EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU 20 SPORT THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2020 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Leipzig punishes lacklustre Spurs Women’s ODI WC to Ilicic nets four as Atalanta romps past Valencia have reserve days for CHAMPIONS LEAGUE hat­trick and then curled in a sumptuous fourth as his team reached the semifinals and final Agencies quarterfinals. Leipzig Valencia started badly, CRICKET pated Trans­Tasman show­ RB Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer with the hapless Diakhaby down between New Zealand scored two early goals as it bringing down Ilicic inside and Australia on Feb. 13. eased past last year’s Cham­ the second minute and the Press Trust of India Auckland will host the Wellington pions League finalist Totten­ Slovenian converted from opening game between the ham Hotspur 3­0 in its last 16 the penalty spot to give the A harsh lesson learnt after host and a qualifying team, second­leg tie on Tuesday to visitor a dream start. England women bowed out the semifinals will be played reach its first quarterfinals Gameiro pounced on a of T20 World Cup without in Tauranga and Hamilton by 4­0 on aggregate. loose ball and slotted home actually playing the semifi­ on February March 3 and 4 Sabitzer fired the lively to level but Gian Piero Gas­ nal against India, the ICC respectively with the sum­ German side in front with a perinis Serie A side could has now allocated a reserve mit clash scheduled to take low shot from about 20 not be repressed. day each for the two semifi­ place in Christchurch on metres after 10 minutes and nals and final of the 2021 March 7. The Italians went back it never looked back, pin­ Josip Ilicic. * AP ODI edition in New Zealand. “It’s a match we absolute­ ahead two minutes before ning the visitor, which was The ICC released the 31­ ly fizz about as players — tak­ the break after Diakhaby Ambitious: Shivpal Singh is targeting the 91m mark this year. * FILE PHOTO without injured strikers Har­ 4­3 Champions League match schedule for the tour­ ing on the Aussies is always handled in the area to con­ ry Kane and Son Heung­min, last­16, second­leg win over nament, starting February 6 a huge thrill. Cricket fans cede another penalty, dis­ in its own half. Valencia, that completed an to March 7 in New Zealand who come along to the Ba­ patched by Ilicic. Leipzig’s captain was then 8­4 aggregate victory, at an with reserve days scheduled sin Reserve on Saturday the Javelin thrower Shivpal given far too much space in empty Mestalla. Remo Freuler crashed an for all three knockout 13th of February will no the 21st to head home Ange­ Playing in the Champions effort against the crossbar matches a day later. doubt see a lot of passion lino’s cross at the near post League for the first time this for Atalanta but Gameiro Last week, England was from both teams,” New Zea­ after Serge Aurier’s poor season, Atalanta’s European headed home Torres’s cross forced to make an exit from land captain, Sophie Devine qualifies for Olympics clearance as the Spurs’ adventure continued in em­ to level on the night after 51 the T20 Women’s World said. players heads started to phatic fashion as Slovenian minutes. Electric winger Cup after their semifinal New Zealand, Australia, drop. Ilicic netted twice in each Torres, recently linked with clash was washed out result­ England and South Africa Says he will work on the ‘block’ issues after winning Emil Forsberg completed half to guide his side comfor­ Barcelona by Spanish media, ing in India, the higher have already qualified for in a South African meet the victory with a third goal tably into the quarterfinals. lobbed home to give the host ranked side in the group the World Cup. The remain­ from inside the box in the Valencia defender Mouc­ some hope, but the sublime stage, progressing to the fi­ ing four teams will be esta­ ATHLETICS done a bigger one last year,” holder Uwe Hohn, feels this 87th as Leipzig, which only tar Diakhaby conceded two Ilicic wrapped up the tie nal. The ICC had faced a lot blished following the com­ Shivpal, the World No. 16, year could be his best and got promoted to the Bundes­ penalties in the first half, with two classy finishes. of flak for not keeping a re­ pletion of the ICC Women’s told The Hindu shortly after surprised one when he liga in 2016, reached its first both converted by Ilicic, The results (last-16, second- serve day of the recently Championship and a subse­ Stan Rayan winning the gold. spoke about his 91m goal for quarterfinal in Europe’s pre­ either side of Kevin Gamei­ leg): RB Leipzig 3 (Sabitzer 10, concluded Women’s T20 quent qualifying tourna­ KOCHI 21, Forsberg 87) bt Tottenham “But my block is still not the year. mier club competition. ro’s equaliser. World Cup. ment in Sri Lanka in July. Hotspur 0 (Leipzig won 4-0 on He has been having issues good, I still have issues with Neeraj’s impressive per­ The Women’s ODI World Gameiro headed home a aggregate); Valencia 3 (Gamei- The eight­team round ro­ with the ‘block’ while throw­ it, I’ve got to work on it.” formances in international Stunning display second and Ferran Torres ro 21, 51, Ferran Torres 67) lost Cup will be played at six ve­ bin format will see all teams ing the javelin for some time. Shivpal, who had won the meets have removed the Atalanta’s Josip Ilicic scored put Valencia ahead on the to Atalanta 4 (Ilicic 3-pen, 43- nues, including Eden Park play each other, with the top Still, Shivpal Singh pro­ Asian championship in Doha mental barrier for javelin four goals in a stunning indi­ night but Slovenian play­ pen, 71, 82). (Atalanta won 8-4 (Auckland), Bay Oval (Tau­ four teams qualifying for duced an impressive 85.47m in April last year with a per­ throwers in the country...a vidual display to lead it to a maker Ilicic completed his on aggregate). ranga), Seddon Park (Hamil­ semifinals. The prize money effort in the Athletics Central sonal best 86.23m, has been sort of Saina Nehwal effect in ton), University Oval (Dune­ for the showpiece of wo­ North West League meet at very inconsistent after that. badminton. And it looks like din), Basin Reserve men’s international cricket Potchefstroom, South Afri­ He could only manage a best the javelin throwers now be­ (Wellington) and Hagley will total NZ$ 5.5million, ca, on Tuesday evening, a of 78.97m in the qualifica­ lieve that nothing is Oval (Christchurch). and all matches will be throw that helped the 24­ tion round of the Doha impossible! The iconic Basin Reserve broadcast live to a huge glo­ year­old to qualify for the World championships in Oc­ But it will be wonderful if will stage the highly antici­ bal audience. Tokyo Olympics. tober and failed to progress Shivpal’s big throw comes in He is the second Indian ja­ to the final. a big meet. velin thrower to make the cut. Neeraj Chopra, the Improving Annu also wins World No. 4 and the Com­ Surprisingly, he was in im­ Meanwhile, National record monwealth Games and pressive form in smaller holder Annu Rani, also an Asian Games champion, had meets towards the end of Asian silver medallist who qualified with an 87.86m ef­ last year with an 83.33m ef­ finished eighth in the Doha fort in another ACNW fort in the World Military Worlds last year, won the League meet, also at Potch­ Games in Wuhan in October women’s event in the meet efstroom, in late January. and 84.16m in the South with a 61.15m effort. The entry standard for To­ Asian Games in Kathmandu The 27­year­old, who has kyo is 85m. in December. a personal best of 62.43m, is “I was not surprised with Shivpal, coached by Ger­ chasing the 64m that will this throw because I had many’s former World record carry her to the Olympics. Two-goal hero: Marcel Sabitzer, left, was the star of the day for Leipzig. * REUTERS Harika loses A big inspiration for everyone: Ankita to Stefanova Gives credit to entire team for the historic achievement CHESS

Press Trust of India Lausanne Indian Grandmaster Dro­ navalli Harika went down to Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Stefanova slipping to se­ venth place with only four points after the eighth round in the FIDE Wo­ men’s Grand Prix chess tournament.

95­move game The lower­rated Stefanova (Elo 2453) outlasted the In­ dian no.2 (Elo rating 2518) in a 95­move game late on Tuesday to improve to 3.5 points. Kashlinskaya, who was Proud teacher: Rutuja Bhosale, left, and Ankita Raina with coach Hemant Bendrey the joint leader with com­ in Pune on return from Dubai. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT patriot Alexandra Go­ ryachkina after the seventh FED CUP team. You can be top­50, but tain Vishaal Uppal did a phe­ round, lost to world cham­ if you don’t have two or nomenal job of getting the pion Ju Wenjun to slip to three more good players team together and making joint second spot. Kamesh Srinivasan from your country, it is sure we were supporting NEW DELHI It was the first win in the tough,” said Ankita, back each other,” she said. tournament for Ju Wenjun, It took Indian women’s ten­ home, after the unforgetta­ Also coach Ankita Bham­ who made the most of a nis 30 years to make the ble week in Dubai. bri and physio Anand Dubey blunder by her opponent breakthrough and make the Originally, the tourna­ were leading the cheering on the 22nd move and took World Group play­off. It has ment was scheduled to be squad. Riya Bhatia and Sow­ her tally to four points. taken Ankita Raina only played in China, and was janya Bavisetti kept the at­ Georgian Nana Dzag­ eight years. “This should postponed and shifted to mosphere positive through­ nidze outplayed French­ boost Indian women’s ten­ Dubai, following the out­ out and were always ready to woman Marie Sebag in 34 nis. It is a big inspiration for break of the coronavirus. help in practice, said Ankita. moves to joint Goryachki­ everyone and should give Ankita has always pushed While she was thankful na at the top of the stand­ the girls belief,” Ankita said, herself hard in the Fed Cup for trainer Rutuja Patange ings with five points. delighted to be part of the and while playing for the being with her, Ankita was There are three more historic achievement. country. thrilled to accomplish the rounds to go in the strong “For me personally, it was task with her fellow pro Ru­ 12­player tournament in­ Impressive wins a great example of pushing tuja Bhosale. cluding the world cham­ The 27­year­old Ankita has my limits much more than pion Wenjun, which is the been playing well on the cir­ ever before, as I was playing Significant presence third in the series of four cuit — won the 2018 Asian two matches within half an “It was great that Rutuja and Grands Prix from which Games bronze and has had hour. So playing a singles me were part of this historic the two with the highest impressive wins in the Fed three­setter and then play­ moment. We have played points tally would qualify Cup, like beating Nao Hibino ing a doubles three­setter Fed Cup together and at dif­ for the next candidates of Japan in 2016 and Yulia definitely showed how much ferent times. It was such a event. Putintseva of Kazakhstan in you can challenge yourself special moment that India The results (eighth round): 2018. physically,” she remarked. qualified this time when we D. Harika 4 lost to Antoa- Summing up the expe­ Ankita played the most were together,” she said. neta Stefanova (Bul) 3.5; An- rience, when she played crucial singles rubber She also had a word of na Muzychuk (Ukr) 4.5 drew eight matches in five days, against Aldila Sutjiadi of In­ thanks for Hemant Bendrey with Zhansaya Abdumalik won two singles and three donesia on the last day, who has trained them both. (Kaz) 4.5. decisive doubles with Sania when she had to rescue the “Hats off to his dedication, Alexandra Goryachkina Mirza, the 163rd­ranked An­ team from 0­1 down, “play sacrifice and perseverance (Rus) 5 drew with Pia Cram- kita was sharp. under pressure and make for so many years.” ling (Swe) 4. “Winning Fed Cup match­ sure the tie goes into the de­ Having stopped looking Mariya Muzychuk (Ukr) 4.5 bt Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) es is completely different ciding doubles”. for another Sania, Indian 2; Nana Dzagnidze (Geo) 5 bt from winning on the pro The best­ranked Indian women’s tennis has started Marie Sebag (Fra) 2.5. tour, because no matter how woman in singles and dou­ finding performers who in­ Alena Kashlinskaya (Rus) good you are, you cannot bles, Ankita gracefully spire confidence of a bright 4.5 lost to Ju Wenjun (Chn) 4. win if you are not good as a shared the credit. “Our cap­ tomorrow.

CM A ND-NDE YK