Hit by lack of tournaments, Pak squash faces battle for survival

February 8, 2016, Guwahati, DHNS

Terror fallout

 Ever since the 2009 attack by gunmen on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan has become a no-go zone for many international sporting events. While the biggest sufferer from that ghastly incident is cricket, the most popular sport there, one sport that has taken a severe beating is squash.

The Pakistan Squash Federation has not being able to host any PSA events and with sponsors too seemingly washing their hands off, the sport has been on a terminal decline — much like hockey in India with just moments of fleeting success.

A sport that they dominated with an iron fist with the likes of Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Azam Khan, Roshan Khan, Mo Khan and Qamar Zaman winning titles by the handful, Pakistan are struggling to make their presence felt now. Their highest rated men’s player is Nasir Iqbal at 35, while the situation among women is bleak with Maria Toorpakai Wazir placed 50.

“(The downfall) is not because there is a dip in talent or players are not fit enough,” Nasir told Deccan Herald before sealing his spot in the final of the men’s singles competition at the South Asian Games. “Because of the prevalent security situation in the country, we are not able to host PSA tournaments. We are not getting the exposure that we need. Earlier we used to host a lot of tournaments and the Pakistan Open saw a lot of players from other countries coming and competing. There were sponsors, which is essential for any sport to survive. 

“Nether the federation nor the players are getting any sponsors. Despite the stiff challenge, the federation has been working extremely hard to support us. The federation is spending from their pocket to ensure we go abroad and compete in at least a few events. We hope to win some titles and attract some sponsors,” added the 2007 British Open Junior (Under-13) champion.

Grim situation

Nasir opined that unless the country gets to stage PSA events or they win more titles, the situation is going to be grim. 

“Squash is such an event that you need to play at least two international tournaments in a month to keep yourself tuned. Squash is also an individual sport which means we players need to organise our travel, accommodation etc. For all that, we need sponsors. It’s extremely difficult situation we are in now. I’m World No 35 but I’m still poor,” he quipped.

Nasir and his team-mate Farhan Zaman will get a chance to restore a semblance of pride to the sport back home when they clash with each other in the final on Sunday.

Big-hitting McCullum joins 200 ODI sixes club

Hamilton, Feb 8, 2016, (AFP)

Brendon McCullum completed the sixes double Monday as he signed off his one-day international career with a trademark blockbuster of an innings in the third one-day international against Australia in Hamilton.

One of the biggest hitters in the game, McCullum smacked the ball over the boundary three times in his 47 off 27 balls to take him to 200 sixes from 260 one-day matches to go with his 100 Test sixes.
His power-hitting approach gave New Zealand a rollicking start in the series decider with the home team 84-1 in the 10th over when McCullum was dismissed.

McCullum shares the world record for Test sixes with Australian Adam Gilchrist and is fourth on the ODI list which is headed by Pakistan's Shahid Afridi with 351.

Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya hit 270 ODI sixes in his career and the West Indies' Chris Gayle smashed 238.

The 34-year-old McCullum received a guard of honour from the Australian team when he walked to the crease and was given a standing ovation from the capacity 8,000 crowd when he left.

After this match he will play in two Tests against Australia before retiring from international cricket.

Aditi finishes tied-31 on professional debut

February 8, 2016, Geelong (Australia), PTI

Aditi Ashok rounded off her debut appearance as a professional with a final round of one-over 74 to finish tied 31st at the Oates Victorian Open here.
This will be the first cheque for the 17-year-old, who hit the headlines by winning Ladies European Tour Q-School last December.

With rounds of 74-77-71 and 74, she finished at three-over on the par-73 course.
Of the other two Indians in the field, Vani Kapoor made the 36-hole cut, but finished outside the 54-hole cut mark, while Amandeep Drall missed after two rounds at the Australia Ladies PGA event.

Aditi said she was happy and encouraged to make both the cuts at the Victorian Open in her first start as a pro and she thanked David and Melinda Peebles, who hosted her this week.

“I really enjoyed my debut,” said Aditi, who will now play the New Zealand Open in Christchurch next week and that will be her first appearance on the LET, since winning the Q-School.

England’s Georgia Hall won her first professional title when she finished with a par and totalled 11-under.

Hall shot 69, 70, 71 and 71 and won by one shot over Nanna Madsen of Denmark (72-68-73-69) and the defending champion Marianne Skarpnord (73-70-69-70).

New Zealand farewell McCullum with series win

Hamilton, Feb 8, 2016, (AP):

Brendon McCullum marked his last one-day international for New Zealand with a match and series victory over Australia today.
McCullum's farewell seemed likely to be soured by a dramatic batting collapse which saw New Zealand lose its last six wickets for 23 runs to be all out for 246, but the bowlers dismissed Australia for 191 with more than six overs to spare, winning by 55 runs to clinch a 2-1 series victory.

Australia had been on target for victory when on 164-5 but the controversial dismissal of Mitch Marsh exposed the tail and New Zealand's bowlers quickly wrapped up the win.
Marsh was given out caught and bowled by Matt Henry when his forcing shot hit the toe of his boot and carried to the bowler who took the ball low down.

Neither Henry nor any of the New Zealand fielders appealed, thinking the ball had hit the ground, and it wasn't until the incident was replayed on the big screen at Seddon Park that spectators saw the ball had come off Marsh's boot and began to boo.

English umpire Ian Gould then referred it to the third umpire, who gave Marsh out.
But the Australians questioned whether the matter could be referred to replay if none of the New Zealand players appealed and the umpire on the ground had not given a decision.

"It wasn't until we saw something on the big screen that the decision went upstairs so I was a bit disappointed about that," Australia captain Steve Smith said.

"He was out, there was no doubt about that, but if I get hit on the pad next time and it's missing leg do I stand there and wait until it's going to show that on the big screen."

McCullum produced a signature innings on his farewell, hitting 47 runs from 27 balls to give New Zealand a bold beginning as it batted after losing the toss. He hit three sixes to lift his tally to 200 sixes in 260 one-day internationals, placing him fourth on the all-time list behind Shahid Afridi (351), Sanath Jayasuriya (270) and Chris Gayle (238).

But after Martin Guptill made 59 and Grant Elliott a laborious 50, New Zealand's frail middle order tottered and then collapsed, slumping from 223-4 to be all out for 246 in the 46th over. 

The total seemed inadequate, especially when Australia started strongly with Usman Khawaja making 44. New Zealand's bowling attack was depleted by the absence of fast bowler Trent Boult, who was ill, and allrounder Mitchell Santner, who has a foot injury.

But Henry led the attack superbly, taking 3-60, including the wickets of David Warner (16), George Bailey (33) and Marsh. Ish Sodhi, who replaced Santner, dismissed Smith (21) and Glenn Maxwell (0) and Doug Bracewell, who replaced Boult, removed Khawaja.

McCullum was able to savor a last and memorable win over New Zealand's greatest rival.
"I've been incredibly lucky to play for 14 years and to represent my country and to play with some great blokes," he said.

"When you play against Australia you have to turn up and play your best cricket and tonight for 80 percent of the game we were outstanding." 

India sweep cycling gold medals on third day again

Guwahati, Feb 8, 2016, (PTI):

Indian cyclists brushed aside competition for a third day on the trot to win both the gold medals on offer today in the 12th South Asian Games here.
The Indian teams won the women's 40km time trial and men's 70km time trial events to take their medal count to five gold, three silver and one bronze on the third and penultimate day of the cycling competitions here.

In women's 40km team time trial final, the Indian quartet of T Bidyaluxmi, Rutuja Satpute, G Manisha and Chaoba Devi bagged the gold in a time of 59:23.5secs. Sri Lanka and Pakistan took the silver and bronze respectively.

In men's 70km team time trial final, the home team of Arvind Panwar, Manjeet Singh, Deepak Kumar Rahi and Manohar Lal Bishnoi took the gold in one hour 29 minutes and 37.840 seconds. Pakistan and Sri Lanka won the silver and bronze respectively.

For Bidyaluxmi and Arvind, today's gold were their second overall. Bidyalaxmi had won the gold in the women's 30km individual time trial event while men's 40km individual time trial.
On the first day on Saturday, India had won two gold and two silver while they won a gold, a silver and a bronze yesterday.

India had also dominated cycling competition in the last edition in Dhaka by winning 3 gold and a silver.

Chinappa beats Pakistani rival, clinches squash gold

Guwahati, Feb 8, 2016 (PTI)

Star player Joshna Chinappa clinched the gold in women's individual squash after beating Maria Toorpaki Wazir of Pakistan in a tense and ill-tempered summit clash to make up for India's disappointment in the men's event here today.

Top seed Chinappa, ranked 14th in the world, recovered from one set down to beat second seeded Wazir 10-12 11-7 11-9 11-7 at the brand new squash facility at the R G Baruah Sports Complex here.

With Chinappa's gold, India has so far won three medals in squash with Sourav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu having grabbed a bronze each after losing to their Pakistani opponents yesterday.

Chinappa, one of the few top Indian players to have opted to play in the SAG, thus gave some solace to the team management after men's players failed to reach the final.
The women's final match had all the drama which was witnessed during the men's semifinals with Chinappa expressing unhappiness to the match officials with the "aggressive" play of Wazir who was seen as trying to be a bit physical with the top-ranked Indian.

Wazir, ranked 50th in the world, won the first set 12-10 after a neck-and-neck contest but she got injured midway in the second set at 7-7 as blood came out of her left eyebrow region after contact with Chinappa and play was stopped for a while to get her treated.

The Pakistani was immediately given first aid and she resumed play after a few minutes. It looked like the break gave Chinappa time to ponder on her game and the glamorous Indian started dominating the match from there on.

Wazir looked tentative just after coming from her injury break and Chinappa did not take much time to take the second set 11-7 and level scores at 1-1.

The third set saw Chinappa taking a 5-2 lead but Wazir came back with some superb shots to make it 6-6 and then 8-6. By then there was tension among the crowd at the stands, but a calm Chinappa just went about her job and brought the score to 9-9 and then 10-9 before taking the set.

In the fourth and final set, Wazir gave some fight initially but later frittered away as Chinappa won it 11-7 to give India the first gold in squash in this edition. 

Chinappa later made it known that she was not happy with the way the referees handled the match and that she did not enjoy playing the match as her opponent was "very aggressive" and "not playing fair".

"Wazir is a good player but she was very aggressive. Fortunately, I won the gold but I did not enjoy playing the final. I play in the professional circuit and there, these kind of things, likes lot of interference and blocking (by rival player) does not happen," she said after the match.
"I tried to keep my self calm but I had to let them (match officials) know what was happening on the court. I cannot let things happening all the time," said Chinappa, who argued with the referee on a couple of occasions.

"I am a kind of player who plays fair, without these interfering and blocking etc. Doing all these is not nice for the spectators and also for the game," she added.

Asked if the referees should have handled the situation better, she said, "I don't want to be in trouble again but I feel it is their job to control the match and stop all those things. They should have done better." 

Indian wrestlers end campaign with 14 out of 16 gold in SAG

Guwahati, Feb 8, 2016 (PTI)

Indian grapplers simply annihilated their opponents, scooping 14 gold medals out of a total 16 on offer as the wrestling competition in the 12th South Asian Games ended here today.

Despite being represented by a second string team, the home wrestlers proved too strong for their South Asian neighbours as they grabbed five more gold out of six on offer, besides a silver, on the concluding day today at the R G Baruah Sports Complex.

Indian wrestlers thus ended their campaign with a whopping 14 gold and two silver. India won gold in all the eight women's categories, while their men counterparts won six gold and two silver.

Pakistan won two gold. Shilpi Sheoran began the gold count for India today as she beat Farzana Sharmin of Bangladesh in the women's 63kg final bout. Rajani and Nikki made all-gold affair for Indian women in the Games by defeating Bangladesh's Shirin Sultana and W Weerasingh of Sri Lanka, respectively in the 69kg and 75kg categories.

Among men, Mausam Khatri and Pardeep won a gold each in 97kg and 74kg respectively, while Mandeep had to settle for a silver as he lost to Pakistan's Zaman Avwar in the 125kg final bout. In the 2010 edition, India had won three gold and a silver in men's wrestling while Pakistan had won two gold and a silver.