Indian sports wrap, July 1: Jamshedpur FC retains Seiminlen Doungel

FOOTBALL

Jamshedpur FC retains Seiminlen Doungel

Manipur midfielder Seiminlen Doungel extended his tenure with Jamshedpur FC until the end of the 2024-25 season of the Indian Super League, the club announced on Monday.

A skillfull, strong and versatile player who has been an essential part of the Jamshedpur FC side for the past four seasons, Doungel was crucial in the ISL Shield winning campaign in 2021-22.

“I have unfinished business from the last two seasons and we need to get the club back on the top of the ISL table, a place that the Jharkhand fans deserve,” the 30-year-old said in a release.

Doungel has had a stellar career in ISL representing Jamshedpur, FC Goa, Kerala Blasters, North East United, Bengaluru FC, Delhi Dynamos and East Bengal.

Over his 63 appearances for the Men of Steel, Doungel has scored five goals and provided one assist. He is also one of the six Indian players to score a hat-trick in the ISL.

Doungel has also won the I-League in the 2015-16 season and the Federation Cup in 2012 and 2017.

He was a member of Bengaluru FC’s runner-up squad in the AFC Cup in 2016 and played a crucial role in FC Goa’s 2019-20 ISL season, helping it finish at the top of the league and become the ISL Premiers (shield winners).

– PTI

CRICKET

India deaf cricket team wins bilateral T20 series against England

The Indian deaf cricket team defeated host England by six wickets in the seventh and final T20 to claim the series 5-2 in Leicester.

Abhishek Singh was awarded the man-of-the-match in the final game, while Sai Akash bagged the player-of-the-series honour.

Electing to bowl, India restricted England to 164 for 4 and then chased down the target with four balls to spare, riding on half-centuries by Abhishek (68) and Umar Ashraf (56).

India did not have the best of starts to its chase, losing the first three wickets for only 46 runs. But Abhishek and Ashraf shared a 95-run partnership to rebuild the innings and took the side over the line.

– PTI

BADMINTON

Badminton Asia Junior Championships: Valiant India go down 2-3 against Malaysia in quarters

India’s Badminton Asia Junior Mixed team championships challenge ended at the quarterfinal stage after losing to Malaysia 2-3 on Monday.

The players will now participate in the individual championship beginning from Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals, India made yet another change to its mixed doubles pairing, combining Sanskar Saraswat with Shravani Walekar. And the duo gave the team the lead with a 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 win over Kang Khai Xing and Noraqilha Maisarah.

Senior Nationals runners-up Tanvi Sharma then doubles India’s lead when she got the better of Siti Zulaikha 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in girls singles.

India looked on course of an upset win when Pranay Shettigar clinched the opening game against Muhammad Faiq. But he could not sustain the momentum and lost 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in an hour and six minutes and Malaysia then grabbed the opportunity.

Walekar and Navya Kanderi went down 16-21, 15-21 against Bui Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting and then boys doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela Arsh Mohammad lost to Kang and Aaron Tai 18-21, 10-21.

Tanvi Sharma impresses

The loss in the quarterfinals not withstanding, the squad had a lot of positives to take from the competition as Tanvi Sharma remained unbeaten in all her matches and the changes in mixed doubles combination worked well.

In fact, India did not lose any girls singles match as Navya Kanderi also punched above her weight to win the only rubber against Indonesia in the group stage.