PROFILES » greatest change in a century. Its the nature of t

Having won her first Super Series title the previous week in China, PV Sindhu advanced to the semifinals of the Hong Kong Open Super Series where she will face Hong Kongs Cheung Ngan Yi, who beat Saina Nehwal in the quarterfinals. 2016 has already proved to be a career defining year for Sindhu as she became the first Indian woman to win a silver at the Olympics, where she lost to Spains Carolina Marin in the final.By reaching the semifinals in Hong Kong and on the back of her win in China last week, Sindhu has confirmed a spot in the year ending Super Series finals in Dubai, featuring an elite field of eight playersAs Sindhu gets ready for her second successive super series semifinal, here are five things to watch out for in the the battle between the two.?Head to headSindhu has won both her previous encounters against Cheung. Their first meeting came at the Malaysian Grand Prix Gold in 2013, where Sindhu won 11-21, 21-18, 21-10. Sindhu also defeated Cheung at the Badminton Asia Championships in 2014, winning 21-15, 15-21, 21-18.Recent recordHowever, Cheung is a much improved player since then. She was ranked 73rd in the world at the beginning of 2015. Sindhu was ranked 11 at that stage. While Sindhu is currently ranked 9th in the world, Cheung has risen to world number 26.Form this tournamentSindhu has only dropped one game in her three matches in the tournament. On the other hand, Cheung has played two gruelling three game matches in the last two rounds.?On-court strategyThe key for Sindhu will be to control the pace of the match as Saina did in the second game of the quarterfinal. While Cheung is an excellent mover, she struggled to match Sainas power game in the quarterfinal. Sindhu will need to control the rallies from the back of the court as Cheung showed that she was adept at the net and mixed up slices with smashes down the line against Saina.Big match experienceSindhu has a clear edge in this department as Cheung will be appearing in only her second Super Series semifinal. Other than winning the silver in Rio, Sindhu has won bronze at the World Championships in 2013 and 2014. She also won the China Open Super Series last week and finished second at the Denmark Open Super Series last year.Schedule and broadcast infoWhen: 5:30 PM (Approx)Where: Star Sports 4 & Star Sports 4 HD Puma Shoes Sale Online . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Cheap Puma Shoes Wholesale . After a lengthy wait, persistent rain finally forced the postponement of the Nationals game against the Miami Marlins on Saturday night. The teams, and a few thousand fans, waited nearly four hours from the 7:05 scheduled start time before an announcement was made shortly before 11 p. http://www.cheappuma.net/ . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Discount Puma Shoes Sale . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Cheap Puma Shoes Sale . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. The life of the impoverished writer has an occasional upside, and one of those came along a couple of weeks ago at the Guildford Book Festival, where I did an event with Tom Collomosse, cricket correspondent for the Evening Standard and Mark Nicholas, the former Hampshire captain turned commentator. Nicholas told a story about facing Derek Underwood on an uncovered pitch. It was early in his career, which began at Hampshire in 1978. They were playing Kent in a three-day game and when the rain came down, the captains got together and negotiated a deal: Hampshire would chase 160 on the last afternoon to win.Paul Terry and Gordon Greenidge went in. Greenidge took six from the first over. Underwood opened at the other end and Terry got through it by playing from as deep in his crease as he could get. Greenidge took another six runs from the next at his end. Underwood came in again, having had six deliveries to work out the pitch. By the time Nicholas had been in and out shortly afterwards, Hampshire were 12 for 4.Derek didnt really bowl spin on wet pitches, he explained. What he did was hold it down the seam and cut the ball. When you were at the non-strikers end, you could hear it - he made a whirring sound - it was an amazing thing.Nicholas described the nearly impossible task of trying to bat against a ball that reared up from almost medium pace with fielders surrounding you and the immaculate Alan Knott breathing down your neck from behind the stumps. Hampshire lost, of course.Deadly Derek and uncovered pitches are a part of history now, but those who can recall his flat-footed, curving run and liquid movement through the crease saw a bowler who was much more than just a specialist on drying wickets. Whatever the weather, whatever the day, he had the ball for it: 2465 first-class wickets at 20.28 tell his story.Underwood had a thousand of those wickets by the age of 25 and retired in 1987 at 42. The game, and spin bowling, have changed irrevocably since, yet the spooky art is still shining, and perhaps about to enter a new golden age.R Ashwin stands at the top of the Test bowling rankings, New Zealand the latest to fall to his strange magic. His buddy Ravindra Jadeja knocks them down at the other end. Bangladesh unleashed the 18-year-old Mehedi Hasan on England, and he had a five-bag on day one. Even England - bracee yourselves for this - played three spinners in that game, and may well do so throughout the first part of the winter.dddddddddddd Far from killing spin bowling, as it was supposed to do, the new way of batting has encouraged a new style of response. To chart an evolution is fascinating. It is not so long since Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble slipped from the game, Warne having reasserted legspin, Murali reinventing offspin. The future looked as though it may be big; huge freaky turn of the kind that pair specialised in. Instead, it has become something more subtle: the notion of beating the bat narrowly on both edges.These are broad brush strokes of course, and evolution doesnt come in a straight line. Its deeply intriguing though that T20 cricket has played such a role. Through Ashwin, who emerged there, and Jadeja and Sunil Narine and others, it raised the value of cleverness, of invention. Big bats were sometimes defeated by small or no turn. The slow ball was harder to hit. As the techniques bled into Test cricket, where wickets deteriorate and change and the psychology of batting switches, they have grown in value.Were undoubtedly living through an era in which batting has been revolutionised, undergoing its greatest change in a century. Its the nature of the game that bowling should come up with an answer, and maybe were starting to see its first iterations. As Jarrod Kimber pointed out in his piece about the inquest into the death of Phillip Hughes, there are more very fast bowlers around now than for generations. Spin bowling is making its move too. And just as the small increments in speed increase in value the higher they go - ask any batsman about the difference between 87mph and 90mph, and then 90mph and 93 or 94mph - the small changes that, for example, Ashwin is producing have their dividend too.Underwood once described bowling, tongue no doubt in cheek, as, a low-mentality occupation. His variation was as simple as an arm ball, and yet in the pre-DRS age, it brought him many lbw decisions. Now the subtle changes in the spooky art are wrecking a new and welcome kind of havoc of which Deadly will surely approve. Should we call it the era of small spin? ' ' '