Indian table tennis player stuck in Spain

Kolkata

Indian paddler Takeme Sarkar left for Malaga hoping to play in the Spanish League and gain some experience, but now finds herself quarantined in an apartment there after suspension of airline operations owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. The 14th ranked India player, who hails from West Bengal, was slated to return on March 24. “I’m safe and doing fine. My club members are very supportive, they are providing food and everything,” the 28-year-old said in an audio message.

New Delhi

India set to extend contracts of foreign coaches

Their stints were supposed to end after the Olympics this year but with the mega-event postponed till 2021, several foreign coaches training Indian athletes for Tokyo are set for extended tenures as they seek to complete their “unfinished mission”. Whether it’s women’s wrestling coach Andrew Cook, shooting’s celebrated pistol coach Pavel Smirnov, boxing duo of Santiago Nieva and Rafaelle Bergamasco or athletics’ high performance director Volker Herrmann, their contracts were to end after the Games. But their contracts will be extended in the “interest of continuity” and the process will be initiated once the national lockdown ends. “It’s the Sports Authority of India which pays their salaries. We have to speak with them… They also know that these are extraordinary circumstances, so I don’t see any problem in getting extension in the contracts,” Wrestling Federation of India secretary VN Prasood said.

Tokyo

IOC working toward July-August Olympics in 2021

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is working with sports bodies to arrange a July-August window for the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and hopes to confirm the schedule within a month, Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported today. John Coates, the IOC’s Coordination Commission chief for Tokyo, told the Yomiuri the Games would have to be held between the tennis Grand Slams of Wimbledon, slated to end in mid-July, and the US Open, which starts in late August.

New Delhi

ICC to discuss contingency plans

The members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) will have a video conference meeting on Friday to discuss contingency plans for its multiple tournaments in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. While a couple of ICC members confirmed that no concrete decisions were expected during the conference call, it became imperative that a meeting was necessary to discuss contingency plans. The most high-profile ICC flagship event in 2020 is the Men’s T20 World Cup in October-November besides the various bilateral series which are part of the World Test Championship. The points system in case of cancelled series will be a topic of discussion. One such series, England’s away tour of Sri Lanka, has already been postponed.

Berlin

4 Bundesliga teams create ^20m fund for clubs in crisis

Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen have come together to create a ^20 million solidarity fund to help German clubs in the top two tiers stave off a potential financial crisis during the coronavirus pandemic. Germany’s Bundesliga and second division are set to resume in April but the organising body’s (DFL) executive committee has recommended the season be suspended until at least April 30, which will further impact revenues of clubs across the country. Dortmund said the four clubs will forego their share of the national media revenue — ^12.5 million — while adding an additional ^7.5 million of their own. Agencies