1. Champions League: Barcelona Start Title Defense With a Draw
The new Champions League season started with holders Barcelona being held to 1-1 by AS Roma on Wednesday.
Alessandro Florenzi equalised for the home team with an audacious 60-yard (metre) lob from near the sideline and watched it sail over Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to cancel out Luis Suarez’s opening goal.
“It will be something to remember,” Florenzi said. “It’s not something that happens often.”
Bayer Leverkusen hammered BATE Borisov 4-1 in the night’s other Group E match.
Arsenal slumped to a 2-1 loss at Dinamo Zagreb in a match it finished with 10 men, while its Group F rival Bayern Munich needed second-half goals to beat hosts Olympiakos 3-0.
Chelsea was a 4-0 winner over Maccabi Tel Aviv and took the early lead in Group C after Porto drew 2-2 at Dynamo Kiev.
Zenit St. Petersburg went to the top in Group H after winning 3-2 at Valencia and nine-man AA Ghent’s 1-1 draw with Lyon.
2. Gurkeerat Singh Guides India A to 96-run Win Over Bangladesh A
Punjab youngster Gurkeerat Singh’s all-round brilliance enabled India A to comfortably crush Bangladesh A by 96 runs in the first One Dayer of the three-match series on Wednesday.
The talented Gurkeerat contributed a quickfire 58-ball 65 to ensure a commanding total of 322 for seven for the hosts, and then effectively bowled his off-breaks to return figures of 5/29 in 7.3 overs as the visitors were bowled out for 226 in 42.3 overs.
Gurkeerat’s five-for, in fact, was his best figure in List A as the last five Bangladesh wickets fell for just 19 runs to him.
Much was expected of India’s limited overs specialist Suresh Raina, who was coming into a competitive match after a three-month rest, but he looked completely rusty during his 28-ball 16.
3. Ajay Jadeja’s Name Proposed For Delhi Coach’s Job
The logjam at the DDCA is all set to end as 19 members of the all-powerful Executive Committee proposed the name of former India batsman Ajay Jadeja for the chief coach’s post.
The move to appoint Jadeja as the chief coach was confirmed by the DDCA President Sneh Prakash Bansal but he also said that it needs to be ratified in the next few days.
Ajay Jadeja’s name has been proposed by majority of members. There are signatures of 19 directors (out of 27). Now the name needs to be ratified at the Executive Committee meeting so that we can give him the appointment letter.
– Sneh Prakash Bansal, DDCA President
4. T20 and ODI Squads to be Picked in Bengaluru on Sep 20
The Indian squad for the three T20 Internationals and five ODIs for the upcoming series against South Africa will be announced in Bengaluru on Sunday, September 20.
Meanwhile it was also announced that a Board President’s XI team will take on South Africa in the warm-up T20 game at the Air Force Ground in Palam on September 29.
The meeting of the All-India Senior Selection Committee of the BCCI will be held on Sunday, the 20th of September 2015, at 12 PM at Hotel JW Marriott (UB City), Bengaluru, to select the Indian teams for the upcoming T20 Internationals (three matches) and One Day Internationals (five matches) against South Africa.
– BCCI Statement
5. Saina Nehwal Gifts PM Modi a Racquet as Birthday Present
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received an early birthday present from ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Wednesday. The world number one gifted him the very racquet that she used to win the silver medal at the World Championships last month.
The Prime Minister will turn 65 on Thursday.
I am pleased to meet the honourable Prime Minister and wish him Happy Birthday in advance. I am happy to present him a racquet for his birthday. It’s really good to know that he follows every sport regularly and the interesting thing is, he spoke to me about my matches. He also congratulated me for my World Championship medal.
– Saina Nehwal
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6. Manpreet Shatters National Record, Qualifies for Rio Olympics
Shot putter Manpreet Kaur smashed an 18-year-old national record to win gold and qualify for next year’s Rio Olympics on the opening day of the 55th National Open Athletics Championships.
The 25-year-old Railways girl, who had the previous best of 16.39 at last year’s Delhi National Open, threw the iron ball to 17.96m in her second attempt to shatter Harbans Kaur’s earlier national record of 17.43m that has stood since 1997.
This was Manpreet’s hat-trick of gold medals at the National Open and sixth overall as she also got past the Olympics qualification mark of 17.80m.
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