NEW DELHI: The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the governing body of the Olympic sport of Shooting in the country, on Sunday announced a 15-member Indian contingent for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

The Selection Committee after a meeting on Sunday afternoon which lasted for over five hours, also announced a set of 14 reserve shooters for each of the eligible events, particularly with an eye on the raging Covid-19 pandemic, as had been suggested last month by the NRAI President, Raninder Singh. Reigning world number one in Women’s 10M Air Rifle Elavenil Valarivan, was the only athlete to have been picked in the team, who had not won, one of the 15-quotas won by the National Team. She would avail of the quota won by Anjum Moudgil in the event.

It was also decided by the National Selection Committee that the quota won by Chinki Yadav in the Women’s 25M Pistol would be swapped in favour of Anjum Moudgil, to enable her to compete in the Women’s 50M Rifle 3 Positions event as India’s second entry alongside former World Champion Tejaswini Sawant.

The quota won for the nation can only be swapped within the same gender.

Manu Bhaker, whose overall performances in the Women’s 25M Pistol had been better, the Committee felt, would take advantage of the double-start rule and compete in both the Women’s 10M Air Pistol and the 25M Pistol individual events.

Anjum would also compete in the Mixed Air Rifle Team competition alongside Deepak Kumar as India’s second team in the event. Elavenil and Divyansh would form the first pairing. Apurvi Chandela therefore competes only in the Women’s 10M Air Rifle individual competition.

Singh, in a statement, said: “The National Selection Committee’s main focus was to select the strongest squad for the Games and to ensure that the most consistent performers in each event, during the course of this entire Olympic cycle, do not miss out. I believe they have done an excellent job on both those fronts and we are confident that this selection will deliver.”

After suffering a 0-3 defeat against Liverpool in the Premier League, Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta complimented his opponent and said that his side completely deserved to lose the game.

Diogo Jota’s brace and Mohamed Salah’s lone strike helped Liverpool defeat Arsenal 3-0 here at the Emirates Stadium in the ongoing Premier League 2020-21 season on Sunday. “We completely deserved to lose the game. They were better in every department and deserved to win the game with the margin they had, or even more.

I accept responsibility for the way we played today. I do not have to use any excuses – that we do not have five or six players – the standards are much higher at this football club and I have to get them to perform at that level,” Arteta told Sky Sports, as reported by Goal.com.

“It was technical as well. We gave every ball away and could not put three passes together. The basics were not there today. At the moment I am in shock. I did not expect that because of the way the team trained. It is a challenge and brings an opportunity. If you have courage and big balls and you represent a club like this, you have to stand up in the next game and take it,” he added.

With this win, Liverpool has moved to the fifth place in the standings with 49 points from 30 matches, while Arsenal has slipped to the ninth position with 42 points from 30 games.

AUCKLAND: NSouth Africa on Sunday was fined 20 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate against Pakistan in their first ODI held on Friday.

Andrew Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after South Africa was one over short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration. In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

Captain, Temba Bavuma pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.

Umpires Marais Erasmus, Adrian Holdstock, Allahudien Paleker, and Bongani Jele leveled the charge.

Pakistan had defeated South Africa by three wickets in the first ODI to gain a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

SANDTON: Fakhar Zaman’s magnificent knock of 193 runs went in vain as Pakistan suffered a 17-run defeat at the hands of South Africa in the second ODI here on Sunday.

With this win, South Africa has levelled the three-match ODI series 1-1 and the series decider will take place on April 7. After being asked to bat first, South Africa got off to a good start with openers Quinton de Kock and Aiden Markram scoring regular boundaries. Faheem Ashraf provided Pakistan with the first breakthrough as he dismissed Markram (39) in the 10th over.

Temba Bavuma then took the field and played brilliantly along with De Kock. The duo formed a 114-run partnership before Haris Rauf got hold of De Kock (80). Rassie van der Dussen then came out to bat and played with an aggressive mindset. He completed his half-century off just 34 balls. Bavuma and Van der Dussen took the team over the 250-run mark but soon after that, the latter got out. Bavuma too got out after scoring 92 runs. South Africa then lost wickets in a regular interval but it was David Miller’s 27-ball 50 that powered them to a very competitive total of 341 runs.

Brief scores: South Africa 341/6 (Temba Bavuma 92, Quinton de Kock 80; Haris Rauf 3/54); Pakistan 324/9 (Fakhar Zaman 193, Babar Azam 31; Anrich Nortje 3/63).

NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League is famous for exhibiting batting blitzkrieg performances. Sometimes Chris Gayle storms 175 off 52 balls, and sometimes Andre Russell’s innings of 48 off 13 balls become the center of attraction. This time too, everyone will have their eyes on the power-hitters, as talismanic willow-yielders often change the game upside-down.

Chennai Super Kings have their captain on their side as a big hitter, although Dhoni has not been in good touch recently. Not to forget that Last year Faf du Plessis became the fourth-fastest foreign player to score 2000 runs in IPL in terms of innings.

Similarly, Delhi Capitals have Marcus Stoinis— a clean striker of the ball. He rescued his team myriad times last year.

Andre Russell will be the frontrunner from the Kolkata team to hit massive sixes. Russell, an unbeaten 13 balls 48 as KKR achieved 206 runs target in 2019. He hit 1 four and seven sixes.

Mumbai Indians’ Kieron Pollard could be the one who will hit the ball in the stand than anyone on the team. His inning of unbeaten 60 off just 24 deliveries almost took Mumbai Indians to a sensational win against RCB last year in Dubai. The Good thing for MI is that Ishan Kishan is in good touch, recently, he scored 56 runs in 32 balls in a debut T20I match against England. Rohit Sharma, Surya Kumar Yadav, and Pandya brothers are the players famous for decimating the bowlers.

Punjab Kings have the star of the game Chris Gayle himself, who scored 175 runs off 66 balls, helping Bangalore to reach a record score of 263/5. Hitting 17 sixes and 13 fours, Gayle completed his century in mere 30 deliveries.

Moreover, AB de Villiers and the addition of Glenn Maxwell to the squad will give Kohli’s RCB an upper hand undoubtedly. Fans would hardly be able to forget the innings De Villiers played against Gujarat Lions in IPL 2016. He scored 129 runs of 52 deliveries. In that inning, he scored 10 fours and 12 sixes. So far as Glenn Maxwell is concerned his 95 runs in 43 balls against CSK in 2014 and 95 against SRH were historic.

Jos Buttler is straightforward the most appropriate option, as he hits it big and he does it very often. There is a lot of option to predict in this side. his 95-run knock against CSK stands out at the top. Livingstone and Ben Stokes can also hit the ball out of the park according to their wish.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have Jonny Bairstow who smashed 97 off 55 deliveries against Kings last year at Dubai during which he hit seven fours and six sixes. Recently, at Pune during the second ODI, he hits 124 with 11 four & 7 sixes.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman AB de Villiers can still sense the momentum which his side gained in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in UAE.

RCB is set to play the IPL 2021 opener against Mumbai Indians on April 9 in Chennai and de Villiers feels the side can carry on the winning momentum from last year’s tournament. “It was a long journey. Very happy to be back with RCB, it feels like yesterday that we finished the IPL. I feel we have the momentum from the last tournament and we’ll have a lot of fun,” said de Villiers in a video posted on RCB’s Twitter.

“There are some new names but also old names, the people I have known for ages. Dan (Christian) has been with RCB before, it’s Maxi’s (Maxwell) first time but we all have seen him so often in the IPL, hopefully, a lot of games for us to win together,” he added.

RCB skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday joined the team bubble in Chennai. As per BCCI’s SOPs for IPL 2021, all players (except for those from the India-England series), support staff, and management entering the bubble need to undergo a seven-day quarantine in their hotel rooms.

Every individual will be tested multiple times during this period, and upon returning the negative results, they will be allowed to come out of their rooms and commence outdoor training and practice sessions.