After consistently performing well in domestic cricket, Rinku Singh has now started to get the due opportunities. The southpaw was recently named in the India squad for the Asian Games. The batter was also picked for the India tour of Ireland. Speaking about his India call-up, Rinku said that the selection is like a dream come true.

“Sapne jaisa hi hai (This is like a dream). I don’t want to wake up anytime soon,” Rinku said while speaking to Indian Express.

“It’s an amazing feeling, not easy for me to describe in words. I have reached this level from absolutely nothing. I am an emotional person, and every time I talk to my parents, we end up crying,” he added.

‘I Have No Shame In Telling People That I Used To Do Menial Jobs’: Rinku Singh

Rinku Singh worked his way up in the roster after a staggering show in domestic cricket. He toiled hard and did menial jobs to make ends meet before becoming a cricketer. Rinku said that he has shame in telling people about the work he used to do.

“I have no shame in telling people that I used to do menial jobs to make ends meet. What’s wrong with it? My past gives me the courage to face failures and difficulties,” he added.

Rinku Singh Opens Up On Being Sidelined For West Indies T20I Series

Rinku Singh was expected to get his maiden cap in the T20I series against West Indies, however, he was ignored by the BCCI. Rinku opened up on his snub and said that he was not dejected as he has seen worse situations.

“There was no dejection. I have seen worse. Not getting picked for the West Indies tour didn’t deter me at all. Selection is not in my hands. What I can do is score runs and I am just doing it.

“I have this superstition that If I think too much, things will start to fall apart. I live in the present and that’s how I bat also. People keep asking me about those five sixes and the planning behind it. In reality, there was no planning. It was my day, I hit every ball, and connected well. It was all God’s plan, nothing else,” he added.

The post Rinku Singh On Cloud Nine After India Call-up For Ireland Tour, Terms Selection As ‘Dream Come True’ appeared first on Cricket Country.

Harmanpreet Kaur lost cool when she was given out LBW in the tied 3rd ODI against Bangladesh women. The furious Harman then hit the stumps with bat on her way back to the dressing room.

Harmanpreet Kaur launched an attack on the umpires during the post-match presentation and alleged that the umpires were biased toward the home team. Harmanpreet said that the next time India will tour Bangladesh, they will prepare for the poor umpiring too.

The skipper did not stop here and insulted Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana during the trophy-sharing photoshoot. Harmanpreet asked Nigar to call the umpires and join the Bangladesh team on stage, suggesting that they played for the host team. Nigar was furious with Harmanpreet Kaur’s act and walked off the stage.

Harmanpreet Kaur Like To Face Two Match Ban

As per PTI, Harmanpreet Kaur is likely to get 4 demerit points for her outrage which will force her to miss the first two matches of the Asian Games.

“There is still some deliberation going on whether she should get three demerit points or four as there are two charges — match equipment abuse and criticism of match officials.

“In case there are four demerit points in a space of 24 months, you either miss a Test or two limited-over games — in this case, first two games of Asiad. In case, it is three, then she will only cop financial penalty,” a senior BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

Nigar Sultana’s Reply To Harmanpreet Kaur

The Bangladesh captain was also furious with the behaviour of her Indian counterpart and said that Harmanpreet Kaur should have shown some manners.

“It is totally her (Harmanpreet’s) problem. I have nothing to do with it,” Nigar said in the press conference. “As a player, she could have shown better manners. I can’t tell you what happened, but it didn’t feel right to be there [for the photograph] with my team. It wasn’t the right environment. That’s why we went back. Cricket is a game of discipline and respect.”

The post Harmanpreet Kaur Likely To Face Ban, Set To Miss Asian Games After Outrage In 3rd ODI vs Bangladesh appeared first on Cricket Country.

1 – Hockey Gold Medal In 1948 Olympics

India won its first-ever gold medal in hockey post independence in the London 1948 Olympics. They defeated England 2-1 to win an elite gold.

2 -The Rise Of Football In India

Indian football is gaining popularity but we still have a lot of distance to cover before we become one of the best teams at the international level. India’s best performance post independence came in 1951 when India won a gold medal in the Asian Games under the able leadership of Syed Abdul Rahim. The team repeated the feat in the 1960 Asian Games too.

3 – KD Jadhav Makes India Proud

KD Jadhav is one of the first Indian athletes to win a medal in the Olympics. In 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the bantamweight category to give India its first wrestling Olympic medal.

4 – India’s First Superstar In Athletics Milka Singh Wins Gold

Milkha Singh was India’s first athletic superstar post independence. He became the first Indian to win a Commonwealth Gold. He won a gold in the 440 yards category in the 1958 Commonwealth Games.

5 – Ramanathan Krishnan Reaches Wimbledon Semi-Final

India’s first tennis sensation, Ramanathan Krishnan reached the semi-final of Wimbledon in 1960 and then backed his performance with another semi-final appearance in 1961.

6 – Prakash Padukone Wins England Open Badminton Championships

The father of Bollywood diva Deepika Padukone, Prakash Padukone is India’s first badminton star. He won the England Open Badminton Championship in 1980. Sadly he could never participate in Olympics as the sport was recognized in the 1992 Olympics.

8 – 1983 Cricket World Cup

This is the most iconic moment in Indian cricket history as Kapil Dev-led India defeated West Indies in the final to win their first ever World Cup.

9 – Vishwanathan Anand Wins World Championship

Vishwanathan Anand became the first Indian to win World Championship in 2000. He was India’s first star in Chess and went on to win World Championship five times.

10- Vijender Singh Becomes The First Indian Boxer To Win An Olympic Medal

In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Vijender Singh won a bronze medal to give India their first Olympic medal in Boxing.

11 – Abhinav Bindra Wins Gold In 2008 Beijing Olympics

The 2008 Olympic was special for India. After Vijender, Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal in the 10m air rifle shooting event to become the first Indian to win Olympic gold at an individual event.

12 -2007 T20 World Cup

T20 was a new format and most teams had no clue how to approach the game. In the same year, India were knocked out of the 50 Over World Cup in West Indies in the first round itself. Not a lot was expected from India but the young guns under the leadership of MS Dhoni won the T20 World Cup.

13 – 2011 World Cup

This time Team India were favourites to win the World Cup at home and they did it in style, beating Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the quarter-final, semi-final and final respectively to win their second 50-over world cup.

14 – Neeraj Chopra Wins Gold In Tokyo Olympics

Javelin Thrower Neeraj Chopra became the second India to win individual gold in Olympics. He won a gold medal in javelin throw event of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. This was India’s first Olympic gold in track and field event.

The post Top Achievements Of India In Sports After Independence: A Tribute To Indian Heroes appeared first on Cricket Country.

By Julien Fountain

It seems as if each time I start to write for PakPassion.net, there are simply too many hot topics to talk about. Last time it was new coaching staff for Pakistan, illegal bowling actions and court cases. This time is no different with the cricketing world witnessing a book launch and the corresponding claims and counter claims from all and sundry, another new “local as opposed to foreign” head coach hired in the subcontinent and the bowling action’s saga continues, gaining pace (if not the turn and bounce, with the vigorously enforced 15 degree limit) So, what to talk about this time…

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Firstly, I must begin by reminding everybody about how well Korea did at the recent Asian Games T20 Men’s Competition. This was a group of players who had between 12 to 18 months of cricket playing each, so to make it into the quarter-finals against Sri Lanka, was really a great effort. Then to actually take eight wickets and restrict them to less than 180 was a huge achievement. Of course we were never going to win the game, but who could have predicted a Korean left-arm fast bowler, Park Taekwan, achieving figures of 4-0-16-4. There in itself is a reason Twenty20 cricket should be in the Olympics. There’s a thought . . .

Imagine if you will, a different world where T20 Cricket is now an Olympic event. The Top 20 medal-winning countries from London 2012 only included England (GBR in 3rd place), Australia (in 10th place) and New Zealand (in 15th place) in terms of full member nations and the only strong cricket playing associate nation represented in the top twenty was the Netherlands (in 13th place).

Now it could be argued that despite the majority of the major Olympic nations not having a cricket culture, what some do have, such as Korea, is a huge baseball culture; which as we have just proved conclusively at the Asian Games in Incheon, can be utilised to create a T20 cricket team. Instead picture the likes of USA, China, South Korea, Japan, Italy, Netherlands, Cuba all of whom have professional baseball leagues. All of these countries have thousands of highly skilled bat and ball athletes.

Imagine if these countries who, after all, are in the habit of achieving medals across a range of diverse sports, were able to utilise their National Olympic Committee (NOC) funding and resources to put out a T20 Cricket team? Korea just did it at the Asian games and in just 12 months, with virtually no funding and no national support managed to beat China who had had support and development going back six-eight years, and play really well against Sri Lanka, an ICC full member nation.

Associate and Affiliate nations struggle to perform because they do not have the funding or cricket infrastructure that a full member nation does. NOC backing for these countries would go a huge way to leveling the global cricket playing field.

So where, I hear you ask, do the traditional Cricket “powerhouse” nations stand in terms of the global Olympic Sports movement? Well, using the London 2012 medal table as a measure of recent Olympic success; South Africa placed 23rd, Ireland placed 41st, India placed 55th and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh failed to make it onto the medal table at all.

It would be a very interesting event to see a truly globalised T20 Cricket competition where former baseball players from the USA, Cuba, Japan or Korea pit their skills against the big three and their counterparts. Incidentally of the so called “Big Three” only one is represented in the “Olympic Big Three” from 2012 (GBR placed 3rd) and only two are in the top ten (GBR 3rd & Australia 10th). How different would it be to see the smaller Associates and Affiliates receive the same support from their much larger NOC’s, that is given to traditional Olympic sports within each country. An Olympic T20 Cricket tournament would truly be a “Global Cricket Event” with all the usual bias’s removed, and only the sport itself being important.

Anybody, who is truly in favour of the globalisation of the sport of cricket, should not have a problem with T20 Cricket becoming an Olympic event. The T20 format provides some of the best sporting characteristics and features for both spectators and competitors alike. T20 is truly a sports event that can be both played, and appreciated, far more widely than current audiences suggest. The old forgotten colonial ties are long gone; this is the modern era where both sport and big business are king.

The case against cricket becoming an Olympic event? Well, I will leave that for you to decide. It might be a financial issue, it might be an issue of power & dominance. What I will say is it would be very interesting to see some of the major cricket governing bodies sit amongst some of the major Olympic Associations such as the USA, China, Russia or Korea and then try to bulldoze their way through meetings or votes ! These countries might just meet their match both on and off the field!

(Julien Fountain a former fielding coach of Pakistan, was recently appointed as Head Coach of the South Korean national team. The above article is reproduced with permission from http://pakpassion.net/)

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Oct 3, 2014

Sri Lanka thrashed Afghanistan by 68 runs in the Asian Games 2014 final at Incheon on Friday. Afghanistan batsmen fared miserably in chase of 134 and were bundled out for just 65. Lahiru Thirimanne was the star of the match for Sri Lanka scoring 57 in an otherwise ordinary batting performance from the Sri Lankans.

The Lankans had won the toss and elected to bat. They were jolted early in the innings with Upul Tharanga dismissed in the second over. However a 72-run stand between Thirimanne and skipper Dinesh Chandimal shifted the momentum of the game. But Chandimal and Thirimanne were dismissed in a span of two overs. Thirimanne had scored a sparkling fifty but the rest of the Lankan batting caved in and were bowled out for 133.

Mohammad Nabi was pick of the bowler for Afghanistan with four for 18. In response, Najeeb tarkai gave a brisk start to Afghanistan but their wickets tumbled faster the Lankans’. Two consecutive maiden overs and three wickets saw them slip from 20 for no loss to 20 for three. From thereon, there was hardly any noteworthy contributions. Leg-spinner Jeevan Mendis bagged three for 18 and other bowlers too pocketed a few wickets.

Brief scores:

Sri Lanka 133 in 19,1 overs (Lahiru Thirimanne 57; Mohammad Nabi 4 for 18) beat Afghanistan 65 in 17.4 overs (Najeeb Tarkai 17; Jeevan Mendis 3 for 13) by 68 runs.

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Oct 3, 2014

Read the match report of the Asian games final here

Toss: Sri Lanka win toss, elect to bat

Teams:

Afghanistan: Karim Sadiq, Najeeb Tarakai, Mohammad Shahzad, Samiullah Shenwari, Fazal Rahman, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi (c), Fareed Ahmad, Amir Hamza, M Nasim Baras, Qaseem Khan (wk)

Sri lanka: U Tharanga, D Chandimal (c), L Thirimanne, D Lokuhettige, J Mendis, B Rambukwella, I Udana, C de Silva, S Priyanjan, D Gunaratne, A Silva

Welcome to CricketCountry’s live blog of the final of the Asian Games 2014 between Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The Lankans found a bizarre way of entering the final. Rain interrupted their semi-final match against Bangladesh. They had Bangladesh on the mat but the rains forced the match to be decided via coin toss. Sri Lanka called tails and they won the semi-final. On the other hand, rain had a role to play in the Hong Kong vs Afghanistan match as well, but Afghanistan managed to clinch it convincingly via Duckworth Lewis method.

The post Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka Live Cricket Score, Asian Games 2014 final: Sri Lanka win gold medal appeared first on Cricket Country.

Incheon: Oct 2, 2014

India finished off their Asian Games athletics campaign on a golden note with the women’s 4X400 metres relay team clinching the yellow metal while Inderjeet Singh joined the party by winning the men’s shot put bronze at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium here Thursday.

Indian athletes will be returning home from South Korea with two golds, three silvers and eight bronzes, making it 13 from the discipline, one more than the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad.The 4x400m relay team comprising Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and M. Poovamma successfully defended their title in style by setting a Games record with a time of three minutes and 28.68 seconds to overhaul the previous record, also set by India in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.

Mandeep, who along with Priyanka failed a dope test in 2011, is the only existing member of the team that won the gold four years ago along with Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose and Ashwini Akkunji.India have now set a remarkable record of winning the 4X400m race for four consecutive Asiads.
The Japanese team of Aoyama Seika, Matsumoto Nanako, Ichikawa Kana and Chiba Asami set a season’s best time of 3:30.8 to take silver while China’s Li Manyuan, Wang Huan, Chen Jingwen and Cheng Chong clinched the bronze in 3:32.02, also a season’s best time.

Later in the day, Inderjeet took home the shot put bronze with a best throw of 19.63 metres, coming on his fifth attempt out of six. Saudi Arabia’s Sultan Abdulmajeed Alhebshi set his season’s best throw of 19.99m to win gold while Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ming Huang took silver with 19.97m.

Inderjeet threw the metal ball at 17.19m in his first attempt which he bettered on his second to take it to 18.52m. He equalled his best on the third try but his fourth throw went slightly down to 18.14m before emerging with 19.63m which earned him the metal. His sixth attempt was disqualified.

In other competitions, Rajender Singh finished 11th among 17 participants in the men’s javelin throw final. His best attempt of 73.43 metres came on his first try, out of three, but it was considerably below his personal best of 79.32m.Arpinder Singh and Renjith Maheshwary failed to secure any medal from men’s triple jump final, finishing fifth and ninth respectively. Arpinder, a Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, managed a best leap of 16.41m on his first attempt among six bids while Renjith registered a best of 15.67m.

Sahana Kumari finished eighth among 10 participants in the women’s high jump final. The national record holder managed a highest jump of 1.80m, well below her personal best of 1.92m, to finish towards the bottom of the standings.Runners O.P. Jaisha and Preeja Sreedharan finished fourth and eighth respectively in the women’s 5,000 metres final. Though Jaisa clocked a personal best time of 15 minutes and 18.3 seconds, she was way behind the podium finishers.

Preeja, on the other hand, finished the race in eighth, out of 17 competitors, with a season’s best time of 15:39.52.
Rahul Kumar Pal and Suresh Kumar set their personal best times to finish a creditable fourth and fifth in the men’s 10,000 metres final. Pal finished the race in 28:52.36 while Suresh came home a little further behind in 28:58.22.

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Incheon: Oct 2, 2014

Indian athlete Sahana Kumari finished eighth among 10 participants in the women’s high jump final at the 17th Asian Games on Thursday. National record holder Sahana managed a highest jump of 1.80 metres, well below her personal best of 1.92m, to finish towards the bottom of the standings at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.

Uzbekistan’s Svetlana Radzivil won the gold with a jump of 1.94m while China’s Xingjuan Zheng claimed silver with her season’s best jump of 1.92m. Uzbekistan’s Nadiya Dusanova took home the bronze with a best leap of 1.89m. Earlier the Indian men’s hockey won the gold after a penalty shootout against Pakistan.

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Tintu Luka(in front) was one of the members of the Indian women’s really that won the gold © Getty Images

Incheon: Oct 2, 2014

India successfully defended their women’s 4X400 metres relay title by clinching the gold medal at the Asian Games on Thursday. Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and M. Poovamma set a Games record with a timing of three minutes and 28.68 seconds at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium.

These Japanese team of Aoyama Seika, Matsumoto Nanako, Ichikawa Kana and Chiba Asami set a season’s best time of 3:30.8 to take home the silver while China’s Li Manyuan, Wang Huan, Chen Jingwen andCheng Chong clinched the bronze (3:32.02). Earlier the Indian men’s hockey team had won the gold after a penalty shootout.

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Incheon: Oct 2, 2014

Indian hockey umpire Javed Shaikh earned an unique distinction Thursday by officiating in his 100th international match at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon. The 39-year-old achieved the milestone during the men’s bronze medal match between South Korea and Malaysia at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium.

“Umpire Javed Shaikh has brought recognition to the country by umpiring his 100th match at the 17th Asian Games. His remarkable achievement gives me immense delight and I congratulate him on behalf of Hockey India (HI) and look forward to seeing more of him on the field,” HI secretary general Narinder Batra said.

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