Diksha claims gold at Deaflympics
McCullum named coach of England’s Test team Esha, Saurabh win mixed team pistol gold
LONDON: New Zealand cricket great Brendon McCullum was hired as head coach of England’s Test team on Thursday in another bold appointment coming soon after the decision to select all-rounder Ben Stokes as captain. The 40year-old McCullum, who currently coaches Indian Premier League team Kolkata Knight Riders, has never been in charge of a Test team and only retired from playing in 2019. He was regarded as the catalyst behind New Zealand's emergence as a major force in the Test cricket — the Black Caps won the inaugural World Test Championship last year — and his preference for attacking cricket will be welcomed by Stokes at the start of a new era for England.
Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders have acquired the rights to own and operate a franchise in the UAE's upcoming T20 league and it will based in Abu Dhabi. The franchise will be named Abu Dhabi Knight Riders. The investment by the Knight Riders Group, which is led by actor Shah Rukh Khan, along with Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta, will thus establish their fourth T20 franchise around the world in IPL, CPL, MLC and now in UAE's T20 league.
BHOPAL: Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh registered identical 12-0 wins over their respective pool rivals at the 12th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship, here on Thursday. While Tamil Nadu defeated Arunachal 12-0 in a Pool ‘F’ match, Uttar Pradesh outplayed Gujarat by the same scoreline in Pool ‘G’. In Pool ‘F’, Hockey Andaman & Nicobar forfeited its match, resulting in Hockey Karnataka getting a 5-0 default win. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh outclassed Puducherry 16-0 in a Pool ‘E’ match late on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI: The Committee of Administrators (CoA), running the affairs of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI), on Thursday said it would offer equal prize money for men and women in all the national zonal tournaments including national championships across age groups.
BHUBANESWAR: Sethu FC will look to maintain their unbeatable run when they face Odisha Police in the Indian Women's League here on Friday. The local side will have a tough test facing the former champions. Sethu have been on a terrific run from the start of the season, having defeated every side they have faced so far in the league. Such a run of form has made them a serious contender for the title.
NAIHATI: Churchill Brothers will need a draw even as rivals Sreenidi Deccan FC gun for victory when the two teams lock horns for a podium finish in their final I-League encounter on Friday. Churchill are currently third on the table with 30 points from 17 games while Sreenidi Deccan are a notch below at 29 from equal number of games. After a difficult start, Churchill Brothers have turned their campaign around and have lost just one of their last 11 games.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have found much-needed momentum towards the business end of IPL, will back themselves to ride past an inconsistent Punjab Kings and get closer to a play-off spot here on Friday. Having put up complete performances in their last two games, RCB seemed to have figured out their best combination.
Barring Virat Kohli, all of their batters are in top form with uncapped Rajat Patidar and Mahipal Lomror complementing seasoned pros like skipper Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik, who has been among the best finishers in the tournament alongside Gujarat's Rahul Tewatia.
The bowling packs a punch too in the presence of inform pacers Josh Hazlewood and the ever-reliable Harshal Patel. Mohammad Siraj has not been at his best but trust him to deliver
Indian golfer Diksha Dagar outplayed American Ashlyn Grace in the final to bag gold at the Deaflympics, fulfilling her promise of improving upon the silver-winning performance at the 2017 edition.
Diksha is now the only golfer with two Deaflympics medals — a silver in Samsun, Turkey, in 2017 and gold in 2022, which is actually the 2021 edition of Deaflympics.
The 21-year-old left-hander, who is a professional with victories on the Ladies European
Tour, completed a dominant performance with a 5 and 4 win in the final of the match play section of the ladies golf competition. She beat Grace Johnson with four holes to spare. In 2017, when golf was
Dashing strikers Eshita Shah and Habiba Inamdar, showed excellent finishing skills and notched up hat-tricks while leading Thane DFA to a massive 11-0 win against Sangli DFA in a opening round match of the WIFA Inter-District Girl’s Under-17 football tournament, played at the Minatai Thakare Stadium, Nashik, on Thursday.
Thane started in rousing fashion with Shivani Jaiswal scoring the opening two goals early in the match, while the other three goals came from Lavanya Khatwani, Kajal Saroj, and Akshara Mishra.
In another match, Warda DFA scored a fluent 5-0 win against Aurangabad DFA with strikers Tinkle Deshmukh and Krushnai Gawarkar scoring two goals each and Komal Dhage netting one to complete the winning margin.
Thane DFA 11
first introduced at the Deaflympics, Diksha, then still an amateur and still short of her 17th birthday, reached the final comfortably.
There she lost in a play-off to American Yost Kaylin, who at that time was also playing in the Symetra Tour and some events on the LPGA Tour.
In 2021, Diksha also qualified at the last moment for the Tokyo Olympics and became the first golf player to have ever played at both Deaflympics and the Olympic Games.
RESULTS
(Eshita Shah 3, Habiba Inamdar 3, Shivani v Jaiswal 2, Lavanya Khatwani, Kajal Saroj, Akshara Mishra) beat Sangli DFA 0.
Warda DFA 5 (Tinkle Deshmukh 2, Krushnai Gawarkar 2, Komal Dhage) beat
(Vaishnavi S 2) beat
Hingoli DFA 2
Sutar).
Aurangabad DFA 0. Akola DFA 1 CITY CRICKET ROUND-UP
(Anushka
The duo of Esha Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary won the mixed team pistol gold as Indian shooters extended their dominance at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany on Thursday.
India's Palak and Sarabjot Singh settled for silver after losing to Esha and Saurabh 16-12 in the gold medal match.
Ramita and Paarth Makhija also won silver in the 10m air rifle mixed team competition, going down 13-17 to the Polish pair of Julia Piotrowska and Wiktor Sajdak but not before making it three medals on the day.
In all, India has so far won 10 medals, including four gold.
The Indian men's badminton team scripted a memorable 3-2 win over Malaysia to enter the semifinals of Thomas Cup for the first time in 43 years but the women's side bowed out after losing 0-3 to Thailand in the Uber Cup here on Thursday.
India are now assured of at least a bronze at the Thomas Cup. The country has not won a medal at the event since 1979.
Up against a team that has won the title five times, the World No. 8 pairing of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj