SPORTS

New Delhi: Despite going down to hosts Myanmar 1-2 in a hard-fought clash in Yangon, the Indian women’s football team has qualified for the Olympic Qualifiers second round for the first time.

The Indian women’s team advanced to the second round after finishing second in Group C with four points from three matches, behind table toppers Myanmar. The second round of the Olympic Qualifiers will be played in April next year.

The first half of the match at the Thuwunna Stadium was an exciting affair, with both sides finding the back of the net once. The Indian team, who went into the match with the same starting lineup from their 7-1 win against Bangladesh, was jolted after conceding a goal in just the third minute.

New Delhi: Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary have shattered the junior world record on their way to winning the 10m air pistol mixed team gold medal in the 11th Asian Airgun Championships. Both the teen shooting sensations have done it on the concluding day of the tournament. Indians got the better of the Chinese pairing of Wang Xiaoyu and Hong Shuqi in the final.

India’s junior shooting squad thus ended the championship with a tally of 11 medals, including four gold.

Youth Olympic Games champions Manu and Saurabh finished with a score of 485.4 in the final, well ahead of the Chinese who managed 477.9. A second Chinese team won bronze while India’s second pair in the finals, Abhidnya Patil and Anmol Jain, finished fourth.

New Delhi: Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth defeated his compatriot H.S Prannoy in an all-Indian men’s singles clash to enter the quarter-finals while P.V. Sindhu lost the women’s singles tie to crash out of the Hong Kong open tournament.

In a marathon match of an hour and seven minutes, the fourth seed Srikanth edged past Prannoy 18-21, 30-29, 21-18 while third seed Sindhu went down to Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea 24-26, 20-22 in straight games.

After losing the first game, Srikanth bounced back in the second game in a hard-fought battle. The third game saw another intense battle between the two but Srikanth proved much better towards the end and wrapped up the issue.

New Delhi: India will look to find the ‘perfect’ balance in their playing eleven when they take on a resurgent West Indies in the fourth One-day International. Going with five specialist bowlers in Pune on Saturday did not work for India, who ended up as the losing side for the first time in the home series against the West Indies.

With the series tied at 1-1 and two matches to go, Virati Kohli’s team finds itself in a must-win situation at the Cricket Club of India (CCI). Credit must be given to the West Indies, who have not only moved on from a dismal Test series but have given the formidable hosts a run for their money in the one-day format. As Kohli pointed out after the 43-run loss in the third ODI, the return of Kedar Jadhav from injury will give the team a much needed depth in both the batting and bowling department.

New Delhi: Indian skipper Virat Kohli has come out in his defence urging his fans to keep the matter light, a day after the controversial video went viral. In this video he lambasted a fan to go abroad for not supporting the Indian team.

Kohli faced reprisal from fans and cricketers over his remarks of telling a fan to “leave India”, while responding to the fan’s comment that Indian skipper was overrated. He also asserted that he was being trolled on social media and he backs the freedom of choice.

“I guess trolling isn’t for me guys, I’ll stick to getting trolled! I spoke about how “these Indians” was mentioned in the comment and that’s all. I’m all for freedom of choice. Keep it light guys and enjoy the festive season. Love and peace to all,” Kohli tweeted.

New Delhi: Stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma lamented the absence of veteran wicket-keeper MS Dhoni. Rohit said that it was a ‘big miss’ for the team and especially for the younger members of the squad though Indian cricket team won the three-match T20I series comprehensively against West Indies.

“MS (Dhoni) was not part of the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka also. MS not being in any team is a big miss. His presence in the team itself is a huge boost for a lot of the players, not just me, especially the younger players,” Rohit said.

A lot of controversy surrounded the decision to exclude MS Dhoni from the squads for the T20I series against West Indies and Australia. But, chief selector MSK Prasad cleared the air over the same.

New Delhi: Still searching for a title this year, India’s top shuttler P V Sindhu opens her campaign in the China Open women’s singles against Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia.

Olympic silver medallist Sindhu, who has finished second best on five occasions this year, has been seeded third in this BWF World Tour Super 750 and she is unlikely to face much challenge from the unseeded world number 30 in the first round.

World number three Sindhu has been clubbed along with Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in one half of the draw and both can meet in the semifinals if they reach that stage.