wodi: 1st WODI: Elegant Smriti wins it for India as Jhulan rolls back time

Sundar Smriti Mandhana once again extended her reputation as one of India’s biggest match winners with a lucrative 91 as they thrashed England by seven wickets in the opening women’s ODI here on Sunday. Harmanpreet Kaur won a fine toss and veteran India pacer Jhulan Goswami identified accuracy with 42 dot balls in one of her last international games as England posted 227 for seven thanks to lower middle-order efforts .

Mandhana (91 off 99 balls) never got India in trouble during the chase and pulled her way out by nine runs before missing out on a deserved sixth women’s ODI century.

But by the time she was dismissed, Mandhana ensured the 45th over for the Women in Blue, who are now 1-0 up in the three-match series.

Yastika Bhatia (50 off 47 balls), who didn’t do justice to her immense talent, also scored her third half-century and scored more runs than the run-a-ball strike-rate.

Yastika-Mandhana laid the foundation for the second wicket of 96 runs in just 16.1 overs and then Harmanpreet (74 not out off 94 balls) scored another half-century as she added 99 runs with her deputy and then finished it in style. Slog Sweep Six.

Mandhana’s innings included 10 fours and a lovely six off long-on pacer Issie Wong.

While both Yastika and Mandhana performed brilliantly through cover during the powerplay, the Indian vice-captain also played a lot of pull-shots, with the English bowler going down the leg-side.

It must be said that Harmanpreet read the conditions at Hove’s County Ground better than her England counterpart Amy Jones.

While Indian spinners Rajeshwari Gaikwad and Deepti Sharma changed their ball pace to make strokeplay difficult, England seamers Kate Cross (2/43 in 10 overs), Ellis Davidson-Jones (0/48 in 7.2 overs), Wong (0/35 in (5 ov)) along with off-spinner Charlie Dean (1/4 in 10 overs) allowed the visiting batsmen to use the pace of his delivery to score runs behind the square.

India hit 13 fours and a six (by Yastika) in the first 15 overs and it was all over for England.

Earlier, the 39-year-old veteran Goswami had conceded only 20 runs in 10 overs with 42 dot balls.

He didn’t hit a single boundary or six and also bowled a decent off-cutter to get rid of the experienced Tammy Beaumont (7).

On a track where the ball was not always hitting the bat, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur did the right thing by choosing to field.

After the seamer, Meghna Singh (1/42 in 8 overs) hit the second opener Emma Lamb (12) with a short ball, Goswami and two spinners Deepti (2/33 in 10 overs) and Gaikwad (1/4 in 10 overs) out. Run flow suppressed continuously.

However, Meghna along with Sneh Rana (1/45 in 6 overs) and Pooja Vastrakar (0/20 in 2 overs) scored some runs as the home team posted 220-plus in the end.

Danny Wyatt (43 off 50 balls), Ellis Davidson-Richards (50 not out off 61 balls) and Sophie Ecclestone (31) made remarkable contributions for England.

Even Charlie Dean played a nice cameo in the end (24 not out off 21 balls) to complete the target.

Harmanpreet will be a bit disappointed that despite bringing England to the mat at 128 for 6 by the 34th over, the England numbers 7, 8 and 9 gave the total some respect by adding more than 100 runs.

Originally published at Pen 18

bajrang punia: World Wrestling Championships 2022: Bajrang Punia captures bronze in men’s 65 kg category

Ace Indian wrestler and Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia clinched the bronze medal by defeating Puerto Rico’s Sebastian C Rivera in the men’s 65kg category bronze medal bout at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships 2022.

He defeated Rivera 11-9 in the match. The wrestler, who recently won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games, made a remarkable comeback to win the match. He won on the basis of VPO1-points and opponent’s score.

In the opening leg of the match, Punia looked down and out, trailing 0-6. But then he returned to the match scoring 11 points and allowed his opponent to score only three more.

He returned to the medal race after losing 10–0 to John Michael Dicomihalis of the USA in the quarter-finals by Victory by Superiority (VSU).

A tight 7-6 win over Armenia’s Vazhen Tevanyan propelled them into the bronze medal match. He won on the basis of VPO1-points and opponent’s score.

This is Punia’s fourth medal in the championship, starting her journey with a bronze in 2013. He won a silver at the 2018 Championships followed by another bronze medal in 2019. Now, he has four championship medals.

This is India’s second medal in the current edition of the World Wrestling Championships.

Indian wrestler and Commonwealth Games 2022 gold medalist Vinesh Phogat won a bronze medal in the women’s 53kg category by defeating defending European champion Emma Malmgren of Sweden at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships 2022 in Belgrade on Wednesday.

The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist defeated her Swedish rival 8-0 to win the match.

The championship started on 10 September and will end on 18 September.

Originally published at Pen 18

shiva thapa: Shiva Thapa, Lovlina in Indian boxing squad for Asian Championships

Veteran Shiva Thapa and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain will lead the Indian men’s and women’s challenge respectively at next month’s Asian Boxing Championships.

The selection tests for the continental showpiece to be held in Amman, Jordan from 30 October to 12 November were held at NIS Patiala from Thursday to Saturday.

Defending world champion Nikhat Zareen, three-time Asian Championship medalist Amit Panghal and Birmingham Commonwealth Games medalists Rohit Tokas and Sagar Ahlawat did not take part in the trials.

A source in the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) told PTI that while Zareen has rested the tournament, Panghal, Tokas and Ahlawat are injured.

Thapa is a five-time Asian medalist. His race includes one gold, two silver and as many bronze medals.

In the previous edition, he bagged a silver, his fifth consecutive medal in the prestigious event, becoming the most successful Indian male boxer in the history of the tournament.

The only other male boxer with five Asian Championships medals is Kazakh legend Vasily Levitt, an Olympic silver medalist and a two-time world bronze medalist.

Two-time Commonwealth bronze medalist Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) is the other prominent name in the men’s team.

Borgohain will have a point to prove after finishing two heavy tournaments – the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

The 24-year-old, who returned with a bronze medal in the previous edition, will compete in the 75kg category as she begins preparations for the Paris Olympics, which will not have her welterweight 69kg category.

The women’s team also includes world championship bronze medalist Parveen Hooda (63kg) and youth world boxing champion Alfia Pathan.

The Indian contingent is likely to leave for Amman in mid-October for a 15-day training camp ahead of the tournament.

Men: Govind Sahni (48kg), Sparsh Kumar (51kg), Sachin (54kg), Mohammad Husamuddin (57kg), Etash Khan (60kg), Shiv Thapa (63.5kg), Amit Kumar (67kg), Sachin (71kg), Sumit (75kg), Lakshya C (80kg), Kapil P (86kg), Naveen K (92kg), Narendra (+92kg).

Women: Monika (48kg), Savita (50kg), Meenakshi (52kg), Sakshi (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Simranjit (60kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita Boro (66kg) , Pooja (70kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Sweety (81kg), Alfia (+81kg).

Originally published at Pen 18

virat kohli: T20 World Cup 2022: Virat Kohli might have to bat at top in some games, but KL Rahul will open, says Rohit Sharma – The Economic Times Video

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Originally published at Pen 18

wrexham: Welcome to Wrexham: It’s the future

First thing, and possibly most importantly, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney seem to be honest. It’s hard to be certain: They’re both actors, after all, and the 45-minute Zoom meeting is on balance, perhaps not the ideal format in which to measure one’s soul. If the down-at-the-heels Welsh football team he bought two years ago – and the community he calls home – his enthusiasm and affection for Wrexham is an act, however, it is a reassuring one. McElhenney watches Wrexham’s games these days while “pacing back and forth, unable to sit still,” he said.

“There’s no such thing as football-borne anxiety.” At first, Reynolds wondered whether he was resistant to sensation. He only caught half of Wrexham’s first few games after his and McElhenney’s takeover was completed in February 2021.

He was, by his own admission, “quite passive”. It doesn’t last. When he hit her, hit her hard. “It’s a terrifying, cyclical, prophetic hellscape that never stops or recedes,” he said, a sentence that suggests he fully understood the appeal of football. “I love every second, but it is equally suffering. Every second is pure suffering. It’s a new experience for me. I am amazed at the people who have lived in that culture their whole lives.”

Neither McElhenney nor Reynolds anticipated the extent of the emotional impact when, in late 2020, the former approached the latter with a proposal. McElhenney had spent a large part of the lockdown watching sports documentaries: the acclaimed “Beautifulland ‘Til I Die,” for one, and more importantly an HBO series on Diego Maradona. He decided he wanted to add his own production to the canon, and he wanted Reynolds — an acquaintance rather than a friend, at that level — to help bankroll it.

The result, “Welcome to Wrexham,” is heartwarming and funny and engaging, but it’s also difficult to categorize. At one point, Reynolds describes it—perhaps as a slip of the tongue—as a “reality show,” but it sounds reductive. So, too, is the faintly euphemistic term “structured reality,” a genre that recently characterized Netflix’s dazzling “Sailing Sunset.” But neither is it, strictly speaking, a documentary—not in the traditional sense, not in the way that “Sunderland ‘Til I Die” was a documentary.

There is a long-held rule among wildlife photographers and documentarians that they appear to observe rather than intervene. “Welcome T o Wrexham,” in contrast, is inherently interfering. Wrexham, drifting into the fifth tier of English football for more than a decade, was in disrepair and dismay when it was bought by two Hollywood stars.

Reynolds and McElhenney aren’t just telling a story. They are shaping it too. The example of this, most clearly, appears to be a spontaneous jump halfway through the show’s second episode. Suddenly, the spectator is at home with Paul Rutherford, Wrexham’s locally-born veteran midfielder.

Rutherford showed with a hint of pride all the work he and his wife Gemma had done in their house. It turns out that the house is about to get a little busy. The couple already has two boys; A third is on the way. Rutherford is currently making baby crib. Later, he is shown playing football with his eldest son. He carries her home on his shoulders. It is heart touching, heart touching and deeply ominous. Anyone who has seen a nature documentary in which a young giraffe is separated from the herd, or an installment of “Match of the Day” that featured a player picking up a spontaneous starting yellow card, knows Q. Something bad is about to happen.

The bad in this case comes in the last game of Wrexham’s season, a few months after the takeover. The team needs a win to make it to the playoffs. Rutherford, offered as a substitute, is sent off for a reckless challenge. He is shown in the changing room, his chest heavy, urging his teammates to win without him. they do not. Wrexham is held to a draw. Its season is over.

A caption appears. Rutherford’s contract expired the next day. he was released. This is the cold reality of football, of course, a sport that lacks an appetite for emotion and – the level that Wrexham is occupied – no money for. Countless players each season face the same fate as Rutherford, falling victim to the game’s unapologetic ruthlessness.

Reynolds and McElhenney are clear that, while they are ultimately to blame, they did not make that call. Personnel decisions are left to those on the ground at Wrexham, who know the game much better than they do. no one is hired or fired because it plays well; His commitment, Reynolds said, is simply to make the best of Wrexham. “Sports are meaningless to me until I know what is at stake for anyone,” Reynolds said.

“What did a player do to be there. What does a club mean to a community? If I think about the films that made an impact on me; Is “Field Of Dreams” A Movie About Baseball? Not necessary. It is a film about a father and son trying to connect. It’s the context that draws you in.”

At heart, of course, what Reynolds and McElhenney have done with Wrexham is certainly an inherently benign form of ownership by football’s standards. He has not put a debt burden on the club. They are not using it to try to whitewash the image of the oppressive state. They’ve given a club, and a city, reason to believe, and everything for the price of a couple of camera crews. Not owned, he insists, hinges on the success of “Welcome to Wrexham.” They are in it “for the long haul,” Reynolds said, whether spectators are there or not.

Originally published at Pen 18

haryana: ‘In India, we give too much importance to a win or loss’

Vinesh Phogat is now the first Indian female wrestler to win two World Championship medals, with a bronze medal in Belgrade (Serbia). She made a remarkable comeback to win a medal via repechage after a crushing defeat at the hands of Mongolian Khulan Batkhuyag. Speaking to Boria Majumdar after winning the medal, the Haryana wrestler felt more than happy and felt a longer recovery time due to the weight cut (he dropped 5 from his 53kg weight category two days before the bout). kg) was more responsible for the defeat than anything else. Part:

Congratulations on the second world championship medal. After the setback against Bakhuyag, you made a comeback in repechage. How do you view world championship bronze medals? It wasn’t that I wasn’t mentally prepared for it on the first day and things changed radically on the second day. The truth is that it took a little extra time for my body to recover from the weight cut and as a result I was exhausted and not at my best. Losing these weights is not easy on the body and they make you tired. I’ve had to go through three weight cuts in the last month since the (2022 Birmingham) Commonwealth Games (CWG) and it took a toll. The final weight cut before the fight against Batkuyag affected me and I didn’t recover as fast as I wanted. The next day my body had adjusted better and I was in much better shape and this was reflected in the results. So, to think that something went wrong on the first day and I was not mentally prepared for it would not be a correct assessment.

But being able to come back after a crushing defeat would mean a lot to you. Yes, it has given me great satisfaction. Probably because I worked hard, I got this opportunity through repechage. In a lot of sports people don’t get a second chance. They may have a bad fight and it is all over for them. In my case I was lucky that I got a second chance and that is what I think finally paid off my hard work. While many people are saying that I am the first Indian to win two medals, I want to say that there are a lot of athletes who have won better medals than my two bronze medals. So we should not lose our point of view. I need to keep working hard to do well in future events. If my body had responded better to the previous weight cuts, the medal color here in Belgrade could have been different.

Returning is never easy. More when it’s after a big shock like Tokyo. How do you see things going forward? I have said this before and am saying it again. In India we give a lot of importance to a victory or a defeat. If you lose one day people will scoff at you and say you are not good enough. Your years of work go in vain and you become rubbish and rubbish. And if you win, they will praise you in the sky. We need some balance. This extreme reaction puts an enormous amount of pressure on us athletes. There has never been an athlete who does not lose. Cannot be done. Wins and losses are part of the game and we need to be a little more mature about these things, otherwise we put a lot of negative pressure on athletes which can be detrimental to a person’s mental health. I think if we tackle things a little more rationally, it will be better for us athletes who are trying to do well.

So how hopeful are you of making it to the 2024 Paris Olympics? If you ask me, I want to play two more Olympics if my body allows me to do so. It is impossible to predict injuries in wrestling. Take my own case in Rio. No one could guess the injury. But if I’m fit enough and my body allows, I’d absolutely love to play in Paris and even Los Angeles.

The more we play and win, the better it is for the game in India. More and more young girls will play sports and the competition will be better. While I will work my hardest and try my best, we have to see over time how my body is responding and that will dictate things going forward. But yes, I definitely want to play in Paris and even in the 2028 Olympics.

Originally published at Pen 18

Who’s the best in men’s tennis? It depends on how you measure.

When Roger Federer announced his retirement this week, he was crowned with Hosanna, one of the greatest male tennis players of all time.

But was he only one of the greatest? Or was he the greatest of them all?

It’s not difficult to declare a favorite player as the best ever and then find statistics to justify the argument. Let’s look at it from the other direction and first look at the numbers to see where they lead.

grand slam win

If there is any one number widely accepted as the ultimate measure of a great tennis player, it is the number of Grand Slam tournaments won. And there’s certainly a lot of logic behind it.

A Grand Slam title is the ultimate goal for most players: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open attract the most attention and are the strongest fields and shower their winners with prize money and visibility. In men’s tennis, they are also known for the best-of-five set format, which is a longer test than regular tour events.

This is the simplest solution that most tennis fans know:

The Big Three (Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) are above the rest of men’s tennis history as they do in many categories.

Nadal and Djokovic are both still playing, and could raise their totals; Both of them won three of the four Grand Slam singles titles this year.

grand slam performance

Reducing Grand Slam performance to binary – did he win or not? – is something of an oversimplification. It’s also important to win matches and advance in the tournament, no matter what Vince Lombardi says.

The scoring system may be debatable, but what if we award 6 points for a Grand Slam win, 3 for a runner-up, and 1 for a semi-final?

Now the players stack up like this:

If anything, it’s as close. And a slightly different scoring system can easily change the order.

For example, many fans consider the Olympics, in which tennis is staged every four years, to value a slam or near-slam-caliber tournament. Each player won an Olympic singles medal. Add 6 for Nadal’s gold, 3 for Federer’s silver and 1 for Djokovic’s bronze and you get a running close to a laugh: 171-171-170, with Nadal just one point behind.

All three men also lost an Olympic bronze medal match, and Djokovic did so twice. This equals the semi-final, which will take Djokovic one point ahead.

Grand Slam from another angle

Grand Slam victories alone do not account for early-round performances in the finals and semi-finals, nor does it factor into why Federer started earlier than the other two players and had more chances at Grand Slams. Both of those factors account for a simple win-loss record in Grand Slam events. By this measure:

Federer’s longevity counts against him here; A few early and late career losses reduce his win percentage. The same could happen at the end of Nadal and Djokovic’s careers if they stayed together.

Multifaceted talent

Winning on different surfaces is important to a player’s legacy. This is why Federer’s only Grand Slam victory on clay at the 2009 French Open meant so much to tennis fans.

So – and stay with us here – what if instead of adding up Grand Slam titles, we multiply them? This would give more points to players who won a variety of Grand Slams and penalize specialists. This would also give a score of 0 to someone who didn’t win all four, but luckily each of the Big Three did.

Djokovic’s comparative versatility gives him the edge here. Federer is only hurt by a win in Paris once, while Nadal’s astonishing 14 French Open victories thus far have little return.

other tournaments

Tennis is not just a Grand Slam, and perhaps the totality of men’s careers should be viewed as well.

In terms of win-loss records across all official events, they stack up:

The winning percentage is Nadal, Djokovic, Federer. By total wins, it’s Federer, Nadal, Djokovic.

There’s more to consider here: Djokovic spent 373 weeks ranked No. 1 and ended seven different years there. Federer was at the top of the year at 310 weeks and five times, and Nadal 209 more times.

Federer won 103 Tour singles titles, Nadal won 92 and Djokovic won 88. (For once, another player won: Jimmy Connors, playing in a very different era, won 109 titles, something for those who want to make a stark contrast. For.)

Although some players and fans dismiss the Davis Cup, others view it as an important part of the tennis calendar. Nadal has an excellent record of 29-1 with .967 percent in Cup play. Djokovic is 38-7 (.844) and Federer is 40-8 (.833).

Nuts and bolts

Maybe even flashy statistics like wins and grand slams are results-oriented. ATP Tour compiles a lot of others to test players on a hyper-granular level.

But here too there is some clarity. Who has the best service? Federer won 77% of his first serve points, Djokovic 74% and Nadal 72%.

Best returner in clutch? They rank in reverse order. Nadal has 45% break points, Djokovic 44% and Federer 41% break points.

face to face

Maybe it’s time to call out all those matches against Tomas Berdych and Diego Schwartzman. How was the Big Three’s performance when they faced each other?

Here, Djokovic gets a bit of a chance. He holds a 30-29 lead over Nadal and 27-23 over Federer. Nadal leads Federer 24-16.

And in conclusion…

There are probably a million ways to understand this. And every time you figure it out, no one will like how you understood it.

In our little experiment, Nadal led in five categories, Djokovic in four and Federer in three. But most of the categories were extremely close. And if we had chosen something different, the result would have been different. Unless you stubbornly decide that only one statistic matters, there doesn’t seem to be a way to clearly separate the three.

Maybe you have a favorite. If so, we’ve got you some ammunition to make your argument while you wait for the next match at Rod Laver Arena or Arthur Ashe Stadium.

But no matter who you choose, it is clear that Federer’s retirement marks the beginning of the end of the golden era of men’s tennis. Maybe the young Carlos Alcaraz will scare some of these numbers off in 20 years or so. Or maybe we will never see the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, at least at the same time again.

Originally published at Pen 18