a throne.

"The King is back...Take a bow, Virat Kohli," the ICC wrote.

Kohli came to the crease in the second over after opener K.L Rahul (4) was undone by Naseem Shah and things looked tense for India when a fired-up Haris Rauf removed Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. India were tottering 31/3 after the end of Power-play.

But Kohli kept his nerve and, just like he has done so many times previously, expertly guided India home in front of a crowd in excess of 90,000 at the MCG in Melbourne.

India never looked like winning it, but with Kohli and Hardik Pandya at the crease, there was always an outside chance they could pull a rabbit out of the hat. Kohli and Pandya (40) shared a match-winning stand of 113 off 77 deliveries, lifting India from 31/4 to 160/6 on the last ball of the match to get their campaign off to a winning start.

There were 31 needed from the last two overs and Kohli hit Rauf for two massive sixes on the final two deliveries of the penultimate over to make the equation 16 from the final six balls.

--IANS

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