India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth went down fighting in their respective women's and men's singles semifinals to draw the curtains on the team's campaign at the USD 700,000 Malaysia Open Super World Tour 750 tournament on Saturday.
First, Srikanth failed to match the overall superior game of former world no 2 Japanese Kento Momota, who has been in sensational form since making a comeback after serving a one year ban for illegal gambling.
Sindhu, too, met the same fate, against defending champion and world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying, who showed better technical acumen and physical ability.
Srikanth, who had reached world no 1 briefly in April, lost 13-21, 13-21 to world no 11 Momota, who registered his 21st consecutive win, while Sindhu's fight ended with a 15-21, 21-19, 11-21 loss to the Chinese Taipei player in a 55-minute match.
It was Srikanth's sixth defeat to Momota in nine meetings, while Sindhu has now lost nine times to Tai Tzu, this being her fifth successive reverse.
First of all, i"d like to Congratulate every Indian,specially Hockey Lover(s) on an amazing performance of our team throughout the Tournament.
This is the most consistent performance,i have ever seen of any Indian Hockey Team in a Major Tournament.We played consistent Hockey in every Match and Results were for every one to see.Yesterday also,we were unlucky that we lost in the Penalty Shootout.We deserved to win this Tournament.This team deserved to be in the finals unlike the last Tournament,where we were lucky to play the Finals.
So,kudos to the Team,Staff and Indian People.Really great Job.I am proud of our Team"s Performance.
Now coming to Player Performances:-
1)GOALKEEPERS
Vikas Krishnan Pathak wasn"t used.
Sreejesh-Had an outstanding Tournament except the goal which he conceded in the Final,that was a soft Goal which he should have stopped.That was a HOWLER.However,He Was rightly voted as the BEST GOALKEEPER of the Tournament.Made many brilliant saves during the Tournament.
2) DEFENCE-Played really well,specially:
Harmanpreet-Had a Decent Tournament.He is a good player.However,He needs to work big time on his Penalty Corners.He misses too many for my liking.We need to have a convesrion ratio of 33% ideally.He is currently way below it.He is good player with good Defensive,Attacking and Ball distribution skills.
Varun Kumar and Jarmanpreet-Harmanpreet has been playing since 2 years for the National team.So,he was excepted to play at the level at which he played. On the other hand,Varun was playing in his 3rd or 4th Tournament along with Jarmanpreet who was playing his 1st Tournament.In Defence,these youngsters were brilliant.They,Really played well.Both played like seasoned professionals.Really awesome performances from them.Both were really,strong on the ball.great job by them.
Surender-He was the best player in Defence for me.This is the best i have seen him play.In absence of Rupinder,the way he led the young Defence from the front was amazing.He was exceptional on the ball under pressure from opposition strikers.The way he put his body in line was breathtaking.Too Good,His best Tournament for me definitely.I"d like to feel that he has come of age in this Tournament. Amit Rohitdas and Birendra Lakra-Amit Rohidas for me is weak Defender.If he plays,then he is the weak link in defence,more often than not.He is not as strong on the ball as others are.Lacks,Confidence to scoop when defence is under pressure.Lacks,strength which is must for a Centre Back.Has not got exceptional skills like Harmanpreet has.Isn"t Indian Team Material in my opinion.
Birendra Lakra-Had an inconsistent Tournament.At Times,he was good but at times he was bad.He is past his prime for sure.Comes at 5th rank in my opinion,when it comes to ranking our defenders.So,depending on the composition of the Team,he might be able to make the cut but needs to work on his consistent.
3)MIDFIELD-WAS DECENT BUT CHANGES NEEDED TO WIN BIG TOURNAMENTS.
Sardara Singh-Had a decent Tournament but with presence of players like Vivek Sagar Prasad and Simranjit alongside him,struggled for support therefore gave away the ball at times.Had a decent Tournament.
Manpreet Singh-Had a good Tournament.Was perhaps our best midfielder in the Tournament.
Chinglensana-Didn"t have the best of Tournament.Was not to be found in Matches for long time,which is not good for Midfielder.I rate him highly,i feel he should do better.
Vivek Sagar And Simranjit-Vivek Sagar is not ready,even though he scored the goal in the Final.He Lacks many Attributes and i have not seen anything exceptional from him.He should be included in the Hockey Programme from post 2020 Olympics.I can"t see him becoming the type of player India will need at 2020 Olympics.
Simranjit-Has good skills,has good distribution but lacks game sense at times.eg)He earns a foul when 2-3 opposition players foul him.Now,if he starts the play from there itself,than those 2-3 players wouldn"t be able to tackle him because they are within 5 yards of him which would mean the move could turn out to be dangerous as India would have more numbers upfront.In this case,many times instead of carrying the ball forward,he passes it backwards which allows the opposition players to settle and regroup.He needs to be more aware.Otherwise,he had a Pretty good Tournament.
4)FORWARDS-CONSIDERING THE PLAYERS WHO WE HAD WE DID OKAY:
Mandeep Singh-Had a Good tournament.However,I still believe the same for him, what i believed 3-4 years ago.Nothing has changed.His game is still the same.He is like "EDINSON CAVANI OF INDIAN HOCKEY".He is a Good Instinctive Striker(When he has less time to think)in the opposition Circle but looks like a headless chicken(when he has time to think,more time to think). However,India mostly plays on counters specially against the bigger teams,which means that you will be recieving the ball in you"re own half more often than not after turnover.So,this means you need to have good Ball carrying skills,dodges,skills,speed,passing etc to reach the opponents circle.He is Okay w.r.t but not great.There are many other Strikers who are better than him in this aspect.So,he falls down the Pecking Order.
DilPreet Singh-Is Young.Had an okay Tournament.However,i feel he needs time.I don"t feel that he shouldn"t play for India but i feel he is not yet ready for bigger Tournaments.He can play in Azlan Shah,Asian Champions trophy etc but not in Olympics,World Cup Etc.He needs to sharpen his skills.
Lalit-Had a Poor Tournament.Not good.He was called because of an injury so this basically proves that he is a fringe player at best.He does not perform in Tournaments of what i have seen.He is Bench Player at best.
Sunil-Had an Inconsistent tournament.He was average at best in the Group matches but really came into his own in Finals.Is a good consistent player otherwise,but needs to be more consistent and improve his finishing in my opinion to go the category of Really Good Player.
So,Guys this was my opinion regarding the Performance of Team in This Tournament.If you are interested than i will share my opinion on the best players who should play in the Indian Hockey Team and also their Strengths and Weakness in a few days time.Please let me know.
HS Prannoy stunned Lin Dan of China before Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round with an easy win against local player Dinar Dyah Ayustine at the Indonesia Open, here on Tuesday.
World No. 13 Prannoy took exactly one hour to prevail over the Chinese stalwart 21-15, 9-21, 21-14 in the first round of the men's singles in the World Tour Super 1000 event. Prannoy started off well against eighth-ranked Lin Dan, winning the first game 21-15. However, the Chinese shuttler came back strong to level the match.
Prannoy then dug deep into his reservoir to see off the iconic shuttler in the third game at the $1,250,000 event. Prannoy had also got the better of Lin Dan at the 2015 French Open.
"I am really happy, I had a couple of months off. Getting back to tournament was really great. Having such a big win against Lin Dan, that too in such tough conditions, especially the drifts, is great," Prannoy said after the match.
"The way I played the first game was very good from my side, especially the crucial juncture in the third game around after the 11 was really crucial to get that big win. Looking forward to the second round matches."
In the second round, Prannoy plays Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei who defeated India's Sai Praneeth 21-10 21-13 in another men's singles first round match.
Saina, on the other hand, needed 35 minutes to notch up a straight-set (21-12 21-12) win over her Indonesian opponent.
In the first game, the Olympic medallist led from the start to end. She opened up a 7-2 lead before Ayustine closed the gap at 6-7. That was the closest the Indonesian could go as Saina won her points in quick time. Saina zoomed to 17-9 and then grabbed the first game without any difficulty.
In other matches, Sameer Verma pipped Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-9, 12-21, 22-20 to advance to the second round while the women's doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram went down to the Indonesian pair of Agatha Imanuela and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 11-21 18-21. PTI
Watch Out For Hima Das,she is a special talent.Every Time she runs,she is clocking a Personal Best in 400m Women category.So,much so that our National Record of 51.05 seconds is in danger of getting bettered.Her Personal Best is 51.13 seconds.She is a clear Medal Contender at u-20 World Championships this year,She is the second fastest Runner coming into these World Championships behind USA"S Sydney McLaughlin.. I feel,she is a class Athlete not only at u-20 level but also she has what it takes to excel at the Senior Level World Events.Her current Timings at just 18years are already good Enough for her to Reach the Semi-Finals stages of World Championships/Olympics in 400 m. If she is looked after properly,then she along with Neeraj Chopra could help us break the jinx of an Athletics Medal at the Olympics.
Apart from 400m(where she is a class athlete already),her Timings in 200m are also very good.She is a reluctant 200m runner but her timings are already good enough to make her Qualify for Olympics/World Championships.So,in my opinion,she is a precious Diamond who needs to be looked after carefully.
Speaking of U-20 World Championships,Medal Contenders would be :
Regarding Hima Das... She is good for Asian games and U-20 championships...but we cannot expect Olympic medal from her in 2020 ...
She qualified for 400 m final in Common wealth games which is a good achievement by considering the competition.. But her run in 4*400 is pretty much bad.... If I'm not wrong, other 3 runners in relay team done better than Hima Das..
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India set up Champions Trophy final with Australia after 1-1 draw against Netherlands
Sindhu, Srikanth lose in Malaysia Open semifinals
India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth went down fighting in their respective women's and men's singles semifinals to draw the curtains on the team's campaign at the USD 700,000 Malaysia Open Super World Tour 750 tournament on Saturday.First, Srikanth failed to match the overall superior game of former world no 2 Japanese Kento Momota, who has been in sensational form since making a comeback after serving a one year ban for illegal gambling.
Sindhu, too, met the same fate, against defending champion and world no 1 Tai Tzu Ying, who showed better technical acumen and physical ability.
Srikanth, who had reached world no 1 briefly in April, lost 13-21, 13-21 to world no 11 Momota, who registered his 21st consecutive win, while Sindhu's fight ended with a 15-21, 21-19, 11-21 loss to the Chinese Taipei player in a 55-minute match.
It was Srikanth's sixth defeat to Momota in nine meetings, while Sindhu has now lost nine times to Tai Tzu, this being her fifth successive reverse.
Champions Trophy: India finish runners up after losing 1-3 to Australia in shootout
First of all, i"d like to Congratulate every Indian,specially Hockey Lover(s) on an amazing performance of our team throughout the Tournament.
This is the most consistent performance,i have ever seen of any Indian Hockey Team in a Major Tournament.We played consistent Hockey in every Match and Results were for every one to see.Yesterday also,we were unlucky that we lost in the Penalty Shootout.We deserved to win this Tournament.This team deserved to be in the finals unlike the last Tournament,where we were lucky to play the Finals.
So,kudos to the Team,Staff and Indian People.Really great Job.I am proud of our Team"s Performance.
Now coming to Player Performances:-
1)GOALKEEPERS
Vikas Krishnan Pathak wasn"t used.Sreejesh-Had an outstanding Tournament except the goal which he conceded in the Final,that was a soft Goal which he should have stopped.That was a HOWLER.However,He Was rightly voted as the BEST GOALKEEPER of the Tournament.Made many brilliant saves during the Tournament.
2) DEFENCE-Played really well,specially:
Harmanpreet-Had a Decent Tournament.He is a good player.However,He needs to work big time on his Penalty Corners.He misses too many for my liking.We need to have a convesrion ratio of 33% ideally.He is currently way below it.He is good player with good Defensive,Attacking and Ball distribution skills.
Varun Kumar and Jarmanpreet-Harmanpreet has been playing since 2 years for the National team.So,he was excepted to play at the level at which he played.
On the other hand,Varun was playing in his 3rd or 4th Tournament along with Jarmanpreet who was playing his 1st Tournament.In Defence,these youngsters were brilliant.They,Really played well.Both played like seasoned professionals.Really awesome performances from them.Both were really,strong on the ball.great job by them.
Surender-He was the best player in Defence for me.This is the best i have seen him play.In absence of Rupinder,the way he led the young Defence from the front was amazing.He was exceptional on the ball under pressure from opposition strikers.The way he put his body in line was breathtaking.Too Good,His best Tournament for me definitely.I"d like to feel that he has come of age in this Tournament.
Amit Rohitdas and Birendra Lakra-Amit Rohidas for me is weak Defender.If he plays,then he is the weak link in defence,more often than not.He is not as strong on the ball as others are.Lacks,Confidence to scoop when defence is under pressure.Lacks,strength which is must for a Centre Back.Has not got exceptional skills like Harmanpreet has.Isn"t Indian Team Material in my opinion.
Birendra Lakra-Had an inconsistent Tournament.At Times,he was good but at times he was bad.He is past his prime for sure.Comes at 5th rank in my opinion,when it comes to ranking our defenders.So,depending on the composition of the Team,he might be able to make the cut but needs to work on his consistent.
3)MIDFIELD-WAS DECENT BUT CHANGES NEEDED TO WIN BIG TOURNAMENTS.
Sardara Singh-Had a decent Tournament but with presence of players like Vivek Sagar Prasad and Simranjit alongside him,struggled for support therefore gave away the ball at times.Had a decent Tournament.Manpreet Singh-Had a good Tournament.Was perhaps our best midfielder in the Tournament.
Chinglensana-Didn"t have the best of Tournament.Was not to be found in Matches for long time,which is not good for Midfielder.I rate him highly,i feel he should do better.
Vivek Sagar And Simranjit-Vivek Sagar is not ready,even though he scored the goal in the Final.He Lacks many Attributes and i have not seen anything exceptional from him.He should be included in the Hockey Programme from post 2020 Olympics.I can"t see him becoming the type of player India will need at 2020 Olympics.
Simranjit-Has good skills,has good distribution but lacks game sense at times.eg)He earns a foul when 2-3 opposition players foul him.Now,if he starts the play from there itself,than those 2-3 players wouldn"t be able to tackle him because they are within 5 yards of him which would mean the move could turn out to be dangerous as India would have more numbers upfront.In this case,many times instead of carrying the ball forward,he passes it backwards which allows the opposition players to settle and regroup.He needs to be more aware.Otherwise,he had a Pretty good Tournament.
4)FORWARDS-CONSIDERING THE PLAYERS WHO WE HAD WE DID OKAY:
Mandeep Singh-Had a Good tournament.However,I still believe the same for him, what i believed 3-4 years ago.Nothing has changed.His game is still the same.He is like "EDINSON CAVANI OF INDIAN HOCKEY".He is a Good Instinctive Striker(When he has less time to think)in the opposition Circle but looks like a headless chicken(when he has time to think,more time to think).
However,India mostly plays on counters specially against the bigger teams,which means that you will be recieving the ball in you"re own half more often than not after turnover.So,this means you need to have good Ball carrying skills,dodges,skills,speed,passing etc to reach the opponents circle.He is Okay w.r.t but not great.There are many other Strikers who are better than him in this aspect.So,he falls down the Pecking Order.
DilPreet Singh-Is Young.Had an okay Tournament.However,i feel he needs time.I don"t feel that he shouldn"t play for India but i feel he is not yet ready for bigger Tournaments.He can play in Azlan Shah,Asian Champions trophy etc but not in Olympics,World Cup Etc.He needs to sharpen his skills.
Lalit-Had a Poor Tournament.Not good.He was called because of an injury so this basically proves that he is a fringe player at best.He does not perform in Tournaments of what i have seen.He is Bench Player at best.
Sunil-Had an Inconsistent tournament.He was average at best in the Group matches but really came into his own in Finals.Is a good consistent player otherwise,but needs to be more consistent and improve his finishing in my opinion to go the category of Really Good Player.
So,Guys this was my opinion regarding the Performance of Team in This Tournament.If you are interested than i will share my opinion on the best players who should play in the Indian Hockey Team and also their Strengths and Weakness in a few days time.Please let me know.
Prannoy shocks Lin Dan
HS Prannoy stunned Lin Dan of China before Saina Nehwal cruised into the second round with an easy win against local player Dinar Dyah Ayustine at the Indonesia Open, here on Tuesday.
World No. 13 Prannoy took exactly one hour to prevail over the Chinese stalwart 21-15, 9-21, 21-14 in the first round of the men's singles in the World Tour Super 1000 event. Prannoy started off well against eighth-ranked Lin Dan, winning the first game 21-15. However, the Chinese shuttler came back strong to level the match.
Prannoy then dug deep into his reservoir to see off the iconic shuttler in the third game at the $1,250,000 event. Prannoy had also got the better of Lin Dan at the 2015 French Open.
"I am really happy, I had a couple of months off. Getting back to tournament was really great. Having such a big win against Lin Dan, that too in such tough conditions, especially the drifts, is great," Prannoy said after the match.
"The way I played the first game was very good from my side, especially the crucial juncture in the third game around after the 11 was really crucial to get that big win. Looking forward to the second round matches."
In the second round, Prannoy plays Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei who defeated India's Sai Praneeth 21-10 21-13 in another men's singles first round match.
Saina, on the other hand, needed 35 minutes to notch up a straight-set (21-12 21-12) win over her Indonesian opponent.
In the first game, the Olympic medallist led from the start to end. She opened up a 7-2 lead before Ayustine closed the gap at 6-7. That was the closest the Indonesian could go as Saina won her points in quick time. Saina zoomed to 17-9 and then grabbed the first game without any difficulty.
In other matches, Sameer Verma pipped Rasmus Gemke of Denmark 21-9, 12-21, 22-20 to advance to the second round while the women's doubles pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram went down to the Indonesian pair of Agatha Imanuela and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti 11-21 18-21. PTI
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/athletics/hima-das-leads-31-member-strong-indian-team-at-world-junior-athletics-championships/articleshow/64873580.cms?
Watch Out For Hima Das,she is a special talent.Every Time she runs,she is clocking a Personal Best in 400m Women category.So,much so that our National Record of 51.05 seconds is in danger of getting bettered.Her Personal Best is 51.13 seconds.She is a clear Medal Contender at u-20 World Championships this year,She is the second fastest Runner coming into these World Championships behind USA"S Sydney McLaughlin..
I feel,she is a class Athlete not only at u-20 level but also she has what it takes to excel at the Senior Level World Events.Her current Timings at just 18years are already good Enough for her to Reach the Semi-Finals stages of World Championships/Olympics in 400 m. If she is looked after properly,then she along with Neeraj Chopra could help us break the jinx of an Athletics Medal at the Olympics.
Apart from 400m(where she is a class athlete already),her Timings in 200m are also very good.She is a reluctant 200m runner but her timings are already good enough to make her Qualify for Olympics/World Championships.So,in my opinion,she is a precious Diamond who needs to be looked after carefully.
Speaking of U-20 World Championships,Medal Contenders would be :
1)Hima Das(Womens 400 m)
2)Sreeshankar (Mens Long Jump)
3)Ashish Jhakar (Mens Hammer Throw)Outside Chance.
4)Beant Singh(Mens"s 800m)Outside Chance.
5)Silwal(Men"s Javelin Throw)Outside Chance.
All the Outside Chance(Athletes) are in Top 8 w.r.t to their Event.Hima and Sreeshankar are in Top 3 of their event.
Last time Neeraj Chopra won us a Gold by making Junior World Record.Lets see what these young guns can do this time.Hoping for the Best.
She qualified for 400 m final in Common wealth games which is a good achievement by considering the competition.. But her run in 4*400 is pretty much bad.... If I'm not wrong, other 3 runners in relay team done better than Hima Das..