B E N N E T T, C O L E M A N & C O. LT D. | E S TA B LI S H E D 183 8 | T I M E S O F I N D I A . C O M | N E W D E L H I

Newspaper inEducation

STUDENT EDITION

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021TODAY’SEDITION

➤ Do you know how tosay ‘Hello’ in German? orpeople greet one another inthe evening in Germany?Wizard’s Corner has it all!

➤Read Enid Blyton’s‘The Naughtiest Girl InSchool’? A Teacher talkson her own experiencewith the naughtiest ones

PAGE 2 PAGE 3

CLICK HERE: PAGE 1 AND 2

➤We’ll give it every-thing to win T20 WorldCup, says NZ openerMitchell

PAGE 4 KAMAL HAASAN TOLAUNCH HIS DIGITAL

AVATAR IN THEMETAVERSE

Producer, director, actorand politician KamalHaasan is set to becomethe first Indian celebrity

to have his own digital avatar in ametaverse. Haasan, who turned 67on Sunday, announced his entry intothe digital space, with the launch ofcollectables or NFTs (non-fungibletokens) and plans for his museum inan upcoming metaverse game fromFantico, an Indian licensed digitalcollectables platform.

With fans spending bigmoney on digital col-lectibles, more celebritiesare joining the party. Starssuch as Amitabh Bachchanand Salman Khan as well ascricketers and leaguessuch as the Indian SuperLeague (ISL) have launchedtheir NFTs. Fantico will first launchvarious digital collectiblesincluding posters, avatarsand videos for Haasan

3 BUZZ

SPOTLIGHT

In a first, NDA to admit 20 womencadets next year

GENDER EQUALITY

PLASTIC MENACE

TOP

A merican singer Taylor Swift surpassed Prime Minister Narendra Modito emerge as the most-influential person

on the list of the 50 most influential people onTwitter this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modiis placed at number two on the list. Accordingto an annual research carried out by the con-sumer intelligence company Brandwatch,Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar isplaced at number 35.

Singer Katy Perry is ranked third, TeslaCEO Elon Musk is ranked fourth andBarack Obama fifth on the list

OF THE DAY

I f reports are to go by, the National Defence Academy (NDA) willadmit about 20 women cadets from around the middle of next year,paving the way for their training in the premier tri-service military

training institution for the first time. According to reports, the Armywould have the largest intake of about 10 women officers, followed bythe Indian Air Force and the Navy at about five each.

More than eight million tons of pandemic-asso-ciated plastic waste

have been generated globally,with more than 25,000 tonsentering the global ocean,according to an alarming study.Data from the start of the pan-demic in 2020 through August2021, showed that most of theglobal plastic waste enteringthe ocean is coming from Asia, with hospital waste representingthe bulk of the land discharge.

Covid-related plastic waste highestfrom Asian countries: Study

In September, the Supreme Court had ruled thatwomen be inducted into NDA from this year itself,and not from next year as sought by the Centre.

So far, women officers joined the armed forcesfrom Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai,where they got admitted after their graduation.

The study highlighted that most of the globalplastic waste from the pandemic is entering theocean from rivers, with Asian rivers accounting for73 per cent of the total discharge of plastics. Thetop three contributors are the Indus, Shatt al-Arab,and Yangtze rivers, which discharge into thePersian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and East China Sea,respectively. European rivers, on the other hand,account for only 11 per cent of the discharge, withminor contributions from other continents

You read it right. If reportsare to go by, carbon emis-sions produced by fanswatching a month of Net-flix's top 10 shows is equiv-

alent to 'driving a car beyond Saturn' –more than 746 million miles.

According to researchers, Netflixcontent in the global top 10 - clocked up

millions of hours' viewing time com-bined in the first month since their re-lease.

Similarly, YouTube is responsiblefor emitting enough carbon dioxide an-nually to far surpass the equivalentgreenhouse gas output of Glasgow,where the COP26 climate summit washeld recently.

HOW ARE THEY AHAZARD FOR THE

ENVIRONMENT

1Streaming serviceshave a negative effecton the environment

due to the power required totransfer data, a large pro-portion of which is generatedby non-renewable energysources like gas and coal,which emit harmful green-house gases

2Also, end-user deviceslike smartphones, lap-tops or TVs consume

electricity while watchingthe content

3According to Netflix,the average carbonfootprint of one hour

of streaming in Europe isapproximately 55 gCO2e(grams of carbon dioxideequivalents) - the same asdriving about 300 metres in a car

SOURCE: CDIYOUR OTT WATCHING HABIT COULD BE HARMING

THE PLANET

F acebook's parentcompany Metahas announced

that it will remove sensi-tive ads targetingoptions related tohealth, race or ethnicity,political affiliation, reli-gion or sexual orienta-tion starting January 19,2022.

The interest targeting optionsbeing removed is not based onpeople's physical characteris-tics or personal attributes,but instead, on things likepeople's interactions withcontent on the platform

FB, Instagram to delete 'sensitive' ads linked to race, religionMeta, earlier this month,said that it removed over 30 million pieces of content inSeptember on Facebook andInstagram in India, as itfaces intense security overuser data privacy

$600KPrice of an original Apple computer, hand-built by

company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 45 yearsago that is likely to fetch in the United States. The so-called

‘Chaffey College’ Apple-1 is one of only 200 made by Jobs andWozniak at the very start of the company's odyssey from garagestart-up to megalith worth $2 trillion. What makes it even rareris the fact the computer is encased in koa wood—a richly patinat-ed wood native to Hawaii. Only a handful of the original 200 weremade in this way.

Your OTT watchinghabit could beharming the planet

Private hospitals begin talks withschools for kids’ vaccination

Leading private hospitals inthe country have starteddiscussions with variousschools to host clinics to

provide Covid-19 vaccinations as soonas vaccines are available, people in theknow told ET. Max Healthcare said it isexploring tie-ups with various leadingschools to support the government'svaccination drive as and when it allowsfor the paediatric population.

The government is expect-ed to come out with guide-lines for vaccinating childrennext week. It has so farapproved Zydus Cadila's vac-cine ZyCov-D for use in chil-dren as young as 12 years old Bharat Biotech's Covaxin isalso expected to get the drugregulator's nod soon

Taylor Swift is most-influential person onTwitter

02It’s not just a place where you get to learn Einstein’s Theory of

Relativity. It’s also a place where you can think beyond the classroom.Hence we say, SCHOOL IS COOL!

SCHOOL IS COOLFRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

I f I were Genie, a fictional character in Disney for a month, I would twist the Genie’s rules but only for a shortspan. Basically in the story Aladdin finds me

and releases me but I would go twirling andask Aladdin to free me.Genie usually grantsthree wishes, but I wouldgrant more than three wishesand I wouldn't grant wishes ofgreedy humans. I would surelygrant the wishes of those who ask togrant the wishes with a cause which wouldlead to the welfare of society and the world. I would give voice to the poor animals which aresuppressed by cruel human beings from ages. Iwould rejuvenate the natural resources and makehumans forget that a material called plastic exists. I wouldfill the world with positivity. And somewhat try tocultivate food leading to food security in the world. Iwould go on a world tour with my friends Aladdin andPrincess Jasmine. I undoubtedly want to do more butfor this time I would conclude here.

BHAVYA LAKKIMSHETTY, class IX, Sister NiveditaSchool, Hyderabad

One evening, I went cycling with my mother, when I saw beautiful patternsall over the sky made by clouds. My mom told

me, "That might be where god lives!''I was wondering why did god create humans,

animals and nature. Maybe he was feeling lonely!Then I thought if I were god… I made all these beau-tiful creatures on this Earth. I created humans andanimals, gave them beauty and wisdom. I gave themfeelings so that they take care of each other andenjoy their lives on this beautiful Earth.

But now when I look at the Earth, I see them notbehaving like when they were made. They don't careabout each other, don't mind if their surroundingsare untidy and polluted. They are filling the Earthwith concrete buildings, cutting trees and coveringup lakes and rivers. They are least botheredabout the habitats of animals and not realisingeven humans cannot survive without plants andwater. Humans get more and more selfish andwant only their life easy. The Earth is being spoiltby increasing human exploitation. Maybe one dayI would make all human creations vanish and belonely again but peaceful knowing that the Earthis safe and beautiful!

Three science teachersfrom Diamond Ju-bilee High School,

Hyderabad (DJHSH),managed by Aga KhanEducation Service, India(AKESI), were recognizedwith the 'TransformingEducator Award', an ini-tiative by Tech MahindraFoundation and ScienceAcademy, for their excep-tional efforts in makingScience education morepractical for students.

As many as 600 teach-ers participated fromTelangana and AndhraPradesh, who weretrained and observed dur-ing the academic year2019-20 and 2020-21. Ofthese, 220 were nominat-ed for the award, based onexperiential learning andinnovative teaching meth-ods implemented by theteachers. Nazia Hassan,Muneeb Ahemmad andSyeda Tabassum Fathi-ma, teachers of DJHSH,were shortlisted for thefinal round and it was in-deed a moment of pridewhen two teachers, NaziaHassan and Syeda Tabas-sum Fathima, were de-clared as winners with

second position in theirrespective subjects.

Sujatha Gade, Princi-pal, DJHSH was ecstaticand said, 'I am extremelyproud of my teachers forthis achievement, and Iwish them the very best.The consistent trainingsessions provided byschool and their individ-ual hunger to learn moreand implement theirlearning in class helpedthem bag this prestigiousaward. I am so happy thatour students are in safeand able hands".

When one pulled a fast one in class

T his is an incident that happenedyears ago. I was the class teacher of

a class that had earned the dubi-ous distinction of the naugh-tiest class in the school.They revelled in it andtried to live up to it inevery way.

Every lunch-break I would becalled by theteacher on lunchduty about somethingthey had done. As usualone day I was called out. Isaw a serious fight had brokenout between the two most notoriousones. We somehow managed to pull themapart. Parents were summoned. One of themheld the bridge of the nose and howledaway. On my way back from school, I got aphone call from the injured student. He saidhis nose was broken and he would have toundergo surgery. I could not sleep the entirenight due to worry.

Next day obviously he was absent. Theother boy was very dis-tressed and wrote a letterof apology to him. The dayafter the injured fellowturned up in school withwhat looked like a

band-aid on the bridge of the nose. Everynow and then he would wince and let out a

mild groan. The other boy kept apol-ogising to this one profuselythroughout the day.

The last period was the PTperiod. When rest of the class

was leaving for PT, this fel-low just jumped and triedto follow suit. I told himthat he has to go to theInfirmary. But he insistedon staying in the class-

room. So I went back tostaff room.

After a while I went to checkon him and he had disappeared. I

asked another student if he had seen him. Hesaid the boy was playing football with rest ofthe class. Furious, I marched up to him andasked how was he playing football with abroken nose when he was going have sur-gery. He confessed that he had cooked upthe entire story so that other boy getsharshly punished and he could escape with-out punishment.

SUMITA GHOSE, HoD English

dept., Pawar Public

School-Amanora, Pune

IF I WEREGOD

IF I WEREA GENIE

IVAN SEJUSH,class II, TheGlobal EdgeSchool, Kokapet

The school campus wasbrimming with festive fer-vour and splash of colours

with children of class III dressedin pretty ethnic wears. They weretold about the significance ofdiyas on Diwali. Children addedsparkle to the event by painting

and decorating diyas. The festivemood was manifested by the joyand laughter of the children.

The students and staff ofDelhi World School Shad-nagar celebrated Diwali on

the school premises. The studentswere overjoyed to be back on cam-pus and celebrating the festivaltogether.

The programme showcasedthe talent of the students. Dis-

playing team spirit and enthusi-asm they presented songs anddances which reflected the sig-nificance and spirit of Diwali.

FESTIVE VIBES ALL AROUND

Delhi World School, New celebrat-ed Diwali with festive gusto. Theday started with a special morn-

ing assembly where students deliveredspeeches on the significance of the festi-val and the relevance of eco-friendly cel-ebrations. Activities such as inter-house competitions on candle and'diya' decoration, paper deco-ration, paper lanterns, softboard making contestswere organised in all theclasses.

The event ended with a

speech by the principal who expressedher deep concern about the environ-

ment and advised the students to cel-ebrate a green and safe Diwali.

Students were urged to actresponsibly and be

sensitive towards theirenvironment and safe-ty of animals.

Diwali was celebrated at PallaviInternational school, Gandipetand a special assembly was

held on the occasion. Students on thecampus were seated in the seminarhall while those who opted for onlineschooling joined through the WebExlink.

The special assembly was hostedby Aayushi Dipankar and ZainabHussain of class IX. Principal Ms.Meetali Archit addressed the gath-ering and wished everyone on the fes-

tive occasion. The school also con-ducted several competitions, frommaking diyas, preparing thorans, per-forming dance, there were severalcompetitions where students of allgrades participated with great en-thusiasm. All the winners wereawarded with certificates during the

special assembly.The dance performances high-

lighting the significance of the festi-val added much exuberance andbrought great joy to the audience. Thefoot-tapping mashup dance by classIX girls was enjoyed by all. The hostsconducted a fun quiz on Diwali. Theassembly concluded with a note ofthanks and the day came to an endwith lots of joy, happiness sparklingon the faces and hearts filled with fes-tival vibes.

The sweet smell of flowers,the lighted candles and diyas.The sparkling beautiful lights,Red, yellow, green and white.Lots of sweet to eat,I love Diwali indeed!

Diwali is celebrated with zeal and zest by every-one regardless of their age. It is a festival where children get to eat a lot of sweets and get

to meet their near and dear ones. This Diwali, childrenwere taught how to enjoy the festival without burstingcrackers.

Pre-nursery students were taught to decorate diyas.They painted the diyas all by themselves with theirtiny little hands. Nursery children were taught to makea flower rangoli. Prep children enjoyed making theirown lanterns and also made rangolis using stencil. Thechildren learnt the importance of celebrating a pollu-tion free Diwali.

M Thirumala Devi, Vice Principal,Diamond Jubilee High School,Aga Khan Education Service, India

Gitanjali Primary School

Hyderabad

Delhi World School

Chintal, Hyderabad

Pallavi International School

Gandipet, Hyderabad

Delhi World School

Shadnagar

Delhi PublicSchool

Nadergul

Diwali is a festivalthat heralds newbeginnings and

reiterates the triumph ofgood over evil and lightover darkness. Hope isthe last thing ever lost.Leading a normal lifeagain, opening ofschools, vaccinations ofall, these are hopes inour lives. We hope andpray for every person’shealth and wealth too.Let us not lose patienceand hope. Let us waitpatiently for Covid to goaway and hope for thebest. Be patient, be safe.

B SIRI, class X, LotusLap Public School,Vanasthalipuram

AWARDS ANDACCOLADES GALORE!

Syeda Tabassum Fathima

Nazia Hassan

SPARKLE: SAHASRESH, class VII-A, Jain Heritage A

Cambridge School, Hyderabad

Diwali is here, Diwali is hereThat great festival of light and soundWhen crackers and laughter abound

When crackers and, Sparkles light up the skyDelighted children, Jump with joy

So many sweets, And exchanged gifts.It's a big treat, Isn't it nice?

It's almost nightTime to light up the crackers.Look at those big ones in a sightHappy Diwali tonight

T VEERA SANJANA, class VI-A, BharatiyaVidya Bhavan's, Jubilee Hills

DIWALI

Diwali, Diwali, the festival of lightSee the diyas shine, dazzlingly brightDiwali, Diwali the festival of joyGive and receive gifts, sweets or toy

Diwali, Diwali, good overbadKindness, Generosity,happy over sadDiwali, Diwali, starshining in the darkFor a blazing fire, isborn out of a spark!!

Happy Diwali!!

ASHRITA GONAMANDA, class VII-B, GlobalEdge School, Madhapur

A FESTIVAL

Step-1 Step-2

Step-6Step-5

EFTSAVILa. Festival b. Easter

c. Satan d. East

ETEWSa. News b. Sweet

c. Street d. Stop

CASREKRCa. Cast b. Coast

c. Crackers d. Chemical

HTGILa. High b. Halt

c. Light d. Hill

Answers: 1) a, 2) b, 3) c, 4) c

Answer: Needle

Quiz time

Complete these state-ments on the month ofNovember. Choose cor-rectly!

1 In the old Roman calen-dar, November was

month numberA) Seven B) Eight

C) Nine D) Ten

2 November starts onthe same day of the

week asA) March B) July

C) October D) December

THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER

Answers:1) C. Nine, 2) A. March, 3) D. Sagittarius

4) C. Rishabh Pant, 5) B. Children 6) D. Easter

Idiom-etricsSURYAKUMARI DENNISON, teacher, Aavishkar Academy, Bengaluru

Editorin the making

Include some of these headlines to make a story and give it a title. Mail the story to us at toinie175@gmail.com.The interesting one will be published in theedition. Watch out for this space!!!

ciao!

hallo!hello!

hola! Learn a

Work sheet

GERMAN

1) Guten Tag (GOOT-en tahk) Meaning: Hello/Good day

2) Guten Morgen (GOO-ten MOR-gen)Meaning: Good morning

3) Guten Abend (GOO-ten AH-bent)Meaning: Good evening

4) Gute Nacht (GOO-tuh nahdt)MEANING: Good night

5) Bis später (Biss Sch-PAY-ter)MEANING: See you later

1) Guten Tag 2) Guten Morgen 3) Gute Nacht Bis später 4) Guten Abend “Life is short, but there is always time

enough for courtesy.”RALPH WALDO EMERSON, POET 03WIZARD’S CORNER

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

CLICK HERE: PAGE 3 AND 4

PURVA PATELArt Educator

Bodakdev School ForChildren, Ahmedabad

Step-3 Step-4

am a long slender tool with apointed tip at one end and a hole atthe other. There is practicallynobody who can do without myaide, in one way or the other. Iused to be made of bone or wood,but am now made using highquality carbon steel. There aremany a tales and idioms revolvingaround me.

3 The Zodiac sign thatNovember shares with

December isA) Aquarius B) Capricorn

C) Gemini D) Sagittarius

4 Not born in Novemberis

A) Shahrukh Khan

B) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

C) Rishabh Pant

D) Virat Kohli

Draw the easy way

5 On November 20, theUN celebrates

A) Elders B) Children

C) Men D) Women

6 Never observed inNovember is

A) Diwali

B) Loy Krathong

C) Thanksgiving

D) Easter

SURYAKUMARI DENNISON, teacher, Aavishkar Academy, Bengaluru

The weekend has started andmy father ensures that Imake optimum utilisation of

time. So, he has enrolled me for atwo-hour workshop, “Decode yourpotential”. Even as I am excitedabout attending this workshop,somewhere deep inside me is theconcern of climate change, whichis increasing with glaring statis-tics that I come across every nowand then. To divert my mind, Iswitched on the TV news, only tohear, “‘More contagious’ mutantscaring the UK found in India too”.This further added on to my con-cerns and made me wonder, “Howlong are we going to live underthe threat of virus?” While I waswondering about the survival ofthe human race, my youngerbrother came running to meshouting, “And the two newestIPL teams are... Lucknow andAhmedabad , we are going tohave a lot of cricket.” I justsmiled and decided to takedelight in little joys.

NUMBER SERIES

The perimeter of an isosce-les triangle is 100 cm. Ifthe base is 36 cm, find the

length of the equal sides.A) 18 cm B) 64 cmC) 32 cm D) 36 cm

The three sides of a triangleare 5m, 6m and 7m respec-tively, and then what is thearea of the given triangle.

A) 15 m2 B) 6&redic;6 m2

C) 21 m2 D) 7&redic;6 m

CATCHING LITTLEJOYS

The headlines: 1) Skill assessment - Anew chapter for kids

2) Asterix is back with39th adventure

3) US lifts pandemictravel ban, opens doors tovisitors

4) Global methane pledge

And thewinner is...

ANJANA PRADHANclass IX, St Xaviers School,

Ahmedabad

(Choose the idiom that best suits the situation)

Answer : C

WEAVE A STORY WITH HEADLINES

Q:1 How will you say hello?

Q:2 How will you extend greetingsin the morning?

Q:3 How will you extend greetingsat night and say see you later?

Q:4 How will you greet in theevening?

2

A triangle has an area of 615cm2. One of its sides is givenas 123 centimeters, and then

what is the length of the perpendi-cular that is dropped on that partic-ular side from the opposite vertex.

A) 10 cm B) 5 cmC) 0.12 cm D) 0.2 cm Answer : A

31

Answer : B

? ? ? ?

TRIVIA

In 'Aesop's Fables', we read abouta man and a satyr (mythologicalcreature) eating together. The

man blew on his cold hands to warmthem. Next, he blew on his hot foodto cool it. The satyr declared: 'I can-not trust someone who, in the samebreath, blows hot and cold.'Idiomatically speaking, a person whomoves back and forth betweenopposing opinions is said to 'blowhot and cold'.

Sarita was delighted. Raghu uncle would be spending Diwali with her fami-ly. 'Why are you so excited?' said her friends. 'He isn't even related toyou.' Sarita smiled. 'Raghu uncle is a kind and

caring person,' she explained. 'My fatherconsiders him a brother. Ever since heleft for Cape Town years ago, we havehardly seen him. Raghu uncle's visits arespecial because they are rare.'

A. A bolt from the blue

B. Once in a blue moon

C. Blue-eyed boy

People did not know where they stoodwith Dinesh because his views onimportant matters kept changing.

A. Blow hot and cold

B. Drop like a hot potato

C. Make the blood run cold

Answer: B

Answer: A

Q1:Which tennis player won the10th Italian open title 2021?

a. Novak Djokovic

b. Rafael Nadal

c. Dominic Thiem

d. Stefanos Tsitsipas

Q2:Waca cricket ground islocated in________

a. Adelaide

b. Perth

c. Auckland

d. Durban

Q3:Who became the first

cricketer to hit six sixes in

an over on one day international

(50 - 50 ) cricket ?

a. Kieron Pollard

b. Yuvraj Singh

c. Herschelle Gibs

d. Viv Richard

Q4:FIFA is the global

regulatory body of which

sports?

a. Hockey

b. Football

c. Cricket

d. Tennis

Q5:How many times has

Lionel Messi won the

Ballon d’Or?

a. 3 b. 6 c. 5 d. 7

Q6:Who was the first Indian

woman to win an Olympic

medal?

a. P.T. Usha

b. Sania Mirza

c. Aarti Saha

d. Karnam Malleswari

Q7:The famous C K Naidu

trophy is associated with

which sport?

a. badminton

b. Hockey

c. Lawn Tennis

d. Cricket

Q8:Triples is a new format of

_________

a. Boxing

b. Judo

c. Chess

d. Badminton

Q9:Who won the gold medal

in men’s singles in the

2019 BWF World Championships?

a. Anders Antonsen

b. Kento Momota

c. B Sai Praneeth

d. Kantaphon Wangcharoen

Photo: REUTERS

QUIZ TIME!

ANSWERS: 1. b. Rafael Nadal 2. b. Perth

3. c. Herschelle Gibs 4. b. Football

5. b. 6 6. d. Karnam Malleswari

7. d. Cricket 8. d. Badminton

9. b. Kento Momota

Lionel Messi

Never doubt, only believe.

Gabby Douglas, American gymnast

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2021

Look, we’re a

bunch of Kiwis. There’s

only 5 million of us, so

we’re obviously very proud

to be representing our

country. Yeah, obviously

we’ve had some success in

the last few years. But

we’re going to enjoy the

win, make sure that

obviously, we celebrate

that, but then we move on

pretty quickly. We know

that we have a final on

Sunday, and whoever we’re

taking on should be

good fun.

DARYL MITCHELL

Despite being without many key players, Mancini hopes match will open door to the title

PLISKOVA, KONTAVEIT OPENWITH WINS AT WTA FINALS

Karolina Pliskova over-came a slow start be-fore beating Garbiñe

Muguruza 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6) in heropening match at the WTA Fi-nals, while Anett Kontaveit ex-tended her hot streak to 11 con-secutive victories with a 6-3, 6-4 win over second-seededBarbora Krejcikova.

In a contest between twoformer No. 1-ranked players,the third-seeded Pliskovastruggled early adjusting tothe nearly 5,000-feet altitudeof Guadalajara, Mexico’ssecond largest city.

Pliskova is playing theWTA Finals for the fifth time,having reached the semifinalsin 2018 and ‘19. The 2020 tour-nament was canceled. She did-n’t win any titles in 2021 butkept a high ranking by reach-ing the finals at Wimbledonand Montreal, and the semifi-nals at Cincinnati.

Kontaveit has won 27 ofher last 29 matches, which in-clude her title run at Ostravawhere she beat Paula Badosa

and Maria Sakkari, both ofwhom are competing here.“I’ve been in sort of top 30 fora lot of years,” Kontaveit said.

After top-ranked AshBarty of Australia opted notto defend the title because oftravel restrictions, Kontaveitedged out Ons Jabeur for thelast spot by beating SimonaHalep in the final of theTransylvania Open. AP

ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

Photo: AP

Karolina Pliskova

Italy head into Friday’s crunch visitof Switzerland with their World Cuphopes still in the balance, as the new-ly-crowned European champions aimto definitively banish the ghosts of

their disastrous 2018 qualifying campaign.Still on a high from triumph at Euro

2020, Italy lead Group C on goal differencefrom the Swiss, with the pair battling fora single guaranteed place in next year’stournament in Qatar.

Roberto Mancini took control of theAzzurri in the toxic aftermath of their fail-ure to make the last World Cup in Russia,the first time they had missed out on a placein six decades, and is well aware of the sig-nificance of making it this time round. “It’simportant that we play well because afterthe Euro it’s the biggest match of the year.We know we have to win,” said Mancini.However Mancini tried to maintain a sem-blance of calm for a fixture that would putItaly back on football’s biggest stage aftereight years.

Since the playoff defeatto Sweden in late 2017 theformer Inter Milan andManchester City coach hasbrought the feelgood factorback to the national teamby getting a stylish tunefrom both a new crop ofplayers and some hardy vet-erans. “I don’t think we haveeverything to lose,” Mancinisaid of the pressure to win.

“It’s an important match, very impor-tant in fact, and it’s true that if we win itwill open the door to the World Cup, but it’sjust a game of football.”

Hopes riding on BarellaIn the run up to the match Mancini loststarting centre-forward Ciro Immobile toa calf injury, and Roma midfielders Loren-zo Pellegrini and Nicolo Zaniolo. Howeverthe most keenly felt absence will be that ofcaptain Giorgio Chiellini, who failed to re-

cover from a thigh injury.The one good news is that

midfield dynamo Nicola Barel-la should be fit to play.

Swiss depleted tooThe Swiss are also miss-

ing several key players, withGranit Xhaka and Benfica Haris

Seferovic out.Coach Murat Yakin is espe-

cially irked by the absence of BorussiaMoenchengladbach forward Breel Embo-lo, who picked up a thigh injury. “I could-n’t believe it, I told myself it couldn’t betrue, not before such an important match.”

Embolo, 24, has only scored once in theBundesliga this season but hit a brace inGladbach’s 5-0 cup hammering of BayernMunich a fortnight ago. He also starred inSwitzerland’s most recent qualifiers lastmonth, setting up both goals in a 2-0 winover Northern Ireland and netting twiceas the Swiss rolled over Lithuania 4-0. AFP

Photos: GETTY IMAGES

NZ opener says the team has their sights on maiden T20 World Cup title

New Zealand open-er Daryl Mitchellsaid the Kiwiswill give “every-thing” they’vegot to win theirmaiden T20

World Cup title on Sunday. Mitchell’sunbeaten 72 from 47 deliveries an-chored New Zealand’s successfulchase of 167 against England, withthe opener hitting the winning runsfrom the final ball of the 19th over.

“Look, we’re a bunch of Kiwis.There’s only 5 million of us, so we’reobviously very proud to be repre-senting our country. Yeah, obvious-ly we’ve had some success in the lastfew years,” said Mitchell in the pressconference as per ICC. “But we’regoing to enjoy the win, make surethat obviously, we celebrate that, butthen we move on pretty quickly. Weknow that we have a final on Sun-day, and whoever we’re taking onshould be good fun.

“We’ll give it everything we’vegot, but at the end of the day there’scertain things you can’t control, sowe’ll see what happens,” he added.

NEESHAM PROVIDEDMOMENTUM

The New Zealand openerpointed out that the matchwas never out of NewZealand’s hands and added

that Jimmy Neesham pro-

vided the side with the much-needed momentum in the lastfew overs.

“It probably sounds weird,but it never felt like it was out ofour grasp. I think especially withthat smaller side boundary onone side, we knew that therewere going to be matchups therethat might suit us towards theend, and look, we were obvious-ly very lucky at times,” saidMitchell.

“A couple sailed over theropes that could have been a me-tre shorter and we’re all out, butat the same time we always knewthat as long as we kept sort ofjust within the certain numbersthat we felt comfortable with thatwe were always a chance.

“I thought the way thatNeesh came out and really dom-inated that one over really setthe momentum heading intothose last few, so yeah, take mycap off to him. He played a hellof a knock,” he added.

Chasing 167, New Zealandwere on the back foot when keyduo Martin Guptill and KaneWilliamson were dismissed byChris Woakes inside the firstthree overs of the reply.

But the ship was steadied byMitchell and Devon Conway,who added 82 for the third wick-et before Neesham whacked 27from 11 to turn the tide in hisside’s favour. ANI

Former England skipper Mike Atherton

feels New Zealand is the strongest

team across all three formats of the

game at the moment after the Black

Caps reached their maiden T20 World

Cup final.

Over the past few years, the Black Caps

have proved themselves to be a force in

all three formats. They reached the final

of the ODI World Cup in 2019, losing to

England on boundary count and are the

holders of the inaugural World Test

Championship title.

“They are an outstanding team, in all for-

mats of the game really,” Atherton said.

“They are through to another World Cup

final, they were a sliver away from win-

ning the last World Cup in 2019, they are

the World Test Championship winners.

“Across formats, you would have to say

they are the strongest team at the

moment so congratulations to them, a

fantastic achievement with limited

resources in terms of personnel and

money and things that we’ve often

talked about,” he added.

NZ STRONGEST ACROSSFORMATS: ATHERTON

Ph

oto

: A

FP

Nicola Barella

Roberto Mancini