SPORT

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015

| 19
HYDERABAD
ROUND-UP

McCullum may
miss third ODI

Badola enters
quarterfinals

NELSON: New Zealand could get

an earlier than expected taste of

life without Brendon McCullum on Thursday with the
swashbuckling captain likely to
sit out of the third one-day international against Sri Lanka.
McCullum hurt his back in
the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
Its unlikely hell play but
hes still a chance, said coach
Mike Hesson. AFP

Pune to host
Ranji final
NEW DELHI: Punes Maharashtra

Cricket Association Stadium will

host the Ranji Trophy final starting on February 24, 2016.
The quarterfinals will begin on
February 3 in Visakhapatnam,
Valsad, Mumbai and Bengaluru
and the semifinals at Baroda and
Cuttack.
Vidarbha will take on Saurashtra in Visakhapatnam, Assam will
clash with Punjab in Valsad, Bengal will take on MPCA in Mumbai
and Jharkhand will meet Mumbai
in Bengaluru.
The semifinal slated for February 13-17, with the winner of the
first quarterfinal taking on the
winner of the second at Baroda.
The second seimifinal will be at
Cuttack. PTI

Afghanistan
takes 2-0 lead
SHARJAH: Afghanistan survived a

middle-order batting collapse to

claim a four-wicket win over Zimbabwe in Sharjah on Tuesday and
take a 2-0 lead in the five-match
One-Day International series.
Wicketkeeper
Mohammad
Shahzad held his nerve as wickets
tumbled around him, scoring an
unbeaten 131 the highest ODI
score by an Afghan batsman to
help the non-Test playing nation
chase down a target of 254 with 14
balls to spare.
Zimbabwe, all out for just 82 in
the first ODI on Friday, posted a
far more competitive total this
time. It reached 253 for seven
from its 50 overs with half-centuries from Craig Ervine (73) and
opener Peter Moor (50), while Afghan seamer Dawlat Zadran took
three for 57.
The scores: Zimbabwe 253 for seven
in 50 overs (Craig Ervine 73, Peter Moor
50, Dawlat Zadran three for 57) lost to Afghanistan 254 for six in 47.4 overs (Mohammad Shahzad 131 n.o., Elton Chigumbura three for 32). AFP

Lajong sign
Fabio, Yusuke
SHILLONG: Shillong Lajong Football Club announced on
Wednesday the signing of Brazilian forward Fabio Pena Henrique and Japanese defender Yusuke Yamagata.
Fabio, who played for five
years in Japan from 2010-2014,
will be the second South American to play for the Reds this season alongside Uilliams Souza.
Yusuke is a versatile Japanese
defender who played in Japan,
Cambodia and most recently
Laos.
Commenting on the signings,
Lajong head coach Thangboi
said: Fabio will give us more
height and prowess up front and
his strong work ethic will help
the team defensively too. Yusukes experience and leadership
will bolster our defence. PTI

Patel CC, VVKRM

post wins
VIJAYAWADA: Patel Cricket Club

defeated Kondapalli Cricket

Club by 92 runs while VVKRM
scored a 114-run victory over
Friends CC in the Krishna District Cricket Association A Division Power League in Mulapadu here on Wednesday.
Centuries by Zaheer Abbas
(112 n.o.) for Kondapalli CC and
Swaroop Kumar (110) for
VVKRM were the highlights of
the day.
The scores: Patel CC 309 for three
in 40 overs (D. J. Chaitanya 96, S. Satish Reddy 72, Ch. Kranthi 53, Thimoti
40) bt Kondapalli CC 217 for five in 40
overs (Zaheer Abbas 112 n.o., N. Rajendra 36).
VVKRM 280 for eight in 40 overs
(D. Swaroop Kumar 110, A.G. Praveen
32, Kothaih three for 27) bt Friends CC
166 in 36 overs (D. Prabhu Kiran 80,
M. Dinesh 29, A. G. Praveen four for
27).

Amaravati Hockey
Super League
from Jan. 3
VIJAYAWADA: The first edition of

the Amaravati Hockey Super

League will be held at the Brahmananda Reddy Stadium in
Guntur from January 3 to 9.
Seven teams Chittoor, Visakhapatnam, Nellore and Guntur along with Andhra Pradesh
Police and Income Tax department, RDT-sponsored Anantapur outfit, will vie for honours
in the round-robin tournament.
Each team will consist of 20
players including two guest
players from outside the State.
CM
YK

HYDERABAD: M. Badola defeated

GOOD TIDINGS: The year turned out to be a most fruitful and satisfying one for star Indian sportspersons like Pankaj Advani, Sania Mirza, Saina Nehwal and Virat Kohli. FILE PHOTOS

Saina and Sania scale peaks, Advani dominates,

Captain Kohli emerges
The second and concluding part of The Hindus review of Indian sport in 2015
RAKESH RAO
CRICKET: The year will be
remembered more for the
emergence of Virat Kohli as a
Test captain than the teams
series triumphs in Sri Lanka
and at home against South
Africa. The defeats in the ODIs
in Bangladesh and the Twenty20 match in Zimbabwe were
pushed to the background
once Kohlis side bounced
back from the setbacks in the
shorter formats to outplay the
South Africans in the spindominated Test series.
The retirement of Virender
Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, the
return of Shashank Manohar
and the exit of N. Srinivasan
from the BCCI, and the suspension of Chennai Super

Kings and Rajasthan Royals for

two years from the Indian Premier League were the other
off-the-field events that became part of an action-filled
year.
TENNIS: Sania Mirza and
Leander Paes had Martina Hingis for company in making tennis history this year. The Sania
and Martina pair joined hands
in March and ended the year
with 10 titles, including two
majors, while Paes and Martina won three of the four Grand
Slam crowns. At 42, Paes continues to prove that age is just a
number. Rohan Bopanna,
along with Florin Mergea, added two titles and reached the
World Tour Finals.
From the younger lot, Sumit
Nagal won the junior Wimble-

don doubles title and joined

Sania and Paes in holding the
winners trophy at the prestigious event.
GOLF: Anirban Lahiri was
the biggest newsmaker among
the Indian golfers this year.
Two European Tour titles, besides five top-10 finishes, an
appearance in each of the four
majors, a place in the Presidents Cup squad, and the securing of the PGA card for the
next season made 2015 a truly
path-breaking year for Lahiri.
Though disappointing in his
maiden appearance in the
year-ending Hero World Challenge in Nassau, Bahamas, Lahiri did enough through the
year to be consistent and reach
33 in world rankings.
Meanwhile, Chiragh Kumar

CRICKET

Laxmi Ratan Shukla calls it a day

Laxmi Ratan Sukla. PHOTO: PTI

his First Class debut in 1997-98
season, reportedly was not in
tune with the new regime in the
Cricket Association of Bengal
headed by former India captain
Sourav Ganguly.
The feisty all-rounder, who
played 137 First Class matches
and accumulated 6217 runs and
144 wickets, indicated this as a
reason in the letter which he
had sent to the CAB president
and was later circulated to the
media.

In the last 22 years I have

served Bengal cricket with unfaltering dedication and steadfast earnestness in which I have
also led the team from the front.
However, of late, my commitment towards the team has
been questioned and my involvement in the game has been
put under the scanner I feel
that (the) moment has come
when I should take a decision to
selflessly step aside and make
room for some young talent to
replace me in the team, Shukla
said in his letter while thanking
every one past and present in
CAB for being cooperative
and nurturing me all through
my playing years
However, in the news conference Shukla heaped praise
on Ganguly saying he has always been very inspirational.
He (Ganguly) has been a
source of inspiration not only
to me but for cricketers all over
the world. He wanted me to
continue but I told him I was
not feeling well. Shukla said.

Australia finds improvement

in West Indies team
MELBOURNE: With the series eas-

ily won and a dead Test still to

play, Australia coach Darren
Lehmann on Wednesday talked up the West Indies for finally finding some fight.
The tourists have failed to
bowl out Australia once over
the first two Tests, having long
lost their world-beating reputation as the Calypso Kings.
But Lehmann noted that
they played well while still losing by 177 runs in Melbourne.
I was really pleased the
way they fought back, yeah, after being six for 90 on day two
and then obviously bat really
well on day three, he said.
The West Indies crashed to
an innings defeat in Hobart
and lost the series on Tuesday
in Melbourne, but captain Jason Holder and former skipper
Denesh Ramdin both made

Darren Lehmann. PHOTO: AFP

battling half centuries.
I thought they played really
well and thats what theyre
gonna need to do going forward to improve as a side, they
know that now... Back end they
took the game to us, Lehmann

told reporters.
Sydney Morning Herald
cricket commentator Malcolm
Knox also celebrated the West
Indies finding its heart despite
another defeat.
Finally,
the
tourists
showed some grit and in so doing mounted an argument for
why their mooted demotion
from Test crickets top division would be a retrograde
step, he wrote in a column
published on Wednesday.
The longer they play in
Australia, the more they learn
and the better they get.
Lehmann said Australia was
still weighing up selection options ahead of the final Test
starting on Sunday in Sydney,
with bowler Peter Siddle notably carrying an ankle injury.
AFP

ATHLETICS

Shraddha, Chethan jump to gold

KOCHI:

Mumbai Universitys
Shraddha Ghule, the National
Open champion, won the womens long jump gold as expected
but Mangalores Sreenith Mohan,
the mens high jump meet recordholder, went empty-handed in
the 76th National inter-university athletics championship at Patiala on Wednesday.
Shraddha, who won the National Open with a 6.38m effort in
Kolkata in September, had a best
of 6.27m while the rest of the field
could not come anywhere close
to six metres.
Mangalores B. Chethan, a former university international,
walked away with the mens high
jump gold with a 2.09m effort
while Mangalores Kerala-born

Fabregas going
nowhere: Hiddink
LONDON: Spanish midfielder Cesc

PRINCIPAL CORRESPONDENT
KOLKATA: Former India player
and Bengal captain Laxmi Ratan Shukla announced his retirement from cricket on
Wednesday. Shukla, who failed
to make it to the Bengal Ranji
squad for most of the current
season after making a comeback from injury, was included
in the team that played its last
league match against Assam
earlier this month. But the player chose to call it quits as he was
not getting enough motivation to continue.
I was not getting the right
motivation and was not getting
the positive signals in my mind.
This has been happening for
the past one month and I was
losing my sleep over it, Shukla
said after announcing his retirement in a news conference.
Mentally, I was not ready to
play again, the 34-year-old allrounder who played three
ODIs for India, said.
Shukla, who had a long stint
with Bengal ever since he made

received his share of accolades

by beating the field in the Panasonic Open in New Delhi for a
maiden Asian Tour title.
BADMINTON:
Saina
Nehwal finally managed to
scale the peak and hold the
World No. 1 spot on the way to
winning the Indian Open title.
She reached the title-clashes of
the All England championship
and the World Championship
but on both occasions lost to
Carolina Marin. On the brighter side, she did manage to beat
the Spaniard in the World Super Series Finals but that was
her only victory in the fourplayer league.
She was hampered by ankle
and groin injuries and that impacted her consistency. P.V.
Sindhu, too, had to deal with

Sreenith Mohan, who broke the

meet record last year, could only
finish eighth with 1.95m. One
rung above Sreenith was junior
National champion Mothi Arun
with 2m.
Sanjivini Jadhav, also a university international and a former
World Schools 3000m silver
medallist, broke her own meet record in the womens 5000m. Giving her a close fight was Calicuts
P.U. Chitra who took the silver.
The results:
Men: 10,000m: 1. Ranjeet Kumar
Patel (Mangalore) 30:55.41s, 2. Vasudev Nishad (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya,
Gorakhpur) 30:57.97s, 3. Anil Kumar
Singh (VBS Purvanchal, Jaunpur)
31:08.32.
High jump: 1. B. Chethan (Manga-

lore) 2.09m, 2. Lovepreet Singh (Punjabi, Patiala) 2.06, 3. Sidharath Yadav

(Punjabi) 2.03.
20km walk: 1. Kuldeep (Mangalore) 1:29:38.17s, 2. Rajesh Kumar
(Punjabi) 1:29:38.46, 3. Manjit Singh
(Punjabi) 1:29:39.09.
Women: 5000m: 1. Sanjivini Jadhav (Savithribai Phule, Pune) 16:18.01s
MR , OR 16:36.45, 2. P.U. Chitra (Calicut) 16:36.91, 3. Seema Devi (Punjab,
Chd) 16:59.98.
Long jump: 1. Shraddha Ghule
(Mumbai) 6.27m, 2. G.M. Aishwarya
(Mangalore) 5.93, 3. Bhumika Thakur
(Punjabi) 5.88m.
Discus: 1. Navjeet Kaur (GNDU,
Amritsar) 51.38m, 2. Kamalpreet Kaur
(Punjabi) 50.29, 3. J.S. Priyanka (Mangalore) 42.37.

Fabregas will not be heading out

of Chelsea during next months
transfer window, interim manager Guus Hiddink insisted on
Wednesday.
Fabregas has suffered a dip in
form this season and has been
linked with a move to Juventus
and Inter Milan amid reports
Hiddink favours a more defensive shape to his midfield.
Hiddink, however, said no
player would be departing in January as Chelsea seeks to improve on its Premier League position of 14th.
We need all the players here
until the end of the season, said
the Dutchman, whose first game
since taking over from Jose Mourinho was a frustrating 2-2 draw
against Watford at Stamford
Bridge on Saturday.
Chelsea are still in a position
where we have to improve to get
up the table, so we need all our
players at the moment. So we
dont talk about the rumours.
Cesc is coming in with a smile,
which is what I always like. Players come in with a smile and not a
worn out face.
Discussions have been held between Chelsea and Major League
Soccer club Montreal Impact
over Didier Drogba returning to
Stamford Bridge and Hiddink believes the Ivorian would be best
suited to a hands-on coaching
role. Didier is that rare kind of
ex-player with big status who
would be very good for any club
to have, especially him because
hes a Chelsea legend, Hiddink
said. AFP

inconsistency though she defended the Macau Open titles

with ease. Like in the past few
seasons, Sindhu did win a few
remarkable matches but undid
the good work by falling to unheralded rivals. K. Srikanth,
too, struggled for consistency
after winning the Swiss Open
and India Open. Making the final of the Indonesian Open
was highly encouraging for the
youngster.
Looking at individual results, H.S. Prannoy recorded a
memorable victory over the
legendary Lin Dan in the
French Open and P. Kashyap
upstaged World No. 1 Chen
Long in the Indonesia Open.
CUE SPORTS: Pankaj Advani continued to bring cheer
by winning the 15th World ti-

tle. He won the IBSF billiards

crown in September and added
the IBSF World snooker championship in November. He is
also the only cueist to triumph
in the short (6-Red) and the
long formats of snooker in the
same calendar year.
FOOTBALL: Ending the
year 166th in the world rankings, the Indian team didnt
gain much. Notwithstanding
the hype surrounding the Indian Super League, the year saw
India lose first five of its FIFA
World Cup qualifying matches, including a 1-2 defeat to tiny
nation Guam.

The 1-0 victory in Bengaluru

over Guam in the return-leg
did not help in redeeming the
countrys bruised pride.

Its Joshua vs
Maleficent in
P.D. Bolton Trophy
MUMBAI: Joshua and Maleficent
should fight it out in the P.D. Bolton Trophy, the main event of the
races to be held here on Thursday.
Rails will be placed eight metres
away from its original point from
1600m to 1200m, and thereafter 13
metres upto the winning post.
1 BLURR PLATE (1,200m), Cl.
V, rated 01 to 26, 2-15 pm: 1. Allee
Bleue (5) Zeeshan 61, 2. Ame (3)
Parmar 61, 3. Name Of The Game
(2) Trevor 61, 4. Wild Venture (8)
Parbat 59.5, 5. Serene (4) T S Jodha
58.5, 6. Ocean Sparkle (7) Ajinkya
58, 7. Wonder Story (1) Shelar 57.5,
8. Terrific (9) Pereira 55.5 and 9.
Home Factor (6) K Kadam 49.5.
1. Name Of The Game,
2. Allee Bleue,
3. Serene
2 FOREST
FLAIR
PLATE
(1,000m), Maiden, 2-y-o only, 2-45:
1. Himalaya (6) Neeraj 55, 2. Wild
Jack (3) Parmar 55, 3. California
Dream (4) Zervan 53.5, 4. Cataleya
(7) Yash Narredu 53.5, 5. Honey
Dew (1) Trevor 53.5, 6. Night Fury
(5) Sandesh 53.5 and 7. Voulez Vous
(2) Dashrath 53.5.
1. Cataleya, 2. Honey Dew
3 P D BOLTON TROPHY
(1,000m), Cl. II, rated 60 to 86, 3-15:
1. Deep Diver (1) Shubham 62, 2.
Ravello (3) Sandesh 55.5, 3. Incentio
(4) Yash Narredu 54.5, 4. Maleficent (2) P S Chouhan 54.5, 5. Star
(5) J Chinoy 52 and 6. Joshua (6)
Dashrath 51.5.
1. Joshua, 2. Maleficent
4 MASEEHA PLATE (2,400m),
Cl. V, rated 01 to 26, 3-45: 1. Jordana
(6) Ajinkya 61, 2. Red Fort (9) R
Vaibhav 60.5, 3. Jibuti (5) Yash Narredu 59, 4. Running Cloud (3) J Chinoy 58, 5. Move In Time (4) C S
Jodha 56.5, 6. Yodha Shakti (8) Daman 56, 7. Allegiance (2) Bhawani
55.5, 8. Hugs And Kisses (1) Parmar

53 and 9. Sky Lantern (7) K Kadam

52.5.
1. Jordana, 2. Move In Time,
3. Red Fort
5 NEW YEARS EVE CUP
(1,600m), Cl. III, rated 40 to 66, 4-15:
1. Just By Chance (4) R Vaibhav 59,
2. B Fifty Two (1) Sandesh 58.5, 3.
Cha Cha Cha (5) Dashrath 57.5, 4.
Top Bracket (6) Neeraj 55.5, 5.
Khayyam (7) Trevor 54, 6. Starry
Moment (2) C S Jodha 52 and 7.
Bethpage (3) Zervan 50.5.
1. Khayyam, 2. B Fifty Two
6 RAO SAHEB D K PARKAR
TROPHY DIV.II (1,400m), Cl. IV,
rated 20 to 46, 4-45: 1. Indus Prince
(10) Santosh 59, 2. Flying Dragon
(9) Sandesh 57.5, 3. Targetmaster
(8) S J Sunil 57.5, 4. Alfonso (1) J
Chinoy 56, 5. Wolf Rock (4) Akshay
55.5, 6. Aurelio (5) Zervan 55, 7.
Fringe Benefit (7) Prasad 54.5, 8.
Simon Says (2) Trevor 54.5, 9. Wizard Of Odds (3) Merchant 54.5 and
10. Caribbean Legend (6) Bhawani
52.
1. Indus Prince,
2.
Flying
Dragon,
3.
Targetmaster
7 RAO SAHEB D K PARKAR
TROPHY DIV.I (1,400m), Cl. IV,
rated 20 to 46, 5-15: 1. Few Dollars
More (6) Trevor 61.5, 2. Nebulous
(5) C S Jodha 60, 3. Fortuna (9)
Santosh 58.5, 4. Kandinsky (4) P S
Chouhan 58, 5. Orla (10) Zervan 58,
6. Seahorse (1) Dashrath 58, 7.
Dancing Prince (3) Yash Narredu
56, 8. Aeolus Maximus (8) Bhawani
55, 9. Japanese (2) R Vaibhav 55 and
10. Espada (7) Kuldeep 525.
1. Kandinsky, 2. Few Dollars
More, 3. Japanese
Days best: Cataleya
Double: Jordana Khayyam
Jackpot: 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7. Treble: 5, 6 &
7. Tanala: All races. Super Jackpot:
2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Rithvik Choudary 6-2, 6-2 in

the boys singles prequarterfinal of the SAT-AITA
National Series tennis
tournament for boys and girls
(under-18) at the LB Stadium
tennis complex here on
Wednesday.
The results:
Girls: Singles: Pre-quarterfinals:
R. Shrivalli bt Urmi Pandya 6-2,
7-6(3); Ch. Harsha Sai bt Shivani
Shravya 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; A. Shivani bt
Apurva 6-2, 6-2; S.B. Mubasira Anjum
bt Lasya Patnaik 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-1;
Sai Dedeepya bt Muskan Gupta 6-1,
7-6(2); Tanisha Kasyap bt Yashawini
6-1, 6-2; Tesjaswani Kate bt Pratibha
Prasad 6-3, 6-1; Shaik Humera btR.
Bhavya 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles: Quarterfinals: A. Shivani
& Shaik Humera bt A.Shrivalli
Rashmikaa & Tanisha Kasyap 6-1, 6-3;
Shruti Gupta & Urmi Pandya bt Lasya
Patnaik & Rutvi Shah 3-6, 6-1, 10-6;
Kritika Chabra & Muskan Gupta bt
Anjum Shaik & Sajiya Begum 7-6(4),
6-4; Sai Deedpiya & Sravya Shivani
6-1, 6-4.
Boys: Singles: Pre-quarterfinals:
M. Badola bt Rithvik Choudary 6-2,
6-2; Siddanth Bhatia bt Arnav
Bhardwaj6-2, 6-3; Dhakhibeswar
Suresh bt F. Quadri 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-3;
Megh Patel bt K. Sivadeep 7-6(11),
3-6, 7-5; A. Vannemreddy bt Sanket
Tomar 6-3, 7-5; Adil Kalyanpur bt
Honnappa 6-2, 6-3; Senthil Kumar bt
K. Srivatsa 6-4, 7-5; Venkat Varun bt
Loganathan 6-4, 6-4.
Boys: Doubles: Quarterfinals: S.
Himakesh & Venkat bt Srivatsa
Karan& Thakaran Siddarth 6-3, 3-6,
10-8; Siddanth Bhatia & M. Patel bt
Apuroop Reddy & T. Shashank 6-2,
7-5; D. Suresh & K. Vamanrao bt K.
Sivadeep & A.K. Rohit 6-4, 4-6, 10-7;
Adil Kalyanpur & M. Badola bt R.
Srivatsa & G. Nitin 6-2, 6-4.

Santosh shines
Fine bowling by Santosh
Pandey, who returned with a
11-wicket haul in the match,
helped Deccan Wanderers
score a 10-wicket win over
Raju CC in the A-Division
Plate League (two-day) cricket
championship here on
Wednesday.
Santosh claimed five for 30 in
the first innings and then
returned with another
impressive spell of six for 46 in
the second essay for the
winner.
The scores:
Deccan Wanderers 263 for eight decl.
in 66.3 overs & 18 for no loss in one
over drew withRaju CC137 in 53.2
overs (Santosh Pandey five for 30) &
159 in 45.2 overs (Manikumar 37,
Santosh Pandey six for 46).
AggarwalSeniors 285 in 83.1 overs &
77 for three in nine overs (Rakesh 45
not out) drew with Sri Chakra 302 for
eight decl in 81 overs (Nithin 35,
Aamir 62, Ramesh 76, Sudershan 51,
Balraj three for 103, Hrudai three for
14).

Cricket tournament
Jaisimha Cricket Academy will
organise the inaugural Indoor
Premier Cricket League
(under-12) from January 9 on
its premises here. For details,
call 7396179409.

Sachdev SC blanks
Feelkhana
HYDERABAD: Sachdev Sports

Club scored a 2-0 win over

Feelkhana in the B-Division
football league championship
for the Shivkumar Lal Trophy
at Trimulgherry Village
Ground here.
The results:
Sachdev Sports Club 2 (Surya Kiran,
Rohit George) bt Feelkhana 0; Hyd
Golden Soccer 2 (Andi, Tabrez) bt
BHEL 1 (Mahesh).

Trump matches will make PBL

exciting: Gopi Chand
MUMBAI: National badminton

team chief coach P. Gopi Chand

on Wednesday said the new rule
of Trump Match, introduced in
the second edition of Premier
Badminton League (PBL), will
make the tournament an exciting one for players and fans.
PBLs second edition is set to
start on January 2 with a clash
between Awadhe Warriors,
spearheaded by 2012 Olympic
bronze medallist and 2015
World championship silver
medallist Saina Nehwal, and
Mumbai Rockets here. Besides

PREMIER
BADMINTON LEAGUE
Mumbai, the participating franchises are Delhi Acers, Hyderabad Hunters, Bengaluru Top
Guns, Chennai Smashers, and
Lucknow-based
Awadhe
Warriors.
A team winning the Trump
Match, after selecting one of the
five matches in a tie, would gain
a bonus point (+2) and a negative point (-1) in case of defeat.
Its a great addition to the
league to ensure that the excitement remains till the end of the
tie. Each team has to nominate a
trump match from among five
matches. Teams have to finalise

Mumbai Rockets players R.M.V. Gurusaidutt, H.S. Prannoy and Mathias Boe along with chief
national coach P. Gopi Chand (second from right) during a press conference ahead of the Premier
Badminton League in Mumbai. PHOTO: PTI
their line-up one-and-a-half
hours before the tie and also
name their trump match, Gopi
Chand said at a press conference here.
Both teams may nominate
the same match as trump match.
Even a 3-0 lead is not sufficient

to win as you can still lose the

tie. Spectator interest will be
kept alive. It needs to be seen
how the players react to the extra pressure. Some play better
under pressure and some others
crack, he said.
Speaking on the league, he

said, I am really excited to see

the league help youngsters and
aspiring players play against top
stars and make a name for themselves. All teams look strong, it
will be difficult to pick a favourite. Fans can expect some fireworks. IANS
HY-TG