Sports
Gangjee lands 1st Asian Tour win in 14 yrs
Tokyo: Veteran Rahil Gangjee held his nerve to win the Panasonic Open in Japan by a single stroke, his first Asian Tour victory in 14 years.
The 39-year-old claimed the winner’s blue jacket at the 150-million-yen tournament by sinking a birdie at the last hole at the Ibaraki Country Club near Osaka.
His final round 68 gave him a four-day total of 14-under-par 270.
Gangjee began the final day tied for second and one shot behind South Korea’s Kim Hyung-sung.
But the Indian surged to the top with five birdies and two bogeys, while Kim slipped to joint-second after shooting three birdies and two bogeys.
“It’s been 14 years. I was shaking for the last putt,” an elated Gangjee told fans shortly after his victory.
“I feel great. There are a lot of people to thank, obviously. But right now my mind is all over the place.”
Gangjee birdied the par-5 second before taking bogeys at the par-3 fifth and the par-4 seventh. He then birdied the 12th, 13th and 14th holes before finishing the final hole again with a birdie.
Kim ended the tournament tied for second with his compatriot Hwang Jung-gon, who shot six birdies and one bogey on Sunday to lift himself up from tied-fourth after three days. Japanese star Shingo Katayama returned with a 72 on Sunday for a four-day total of 276 and finished tied for 14th.
New Delhi: The Committee of Administrators (COA) running Indian cricket has tasked the Kapil Dev-led ad-hoc committee to pick the next national coach, a move that could again divide the Supreme Court-appointed panel.
The ad-hoc body comprising former India captain Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy had earlier appointed W. V. Raman as the Indian women’s team coach in December.
One of the members confirmed that the BCCI has approached them to pick the men’s head coach as well.
Back then, the COA was a two-member panel — comprising chairman Vinod Rai and former India captain Diana Edulji, who had called the women’s coach selection process unconstitutional.
She had asserted that only the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) was empowered to do so. COA is now a three-member body with the appointment of Lt General Ravi Thodge in February.
But with serious doubts over the future of CAC — comprising Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman — the COA thought it was prudent to hand the responsibility to the ad-hoc panel.
While Tendulkar has been cleared of conflict of interest charges, Ganguly and Laxman have been asked to choose one out of their multiple cricketing roles as per the BCCI constitution.
The COA, however, is yet to take a call on the matter.
Kapil Dev and Ranagsawamy too fall in the ambit of conflict of interest as they are also responsible for the formation of the players’ association as per the new BCCI constitution.
The BCCI on Tuesday invited applications for the men’s team support staff, including head coach who will need to be less than 60 years of age with a minimum international experience of two years.
The application deadline for all the roles is July 30.
The current support staff comprising incumbent head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R. Sridhar were given a 45-day extension following the World Cup, covering the West Indies tour from August 3 to September 3.
All of them will get an automatic entry in the recruitment process, the BCCI had said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mumbai: Heavyweights Mohun Bagan will kick off the historic Durand Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium here on August 2 after the third oldest competition football tournament of the world has been shifted out its traditional venue, New Delhi for the first time.
Returning after a three-year hiatus, the 129th edition of the tournament will feature six I-League and five Indian Super League teams, including reigning champions of the respective tournaments – Chennai City FC and Bengaluru FC.
“We took a three-year gap to make it more attractive. Kolkata is the mecca of Indian football. So, it’s an effort to revamp the tournament and make it a pan-India affair,” Lt Gen RP Kalita, Chief of Staff, HQ Eastern Command told reporters here.
Former I-League champions Minerva Punjab, however, will be missed from the 16-team tournament which will also feature second division I-League team Mohammedan Sporting.
“I spoke to (Minerva) owner Ranjit Bajaj. They were 10th in the I-League table. We were initially planning to get top six teams from the I-League,” he said.
From ISL, Kerala Blasters too will not be taking part and the Indian Army, the organisers of the meet, said they have roped in Gokulam Kerala FC as a replacement.
“They said they were unavailable, so we got in touch with Gokulam as we wanted a club from Kerala to come,” he said.
The ISL franchises may not send full strength teams for the tournament.
“We spoke to the teams as well as with (All India Football Federation president) Praful Patel. There are some issues with the transfer window. The teams assemble the team by August end or September,” Kalita said.
“We couldn’t further delay the tournament as it would have clashed with the Calcutta Football League. So we are happy that the teams are coming and the tournament will happen,” he added.
The Indian Army will feature two teams — Army Red and Green. Besides, there will be a team each from Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
16 teams will be divided into four groups in the league stage and all the group winners will qualify for the semifinals which will be held in Saltlake Stadium on August 20.
The summit clash will be held on August 24. The champions will get a prize purse of Rs 40 lakh, while the runners-up team will get richer by Rs 20 lakh. The losing semifinalists will be awarded Rs 5 lakh each.
The tournament will be played across five venues of the state — three in Kolkata and two each in Kalyani and Siliguri.
Teams:
Group A: East Bengal, Army Red, Jamshedpur FC, Bengaluru FC;
Group B: Mohun Bagan, Mohammedan Soprting, ATK, Indian Navy;
Group C: Chennai City FC, Real Kashmir, FC Goa, Army Green;
Group D: Chennaiyin FC, Gokulam Kerala, TRAU, Indian Air Force.
London: When New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham was trying to get his team over the line in the Super Over of the World Cup final against England, his high school teacher and formative coach David Gordon breathed his last back home.
Neesham and Martin Guptill were in the thick of things at Lord’s on Sunday when Gordon passed away due to a heart ailment.
Needing 16 to win the title in that Super Over, New Zealand scored one less to tie the match in the Super Over in what was arguably the greatest World Cup final. New Zealand lost the final on boundary count.
Gordon’s daughter Leonie said that her father, who was lying on a hospital bed, wanted to depart the way he did.
“One of the nurses came in for the final over, the Super Over, and she said his breathing is changing. You know, I think Jimmy Neesham had just hit that six and he took his last breath,” she was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.
“He has a quirky sense of humour and he was a real character and he would have loved the fact that he did that,” said Leonie.
Neesham paid tribute to his Auckland Grammar teacher and coach on social media.
“Dave Gordon, my High School teacher, coach and friend. Your love of this game was infectious, especially for those of us lucky enough to play under you. How appropriate you held on until just after such a match. Hope you were proud. Thanks for everything. RIP,” he tweeted on Thursday.
Gordon’s daughter felt it was a touching gesture from the Black Caps player.
“It was lovely, you know, he’s kept in touch with Jimmy and he is friends with Jimmy’s father. He always had a soft spot for Jimmy Neesham, he was very proud of him. He would definitely be following his career,” she said.