Chandigarh, May 24
The Chennai Super Kings management is attempting to disown Gurunath Meiyappan. Meiyappan is the son-in-law of N Srinivasan — BCCI president and Managing Director of India Cements, which owns CSK. Meiyappan, who had been summoned by Mumbai Police in connection with the spot-fixing probe, had hitherto been referred to as the CSK team principal or its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

On Friday evening, shortly after India Cements distanced itself from Gurunath Meiyappan, his bio on his verified Twitter account was changed, removing the reference of him being the CSK team principal. — Twitter.com

A Mumbai Police team had visited Meiyappan’s house in Chennai but found that he was not there. It turns out that he was with his father-in-law, holidaying in Kodaikanal.

Since no one was present at his home, a copy of the summons was pasted at his residence and a copy delivered to CSK’s office here.

The CSK management distancing itself from him is a very surprising development, possibly part of a strategy to counter the possible charges that the police could make against him.

Meiyappan had so far been known as the team principal; he had also been referred to as “team owner” in articles on the website of CSK. He was a regular presence i the CSK nets and their dugout during matches, and used to be present on the CSK table during IPL auctions.

On Friday, though, India Cements issued a statement which seemed to sweep all these facts and the known history under the carpet.

“India Cements clarifies that Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan is neither the Owner, nor CEO /Team Principal of Chennai Super Kings,” the press release said. “Mr. Gurunath is only one of the Members (Honorary) of the Management Team of Chennai Super Kings.”

“India Cements follows zero tolerance policy and if anyone is proved guilty, strict action will be taken immediately. India Cements assures full co-operation with BCCI and the Law Enforcement authorities,” it went on to say.

Almost on cue, Meiyappan’s status on twitter changed, too. His bio on his verified Twitter account had read ‘Team Principal Chennai Super Kings’ all this time. But, half-an-hour after the India Cements press release, the twitter bio was edited to remove the references to CSK.

Meiyappan had a gold accreditation card for the IPL, which is given to team owners. He had also represented CSK at meetings of the team owners.

Meanwhile, Meiyappan arrived in Mumbai on a chartered flight from Madurai.

Mumbai police had rejected his request to extend the deadline to appear before them today till Monday for questioning in connection with the scam.

Meyappan was accompanied by P.S. Raman, a senior advocate, and another person, whom the police could not identify. Earlier reports had indicated that Srinivasan would also accompany him.

Meiyappan had yesterday sought time till Monday to appear before Mumbai police, hours after they issued summons to him for personal appearance between 11 AM and 5 PM today.

Mumbai Police earlier today indicated it would not extend the deadline. — With agency inputs

With unusual rains in Kolkata, the Cricket Association of Bengal have played it safe by declaring that if the qualifier is washed away the same tickets will be valid for the next day. The announcement holds true for the final also. “The temperatures have fallen down and it’s a welcome relief from the heat, said Binoy Chatterjee, a spectator.

HP power in playoffs

Call it a coincidence or the performance of HP bowlers, the second qualifier witnessed two HP cricketers, Rishi Dhawan from Mumbai Indians, and Vikramjeet Malik from Rajasthan Royals finding the name in playing XI of their sides. While Rishi has been going steady with Mumbai Indians, it is Malik who has made the most of the fixing scandal. Malik was drafted in after Royals found it difficult to find a player who could make a mark and Malik was bang on target. The seamer from Solan was drafted in place of a tweaker but he justified the decision with a good showing in the Eliminator against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Rishi too made it to the team despite the Kolkata pitch being slow and low. 

New Delhi, May 24
Without going into the details, Sports Minister Jitendra Singh today said he has a “long-term plan” to curb corruption in cricket after the game was thrown into disarray by the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

Speaking at the conference of Ministers and Secretaries of States/UTs in-charge of sports and youth affairs, Jitendra said transparency was the key to preventing corruption whether in cricket or any other game.

“We are talking about ways to bring about transparency in all sports. We have a long-term plan and we will use this opportunity with the Ministers as well as the Secretaries of States to work out some sort of plan to try and curb this menace,” Jitendra said.

Asked if Srinivasan should resign taking moral responsibility, Jitendra said, “These are all moral issues that they have to think about themselves. My Ministry has no control over BCCI or IPL but we need to think about the bigger picture.” “Rather than pointing fingers at individuals we need to think of a long-term plan,” he added.

On whether betting should be legalised to prevent corruption, the Minister said, “As per the Constitution, this comes under the state list and that is the reason why I want to speak to the state ministers and secretaries and the Law Ministry. We have to take all these stakeholders into consideration but we will all do it together.”

Jitendra again emphasised on the need for a solution-seeking approach. “We are all ashamed, and worried, hence, we will have to figure out a solution together,” he said

Rattled by the spot-fixing scandal, IPL Chairman Rajiv Shukla and BCCI vice-President Arun Jaitley today met Law Minister Kapil Sibal, demanding that a strong anti-fixing legislation be “enacted as soon as possible”. — PTI

New Delhi, May 24
An upset Sahara Group chief Subrato Roy today lashed out at N Srinivasan and stated that it will not sponsor the Indian cricket team as long as the beleaguered BCCI president stays at the helm.

“It’s really unfair, sad, irritating and disgusting. The last 13-14 years we had enjoyed such a harmonious relationship (with BCCI) till Shashank Manohar was there. But after that it is so disgusting,” said Roy, the owner of the Pune Warriors franchise which has pulled out of the IPL over financial issues with the BCCI earlier this week. — PTI

Mumbai, May 24
His confidence left shaken after getting just five games with the reserves for Sporting Lisbon, Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri has now taken a more pragmatic approach and would hold talks with the Portuguese club about his future before embarking on a second stint.

“I am not used to sitting out. All my life, I have been playing for club and country regularly all 90 minutes.It plays on my mind, even though you are fitter but if you are not playing a match, mentally you are destroyed,” said Chhetri, whose two-year contract with Sporting Lisbon runs up to June 2014. “After six months, I had just played five games for Lisbon’s B team, which was not good for my confidence. I was training well in one of the top most academies of the world but not playing matches was haunting me. It was not good for my confidence. I am going back, talk to them and know exactly what is there in store for me. I am 28 not 19 anymore to be sensible in what club I want to choose,” he said.

Chhetri, while admitting football is treated differently in Portugal, said not getting much of a chance to showcase his skills made him frustrated.

“I was in the ‘B’ team and what happened is even if you are almost there to play, there are four guys who are from ‘A’ team fighting their recovery and they start. It became difficult for me. Even though I knew I am going to start, suddenly there were four guys who have to play.

“That’s the way it works in Europe where there is a ‘B’ team to make sure that ‘A’ team players who are fighting a recovery can come back. Even though you are training at the best facility in the world, not getting a match on Saturday really kills you,” Chhetri told reporters here.

Churchill Brothers, who won their second I-league title early this month, had signed forward Chettri on loan from Sporting Lisbon for four months to play the remaining of the matches in the I-league and the AFC Club Cup.

Chhetri said it was an “impulsive” decision to join the Goan club.

“When I was here in February, it was an impulsive decision. I thought I took the right decision (to play for Churchill Brothers). Initially, when I started playing the matches here, I didn’t know what was happening. Even though I was fitter than what I was before, I didn’t know what to do in the game. That is what it does to a player.

“I came back for three months and played some 14-15 matches for Churchill Brothers. We won the league. Now, I am going back to Portugal to see, talk about the terms and conditions and take it forward from there,” he added.

Chettri said India has the requisite talent to produce exciting players but lacks nourishment.

“We have over one billion people in India. We don’t have a shortage of talent it is only the right nourishment that we need. It will happen slowly. In India, people want results quickly. It is not going to happen in one day. It is not magic,” he said. — PTI

New Delhi, May 24
Sports Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday said that the government would set up 25 Centres of Excellence with an aim to make India among the top five sporting nations in the world by 2024.

Speaking at the conference of Sports Ministers and Secretaries of States/UTs, Jitendra said he dreamed of an India in which sports is a way of life and “a lucrative career option”.

“Sports Authority of India will set up 25 Centres of Excellence or COX across the country. Each COX will specialise in 3 to 4 sports disciplines. The government of India will also set up one Centre of Excellence each of sports medicine and sports coaching,” he said.

Jitendra said that his aim was to see India among the first 10 sporting nations in the world by 2020 and among top five by 2024.

He also said that the PYKKA programme will be revamped under which sports complexes will be built at the block level across the country. “My Ministry is working towards revamping PYKKA,” he said. — PTI

New Delhi, May 24
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stated that the drafting of the new Sport Bill “will be undertaken in close co-ordination with the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) and the National Sports Federations, and with IOC’s consultation, to ensure that it is fully compatible with the principles and rules of the Olympic Movement”.

In a communication to Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, with copies to IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra and IOC member in India Randhir Singh, IOC director-general Christophe De Kepper said that during the meeting held on May 15 in Lausanne, the IOC and the Indian Government had agreed that “the autonomy of the Olympic Movement in India will be fully respected, close cooperation and coordination between the Government authorities and the sports organizations shall be established for the benefit of development of sports and athletes in India, with mutual understanding and respect for the jurisdiction of each entity”.

Kepper said the IOA will also hold an extraordinary meeting of its members, not later than July 15, in order to review the constitution and ensure that “all standards of good governance and ethics are effectively addressed and implemented in the new constitution, elect an independent election commission comprising three members who will be in charge of conducting the whole election process, under the supervision of the IOC, and that the IOA will hold an Elective General Assembly, not later than September 1, to elect the new office-bearers”. In short, the whole process should be completed by September 1for the revocation of IOC’s suspension of the IOA.

The IOC communication authenticates the deliberations held in Lausanne, and also empowers the IOC member in India, Randhir Singh, a role in the amendments to be made to the IOA constitution. The IOC has made it clear that fresh elections to the IOA will be conducted by the election commission “in a free, fair and transparent manner based on the newly-revised constitution of the IOA and the Olympic Charter”.

“Once the IOA reviews its constitution and ensures that all standards of good governance and ethics are effectively addressed and implemented and elects new office-bearers, the IOC will consider lifting the suspension of the IOA,” Kepper’s letter noted.

London, May 24
"Football's coming home" will ring around Wembley tomorrow night but the accents will be German.

The first all-Bundesliga Champions League final is probably not the scenario the Football Association had in mind for its 150th birthday celebrations, and for the neutral, it poses a unique dilemma: which German team to support at Wembley?

National champions for the 23rd time this season, Bayern Munich are the bookmakers' favourites but British watchers may want to note that more Germans will be rooting for Borussia Dortmund (who finished 25 points behind Bayern in second place).

According to a Kicker magazine poll of 100,000 readers and website users, 58 per cent are behind Jürgen Klopp's underdogs. This is no surprise, of course, given how Bayern divide opinion at home.

"It's either you like them or you hate them," says Kicker's Jörg Jakob.

"The club that has come closest to being an international corporation in Germany is Bayern Munich; Dortmund are in many ways the total opposite of Bayern," says Uli Hesse, author of Tor!, an English-language history of German football.

Hesse is from Dortmund, a city of 500,000 people in the industrial Ruhr region, and explains: "There are so many things you can do in Rome or London or Munich or Milan but Dortmund it's really only the football. It's not that big a city, they had a lot of breweries and steel mills in the Sixties but that's all gone. The relationship between the people living there and the [team] is totally different to what applies in Munich."

Dortmund pack 80,000 into their home stadium for every fixture, with almost 25,000 alone in the Südtribune, the largest terrace in Europe where tickets start at €15.30 (£13). There is much else to admire at the club, with an eloquent, media-friendly coach, Klopp, and young, inexpensively assembled and highly attractive team.

"The last two years Dortmund were hugely popular in Germany - not just because they challenged Bayern but also because the football was great, with very interesting characters in the team and a great coach," adds Hesse.

Unlike in the Nineties, when Bayern's excesses earned them the nickname "FC Hollywood", the rivalry between the clubs had been respectful, but Bayern's announcement last month of the £31.5m signing of Dortmund's homegrown star Mario Götze - and pursuit of striker Robert Lewandowski - has changed that.

Reviving Bayern's long-established practice of weakening their direct rivals, it also raised tensions and the sides' subsequent league meeting featured a touchline spat between Klopp and Bayern's sporting director Matthias Sammer, a former Dortmund player and coach.

"We are a club, not a company," said Klopp this week as he liked Bayern to a "James Bond villain". Hesse describes Bayern as the Real Madrid to Dortmund's Barcelona yet concedes that the Bavarians have become more likeable under coach Jupp Heynckes. "They have a lot more team spirit, the football is a lot more attractive." Heynckes, the 68-year-old elder statesman of German football, was the striker in the Borussia Mönchengladbach side who were Bayern's challengers (and the romantics' favourites) in the Seventies. He is expected to retire after the German Cup final on 1 June.

"He is the nice, old uncle," says Patrick Strasser, Bayern reporter for the Munich newspaper Abendzeitung. "It is possible some German fans think he deserves [to win] - it could be the perfect end to his career." It would also ensure Bayern avoid a hat-trick of Champions League final defeats after 2010 and 2012 - indeed Strasser insists losing to Dortmund at Wembley would be even worse than last year's defeat to Chelsea in their own stadium. Whether that is enough to earn many sympathy votes tomorrow seems unlikely, though. — The Independent

Paris, May 24
Defending French Open champion Rafael Nadal was drawn in the same half as world number one Novak Djokovic on Friday as the Spanish claycourt machine chases a record eighth title at Roland Garros.

Third seed Nadal, who beat Djokovic in last year's final, could face the Serbian in the semis.

"But is not in the first round, no?," Nadal joked when asked how he felt about his potential meeting with Djokovic in a news conference.

Nadal has won five titles on clay this season after missing out on more than seven months of tennis, sitting out of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australia Open.

"If you can ask me if I win one grand slam during the whole year or win six tournaments like I already did, I will choose win six tournaments," he said.

Nadal plays Daniel Brands of Germany in the first round and could face home hope Richard Gasquet in a potential quarter-final clash as the French men look to end a 30-year grand slam title drought.

Djokovic, who opens his Paris campaign against Belgian David Goffin, is also lined up for a possible third-round match against talented Bulgarian youngster Grigor Dimitrov.

Swiss Roger Federer, who has a record 17 grand slam titles to his name, has a smooth-looking path until a potential quarter-final against French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. World number two Andy Murray pulled out with back problems and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro, ranked seventh, is also missing from the draw due to illness.

On the women's side, defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia, the second seed, is in the same half as Belarussian third seed Victoria Azarenka. World number one Serena Williams could meet Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the fourth seed, in the semi-finals.

Williams will take on Georgia's Anna Tatishvili in the first round on her way to a potential quarter-final match-up with former world number one Caroline Wozniacki who will start against Britain's Laura Robson. Sharapova's main threat could come from Australian ninth seed Samantha Stosur in a possible quarter-final. — Reuters

Monaco, May 24
Formula One has taken a big gamble with its radically different 2014 engine and manufacturers who get it wrong will pay a heavy price, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone warned on Thursday.

The 82-year-old billionaire has been a consistent opponent of the new 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine which is due to replace the current 2.4 litre V8 unit in the biggest rules revamp in decades.

Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault have all committed huge sums to developing the units, with energy recovery systems and greater fuel efficiency, which will also cost the teams considerably more than at present. "The danger is if one of those three get it wrong, whoever they are, it's going to cost a fortune to catch up," Ecclestone told Reuters.

"And as they are catching up, the other people are going forward. At the moment, everything's fine. There's very little anyone can do now. The danger is all three think they've got the right engine. When reality sets in, then it will be too late," he added.

Ecclestone will meet Renault chief executive Carlos Ghosn at the season's showcase race this weekend and the cost of the engines is likely to be discussed. Renault currently supply four teams, including champions Red Bull, but could have five customers for their engines next season if Toro Rosso switch from Ferrari.

Mercedes and Ferrari power three teams at present while the remaining team, Marussia, have engines provided by Cosworth who are expected to depart at the end of the year.

Honda will be returning in 2015 to power McLaren.

Ecclestone, who has voiced concern in the past that the different sound of the new engines will alienate fans, said the extra expense being imposed on teams was unnecessary. "Some costs are costs. Nothing you can do about it. But this is unnecessary cost because what we had was perfect," he said.

The cost of the 2014 units has produced loud rumblings from teams fearful that an engine supply could cost in excess of $30 million, $10 million more than in 2013. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Mary Kom’s foundation to get over Rs 3 crore grant
New Delhi: The Sports Ministry has given in principle approval for a grant of Rs 309.56 lakh to Olympic medallist Mary Kom`s Regional Boxing Foundation at Imphal for construction of a gymnasium hall and procurement of equipments. The grant, to be disbursed from the National Sports Development Fund, will be released in instalments after fulfilment of certain conditions as required under the NSDF scheme and completion of necessary formalities, the ministry said in a statement.

Sports Authority of India trials on May 27-28
Patiala: Sports Authority of India will hold the selection trials for budding players for admission to its Centre of Excellence and SAI training centre for 2013-14 training session on May 27 and 28 at NIS, Patiala. Executive Director of NIS LS Ranawat said the trials for Centre of Excellence will be held in the disciplines of athletics, boxing, hockey, judo, weightlifting and wrestling, and the applicants should be in the age group of 12 to 25 years as on June 1, 2013 and for SAI Training Centre in the discipline of cycling and fencing and the applicants should be in the age group of 12 to 18 years as on June 1, 2013.

Manika settles for silver in Polish junior TT
New Delhi: Promising Indian player Manika Batra settled for a silver medal in the girls singles event at the IITF Polish Junior and Cadet Open after losing the summit clash to top seed Japanese Miyu Kato. The Delhi girl, a surprise finalist and the seventh seed, lost the final 9-11 11-7 11-7 7-11 6-11 11-7 8-11 on Thursday in Wladyslawowo. The 17-year-old Indian had earlier ousted the Japanese fifth seed Ayane Morita in the penultimate round in seven games.

Hockey India men's nationals in Pune from May 28
Pune: The 3rd Hockey India senior men's national championship is to be held at the Shiv Chattrapati Sports Complex and Major Dhyan Chand Hockey stadium in nearby Pimpri town from May 28 to June 10. The participating teams, numbering 37, have been divided into 8 pools and the toppers of each pool will make it to the quarterfinals.

Pallikal loses to world No. 2 in British Open squash
Hull, England: India's Dipika Pallikal fought hard before losing to local hope Laura Massaro in the pre-quarterfinals of the Allam British Open Squash Championships. Fifteenth-ranked Pallikal squandered a great start to go down 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 6-11 against the World No.2 amid cold and wet conditions surrounding the glass court at the KC Stadium here Thursday night. Her loss ended India's challenge in the competition. — Agencies