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ICC to investigate Umpiregate
Darrell Hair not surprised by fixing claims
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BCCI to wait and watch for ICC action
Sri Lanka inherit South Africa’s ‘chokers’ tag
48 named for HI camp in Patiala
Prerna wins marathon battle
North Zone in Duleep Trophy semifinals
Anand fails to win a point yet again
Prince William chats with football player Jermaine Defoe as he and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, visit the gym at the new National Football Centre in
Burton-upon-Trent, England, on Tuesday. — AFP
Umpires Dissanayaka, Shah, Ghouri deny allegations
Govt to examine Sachin’s proposal on integrating sports, education:
Sibal
CLT20 tech panel approves change in squads
Kirti Azad targets Jaitley for DDCA scandals
England defenders jostling for Terry's place
IOC urges India to bar Kalmadi from election
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ICC to investigate Umpiregate
Mumbai, October 9 Footage screened on India TV on Monday and seen by Reuters appeared to show umpires from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka negotiating deals with under-cover reporters to spot-fix matches. The channel showed footage of Pakistan's Nadeem Ghauri, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, part of the ICC international panel of umpires, and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka agreeing to give favourable decisions in exchange for umpiring contracts and money. "The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV this evening and calls on the station to turnover any information which can assist the ICC's urgent investigations into this matter," the governing body said in a statement. "The ICC re-iterates its zero-tolerance towards corruption whether alleged against players or officials. The ICC confirms that none of the umpires named were involved in any of the official games of the ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka." In the sting operation, conducted in July and August, the reporters said they belonged to a sports management company and promised the umpires assignments in different events around the world, largely domestic Twenty20 leagues. While Ghauri and Shah appeared to agree to give wrong decisions, Gallage was ready to pass on information about the toss, the pitch and weather conditions in a match before it was available to the public. Shah flatly denied the allegations made against him. "This is a plot to malign my character. I was taken to Delhi by a Bangladeshi agent to sign a contract for umpiring in the Sri Lanka Premier League," he told Reuters. "But when I saw these people are corrupt, I changed my decision and did not conduct any match in the SLPL. "I was never involved in anything like fixing." In May, the same television channel's sting operation prompted the Indian cricket board to ban one uncapped cricketer for life and hand out lesser
punishments to four others for involvement in corruption in domestic cricket. Last year, Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were jailed in Britain following a sting operation for their role in a spot-fixing scandal relating to a test match against England at Lord's in August 2010. The World Twenty20 tournament ended on Sunday.
— Reuters |
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Darrell Hair not surprised by fixing claims
Melbourne, October 9 Hair's statement came after the ICC launched an "urgent investigation" into the claims made by a television channel that several umpires were willing to fix matches for money in the just-concluded World Twenty20 and Sri Lanka Premier League. “I was wondering how long it would take before some umpire did some stupid things,” he said. “There have been rumours going around for ages, since the IPL started, that umpires were involved,” Hair was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press. “It all comes down to two things: opportunity and greed. If you're the type of person and you're given the opportunity, the greedy part of you will say, 'Yeah, I'm in'.” “In my whole career, there had always been word that certain umpires were on the take here or there,” said Hair. “But to be fair, all the guys I umpired with at international level I think were pretty much above board. But I don't doubt that there have been others around, probably in a lesser environment, trying to make a quick buck,” Hair said. Hair also served as the executive officer at the New South Wales Cricket Umpires and Scorers Association following his retirement until last year. “When I was working back at Cricket NSW, some of the Australian guys had been over there (the subcontinent) coaching and they just expressed surprise at things that were going on in that IPL,” he said. “They couldn't nail anything — it's a bit difficult when they are talking in a different language,” he said.
— Agencies |
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BCCI to wait and watch for ICC action
New Delhi, October 9 “The ICC has to take a call on it. They (ICC) will be taking appropriate action. As far as we are concerned we will take action as we deem fit," senior BCCI official Rajeev Shukla said. “Our job is to keep the game clean. The BCCI takes strong and immediate action whenever such cases come up," he said. Meanwhile, India TV will soon hand over the videos to the International Cricket Council for its investigations. The channel showed video clips purportedly taken by their undercover reporters in which the umpires were shown to be allegedly willing to give certain decisions in exchange for money. Soon after the sting operation was beamed last night, the ICC said it would investigate the matter and asked the channel to give any information which can assist in the probe. “The ICC and its relevant members have been made aware of the allegations made by India TV this evening and calls on the station to turnover any information which can assist the ICC's urgent investigations into this matter," the ICC statement said. SLC, PCB launch probe
Sri Lanka Cricket and Pakistan Cricket Board began investigations into the television sting operation. SLC chief executive Ajith Jayasekara said there has been no official communication from the ICC on allegations. He said the local anti-corruption unit will work with the ICC in the investigations. PCB also said it has launched investigations into the matter. “We are in contact with ICC and carrying out a detailed investigation into the matter. We have sought the details involved in the matter. For us it is just a TV report and it is too early to say," a PCB spokesman said.
— Agencies |
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Sri Lanka inherit South Africa’s ‘chokers’ tag
Colombo, October 9 The island nation, who won the 1996 50-over World Cup, lost the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals in the same format and the Twenty20 final to Pakistan in 2009. Mahela Jayawardene and his men went into Sunday's match knowing full well it was their best chance of overcoming the disappointments, playing in familiar conditions on home soil and with the support of a packed stadium. They started brightly, cheaply dismissing the dangerous Chris Gayle, who had been touted as the man standing between Sri Lanka and the Cup, and conceding just one boundary in the first 11 overs of the West Indies innings. But as the sixes began to fly off Marlon Samuels's thick blade in the next few overs, Sri Lanka lost the plot. Jayawardene, involved in all four final defeats, watched helplessly as the momentum shifted in his opponents' favour and Sri Lanka never recovered. “It was one of those days when the momentum shifted and it was pretty tough to get back in it again," the captain lamented. Chasing a modest target of 138, the batsmen lacked self-belief and were shot out for 101 in under 19 overs, with just three of them reaching double figures. The Sri Lankan crowd, who had come to celebrate a famous win, instead had to watch the West Indies players go wild with the "Gangnam Style" dance and Gayle doing a perfect imitation of the horse-riding dance made famous by South Korean singer Psy. At the start of the tournament, the Sri Lankan captain had said he would gladly take a loss in the final rather than bow out in the initial stages. But he was not so sure after going through the pain of defeat. Jayawardene later announced his decision to give up the captaincy in the shortest format of the game. “It hurts a lot, because you want to do something special, not just personally, but for the public as well,” the stylish right-handed batsman told reporters. “We've been playing really good cricket but we haven't been able to cross that hurdle. So it hurts as a player, as a cricketer, as an individual. “But we just need to move on, try, and see how well we can get over this and get back on and keep fighting again.”
— Reuters |
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48 named for HI camp in Patiala
New Delhi, October 9 Hockey India selectors Col. Balbir Singh, B.P Govinda and Syed Ali along with Government observer Harbinder Singh selected the core group of 48 probables and nine reserves for the camp on the basis of their performance in the recently concluded Hockey India Men’s National Championship in Bangalore. The team will take part in the Lanco International Super Series at Perth from November 22 to 25. The tournament will also feature England, Australia and Pakistan. The Champions Trophy will be played in Melbourne from Dec 1 to 9. The tournament will feature hosts Australia, Belgium, England, India, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and Pakistan. Indian probables Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri (Karnataka), PR Sreejesh (Tamil Nadu), PT Rao (Services), Tarun Thimmanna (Karnataka) and Srenivas Rao (A.P);Full backs: VR Raghunath, Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Singh (Haryana), Rupinderpal Singh (Tamil Nadu), Harbir Singh (Punjab) and Lovedeep Singh Half backs: Sardar Singh (Haryana), Kothajit Singh (Manipur), Birendra Lakra (Jharkhand), Manpreet Singh (Punjab), MB Aiyappa (Karnataka), Bipin Karketta, Pradeep Mor, Gurmail Singh, Amit Rohidas (Odisha), Sampath Kumar Maylaram (A.P), Shirish Bisen (U.P), Barkat Singh (Universities), Vivek Dhar (Railways), Jonny Jasrotia (Services) Forwards: SV Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Sarvanjit Singh (Punjab), Chinglensana Singh, Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Tushar Khandker, S.K. Uthappa, Pradhanna Sommanna, Nithin Thimmaiah, Yuvraj Walmiki, Dharamvir, Akashdeep Singh, MG Poonacha, Prabhdeep Singh, PL Thimmanna, Sukhdev Singh, Lovepreet Singh, Sanjay Bir Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Sanwan Ali, Vikramjit Singh (Punjab) and Karamjit Singh (Haryana).
— TNS |
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Prerna wins marathon battle
New Delhi, October 9 In a baseline battle, Prerna had to muster all her energy and guile to tame Prarthana, who took the first two sets to the tie-breaker before caving in meekly in the decider. Prerna suffered a setback in the very first set when she lost it, but kept pushing herself hard from the baseline to make the Maharastra girl run out of steam in the third set. Prerna, who had won two $10,000 events in the last few months, showed great mobility from the baseline, but the slightly-built Thombare was game for a challenge, though fighting under the mid-day sun proved to be too much of a task to bow out. Seventh-seeded Simran Sethi, also from Delhi, also faced a similar fate as she lost the first set, but bounced back to beat T Palanvale 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. With some of the matches stretching to three sets, the day’s schedule took very long to finish. Top seed Rishika Sunkarya of Delhi disposed of Likhita Shetty 6-3, 6-0 in under an hour while qualifier Sai Samhitha ousted wild card Victoria Chahal 6-3, 6-0. In other women’s matches Arushi Bhasin lost to Vineeta Singh 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while Bhuvana Kalva got past Smriti Joon. The women’s contests have assumed great significance as the national winner will get an automatic entry into the prestigious Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event, scheduled to be held at the DLTA from November 5 to 12. |
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North Zone in Duleep Trophy semifinals
Chennai, October 9 North's qualification to the last-four stage was virtually sealed on the penultimate day itself, after pacer Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra grabbed seven wickets between them to shot out West for a mere 164 in their first innings yesterday. North had amassed 484 all out in their first essay, with skipper and Man of the Match Shikhar Dhawan leading the way with a century, which vindicated his decision to bat first. Dhawan declared their second innings at 208 for seven in 67 overs this afternoon and West were on 69 for two in 29 overs when the match was called off at the start of the mandatory
overs. While Dhawan made an impact in the second innings as well, scoring a half century, his opposite number Cheteshwar
Pujara, after getting out cheaply in the first innings, remained not out in the second.
Offspinner Kamlesh Makvana emerged as the best player from West, finishing with a 10-wicket haul — five in each innings. Resuming at an overnight score of 30 for no loss, North openers Rahul Devan and Dhawan played freely, making 78 runs for the first wicket, before the former edged to Parthiv Patel. Devan made 45 off 104 balls.
Dhawan fell six overs later but not before playing another substantial knock. Makvana teased Dhawan who missed the line of the ball to be stumped. His 50 contained eight fours. Faced with the impossible task of scoring 528 for a win in less than 50
overs, West lost openers Bhushan Chavan and Kustubh Pawar after they came out to bat the second time.
— PTI |
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Djokovic threat to Federer
Shanghai, October 9 The man breathing down Federer's neck is Novak
Djokovic, who arrived yesterday following his victory in the China Open in Beijing on Sunday. Djokovic needs to win the title next weekend to reclaim the No 1 spot, which Federer took from him by winning Wimbledon this
summer. Federer's feat in returning to the head of the world rankings, 14 months after he had been supplanted by Rafael
Nadal, was arguably the greatest achievement of his career. However, he faces a huge challenge between now and the end of the season to hold off
Djokovic. Once this week is out of the way Federer will have to defend 3,000 of his current total of 11,805 points in three successive weeks at the end of the season, having ended 2011 by winning his hometown tournament at Basle, the Paris Masters and the World Tour Finals in
London. Djokovic, in contrast, won just 560 in the same three tournaments last year after apparently running out of steam following his extraordinary efforts earlier in the campaign. “That's the target," Djokovic said when asked about the world No 1 ranking. "It's still quite open and there are still tournaments to come, big ones." Britain's Heather Watson, the world No 71, is hoping to improve her own ranking at the Japan Open in Osaka this week and made a good start when she beat Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. Laura Robson was due to play her opening match today against Greece's Eleni
Daniilidou. The Independent |
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Anand fails to win a point yet again
Bilbao (Spain), October 9 The second leg of the championship, which got underway after a week’s break, was not expected to be very promising for Anand as he plays three black games out of five here and the trend continued as Vallejo Pons scored an easy draw. For
Anand, the soccer-like scoring system that gives three points for a win and one for a draw, only helped him to gather six points from as many games and a no-loss-no-win record is only becoming a deterrent for the world champion. Meanwhile, World number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway scored a much-needed victory over leader Fabiano Caruana of Italy to set the records straight. In the first leg at Sao Paulo in Brazil,
Caruana, the leader, had got off to a flier defeating Carlsen in the opener and then registered two more wins to be in the lead. In the other game of the day in the six-players double round-robin tournament, Sergey Karjakin of Russia drew with Levon Aronian of Armenia and the equation now suggests that the tournament is thrown wide open thanks to Carlsen’s magnificent victory. With four rounds still remaining, Caruana still stays in front on 11 points with Carlsen closely behind on nine points. For the records, Aronian is now third on eight points while Anand remains fourth with his six points. The Indian is followed by the trailing duo of Vallejo Pons and
Karjakin, who both have four points apiece from four draws. For Anand the good things are yet to happen in the Final Masters. In the white game against Vallejo Pons at Sao Paulo, Anand had found a complicated position but in the return game, the Spaniard gave no chances.
— PTI |
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Cole’s apology opens doors
London, October 9 Whether or not he earns his 99th cap in the World Cup qualifier at Wembley is up to coach Roy Hodgson but Bernstein said on Tuesday that Cole was free for selection. The FA charged the 31-year-old with misconduct on Monday following Cole's offensive tweet after the governing body's independent commission had queried what they described as his "evolving" evidence in the John Terry racial abuse verdict. Terry was found guilty of racially insulting Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand and banned for four matches. Cole gave evidence on his Chelsea team mate's behalf. Cole deleted the tweet a few hours after it was posted on Friday. Bernstein, speaking to BBC radio before the official opening of England's new national coaching centre at St George's Park in Burton, revealed that Cole had followed his apology to the FA on Friday.
— Reuters |
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Umpires Dissanayaka, Shah, Ghouri deny allegations
Dissanayaka was quoted during 'India TV's' sting operation that buying liquor for Sri Lankan Cricket officials would clinch any deal with them. Pakistan umpire Nadeem Ghouri, another of those named, also denied any involvement. “I am surprised at these baseless allegations,” he said. Nadir Shah said any suggestion he was open to bribery was “absolutely rubbish. If I am going to fix match, I will be caught some day by the ICC... no umpire fixes matches," he said.
— Agencies |
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Govt to examine Sachin’s proposal on integrating sports, education:
Sibal
Kochi, October 9 “This morning, I received a phone call from him (Tendulkar). Let me look at the presentation. The ministry does not decide on the curriculum, it's either NCERT or CBSE. After we receive the presentation, we will send it to NCERT and CBSE and see how to take it forward," he said. He was responding to a question by reporters on Tendulkar expressing his desire to work closely with the government to integrate sports into the education system. The cricket icon, in a letter to Sibal last week, has stressed on "honing" the potential of the younger generation and nurturing their talent, observing sports is being neglected in educational institutions. Tendulkar's suggestions include a roadmap for complete overhaul of the sports infrastructure at the university and college level, according to a senior HRD Ministry official. — PTI
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CLT20 tech panel approves change in squads
Johannesburg, October 9 Bravo is suffering from a thigh strain while Srikkanth sustained a fall in a domestic cricket match last week and will be out of action for six weeks following a fracture to his right clavicle. The committee has also approved changes by Sri Lanka's UVA Next and England's Yorkshire squads. For UVA Next, left-handed batsman Upul Tharanga is out due to a broken finger. He would be replaced by former Sri Lankan under-19 captain, Ashan Priyanjana. England international Johnny Bairstow also won't be a part of Yorkshire side due to a wrist injury. Ed Wilson, an 18-year old wicketkeeper batsman, has been called up as his replacement. — PTI
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Kirti Azad targets Jaitley for DDCA scandals
New Delhi, October 9 For the second day running, the officers from Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) department went to the DDCA headquarters to enquire about the charges levelled by the member of the 1983 World Cup winning squad. Interestingly, Azad who is also a BJP MP today provided a list of senior DDCA office-bearers which allegedly had names of their relatives who have been allotted membership of the state cricket association. The list has names of family members of Jaitley, treasurer Narinder Batra, vice-president CK Khanna, secretary Sneh Bansal. “The buck stops at him. I have written umpteen times informing him about the mismanagement but he has never ever replied to any of my letters. There is so much of muck and he is responsible for this,” Azad said. — PTI
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England defenders jostling for Terry's place
London, October 9 Coach Roy Hodgson said last week that he had some concerns about his defence and the Group H World Cup 2014 qualifier would do little to help him narrow down his options after Terry's angry retirement amid a racist abuse row. Anything other than a very handsome victory against the team 207th and joint-bottom of FIFA's world rankings will represent disappointment for England in one of the most ill-matched fixtures in the qualifying programme for the finals in Brazil. England, ranked fifth, are in a process of rejuvenation and some inexperienced players could get a run-out at Wembley even if Hodgson has been robbed of Manchester United defenders Phil Jones and Chris Smalling because of injury.
— Reuters |
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IOC urges India to bar Kalmadi from election
Laussanne , October 9 The IOC says its ethics committee wrote to Indian officials recommending that they suspend Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and V. K. Verma until court proceedings are completed. The 2010 Commonwealth Games hosted in New Delhi were marred by corruption allegations, construction delays and a spiraling budget. Kalmadi chaired the local organizing committee and spent nine months in jail facing corruption charges. He was released on bail. The Indian Olympic Association met an IOC deadline last month to call elections to choose new leaders in the wake of the scandal. The poll is on Nov 25.
— AP |
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Colombo, October 9
