India's star wrestler Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian to be nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Sports Award. Vinesh has been nominated in "Laureus World Sporting Comeback" category for the year 2019 and will be competing for the award with golf great Tiger Woods, Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, American alpine ski racer Lindsey Vonn, Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Manyu, and Dutch para-snowboarding star Bibian Mentel-Spee.
Vinesh had a stellar 2018 in which she won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, a silver in the 2018 Asian Championships in Bishkek and a gold at the Asian Games in Jakarta. She was one of the favourites to win a medal for India at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but a knee injury forced her to abandon the quarter-finals. A former member of Vinesh's entourage said the injury was virtually a 'death sentence' for her career. Vinesh steadily worked her way back to fitness and the first true sign of her return was when she followed up her CWG gold with a victory at the Madrid Grand Prix. In 2016, she had lost the Olympic quarter-final to China’s San Yanan. Her 2018 Asian Games started with a repeat of the fixture and Vinesh went on to win the match 8-2. She went on to dominate the field at the Asiad, dropping just two points and spending a little over 11 minutes on the mat en route to the final. Aged just 24, she was one of the nominees for the Padma Shri award in 2018 and is expected to be a favourite to win a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
NZ name strong squad for India
New Zealand brought back Tom Latham and Colin de Grandhomme for the ODI series against India starting on Wednesday in Napier, fielding the strongest possible squad to take on the World No. 2 side. Both Latham and de Grandhomme were rested during the 3-0 clean sweep of Sri Lanka, but were included in the 14-member squad for the first three ODIs of the five-match series. Squad: Kane Williamson (captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Colin Munro, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Pacquiao wants Mayweather rematch after beating Broner
Manny Pacquiao wanted rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr after retaining his WBA World Welterweight title against Adrien Broner. Mayweather was present at the bout as Pacquiao defended his belt by unanimous points decision in Las Vegas on Saturday - the Filipino's 61st professional victory. Even at the age of 40, Pacquiao showed speed and skill to ease past Broner, where judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112. Afterwards, Pacquiao talked about a rematch with 42-year-old American Mayweather, who won the pair's 2015 meeting by unanimous decision. "God gave me this good health and blessings and at the age of 40 I can still do this," said Pacquiao, who was back in the ring after winning the belt with a dominant seventh-round knockout of Lucas Matthysse in July. "Tell Floyd to come back to the ring and we will fight, I'm willing to fight Floyd," Pacquiao said.
Imam, Hafeez steer Pak to win over SA
Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez set up a five-wicket win for Pakistan in the first one-day international against South Africa at St George’s Park on Saturday. The left-handed Imam made a cultured 86 off 101balls and Hafeez hit an unbeaten 71off 63 deliveries as Pakistan chased down a target of 267 with five balls to spare. Hashim Amla’s 27th one-day international century was not enough for South Africa, who lost only two wickets in scoring 266 runs after winning the toss. Pakistan’s bowlers deserved credit for their team’s win, which came after the tourists were well-beaten in all three Test matches. Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed used his bowlers in short spells and their mixture of seam and spin proved better suited to a slow pitch than South Africa’s attack. South African strike bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier conceded a combined 124 runs in 19.1 overs. The Pakistan batsmen also proved better at rotating the strike, particularly during a 94-run second-wicket stand between Imam and Babar Azam (49).
