SPORTS

Kakamigahara, Oct 1 (IANS) Forty-four years after their only Asian Games women’s hockey gold, India will have another opportunity to reclaim the continental crown when they face defending champions China in the title clash at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday.The final carries significance beyond the medal. The Asian Games champions will also secure a berth at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, raising the stakes for two unbeaten teams that have navigated contrasting tests on their way to the summit.India’s only women’s hockey gold at the Asian Games came in 1982. Since then, they have reached the final twice — in 1998 and 2018 — but had to settle for silver after defeats to South Korea and Japan respectively.The current side enters the decisive contest with considerable momentum. In...

Nagoya, Oct 1 (IANS) Anish Bhanwala finished seventh in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol men's individual final here at Aichi Pref. General Shooting Gallery on Thursday, concluding India's shooting campaign with 15 medals. Anish was tied with other shooters on 11 but was eliminated on the countback after his lower qualification ranking placed him seventh. Indian shooters concluded their campaign with three gold, eight silver and 4 bronze medals.Anish qualified for the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol final despite finishing ninth in qualification with a score of 576-17x. Three South Korean shooters finished inside the top eight, but only two shooters per NOC are allowed in the final, which paved the way for Anish to take the eighth and final qualifying spot.Indian pistol shooters had a disappoin...

Nisshin, Oct 1 (IANS) Bangladesh captain Litton Das rued the lack of preparation and game time in the Asian Games stood as a major reason for their loss to Pakistan in the cricket semifinal at the Karogi Sports Park here in Nisshin on Thursday. Bangladesh batters struggled big time in tricky conditions and managed to put up only 111/7 in the shortened 13-over per-side contest, which was curtailed due to a slushy outfield. Pakistan went on to chase the target with six wickets in hand and nine balls to spare.None of the four seeded quarterfinalists got any game time due to rains in Nisshin, as Litton called out the lack of preparations for the event."No, it was never ideal," Litton told reporters on the preparation after the Pakistan loss. "We had been sitting in our rooms for several days a...

Nisshin, Oct 1 (IANS) Defending champions India thrashed Sri Lanka in the men’s cricket semi-final of the Asian Games here at the Karogi Sports Park on Thursday and cruised smoothly into the final, where a high-profile clash against Pakistan awaits. Defending a 170-run target against the Islanders, India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah ran through the opposition’s top-order to start off the second innings with a double-wicket over as opener Sineth Jayawardena and keeper-batter Sohan de Livera were dismissed for a duck. In the next over, Ravi Bishnoi’s sharp throw helped India claim a third wicket after opening batter Lasith Croospulle was run out as the Sahan Arachchige-led side slipped to 2-3 in just seven deliveries. What followed next was complete dominance from the Indian bowlers as Ax...

New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) Arabian Aces head coach Lance Klusener is confident of his Arabian Aces squad for their debut in the Abu Dhabi T10 league and feels the format is an 'explosive' one which would test the players.The Abu Dhabi T10 will be held from November 7 to November 20th, with six teams gearing up to put their best foot forward following the Wednesday draft. Arabian Aces have added some firepower to their squad with the likes of Sam Billings, Imran Tahir and Richard Gleeson amongst other notable picks. Moeen Ali, Andre Russell and Liam Livingstone were already pre-signed by the franchise."The plan was always to go with a squad that could do their job both up top and pull off games for us with the ball if it comes down to that. T10 is an explosive format and is nothing like any of...

New Delhi, Oct 1 (IANS) The Royal Desert Champions are looking to "kickstart a long-time legacy" after building their squad for the upcoming Abu Dhabi T10, which starts on the 7th of November. With Nicolas Pooran, Philip Salt and Sherfane Rutherford already pre-signed, the Royal Desert Champions have added Muhammad Waseem, Naseem Shah and Maheesh Theekshana to their arsenal as they look for a strong season ahead."The important thing is to build a really strong core before going into the draft since the draft can be a draw sometimes. It’s a challenge to pick a new team and the process is extremely dynamic, but we had a really strong strategy for the auction. "It’s a well-known fact that bowlers win tournaments like this. If you don’t have a good bowling unit, things can go downhill quite fa...

Gamagori City, Oct 1 (IANS) India opened its sailing medal account at the Asian Games as Manu Francis and Prince Kurisinkal Noble secured silver in the men’s skiff competition on Thursday, finishing behind China after nine races. The Indian pair closed the regatta with 23 points, four more than the Chinese combination of Wen Zaiding and Liu Tian, who took gold with 16. Hong Kong China’s Akira Luke Sakai and Russel Aylsworth completed the podium with 24 points.Francis and Noble produced a steady campaign, with their strongest result coming in the third race, which they won. The Indian sailors won Race 3 and finished second in Races 1, 5 and 9. They accumulated 29 points across the nine races, with their sixth-place finish in Race 8 discarded to arrive at a net score of 23.The Aichi-Nagoya m...

Okazaki, Oct 1 (IANS) Indian compound archer Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru won the men's individual bronze medal, taking India's tally in archery to four, on Thursday. Ganesh defeated Vietnam's Cong Duc Dang 149-144 to clinch the third spot on the podium here at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square.Ganesh produced a perfect finish as he hit 14 10s, closing with three successive 10s to reach 149 and pull clear of his opponent. This is his second medal at Aichi-Nagoya, having won the gold in the men's team event on Wednesday. India finish the compound archery competition with three gold medals in the team events and one bronze in the individuals.Earlier, India’s Chikitha Taniparthi was knocked out of the women’s compound individual event after a close 144-143 loss to Indonesia’s Nur...

Nisshin, Oct 1 (IANS) Ishan Kishan played a stellar knock of 80 from 46 balls to power India to a strong total of 169/7 in challenging conditions in the semifinal against Sri Lanka here at the Karogi Sports Park on Thursday.With the cracks on the surface assisting spinners, the batters found big runs challenging; however, Ishan and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (38 from 21 balls) led the charge with the bat and helped India put up what seems to be an over-par score in the semifinal after being asked to bat first.Ishan continued his rich vein of form as he played a gem of a knock considering the challenging conditions, mirroring his 77 from 40 balls in the T20 World Cup against Pakistan in tough conditions. He carried the innings after Sooryavanshi provided a strong start, although India had lost Ab...

Nagoya, Oct 1 (IANS) Nitesh Siwach stormed into the final of the Greco-Roman 97kg after a stellar 9-0 technical superiority win over Mongolia's Ganbaataryn Gankhuyag in the semifinal at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Center in the ongoing Asian Games here on Thursday. Nitesh has now become the first Indian to march into the final of the Greco-Roman wrestling at the Asiad since the 1962 Games, ending a 64-year wait for India. He will now face Yuri Nakazato of Japan in the gold medal clash later in the day.If Nitesh beats Nakazato, he will become the first Indian to win an Asiad gold in Greco-Roman wrestling after Ganpat Andalkar, who won the gold at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta.Notably, Ganpat is the first and only Indian to win a Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal in Asian Games.Meanwhile, M...