Sports

Leeds, Nov 7 (IANS) Though England have reached the semifinals of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, their journey has not been as smooth as they would have liked. England pipped Australia to the second spot in the Super 12 Group 1 on Net Run Rate and along with New Zealand to the last four stage and set up a clash with India.

However, England are yet to put up a complete performance in the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup as they had lost to Ireland by five runs. The abandoned match against arch-rivals Australia too made things difficult for them. Their batting is one of the elements that has not clicked much and is the main reason for the rough ride in Australia.

England spinner Moeen Ali, however, sees a silver lining in the uncomfortable ride to the semifinals as previous teams have romped to the last-four stage but have fizzled out after that.

"I don't think we've played that well in the whole tournament. But we got the job done. We wanted to get to the semis. In the past, we've played well and got through. This time I don't think we've played well but we've got through and I feel the best is yet to come with this side, the best performance," Moeen Ali was quoted as saying in a report by Yorkshire Post newspaper.

The England all-rounder said though England may not have performed as strongly as they would have liked, the semifinal is the right time for them to put their act together.

"I don't think we've really been near where we want to be, but now is a great opportunity to put that right and put in a team performance where we could be the best side in the tournament.

"You always talk about peaking at the right time and if you just about scrape through, it means you can get better. If we play our best cricket in the next two games we win the World Cup, I believe," Moeen said.

Moeen added: "There is something to be said for winning ugly. I think the conditions have been hard work, the wickets haven't been great, the weather's been poor and it's almost felt like a tournament that's not really got going.

"But I think this is the stage where you want to be in at these tournaments and hopefully put in a good performance," he said.

--IANS

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Al Ain (UAE), Nov 7 (IANS) India won two medals -- a gold and a bronze -- on the second day of the 2022 World Shooting Para-Sports (WPS) World Championship at Al Ain, bagging gold in P3 Team Event - 25m Pistol Mixed SH1 event.

The team of Rahul Jakhar, Singhraj and Nihal Singh won the gold in the Team event.

In the individual event, Rahul Jakhar won the bronze medal, finishing behind Kim Jungnam of South Korea and Olseken Denysiuk of Ukraine. Jungnam finished with 28 points ahead of Denysiuk and Jakhar ended with 21 points.

In the qualifying stage of the P3 25 Mixed Pistol SHi, Jahkar had topped the rankings, with a score of 582 points and 12x (inner 10s), with Jungnam and Denysiuk second and third respectively with 577and 575 points.

Among the other Indians, Singhraj was placed seventh with a score of 565 (10x) while Nihal Singh was ranked 8th after the qualifying round with the same number of points as they made it to the final.

In the final, Nihal Singh finished fourth with 20 points while Paralympic Games twin medals winner Singhraj ended 6th with a score of 13 points.

In the P3 - Mixed Air Rifle Prone event, India's Avani Lekhara shot 630.6 to finish 19th in the qualifying round. Sidhartha Babu was placed 17th with a score of 631.3 points.

Fellow rifle shooter from India, Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar too came up with a below-par score of 622.5 to end 45th in the qualifying stage.

Yulia Watanabe of Japan topped the list with a score of 637.7 and Natascha Hiltrop of Germany was second with 636.2 points.

Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia won the gold medal with 255.5 points.

--IANS
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Madrid (Spain), Nov 7 (IANS) Struggling former champions FC Barcelona will play their last game in La Liga before the FIFA World Cup finals when they visit Pamplona to face high-flying Osasuna on Tuesday night.

Barca travel after Gerard Pique's emotional goodbye to the Camp Nou Stadium on Saturday night and coach Xavi Hernandez is likely to make some changes against a rival that is currently fifth in the table after an excellent start to the season.

Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia are both likely to start for Barca, while Ansu Fati and Raphinha are options if Xavi wants to refresh the Barca attack.

Osasuna will look to striker Chimy Avila to bully the Barca back line, while Kike Garcia and Ante Budimir will also be present in the attack.

Elsewhere, Athletic Club Bilbao dropped out of the top six after their defeat in Girona last Friday night and coach Ernesto Valverde will be looking for a much-improved display when his side entertains Valladolid.

Iker Muniain is likely to be fit again and could come into the side, while Valverde has to decide who will play at full-back after the flanks leaked continually in Girona.

Valladolid travel in good spirits after their 2-1 win at home to Elche left the recently promoted side sitting comfortably in mid-table with 17 points, reports Xinhua.

The defeat in Valladolid cost Elche coach Jorge Almiron his job after less than a month in charge and Sergio Mantecon will be in the dugout for their home game against Girona.

Elche go into the game seven points adrift at the bottom of the table and desperately need a win for survival after the World Cup, while Girona impressed on Friday and will again look to get men forward in numbers to pressure Elche's leaky defense.

--IANS

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By Mukesh Sharma
Doha, Nov 6 (IANS) Celebrated names in Bollywood music regaled excited fans most of whom drove in heavy traffic to reach the Lusail stadium - the venue of the final match of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 to be played on December 18.


While Salim-Sulaiman entertained audiences and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan regaled them, a vivacious Sunidhi Chauhan electrified the fans.

The 80,000-capacity Lusail stadium on Friday looked resplendent in its golden hue while performers inside put up a scintillating show to entertain international audiences, a chunk of which came from South Asian countries.

The Bollywood Music Festival, organised by Qatar2022, was kicked off by composing duo Salim-Sulaiman, who along with their troupe brought the crowd to its feet as they belted out popular Bollywood numbers.

The close to 35,000 spectators that came to watch the show had bought tickets despite the condition that only Haya card holders were allowed to attend the event. Another condition allowed tickets to be bought only on the FIFA website.

The performers were awed by how Doha has undergone a complete makeover in a few years. The musical soiree was part of the Darb Lusail Festival.

Salim-Sulaiman are popular composers and Sunidhi Chauhan is a famous playback singer, while Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a top name in the music scene in Pakistan. Khan is also a popular playback singer in Hindi cinema.

--IANS
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Turin (Italy), Nov 6 (IANS) World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday withdrew from the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals because of an internal oblique muscle tear in his left abdominal wall, ending his season.

The Spanish tennis player completed his season with a 57-13 record.

"After my withdrawal yesterday and having been evaluated by my medical team, @drlopezmartinez and @JuanjoMoreno_M, unfortunately, this is the result of my injury: an internal oblique muscle tear in the left abdominal wall with an estimated recovery time of six weeks," Alcaraz tweeted.

"Unfortunately, I won't make the ATP Finals or the Davis Cup Finals. It is tough and painful for me to miss these two events, which are so important to me, but all I can do is be positive and focus on my recovery. Thank you for the support!" he added.

On September 12, the 19-year-old became the youngest World No.1 in the history of the ATP Rankings. Alcaraz won five tour-level titles in 2022, including his first two ATP Masters 1000 victories (Miami and Madrid) and his first Grand Slam trophy at the US Open.

The Spaniard will be replaced in the ATP Finals field by Taylor Fritz. The American enjoyed a breakout 2022 season, including a run to his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells.

--IANS

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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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