Firstpost Spodcast Episode 47: India’s effortless win over Pakistan, IOA’s goof-up and more on our daily podcast

Welcome to Spodcast on Firstpost, where we look at the big sports headlines of the day. On this episode of Firstpost Spodcast, we talk about India’s easy win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Sunday’s Premier League matches and Indian Olympic Association’s goof-ups at their felicitation ceremony for Asian Games medallists among other things. Cricket news first. India’s opening batsmen Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan scored stylish centuries as India beat Pakistan by nine wickets in their second face-off in the Asia Cup. Chasing 238 on a sweltering evening in Dubai, India reached their target in just 39.3 overs. Skipper Rohit, who was dropped on 14, scored 111 and remained not out. Dhawan scored 114 in just 100 balls, flaying Pakistan’s bowling attack at will. He hit 16 fours and two sixes. The two openers shared a 210-run partnership before Dhawan was run out by Shoaib Malik. Ambati Rayudu joined Rohit after Dhawan’s fall and helped close out the match without much fuss. Elsewhere, in football news, Chelsea dropped their first points of the season after their goalless draw against West Ham United, while Arsenal beat Everton 2-0. Chelsea, who had won all five Premier League matches before last weekend, dominated possession at the home ground of London rivals West Ham, but could not make it count. Instead, they were busy dealing with West Ham’s constant threat on the break. 70 percent of possession accounted for naught as West Ham proved dangerous when they were able to break out. Michail Antonio, in particular, proved a real handful. Meanwhile, Arsenal notched up their fourth successive League win, after beating a sloppy Everton 2-0. The win puts Arsenal in 6th place in the League table while Everton are in 12th place. Swimmer Advait Page broke the eight-year-old national record in 800m at the National Aquatic Championship in Thiruvananthapuram. Page, who finished seventh in the 800m freestyle at the Asian Games last month, was closely followed by Kushagra Rawat until the 650m mark. He used his trademark acceleration in the last stretch of the race to finish in 08:12.51. Rawat took the silver, his third medal of this championship, and Aryan Makhija won the bronze. Sajan was named the best male swimmer of the championship. He won five gold medals and set five new national records. Saloni Dalal, who won three gold medals and set two best Indian performances along with two National Records, was named the best swimmer in the women’s competition. Karnataka won the best overall swimming team with a total of 227 points. There was some embarrassment for the Indian Olympic Association when it got many names wrong on the cheques given out during a felicitation ceremony to award cash prizes to Asian Games medallists. Around 15 medal winners, including compound archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma, were presented just bouquets because their names had been misprinted on the cheques. Narinder Batra, President of the IOA, said, “I would like to apologise in advance for our mistake. The names of around 14-15 players have been printed incorrectly so we will give them a bouquet. But don’t worry, you will get your cash prizes. I didn’t want to give cheques with misspelt names.” In yet another embarrassing moment, the organisers forgot to announce the name of bronze medal-winning wrestler Divya Kakran. After Kakran’s parents raised the issue with Batra, he called Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, who had nearly exited the venue, to announce the prize for Kakran.