Saina Nehwal gets fresh lease of confidence after Indian GP win

Her confidence back after the India Grand Prix Gold triumph, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal said on Wednesday the setbacks of an injury-marred 2013 are now firmly behind her. Saina snapped a 15-month title drought by claiming the India Grand Prix, beating rising star P V Sindhu in the final. Reflecting on 2013, which saw her battle poor form and injuries, Saina said it was a case of everything going wrong at the same time. (Saina Nehwal beats PV Sindhu in straight sets to win Indian GP)

"I was a little disappointed. Obviously, everyone gets disappointed when you play at such high level and suddenly you see yourself not doing so well. I think there were a lot of factors. There was a toe fracture which I never expected would happen at such a time," Saina told PTI in an interview. "But, after the Super Series finals, I thought may be I should take a break and not really hurry up. Because, this year is going to be very tough with the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games are coming up," she said.

"So, Gopi sir (national coach P Gopichand) and I decided that I better skip the Korea Open and take a break for four weeks and come back strong for Malaysia and India Open. I think the time of four weeks really helped us to prepare for these two tournaments," she added. Saina said her results will depend a lot on her fitness in the months to come. "I got lot of time (during the four weeks) to work on my movements and strokes. I was thinking that I would do well. It is special that within four weeks of training, I won such a big tournament. I think now it would only get better if I keep on training the same way," she said. Read more..

Source: Sports News in Hindi

From NDTV News

Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen to face off in Zurich Chess Challenge

 

Viswanathan Anand admits he will be under "some pressure" when he takes on Magnus Carlsen at the Zurich Chess Challenge, starting Wednesday. Anand sharing his thoughts with ET from Switzerland, says "I guess my game (against Magnus) will attract a lot of attention". Anand's season will open with the event. "I am looking forward to a nice start to 2014," he says of his expectations.

The Zurich Chess Challenge (ZCC) will feature six of the absolute best of the chess world, including newly-minted world champion Carlsen, last year's tournament winner Fabiano Caruana and current world number 2 Levon Aronian. It is "one of the best events of the year," Anand says.

The winner will enter the record books, as the Challenge is the strongest tournament in chess history. The average rating of the participants is a stratospheric 2801, making it the first Category 23 tournament.

It is a sprint rather than a marathon, with just five rounds of classical chess. "True, it is a short event, but with blitz and rapid events as well," says Anand.

He also points out that "4 out of 6 played in Wijk, so they will be continuing in a way," referring to the just-concluded Tata Steel event held in Wijk aan Zee.

Anand was tracking that event and has words of praise for the winner, Aronian who scored a tremendous 8 point of 11 rounds. "It was a very impressive run by Levon," he says. Anand points out with a smile that Aronian actually blew the last game, but still won with a "1.5 point margin after the loss".

Source: Sports News in Hindi

From ET News

New Zealand pokes holes in India’s World Cup preparations

 

For all of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s strange tactics in the fourth ODI against New Zealand, (bowling Ambati Rayudu!) India’s captain is right.

His bowlers need to be better. The seam bowlers not only lacked discipline and consistency with their lines and lengths, they seem unable to adapt their bowling as the game unfolds before them. Ishant Sharma is the prime example of this phenomenon and even Dhoni was forced to eventually drop him.

While it is a small sample size, the new crop does not seem to be able to think for themselves either. If Dhoni wasn’t Captain Cool, it might have pushed him to tear his hair out.

Outside of the subcontinent, the lack of control has allowed opposing batsmen to wait out the spinners, as Ross Taylor lucidly explained, and then feast on the waywardness of the rest of India’s attack. Admittedly, Bhuvneshwar Kumar did bowl economically in the first three games, but his cumulative figures of 3 for 129 are not the stuff of nightmares. Well, not for the opposition anyway.

It hasn’t helped that India’s no. 1 spinner – R Ashwin – struggles to take wickets when playing away from home. Over the last 12 months, Ashwin has played 10 ODIs in four different countries and taken just 6 wickets at a strike-rate of 84 and an average of 73.83.

That means he takes wicket one every 14 overs, which is more than double his strike-rate of 34.3 in India over the same time period. It is more than not good enough at the international level, it is horrendous.

Source: Cricket News in Hindi

From FP News

Jayawardene takes over Sri Lanka’s run hunt

Mahela Jayawardene slammed an unbeaten 83 as Sri Lanka continued their relentless progress in the first Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The tourists moved to 463-5 by lunch on the third day, gaining a massive lead of 231 over Bangladesh's first innings total of 232 and with five wickets in hand.

Jayawardene, Sri Lanka's leading run-getter in Tests with 11,116 runs, was approaching his 33rd century with a typically elegant innings that has so far contained six boundaries and two sixes.

Bangladesh failed to take a wicket in the morning session after Sri Lanka resumed on 375-5, as the bowlers struggled to contain runs on the even-paced pitch.

Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews partnered Jayawardene in an unbeaten stand of 88 for the sixth wicket and was himself unbeaten on 46 at the break.

Sri Lanka's run spree on the second day revolved around a maiden Test century from opener Kaushal Silva (139) and useful contributions from Kumar Sangakkara (75) and Dimuth Karunaratne (53).

Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan has been Bangladesh's most successful bowler with three wickets, but his 37 overs so far have cost 129 runs.

Al-Amin Hossain has one for 100 in 30 overs, while fellow seamer Rubel Hossain has conceded 84 runs in 20 wicketless overs.

 

Source: Cricket News in Hindi

From BR News

IPL 2014 auctions: Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh attract top base price of 2 Crore each

For the upcoming player auctions of the Indian Premier League 2014, a list of 233 capped players from across 10 countries have been distributed to all eight franchises, with 46 Indians being valued at top base price (of Rs 20 million or Rs 2 Crore each). According to a report, the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Dinesh Karthik, Pragyan Ojha and Yusuf Pathan are some of the names who have been valued at top base price.

Among the international stars, success in previous edition of the IPL and the Ashes 2013-14 has landed Mitchell Johnson in the same bracket as a Sehwag or Yuvraj. Along with him are his teammates, Brad Haddin and Steven Smith. Even though the likes of Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes are giving the tournament a miss after their 5-0 drubbing against arch-rivals Australia, their swashbuckling teammate Kevin Pietersen could see multiple franchises flex their financial muscle for him. Pietersen's teammate Jos Buttler, who is known for his big-hitting, is surprisingly missing from the auction list, according to an ESPNCricinfo report.

Latest big-hitting sensation from New Zealand, Corey Anderson and the current No.1-ranked batsman in T20s, Alex Hales, could also spark a vigorous bidding war. However, in Hales's case, a clause in the agreement with his County Nottinghamshire says he can participate in the IPL only if he secures the most lucrative deal possible.

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara, who has been a part of the IPL in all of the previous six seasons, will not be seen during this year's tournament. Teammate Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Angelo Mathews will be part of the auctions and will be interesting to see where they attract interest from, owing to the fact that they will not be available towards the end of the tournament due to international commitments. Australian skipper Michael Clarke too has decided to stay away, in a bid to extend his international career despite a persistent back problem. (Virat Kohli wants Yuvraj Singh at RCB?)

Among the older lot of players, recently-retired Jacques Kallis, who tasted IPL success with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012, finds himself in the top-bracket while Australia's Brad Hogg and Muttiah Muralitharan have been valued at Rs. 15 million and Rs. 10 million, respectively. (IPL 2014 player retention: Contrasting team strategies and intriguing mentalities on offer)

The IPL player auctions will be held on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore. Indian currency will be used in all transactions for the first time. (How IPL teams retained their favourites)


Following players have been valued at maximum base price of Rs 2 crore each: Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Yusuf Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Saurabh Tiwary, Robin Uthappa, M Vijay, George Bailey, Brad Haddin, Brad Hodge, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Alex Hales, Samit Patel, Kevin Pietersen, Brendon McCullum, Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Angelo Mathews, Marlon Samuels.

Source: Cricket News in Hindi

From NDTV News

Abhay Deol And Preeti Desai On The Roll

With just a couple of days left for One By Two to hit the theaters, the lead stars Preeti Desai and Abhay Deol are going all out to promote their film.

One By Two is a love story and revolves around a couple who meet each other while living in Mumbai. Both are fed up with their lives and desperately want their situation to change.

Preeti who made her debut in 2011 with Shor In The City, will share screen space with her real life live-in boyfriend Abhay Deol for the first time. The actress says she was initially nervous regarding her chemistry with the actor who apart from being her boyfriend also happens to be the producer in the movie.

“Initially, I was nervous as I was thinking how my chemistry will appear with Abhay in the film. It is my first film with him but it was a smooth chemistry between us. We were very professional while working in the film,” Preeti informed us.

Preeti says Abhay helped her in understanding the film industry. “We are both different individuals and have our own taste, so we don’t always agree on things. I go and ask him his opinion. We discuss things, but at the end of the day I always make my own choices,” she said.

Abhay, on the other hand, says the film is a mix of his earlier films Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Socha Na Tha, which talked about romance, philosophy and adventure.

“One by Two is not a typical romantic comedy. There is common notion about all of us that we tend to put a film in a particular box so that we can understand which genre the film belongs to. So we have put this film in the rom-com box but it is not a typical romantic comedy. It is romantic and philosophical at the same time. I must say One By Two is a mix of ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Socha Na Tha,” stated a very upbeat Abhay Deol

The film, which will be shown in approximately 1200 screens all over India, has been directed by Devika Bhagat.  

Source: Bollywood News

From BOC News

Who Stole Sunny Leone's Victoria’s Secret Lingerie?

Sunny Leone, who is presently shooting for Ekta Kapoor's film Ragini MMS 2 was in for a rude shock when she found that somebody had stolen her expensive Victoria's Secret lingerie!

ADVERTISEMENT Sunny Leone, who has been shooting some very hot and sizzling scenes for her upcoming film Ragini MMS 2 was completely taken aback when she couldn't find her Victoria's Secret grey coloured lingerie that she had worn for few of the shots.

She had removed it adter the pack-up, but couldn't find it later. The entire unit was busy searching for the lingerie as that reportedly costs a whooping amount of Rs. 50,000 and was especially ordered from abroad.

Since Sunny Leone had already shot half the scene in that lingerie, the director wanted her to complete the scene in the same lingerie the producer had to order for the same product from the same place. After paying extra shipping charges, Sunny Leone's Victoria Lingerie has finally arrived! 

 

 Now, the question remain....where did Sunny's Lingerie go, and who would have stolen it? Well...some questions are better unanswered! Ragini MMS 2 is a horror thriller, directed by Bhushan Patel and co-produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures and ALT Entertainment.

Source: Entertainment News

Form Oneindia News