1. India won 2nd SABA U-16 Championship.
- The 2nd SABA U16 Zone Championship for Men will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 5th to 9th September 2017.
- India has been drawn in Pool – A alongside Nepal and Bhutan.
- Pool – B comprises Maldives and Bangladesh.
- The Championship will be played in a round robin league format.
- The winning team qualifies to the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship that will be held in Malaysia later this year.
- India tips off its campaign against Maldives on 5th September 2017.
The Nepal Basketball Association is all set to host the 2nd SABA U-16 Zone Championship for Men from 5th to 9th September 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
India has been drawn in Pool – A alongside Nepal and Bhutan. Pool – B comprises Maldives and Bangladesh. With five teams in the fray, this Championship will be played in a round robin league format, and the team with the best record at the end will qualify to the 2017 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship that will be held in Malaysia later this year.
India had not participated in the previous 2015 edition that was won by Bangladesh, yet will start off as favourites. (It is important to recall that despite not participating in the previous SABA Championship, India had still competed in the 2015 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship as a replacement for a central Asian team that had withdrawn in the last minute.)
India’s game schedule is as follows:
5th Sept– v. Maldives 13:30 (13:15 IST)
6th Sept– v. Bangladesh 13:00 (12:45 IST)
8th Sept– v. Nepal 13:30 (13:15 IST)
9th Sept– v. Bhutan 11:00 (10:45 IST)
The team is coached by Vibhor Bhriguvanshi, elder brother of Indian senior national team star Vishesh Bhriguvanshi. His assistant coach is Babu Davis. The team will also be accompanied by manager Kulvinder Gill and referee Tanmoy Das.
2. US Open: Sloane Stephens wins Women`s Singles Title.
It turned out to be a one sided affair. Madison Keys took the first game and battled on an even footing until Stephens took a 3-2 lead.
From there on, the match was all about Stephens and all the unforced errors that Keys committed. Keys’ attacking style of play was what led to her fall. Sloane Stephens started the tournament when she was ranked in the 900s and has now ended it as the US Open champion. The final score was a comprehensive 6-3, 6-0 in favour of Sloane Stephens.
US Open final, Sloane Stephens vs Madison Keys: Match highlights
0255 hrs IST: Sloane Stephens is the 2017 US Open champion. She needed two more Championship points as Keys hung on for dear life but she got there in the end. Stephens marks it by cupping her mouth in utter surprise and then goes to the net to share a long hug with Keys. She wins the match 6-3, 6-0
0248 hrs IST: 1st Championship point for Sloane Stephens. Keys has competely unraveled here but she holds and denies the Stephens the first time. Stephens is back on Championship point but Keys takes it back after a long rally. The advantage then turns her way but Keys puts a forehand into the net and its back at Deuce.
0240 hrs IST: Keys down a double break point and cuts a frustrated figure after losing the fourth game of the second set. She then takes a love-30 lead in the second set and the crowd cheers her on.
But Stephens bites back, taking the next two points and a volley at the end of a long rally helps her make it deuce.
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0232 hrs IST: Stephens races to a 2-0 lead in the second set. She then faces resistance in the third game as Keys steps up her attacking forehands. But Stephens gets in a volley at the net to come to 30-all. Two more unforced errors from Keys and Stephens holds 3-0.
0220 hrs IST: Sloane Stephens takes the first game 6-3. Stephens had to wait till her second set point to win. She made her first unforced error of the match when she burried a forehand into the net and went on to take the next two points. But she lost the next point and it went to deuce. Keys fought back to deny a set point and took the advantage herself. But Stephens took the next two points and the game.
0203 hrs IST: Stephens leads first set 4-2. Stephens slowly took control of the game and broke Keys at 3-2. As expected, Keys has been the aggressive one but thus far, it has produced more unforced errors than points. Stephens looks as calm as she can be in a match of this magnitude
0152 hrs IST: Madison Keys makes the first serve and ends up taking the first game. She lost the first point but came back with a couple of aces before Stephens misses on the back hand
0142 hrs IST: The two players walk out with the great Billie King Jean. The crowd seems to building up slowly at the Ashe. Both players are more than familiar with each other, much like it was the last time two Americans faced off in the final of the US Open.
0122 hrs IST: In other news, Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis have won the mixed doubles title. It is their second consecutive Grand Slam title after their win at Wimbledon few weeks back.
0118 hrs IST: First American women’s singles final that doesn’t feature any of the Williams sisters, first American final since 2002 that was between the William Sisters, first Grand Slam title for whoever wins here. It is a day of firsts here and it is also probably the day the most significant first happened in Tennis history.
3. India Finishes 5th at Moscow Shotgun World Championships.
India finished fifth in the medals tally with one gold and two silver medals at the Moscow Shotgun World Championship, which ended here today.
On the concluding day, India had two teams in the mixed team skeet event but both returned empty handed.
While the pair of Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Maheshwari Chauhan finished 17th in qualification round with a combined score of 92, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Radhmmi Rathore ended 25th out of 41 teams with a score of 90.
USA and Italy won silver and bronze medals respectively as the Russian pair of Nikolay Teplyy and Nadezda Konovalova emerged victorious.
Only 16 of the 76 participating nations got amongst the medals and Italy topped the tally with nine gold medals for a total of 17 medals in all.
Both their Olympic skeet champions Gabrielle Rossetti and Diana Bacosi were also crowned world champions in the process.
USA was the other dominant force with five gold medals for a total of 12, making the two countries account for 29 of the 66 medals on offer.
Hosts Russia were third in the overall tally with two golds for a total of eight.
The ISSF bandwagon now moves for its final stop in New Delhi for the ISSF World Cup finals combined for rifle, pistol and shotgun, scheduled for end of October.
4. Rafael Nadal won 2017 US Open title for his 16th Grand Slam Title.
Rafael Nadal completed a dominant US Open performance Sunday, defeating Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Nadal caps off an extraordinary 2017 season as the No. 1 player in the world, in which he won the French and US Opens and made the Australian Open final against Roger Federer. Tiger Woods was in attendance for the second straight Nadal match, sitting in his box. The 31-year-old Nadal has showed no signs of slowing down, dropping only one set in his last four matches.
The last set went on for just under 50 minutes, with Anderson forcing Nadal to work for every game. However, it ultimately proved too much for the No. 28 player in the world, as Nadal simply seemed to have him on his toes the entire match while returning everything with the fluidity that tennis fans have come to expect. Anderson had several excellent rallies in the third set, including a superb return at the net on a shot that Nadal tried to lob over him, but mistakes such as a freebie overhead that he returned long were insurmountable against the ATP`s best player.
Among his 16 Grand Slams, this is Nadal`s third US Open win. It was a relatively depleted field, as Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic withdrew before the tournament, but Nadal faced seed killers such as Juan Martin del Potro and looked like he struggled early in matches in the early rounds. He quickly overcame any fears people may have had about his game, brushing aside unranked Andrey Rublev and Alexandr Dolgopolov. Del Potro defeated Federer and was looking to defeat two top five seeds in a row, but after taking the first set he simply couldn`t keep up with Nadal.
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Anderson entered after having to beat No. 17 Sam Querrey and No. 12 Palbo Carreno Busta. It was apparent early on that Anderson was struggling against Nadal`s serve, and Nadal was competitive in every one of Anderson`s serve games. Once he took one of Anderson`s game in a set, he never looked back. It would have been Anderson`s first major win, and he would have been the lowest-ranking US Open winner ever.
For Nadal, this win is just as much a reminder of his longevity as it is a pillar of his legacy. He`s 31, five years younger than Federer, and he`s closing in on Federer`s record 19 Grand Slam titles. During the 2014-2016 seasons Nadal struggled with injuries, but 2017 has seen a return to form for the star. If he`s able to keep this pace up, it looks more than possible for him to catch Federer, although health will be a key component in that quest.