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Pawar seeks Home Ministry inquiry into IPL-6 games
Srini ignores resignation demands
I will not take up IPL position again: Shukla
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Greed hurting sport’s credibility: Laxman
Nobody can influence my probe into spot-fixing: Justice Chouta
I’m ready to face ICC inquiry, says Rauf
Ankle injury might keep Smith out of action for four months
Ponting keeps door ajar on Ashes return
England in a good place before Ashes, says Cook
Bhupathi-Bopanna sent packing by Pole pair
Sandeep, Shivendra back, Danish out with injury
Nike ends support for Armstrong’s charity
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Pawar seeks Home Ministry inquiry into IPL-6 games
“If the BCCI gives in writing to the Home Minister and request to investigate all the matches, the government can then investigate all the matches. They can interrogate anybody. They have legal sanction,” Pawar said. “If, however, the board does not accept it and says its own anti-corruption will do the job, I feel the board is not serious in dealing with the wrongdoings,” he added. A three-member BCCI inquiry committee is probing Gurunath Meiyappan, who is BCCI chief N Srinivasan’s son-in-law and also CSK’s Team Principal, and the spot-fixing allegations against three Rajasthan Royals players and its franchise as well as the Chennai Super Kings. Justice T Jayaram Chouta, former Judge of the Karnataka and Madras High Courts, Justice R Balasubramanian, former Judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale are members of the Commission. Pawar, who is also a former ICC President, was of the view that the IPL should continue after corrective measures are taken. “One has to take corrective action. And IPL has to continue. It is a concept that Indian has developed and has been accepted by the global cricketing community,” he was quoted as saying by ‘The Week’. Asked if the current BCCI chief N Srinivasan should step down from his post on moral grounds, pending investigation, Pawar said, “I don’t want to comment on any individual,” adding, “the anti-corruption unit of the BCCI has no authority. “Suppose it goes to any team owner or any bookie, they will not listen to it.” Pawar said the spot-fixing and betting scandal has “shaken the confidence” of fans. “One has to go to the root of the problem. One has to take very effective, ruthless, corrective action against anybody at any level,” Pawar said. Later, addressing reporters in Mumbai, Pawar said he felt sad about what was happening to Indian cricket due to the spot-fixing scandal. “I am sad to know about these from the television and print media. We accept BCCI’s reputation has been affected by allegations of these happenings. “I must say that cricket loving people of this country who have supported cricket definitely would be feeling sort of hurt because of what has been happening,” he said. He, however, parried a question about whether BCCI president N Srinivasan should resign in the aftermath of the raging controversy. “I don’t want to say someone should go or someone should not go because I am nobody. I have no authority to ask for resignation. Nor do I have the authority to comment on the opinions expressed by others. I would not have allowed this to happen,” he said. On the issue of conflict of interest involving Srinivasan whose India Cements bought Chennai Super Kings when he was a member of the cricket board, Pawar said the decision to allow him own the team was a “conscious decision” of the BCCI after obtaining legal advice. Pawar said the IPL had brought financial stability to BCCI, contributing handsomely to improving cricket infrastructure across the country and even financially benefiting former cricketers by way of pension.
— PTI |
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Srini ignores resignation demands
Mumbai, May 29 Shortly after IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla demanded that Srinivasan “disassociate” from the inquiry against his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team in the wake of IPL spot-fixing scandal, the BCCI chief told reporters that Shukla has not suggested anything new and was only voicing what he had himself said on Sunday. “I saw Mr Shukla’s interview. What he says is that this commission has been appointed and I should disassociate myself from the procedure as stated in Kolkata when I did the Press Conference. “I had said in Kolkata that I will have nothing to do with the commission -- its appointment, its terms of reference and its decision. What Mr Shukla has done, he has reiterated this only. So there is nothing else. ,” said Srinivasan. Srinivasan said, “I have nothing to do with the commission. It is independent. Under the operational powers, they have powers to sanction and impose punishment. So, we will just await the results.” Asked about demands for his resignation from BCCI office-bearers like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Hyderabad Cricket Association President G Vinod,, Srinivasan said, “I will not reply to individual reactions.” Ever since the scandal broke out, Srinivasan has been under intense pressure to resign but he has remained defiant. A three-member BCCI inquiry committee is probing Meiyappan and the spot-fixing allegations against three Rajasthan Royals players and its franchise as well as the Chennai Super Kings. Justice T Jayaram Chouta, former Judge of the Karnataka and Madras High Courts, Justice R Balasubramanian, former Judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale are members of the Commission.
— PTI |
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I will not take up IPL position again: Shukla
New Delhi, May 29 Shukla said his tenure was for a one-year period which is renewed every year and he was not willing to take up the high-profile post for a third consecutive term. “IPL Chief is a one-year post which gets renewed every year in the AGM but I don’t intend to do the job for a third year,” Shukla said. “I am not craving for any position in the BCCI, my job was to organise the matches and the matches were well organised. The stadiums were packed irrespective of the controversies,” he said. “I have never hankered for any position. When the IPL Chairman’s position was given to me, I took it up as a challenge and I did my job to the best of my ability,” he added. Shukla said there has been a lot of discussion among the Board members over N Srinivasan’s continuance as BCCI President in the aftermath of the spot-fixing scandal. “Discussions among BCCI members have already taken place and our immediate concern is to protect the image of BCCI and Indian cricket,” he said. Shukla’s decision not to take up the position again coiuld put added pressure on a defiant Srinivasan, who has steadfastly refused to quit, maintaining that he has not done anything wrong. Shukla, who became the IPL chairman last year replacing Chirayu Amin, said the event was going on fine till the spot-fixing scandal broke out and the most important thing now is to restore its credibility. “The anti-corruption wing must work in coordination with the Police agencies. Keeping an eye on bookies is the job of police. The second suggestion which has been accepted already is that one ACSU official should be attached with each team throughout the tournament to make out which is a rotten egg. Third suggestion is whoever is caught should be punished severely by the law of the land. It will teach them a lesson. And lastly, there should be a provision in the contract of the players if anyone is found indulging in corruption, he should be criminally prosecuted,” Shukla said, adding that anti-corruption was not in his domain as the Chairman’s job is to
organise. — PTI |
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Greed hurting sport’s credibility: Laxman
Mumbai, May 29 “It is very important because just for some greedy players, the credibility of the rest of the players should not be affected. I think it is a very important issue and I am sure it will be cleaned up very soon,” Laxman said. He said he was going through a “feeling of anguish” in the wake of the spot-fixing and betting scandals that have hit Indian cricket but sounded optimistic the sport would be cleaned up soon. “It’s very disappointing. Last two weeks, it’s been quite distressing and a feeling of anguish was definitely there,” Laxman said. The Hyderabadi also said the cash-rich Indian Premier League will miss iconic players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. “Sachin and Rahul have been real icons for the game. Definitely IPL will be missing them. Both of them are very important members of their respective franchise. “The game of cricket including IPL will be missing them. Both of them have done well for their franchises over the last six years. The game of cricket will miss them,” he said. Laxman, who mentored the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the recently-concluded IPL 6, said the manner in which the team won close matches augurs well for the future. “I think the experience has been fantastic working with the Sunrisers team and the team has done really well,” Laxman added.
— PTI |
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Nobody can influence my probe into spot-fixing: Justice Chouta
Bangalore, May 29 “As far as I am concerned, nobody can influence me. Even if he (Srinivasan) comes, I don’t think so. I will work independently and act according to the Constitution,” former Karnataka and Madras High Court Judge Chouta said. The BCCI had yesterday constituted a three-member inquiry commission including two retired High Court judges to go into allegations against Meiyappan, son-in-law of Srinivasan, who has been arrested on charges of betting on the recently-concluded Indian Premier League matches. Justice Chouta, Justice R Balasubramanian, former Judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale are members of the commission, which will also go into the allegations against three players of the Rajasthan Royals team and its franchise, as well as the Chennai Super Kings, of which Meiyappan was the Team Principal. Chouta said he would be able to comment on his area of probe once he receives a written communication from the Board. “I have not received written communication as yet. Hence I am not in a position to speak about it. I don’t know the reference to a particular area. Only after seeing the written communication, I will be knowing about my area of probe,” he said. Chouta said the commission will not ask the beleaguered BCCI president Srinivasan to step down from his post. “We will not ask Srinivasan to step down. If he wants, he can step down but it is not in our purview to ask him to quit,” he said. The pressure has been mounting from within the BCCI on Srinivasan to resign with two Board heavyweights, Rajeev Shukla and Arun Jaitley, asking him to “disassociate” himself from the inquiry proceedings against his son-in-law and IPL franchise CSK. Yesterday, Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association President and Chairman of BCCI’s Finance Committee, Jyotiraditya Scindia had become the first BCCI functionary to openly call for Srinivasan’s resignation in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal, saying that propriety demanded that he should step down. While Scindia wanted Srinivasan to step down till the case of Gurunath is decided, Union Minister and another senior Board functionary Farooq Abdullah had backed the under-fire president, saying there was no reason for him to quit.
— PTI |
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I’m ready to face ICC inquiry, says Rauf
Lahore, May 29 “Money, gifts, spot-fixing and match-fixing have never been my goal and target. They have never been a topic in my life,” Rauf said. “If there is an inquiry by the ICC’s Anti Corruption and Security Unit, then I will be happy to face the inquiry and answer all their queries,” he added, while dismissing all allegations against him. The raging spot-fixing saga in the IPL turned murkier with the controversial umpire’s withdrawal by the ICC from next month’s Champions Trophy in England for his alleged role in the scandal, which is growing bigger by the day. The ICC had said in a statement that Rauf was withdrawn as he was under investigation by the Mumbai Police, thus becoming the first umpire to come under the scanner in the IPL spot-fixing scandal. Rauf has had a history of controversies and only last year a small-time model named Leena Kapoor had accused him of sexually exploiting her for months before refusing to marry her. Although the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had distanced itself from Rauf’s case, saying the event was held in India and Rauf was officiating as an ICC umpire, PCB chairperson Zaka Ashraf had said that action would be taken against the umpire if the ICC asks for any such step.
— PTI |
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Ankle injury might keep Smith out of action for four months
“It’s too early to tell with any certainty as he had a highly unusual operation and it is difficult to predict how long it will take for the stress fracture to heal,” Shuaib Manjra, head of Cricket South Africa’s medical committee, told the daily ‘The New Age’ on Wednesday. “The best case scenario is that he returns to playing in around four months, but that could stretch to six months or even longer,” he added, raising concerns that Smith may miss not just the tour by India in November but also the Test and ODI series in Abu Dhabi against Pakistan preceding that. Smith has already been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy next month as well as South Africa’s ODI tour to Sri Lanka in July. The surgery on Smith’s left ankle included two pins being inserted as well as additional bone marrow being injected into six holes to assist the healing process. “He had a similar operation in 2012 and we thought we had solved the problem only for it to return six months later, so we will have to wait and see how it goes this time,” Manjra said. “This operation will fix the acute problem but we must find out what is causing the stress and balance the load as best we can. Graeme is a big chap and his bones take a lot of stress.” Manjra said a special custom-made boot for the foot will be made at the Adidas laboratory in Germany to take the pressure off the ankle.
— PTI |
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Ponting keeps door ajar on Ashes return
London, May 29 The latest five-match battle against England starts at Trent Bridge on July 10 and if an Australian batsman was to break a finger, the Tasmanian would be torn. “They will have reserve batsmen around should anything like that happen so I don’t think they will be needing me,” Ponting said. “You wouldn’t say no, would you, if that call came and I would never say never, but you have to say a call-up like that now is extremely unlikely.” Even if he does not return, his influence may still be felt in the Ashes with Ponting in England playing for county side Surrey. “If Michael Clarke wants to run anything by me he knows where I am. There’s nothing official in place but I’ll only be down the road,” added the scorer of 13,378 test runs. “My wife is still asking me when I will be through with all this cricket stuff. I’ve actually been away from home more than ever. I know I’ll have to slow down at some point.” For the first time in many years, Australia go into the Ashes as big underdogs after a 4-0 mauling in India. Ponting said he feels Australia are regaining confidence. “Our batting is key, if it can stand up to the English bowling then we will be competitive. We have a good, solid number of bowlers and our young quicks are really exciting,” he remarked before turning to England. “Alistair Cook is proving he is a worthy successor to Andrew Strauss. Joe Root looks a good player, Jonny Bairstow has something about him and when Kevin Pietersen is fit England will get a world class player again.”
— Reuters |
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England in a good place before Ashes, says Cook
Leeds, May 29 “It’s great we’ve won two games first and foremost. For us its a good place to be,” Cook said after England completed a 247-run victory in the second Test at Headingley on Tuesday for a 2-0 series success. “There’s quite a long time now before the Ashes so a lot of things can change — a lot of one-day cricket to go but we’re in a good place,” he added. The first test at Trent Bridge will start on July 10.
— Reuters |
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Federer shows no mercy to Devvarman
Federer, chasing a second French Open title, was never put under pressure and ruthlessly exploited his opponent's frailties. The Swiss did not lose a point against the 188th ranked qualifier until the third game and took the first set in just 23 minutes with two breaks of serve. The 17-times grand slam winner broke a further three times in both the second and third sets as Devvarman wilted. World number one Serena Williams motored into the third round with a 6-1 6-2 trouncing of French wildcard Caroline Garcia. Garcia, 19, gave Maria Sharapova a run for her money on her previous appearance on centre court at Roland Garros two years ago but found top seed Williams in an unforgiving mood.
Williams roared into a 5-0 lead in the opening set before Garcia, ranked 114 in the world, held serve to generous applause from the crowd. Williams, who came into the match on a career-best 25-match winning streak, wrapped up the opening set in 27 minutes. Garcia offered more resistance in the second set but was still no match for the 15-times grand slam champion who looks in the mood to add to her single French Open title. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the sixth seed, led the charge for France with a 7-6 (4) 6-4 6-3 victory against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen to reach the third round. Wildcard Gael Monfils then upstaged him for the second time so far this tournament, following up his thrilling first-round defeat of fifth seed Tomas Berdych to beat Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(4) 6-2 on Chatrier. Azarenka, who had to wait until day four to play her first-round match against Russia's Elena Vesnina because of Tuesday's rain, found her clay feet with a 6-1 6-4 victory. The stadium was barely one-third full as Azarenka went through her paces but the low decibel level from the seats was offset by the grunts, howls and groans from the two players. Azarenka just about won the noise battle, although Vesnina ran her close, and the Belarussian had little trouble winning the match either. Tsonga, regarded as France's best hope of a first men's grand-slam champion since 1983, took a while to loosen up against the steady Nieminen who got the first break of serve and had to save a set point before overpowering his opponent with some impressive tennis. There were mixed results for Tsonga's compatriots. Local wildcard Aravane Rezai offered a bold challenge to Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova but fell short, losing 6-3 4-6 6-2 on Court Suzanne Lenglen. Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic had too much power for Michael Llodra, winning 7-5 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-2 to reach round three. Gilles Simon, seeded 15, struggled to impose himself against Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay but hit form to win 6-7 (2) 6-1 6-1 6-1. Fourth seed David Ferrer took his place in the third round almost unnoticed after thrashing fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-2 6-1 6-3 on an outside court. Late on Tuesday evening, Novak Djokovic began his quest to complete his grand slam collection in style with a 7-6 (5) 6-4 7-5 victory over David Goffin. — Reuters
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Bhupathi-Bopanna sent packing by Pole pair
Paris, May 29 Leander Paes and his Austrian partner Jurgen
Melzer, meanwhile, eased into the next stage with a 6-3 6-3 win over
Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Renavand. — Agencies |
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Sandeep, Shivendra back, Danish out with injury
Sandeep, who was left out of the Indian squad for the FIH Hockey World League Round 2 held here earlier this year, made a comeback to the national side along with Shivendra, who last played for India in last year’s London Olympics. Sandeep, incidentally, was part of the Indian squad that went to The Netherlands in April for an invitational tour. Sardar will continue to lead the 18-member squad while drag-flicker V R Raghunath has been named his deputy. Notable absentees from the squad are midfielder Danish Mujtaba and Gurvinder Singh Chadi as both are injured. While Gurvinder continues to be in the sidelines because of a prolonged ankle injury, Danish is suffering from a ligament tear. According to a statement from Hockey India, the squad was selected by HI selectors Balbir Singh, BP Govinda, chief coach Michael Nobbs, Roelant Oltmans (Director-High Performance) along with government observer Harbinder Singh during a meeting held on May 17. “Both Sandeep and Shivendra have managed to make a comeback sheerly on the basis of their performance and fitness,” a national selector said. The team is currently based at the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre (NSSC), Bangalore where they are attending a national camp, which started on May 16, as final preparations for the tournament. The team will depart for Rotterdam on June 5 and its opening match is scheduled against Ireland on June 13. India are placed in pool B alongside the hosts, New Zealand and Ireland while Australia, Spain, Belgium and fourth team will form pool A. —
PTI Squad Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh, PT Rao; Defenders: VR Raghunath (vice-captain), Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu; Midfielders: Birendra Lakra, Sardar Singh (captain), Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh; Forwards: SV Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh. |
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Nike ends support for Armstrong’s charity
New York, May 29 “We expected changes like this,” Katherine McLane, a Livestrong spokeswoman, said. “Could there be fallout? Of course. We remain enormously confident...We are in strong fiscal shape.” When Armstrong left Livestrong’s board, Nike said it would still back the charity, but no longer sponsor the man behind it. However, Nike spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi told Reuters late on Tuesday that the decision to drop the partnership was taken as sales of the products had not met company’s expectations. Nike also distributed Livestrong’s ubiquitous yellow wrist-bands, of which 87 million were sold. Armstrong founded Livestrong in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The group flourished during his cycling career in which he won the Tour de France seven times. The cyclist, who stepped down from Livestrong’s board last October, admitted in January to systematic use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials. Livestrong said its 2013 budget is $38.4 million, a 10.9 percent reduction from 2012, but that revenue projections were ahead by 2.5 percent.
— Reuters |
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