Paris, July 29 (IANS) Former World No.1 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history on Monday as they became the first Indian men’s doubles combine to reach the quarterfinals at the Olympics.

After their Group C match against the German pair of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Seidel was called off in the morning following their opponent withdrew due to injury, Satwik and Chirag got the good news later in the evening when the French pair of Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar’s defeat against Muhammad Rian Ardianto-Fajar Alfian of Indonesia.

The Indian combine ranked third in the world, had beaten Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar in their first match in Paris. With the group reduced to three teams following the withdrawal of the German pair, Satwik and Chirag and the Indonesian combine have won one match and both have made it to the last-eight stage as two teams are to qualify from each group. The Indian and Indonesian pairs will clash in the final match in Group C to decide the group topper.

Satwik-Chirag, the reigning Asian and Commonwealth Games champions, were scheduled to play the German pair on Monday. However, Lamfuss pulled out of the tournament due to a knee injury.

“German men’s doubles player Mark Lamsfuss has withdrawn from the Olympic Games Paris 2024 badminton competition due to a knee injury. Lamsfuss’ and teammate Marvin Seidel‘s remaining Group C matches against India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (Court 3, 8.30 am local time, 29 July 2024) and Lucas Corvee/Ronan Labar of France (Court 1, ‘Not Before’ 2.50 pm local time, 30 July 2024) will not be played,” the Badminton World Federation statement read.

Lamfuss-Seidel’s remaining two Group C matches, including Monday’s game, have been cancelled. The German duo’s result against Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, world No. 7 in men’s doubles, has also been deleted as per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play.

“Matches on these courts in each respective session have been rescheduled. As per BWF General Competition Regulations for group stage play, the results of all matches played, or yet to be played, involving in Group C are now considered deleted,” it added.

Satwik-Chirag’s next Group C match will be against the Indonesian pair, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto on Tuesday (July 30) at 5:30 pm IST.

–IANS

bsk/ab

New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) Jonathan Trott, the former England batter who currently coaches Afghanistan, will be taking over as Pretoria Capitals’ head coach in the upcoming SA20 season. Trott replaces Graham Ford, who left the role at the franchise earlier this month.

Under Ford, the Capitals became runners-up in season one of SA20, but had a difficult time and finished in fifth place in the second season of the tournament. This is the second major shake-up in the Capitals’ franchise world after Ricky Ponting parted ways with Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Trott comes into the role ahead of Season 3 of SA20 on the back of delivering spectacular results with a much-improved Afghanistan in two consecutive World Cups.

In the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, Afghanistan beat teams like New Zealand, Bangladesh and Australia to enter the semifinals for the first time, before losing to South Africa in Trinidad, making this their best-ever performance in the global trophy of the shortest format.

In the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup, Afghanistan beat England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Netherlands in an impressive campaign in India. The SA20 coaching stint with the Capitals also marks Trott’s return to South Africa, the country of his birth.

He attended the prestigious Rondebosch Boys’ High School in Cape Town and represented South Africa at U-15 and U-19 levels, as well as played for Western Province and Boland before pursuing an international playing career for England (52 Tests, 68 ODIs and 7 T2OIs) and being associated with Warwickshire County Cricket Club in Birmingham.

Meanwhile, two-time champion Sunrisers Eastern Cape have confirmed the Netherlands’ all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe will come back to the side for SA20 Season 3 after being unavailable for the previous edition.

In the inaugural season, van der Merwe was the joint leading wicket-taker with 20 scalps, coming at an economy rate of just 5.62, including taking 4-31 against the Capitals to win the Player of the Final award.

–IANS

nr/bsk/

Paris, July 29 (IANS) The Indian men’s archery team of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Pravin Jadhav lost to Turkiye 2-6 in the quarterfinals and was knocked out of the Paris Olympics on Monday. Bommadevara and veteran Rai were the weakest links of the Indian team as Jadhav scored the most points in the quarterfinal clash. India lost the opening two sets as the young Turkish trio came out all guns blazing.

However, the Indians made a comeback in the third set and won 55-54 before going down miserably in the next set. Turkiye comfortably sealed the match with a scoreline of 57-53, 55-52, 54-55, 58-54.

Bommadevara shot a seven in the First End and made up for it with a 10 while Rai could manage only nine and eight in two rounds. Türkiye had four arrows in the 10-point zone while the Indians had only two. In the second set, Rai shot two eights while Jadhav had a 10 and a nine while Bommadevara shot a eight and nine.

They did better in the third set with two 10s, three 9s and one eight while Türkiye’s Berkim Tumer shot a seven. In the fourth set, Bommadevara shot a seven, which ended India’s hopes.

On Sunday, the Indian women’s archery team of Ankita Bhakat, Bhajan Kaur and Deepika Kumari lost to the Netherlands in the quarterfinal and ended their campaign.

The Indian team lost 51-52, 49-54, 48-53 to the Dutch team after putting up a dismal show. Ankita and Deepika failed to cope with the pressure as they were unable to get their shots right from the start and the team fell behind 51-52 in the opening set.

Things did not change in the second as well as they went down in the set after two six-point shots from Ankita and Deepika to finish 54-49 and were trailing 0-4 to the Dutch team.

Ankita’s costly four-point error in the third set added further misery to and ended India’s hopes of progressing to the semifinals as the Netherlands, seeded 12th compared to India’s fourth, won the match 6-0.

The Indian women’s team had earned a direct entry into the quarterfinals after finishing fourth in the qualification.

–IANS

ab/bsk/

Paris, July 29 (IANS) Novak Djokovic continued his quest for an elusive first gold medal on Monday, overcoming long-time rival Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in the men’s singles event of Paris Olympics at the Philippe-Chatrier court.

Their previous meeting on this court had seen Nadal triumph in a four-set quarterfinal win in 2022, but this time, it was Djokovic who dominated. The Serbian, currently ranked No.2 controlled the match from the start, taking the first set 6-1 and racing to a 4-0 lead in the second.

However, Nadal, who had only lost four times on Court Philippe-Chatrier before Monday, demonstrated his trademark resilience. The 38-year-old Spaniard began landing his heavy topspin forehands, breaking Djokovic’s serve and levelling the set at 4-4 in dramatic style.

Nadal retrieved a Djokovic smash with a smash of his own, followed by a forehand into the open corner, igniting the crowd and shifting the momentum.

But Djokovic was not to be denied. He broke Nadal’s serve again with a deft drop shot on his fourth breakpoint to lead 5-4 and then held serve to seal the match, improving to 31-29 in their ATP head-to-head series.

With this victory, Djokovic gained a measure of Olympic revenge on Nadal, who had beaten him en route to winning the gold medal in Beijing in 2008. Djokovic, who won bronze in Beijing, has now matched Steffi Graf’s record for the most Olympic singles match wins since 1988, with 15 victories.

Next, Djokovic will face either Germany’s Dominik Koepfer or Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in the third round as he continues his pursuit of Olympic glory.

Nadal, meanwhile, has had a challenging year. After losing in the first round at Roland Garros in May to Alexander Zverev and missing the grass-court season, he returned to action at the ATP 250 event in Bastad, reaching the final.

He managed to claw past Marton Fucsovics in three sets in his first-round match at the Paris Olympics but was unable to maintain that level against Djokovic. Despite striking 20 winners, Nadal committed too many unforced errors, allowing Djokovic to advance after one hour and 41 minutes of intense play.

–IANS

hs/bsk/

Paris, July 29 (IANS) The Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh came up with a late, 59th-minute goal to help his team hold Argentina 1-1 in a Pool B match in the 33rd Olympic Games at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium here on Monday. Lucas Martinez (22′) had put Argentina, gold medallists at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, in the lead before Harmanpreet saved the day for eight-time champions India.

Coming into the match with the confidence of winning their opening game 3-2 against New Zealand, India looked dominant in the first quarter, with bursts of attacks by the young Indian forwards but breaking the Argentine deadlock was a struggle.

Meanwhile, Argentina, which had lost their previous match to Australia 0-1, looked more determined to put India under the pump right from the starting hooter.

India made a breakthrough in the 10th minute, thanks to Mandeep Singh winning a penalty corner. With Harmanpreet subbed out Sanjay made an attempt but failed to capitalise from the drag-flick. In the following minutes, Abhishek took an ambitious shot on goal, but the ball hit the crossbar, narrowly missing out on an early lead.

After a goalless first quarter, India began the second quarter with back-to-back PCs in the 19th minute but Argentina goalie Santiago did well to keep India’s captain from scoring. Unfortunately for India, there was no such luck when Lucas Martinez attempted a goal in the 22nd minute. Making space in the circle, and beating defender Harmanpreet, Martinez successfully found the net despite goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh’s diving effort. Though India came up with some potential moves in this quarter to equalise, the Argentine backline was resolute throughout.

India came out of the 10-minute break looking positive; however, Argentina ensured the Indian forwards had little space to move around in the striking circle.

On the other hand, Argentina had several opportunities to double their lead including the PCs earned in the 37th minute but to no avail. They were even awarded a penalty stroke following a body infringement by Jarmanpreet while defending the PC but Maico Casella Schuth was way off the target.

Both teams continued to trade PCs in the remaining minutes of this quarter. Argentina won back-to-back chances in the 42nd and India in the 44th minute but there was no joy for both teams as they failed to convert.

The final quarter was dramatic, yet tense for India as they were still in the hunt to find that equaliser but Argentina’s defence hardly allowed any movement. India had to bank on aerial balls to move forward.

The final few moments remained intense as India managed a flurry of PCs and were successful finally in making the late surge. Harmanpreet came up with a brilliant execution, and powerful drag to put the ball past Santiago who was exceptional throughout the game. He kept it high, aiming at the middle of the net to find the equaliser.

The late goal brought huge celebrations among Indian fans present in the stands and ensured they split the winning points with Argentina.

With four points in two matches, India are placed third in the Pool B standings and will next take on Ireland at 4:45 pm IST on Tuesday. Ireland have lost both their matches in the tournament so far.

–IANS

ab/bsk/