Sania-Strycova emerge champs
TOKYO: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova thrashed China's Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang in straight sets to clinch the Pan Pacific women's doubles title here on Saturday. In a lop-sided affair, the Indo-Czech pair defeated the Chinese 6-1, 6-1 in just 51 minutes.
Sania and Strycova, on Friday defeated unseeded pair of Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and Spain's Maria Jose Martina Sanchez 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in semi-final.
Coming to the match, the SaniaStrycova pair started the proceedings on a positive note. In no time they took the lead and pushed back their opponents to bag the first set.
In the second set, the Chinese pair tried to bounce back but Sania-Strycova managed to hold them to bag the title. Liang and Yang made three double faults while the Indo-Czech pair made only one.
This is Sania's 40th doubles title, of which 18 have come since the beginning of 2015. IANS Former India wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad was appointed the new chairman of selectors while Ajay Shirke was retained unopposed as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary at its 87th Annual General Meeting (AGM) here on Wednesday.
No other nominations were received for the BCCI's secretary's post. The AGM was chaired by BCCI President Anurag Thakur.
Shirke became the secretary in July after Thakur was elevated to the president's post, vacated by Shashank Manohar who quit BCCI to become the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman. He is also chief of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA).
A new five- member selection panel was formed, headed by Prasad (South Zone), which also included former off-spinner Sarandeep Singh (North Zone), ex-batsmen Gagan Khoda (Central Zone), Devang Gandhi (East Zone) and Jatin Paranjpe (West Zone).
Gandhi, Paranjpe and Singh were the new additions to the panel. Prasad, who was part of the earlier selection panel, replaced Sandeep Patil as its chairman.
He played six Tests and 17 One- dayers for India between 1998 and 2000, having made his international debut against Bangladesh in an ODI in 1998.
He played his first Test against New Zealand in 1999. In 2000, however, he was dropped from India's Test squad and did not play international cricket again.
He featured in 96 first- class matches, amassing 4,021 runs at an average of 27.73 and claimed 266 dismissals. He also scored 1,719 runs in 88 List A games.
The 41-year-old was appointed the Andhra Pradesh captain for the 2007-08 Ranji Trophy season.
He announced his retirement from the game in 2008 and later served as Andhra Cricket Association's director for six years.
The Guntur-born became a national selector in 2015. He has also served as selector for the India U-19 team.
"It's undoubtedly a great honour. I have a clear-cut vision about how we are heading to the 2019 World Cup," Prasad was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.com after his appointment.
"I always have kept notes about what I want to do for the 2017 Champions Trophy, for the 2019 World Cup. There is a lot of planning. The best thing is we have watched as many domestic matches as possible."
"We have done tours to Zimbabwe, Australia only at the end of the season. IANS