ASIA SPORTS BUSINESS

MS Dhoni plants a tree on his birthday. (Source: Twitter)

India’s limited-overs skipper, who turned 35 on Thursday, celebrated his birthday by not partying or cutting fancy cakes but by planting the “first and very special tree” at the farm house “Kailashpati”.

Dhoni is away from national duty as India have a busy Test season ahead. The Virat Kohli-led unit is in West Indies at the moment for the four Tests. After leading Pune in the IPL, Dhoni led the Men in Blue to series wins in T20Is and ODIs over Zimbabwe last month.

What could be the best way to celebrate my birthday,planted the 1st and very spl tree at the farm house KAILASHPATI pic.twitter.com/QQ3DpDCCk1

— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) 7 July 2016

Dhoni thanked everyone for the wishes and was “blessed” to celebrate his birthday along with Eid.

Thanks to all for ur lovely birthday wishes,it really means a lot.with god’s blessing I could celebrate my birthday along with EID.

— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) 7 July 2016

Ajay Jayaram overcame Pedro Martins 21-11, 21-15 in the third round and will play Anand Pawar next. (Source: File)

Ace Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar progressed through to the quarterfinals of the US Open men’s singles event while Rio-bound Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also reached the last-eight round in their doubles event on Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Jayaram overcame Portuguese opponent Pedro Martins 21-11, 21-15 in the third round, while Pawar claimed a 21-10, 21-13 win over compatriot Pratul Joshi to reach the top eight of the USD 120,000 Grand Prix Gold tournament.

Both will next face each other for a spot in the semifinals.

On the other hand, sixth-seeded B Sai Praneeth, who recently clinched the Canada Open, failed to sustain momentum after winning the opening game as he was beaten 13-21, 21-17, 22-20 by Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai in third round of men’s singles event.

Fifth-seeded H.S. Prannoy also bowed out of the tournament, losing 25-23, 23-21 to Korea’s Lee Hyun.

In the men’s doubles event, Attri and Reddy defeated Japanese pair of Kenya Mitsuhashi and Yuta Watanabe 23-21, 21-13 while Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha Ram advanced to the final eight after local favourites defeating Ariel and Sydney Lee 21-16, 21-6 in the women’s doubles event.

Meanwhile, Tanvi Lad crashed out of the women’s singles event after suffering a 21-17, 21-15 defeat against fifth-seeded Beiwen Zhang from USA.

Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 176 wickets in 32 Test matches he has played so far. (Source: PTI)

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday said off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin would be key to India’s success in the Test tour of the West Indies, their first series under new head coach Anil Kumble.

“I think Ashwin will be the key in West Indies,” Ganguly, who turned 44 on Friday, said at his residence.

Fresh from winning their second World Twenty20 title, the West Indies finished runners-up to Australia in a triangular ODI series also involving South Africa to continue a glorious year that has seen them also win the women’s WT20, and Under-19 World Cup.

“They are looking stronger and in the middle of a fine form. But I think India have the side to beat them. I wish luck to (Virat) Kohli and (Anil) Kumble,” Ganguly added.

Kumble will begin his stint as head coach with two practice matches against WICB President’s XI from July 9-16 followed by the four Tests from July 21-August 22.

Bengaluru Bulls failed to deliver the goods in the second half.

Trailing by six points at the half-way mark, U Mumba fight back to beat Bengaluru Bulls 24-23 in the Pro Kabaddi League contest.

Live Bengaluru Bulls vs U Mumba updates: 

# U Mumba play a brilliant second half to beat Bengaluru Bulls 24-23 in the Pro Kabaddi League contest in Patna on Saturday

# Bengaluru Bulls, leading 22-21, take a timeout as we approach the last three minutes of the first match of the night

# We are about to enter the last five minutes and both Bengaluru and U Mumba are locked 20-20

# Rakesh Kumar twists his knee, he’s flat on the mat and receiving attention

# U Mumba are now in the lead, thanks to some clinical raids and strong defence play. Pace of the game has changed in the last five minutes

# In the last five minutes, Bengaluru have scored 2 points while U Mumba have managed to add four points to their kitty

# Anup Kumar with a strong ankle hold, and the covers do a neat defending job to deny Bengaluru points

# Pawan escapes without any problem to add another point to Bengaluru Bulls kitty

# Bengaluru’s lead has been reduced to four points. It’s still 15-11 in their favour

# Anup Kumar gets his hand over the line, and collects two points for his side. He also takes out both the corners of Bengaluru in one go

# We are almost ready for the second half. Bulls have taken a decisive lead, important they maintain it in second half

# At the half-way mark Bengaluru Bulls lead 14-8 against U Mumba

# Bengaluru Bulls take the lead to 6 point. Bengaluru Bulls 14-8 U Mumba

# TV review asked by U Mumba

# Combined efforts by Bengaluru Bulls, BLR 8-6 MUM

# Bengaluru defender shows his back, concedes a point. Poor technique. Can’t just turn away and keep running away from the raider

# Almost 10 minutes done in the first half and Bengaluru and U Mumba are locked at 4-4

# U Mumba take lead for the first team after the review confirms a touch by the defenders during Gurvinder Singh’s do-or-die raid

# Ashish Kumar fails to make the do-or-die raid count. Bengaluru continue to be locked at 3-3

# Chillar with another brave defence to pin down Anup Kumar, and deny U Mumba any point

# Anup Kumar makes a succesful raid to open U Mumba’s account in the fourth minute

# Mohit Chillar with a quick defence to ground Devadiga, and deny U Mumba any point

# Pawan Kumar has the first points of the match as he opens Bengaluru’s account with a successful raid

# Almost two into the game and no points as Rohit Kumar too returns without making any additions to the board

# Anup Kumar tries the toe-touch on a couple of occasions but returns empty handed

# U Mumba win toss, choose court. Bengaluru Bulls to make the first raid

# Bengaluru Bulls have beaten U Mumba only once in their eight meetings so far

# U Mumba and Bengaluru take position for the national anthem. We are moments away before teams start exchanging points

# U Mumba are second in the table with 77 points and are just seven short of Jaipur Pink Panthers’ 85

# The two teams make their way out on the mat. Exciting contest on the cards in Patna

BUILD UP:

Patna Pirates began their home leg in style as they beat Bengaluru Bulls 31-25 in the fourth season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League in Patna on Thursday.

WBC Asian champion Neeraj Goyat (69kg) failed to secure an Olympic ticket as he went down 0-3 in the box-off of the International Boxing Association’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament for professional boxers in Vargas, Venezuela.

The 24-year-old Neeraj, who had lost 0-3 to second-seeded German Arajik Marutjan in the semifinal yesterday, was beaten by Spaniard Sissokho Ndiaye Youba in today’s box-off to determine the third Olympic qualifier in the category as the finalists have taken the top two slots. He settled for a bronze medal.

Neeraj’s loss ended India’s hopes of securing a quota berth at the final Olympic qualifying tournament for boxing as Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg) and Dilbag Singh (81kg) had already bowed out after first-round losses.

India will thus have only three boxers — Shiva Thapa (56kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) — in the Games scheduled next month. The trio had made the cut through the qualifiers for amateurs.

The competition in Venezuela had 26 Rio quota places on offer — three in every weight category except heavyweight (91kg) and super heavyweight (91+kg), from which only the winners will earn an Olympic spot.

The tournament featured boxers from AIBA’s own professional events — the World Series of Boxing (WSB) and AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) — besides pro boxers from all over the world.

However, none of the big names in the pro circuit made themselves available for the event citing reasons ranging from fitness, lack of time for preparation and the threat of sanctions by their promoters and licensing bodies like the WBO and the IBA.

Kohli and Co. enjoy a game of beach volleyball in St Kitts. India begin their tour of West Indies with a practice match starting Saturday. (Source: BCCI)

Based on photographic evidence alone, it looks like the Indian team have spent the opening few days of their tour doing what most visitors do upon arriving in the Caribbean. They’ve been out and about, incessantly soaking in the West Indian sun and getting the feel of the soft sand underneath their feet in Basetterre, the capital of the tear-drop shaped island of St Kitts.

Apart from demanding that you be outdoors at all times, it’s also a part of the world that coaxes you into letting the hair down, maybe even be a tad uninhibited.

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Probably that’s the reason why for once even the most protected team in world cricket has decided to allow the rest of the world a candid look at their life on tour. The pictures that have expectedly gone viral not only show Virat Kohli & Co performing some intense yoga drills on the hotel lawn, they also have them in the midst of a game of beach volleyball — of all sports — with some of them, the captain included, not shy of baring their rather chiseled upper torsos. To boot, they have also released a video where Stuart Binny — an understandable choice considering his wife’s a seasoned TV presenter — is seen telling us about the team’s movements so far and trying his best to commentate on his teammates’ sand-inspired indulgence. Another photo shows Kohli, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan looking very satisfied after what looks to have been a sumptuous meal.

To the Indian Test captain’s credit, uninhibited is a term that can confidently also be used for the type of cricket his young team have played since he took over last year. They came from behind to beat the spirited Sri Lankans in their backyard before opting for a much-debated ploy of spin-oriented wickets to derail the South Africans at home. Now they are looking at an extended Test season at home where they will play 13 Tests against the who’s who of world cricket. It’s ironic then that the prelude to that brings them to the farthest cricket destination for an Indian team.

On Saturday, they begin the cricket segment of their 52-day long tour with a two-day warm-up game against West Indies Board President’s XI at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium. And a day earlier, they assembled at the same venue for their first of many practice sessions on tour.

Warming up for the grind

Two-day practice matches are anyway nothing more than glorified practice sessions with the visiting team getting a chance to dedicate a day each for their batsmen and bowlers respectively to get acclimatized. And it’s likely that the Indians will treat this game in a similar vein, and try to be more competitive in their second warm-up game, which will be a three-day affair at the same ground a week later. As it turns out, it will be a chance to acclimatize for a number of players in the opposition line-up as well over the weekend.

For the West Indian selection committee, with their newly-appointed chairman Courtney Browne, have opted for a team that has six players with Test records, five of whom have been part of the West Indian playing XI on multiple occasions over the past 12 months. The team will be led by Guyanese left-hander Leon Johnson, who surprisingly has found himself on the sidelines, despite having made a very good first impression at the highest level unlike many of the others who have since played Tests and are part of the President’s XI.

While the likes of Rajendra Chandrika and Shai Hope average below 20 and still find themselves in the mix, Johnson’s Test average presently stands at 39.28 and he was the leading run-scorer in this year’s domestic first-class competition, averaging 57.64. At a time when the West Indian Test line-up is desperately missing the services of a legendary Guyanese left-hander that it turned its back on, the time is perfect for Johnson to stake a serious claim in the middle-order or even as opener — considering he scored 66 and 41 when he opened against Bangladesh.

Johnson apart, the other five were all on the ill-fated tour to Australia, West Indies’ last Test series, where they were utterly humiliated. And much like the Indians, it will be a good chance for Chandrika, Hope and Shane Dowrich — the Barbados wicket-keeper batsman expected to take over the gloves from Denesh Ramdin in the Tests — to get a crucial sneak-peek at the bowlers they will be facing over the next month-and-a-half.

That they are pretty much all the West Indian selectors have to pick from for the Test line-up is a fair indicator of why their Test team languishes at eighth on the table presently, making the visitors favourites despite their Test team coming together for the first time since December last year.

Big boys play CPL

While the second-string West Indians look to get an early taste of the Indians at Basetterre, the more high-profile West Indians are busy being the flavour of the CPL season elsewhere in the Caribbean. The Indians might be all set to get used to their whites again, but a number of big names they shared IPL dressing-rooms with only a month ago are still to get off the T20 caravan in 2016.

Only three days ago AB de Villiers and Kieron Pollard were at Warner Park, smashing Barbados Tridents to a fabulous finish. The ground has been the scene for a number of high scores in the CPL this season, and it’ll be a good pitch for the Indian batsmen to get into their grooves. Maybe some of the batsmen will be happy that their own team management will not have any say in how the pitches are prepared. It will also be a good challenge for the Indian bowlers to get used to conditions that are unlikely to make life easy for them.

The first Test will be held at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua, another ground known for its fondness for batsmen and runs. West Indies Test captain Jason Holder had scored his maiden Test ton the last time a game was held there, with the home team holding off a resurgent England last year. And it will be a good batting wicket even when India get there in the third week of July. And having already gotten themselves in sync with the West Indian way of life off the field, Kohli and his young army will now set their eyes to soaking in the Caribbean sun on the field.

Friends in real life, both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are compared to each other- let it be their playing style or for their records.

Euro Cup 2016 has been a complete roller-coaster ride. After a long hard-fought tournament, to everyone’s surprise, Portugal has made it to the finals. They will go head-to- head with France on Sunday night. The odds are definitely in favour of France with the home-ground advantage. But, Ronaldo’s side, with some right combination of movements, at the right time, in the penalty box, just might ‘steal’ the show.

In sports, there have been some rivalries which have defined generations after generations. Be it between F-1 racers Nikki Lauda and James Hunt, or between the boxing legend Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier, or Pete Sampras against Andre Agassi in tennis or India vs Pakistan in cricket; these rivalries have produced some of the best ‘moments’ in the history of world sports. When it comes to football, there, without a doubt, has been no greater rivalry than the on-going one between Portugal’s captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentinian star Lionel Messi. Ronaldo, with a Euro Cup victory just might clinch a big one up on Messi.

Lionel Messi, who is going through some tough times post his defeat in the Copa America 2016 final, with him announcing retirement from the international squad and then been given a 21- month sentence in a tax fraud case, just might have another ‘kick-in- the-gut’ if Ronaldo takes his country to a major international tournament victory.

The faithful football fans might argue that Messi and Ronaldo, have on papers, have always maintained their ‘camaraderie’ and supported each other’s success. But still, if Ronaldo is able to win a major international tournament before Messi, he would go down in the history books for being the first one to do so among the two. This would also mean that if Messi does not make a comeback to international circuit, it is a feat he would have never achieved in his career.

READ: Cristiano Ronaldo has the opportunity to leave Lionel Messi in the shade in Euro 2016 final

One point to note is that out of the two of them, Messi is the one to have appeared in more international tournament finals. Argentina has lost four consecutive finals with him starting a game: Copa America 2007 final against Brazil by 3-0, World Cup 2014 against Germany by 1-0, Copa America 2015 with (0-0) 3-1 on penalties and Copa America 2016 with (0-0) 4-2 on penalties. Ronaldo, on the other hand has just appeared in two. He last played a final in international arena against Greece in 2004 Euro, when he was just 19 years old. If he is able to win it for Portugal this time around, he would do so much earlier than Messi, and with much less opportunities at hand to do so.

There is yet another thing to lose for Messi if Portugal wins- the prestigious Ballon d’Or award. Football analysts all around the world have called 2015-2016 as Ronaldo’s ‘worst season’. But the fact remains he scored 50 goals last season, won UEFA champion’s league and now is in the Euro Cup finals. If Ronaldo wins the international trophy for Portugal, he would definitely stamp himself as the primary contender for being awarded the Ballon d’Or trophy. The five-time winner of the trophy, Lionel Messi would need to do something remarkably significant in the coming season to compete with that.

Majority of Argentina football fans all around the world might be rooting for France in the Euro finals. But the only good thing that can come out of Portugal’s victory for them is that seeing Ronaldo lifting the international trophy over his head might just trigger Messi to end his retirement and give international circuit another shot.

Ajay Jayaram will next take on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama for a spot in the summit clash. (Source: Express Photo)

Ace Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram defeated experienced compatriot Anand Pawar in straight games to emerge as the lone Indian survivor at the ongoing US Open in El Monte on Friday.

The fourth-seeded claimed a comfortable 21-11, 21-11 win over Pawar to progress through to the semifinals of the men’s singles event of the USD 120,000 Grand Prix Gold tournament.

Jayaram will next take on Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama for a spot in the summit clash.

Meanwhile, Indian doubles pair failed to advance to the last four stage.

Rio-bound Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy, who recently won the Canada Open, bowed out of the tournament after losing to Japanese duo of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 7-21, 16-21 in the men’s doubles event.

On the other hand, Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha Ram were beaten 15-21, 12-21 by second-seeded duo of Eva Lee and Paula Lynn Obanana in the women’s doubles event.

 

More than 100 athletes will be a part of qualifiers. (Source: AP)

More than 100 athletes, including some national campers, and their counterparts from Maldives and Sri Lanka will take part in the final qualification events for the Rio Olympic Games at the 3rd and 4th Indian Grand Prix to be held in Bangalore on Sunday and July 11 in Bangalore.

A total of 23 events — 13 for men and 10 for women — will feature in both the Grand Prix events being held at the Shree Kanteerava Stadium.

The organisers of Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon have been roped in sponsors.

Athletics Federation of India Secretary C K Valson said, “We are extremely delighted that 24 athletes have already qualified for Rio Olympic Games in individual events and the women’s 4x400m relay team is ranked world No. 13 and fulfils the qualification criteria.”

Valson also thanked Sports Authority of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for extending their support for the conduct of the 3rd and 4th Indian Grand Prix.

Nagaraj Adiga, MD, NEB Sports, the organisers of the Shriram Properties Bengaluru Marathon said, “We are committed to the development of Indian athletics and extremely delighted to be part of the 3rd and 4th Indian Grand Prix and thankful to the AFI for this opportunity to be part of the national effort to support our athletes for Rio.”

Under Ritu Rani’s leadership the Indian women’s team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 36 years since 1980. (Source: Express Photo)

Indian women’s hockey team captain Ritu Rani has been been dropped from the Rio Olympics-bound side owing to lack of performance and attitude problems.

The final squad of 16 is to be picked in three days’ time but a senior member of the team management confirmed that Ritu has left the ongoing national camp in Bangalore.

“It’s correct Ritu is not in the Olympic team. Her exclusion is solely on two counts – her (poor) performance and second is her attitude,” he said.

“It has been explained to her time and again that she needs to lift her performance but she couldn’t do so. The camp is still going on in Bangalore. It will disperse today and tomorrow we are reaching Delhi. Ritu left the camp day before yesterday.”

Under Ritu’s leadership the Indian women’s team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 36 years since 1980.

The 24-year-old has been at the forefront of Indian women’s hockey for more than a decade and has been the key to the midfield.

Despite repeated attempts, Ritu could not be reached for her comments.

In her absence, the leadership role could fall on another senior player Rani Rampal.

However, Hockey India President Narender Batra tried to downplay the issue while calling it “immature” behaviour on part of the player.

“It’s really imature on part of Ritu because the team is not yet announced. It will be officially announced only on July 12 when I will publicly open the sealed envelope,” Batra said.

“Yes, the team management has given me their recommendations about captain and vice captains of both the teams and it will be finalised on July 11 during the HI executive board meeting.”