Anil Kumble to continue as Team India coach till West Indies series, subject to acceptance: Vinod Rai

Agencies
June 13, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 13: With much speculation surrounding Anil Kumble's future as Team India coach amidst rumours of rift with Virat Kohli, CoA chief Vinod Rai has confirmed that no change in the position will be made until the end of India – West Indies series.

kumble

While several top names including that of Virender Sehwag's and Tom Moody's have applied for the job of Team India's next coach, the cricket advisory committee (CAC) consisting of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are tasked with finding a new coach for India but their first attempt expected to be keeping hold of the incumbent, Kumble.

Earlier on Thursday, acting BCCI president CK Khanna wrote a letter to secretary Amitabh Chaudhary urging him to defer the recruitment process until the end of the West Indies tour, which follows in right after the Champions Trophy.

"Coach selection has been entrusted to the CAC which selected Anil Kumble last year for a one-year contract. Now the process has to be followed. But since the process has been delayed, Kumble, subject to his accepting, will be there for the West Indies tour," Rai told reporters after a meeting of the COA here.

"The CAC is meeting in London to decide upon the road ahead," he added.

India will tour the West Indies for a five-ODI series starting June 23 followed by a lone Twenty20 match on July 9.

The COA, now a three-member panel after the controversial exit of historian Ramachandra Guha, had a day long meeting here.

Asked whether coach recruitment could have been handled better by the BCCI, Rai said the matter has been blown out of proportion with reports claiming a rift between captain Virat Kohi and Kumble.

"The fact is that it was a one year contract so a process was followed. I don't know why is this controversy. I have spoken to both of them (Kohli and Kumble)and neither of them have confirmed what has come out," he said.

The CAC -- comprising Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly -- is currently in London and is in touch with both the captain and the coach on the sidelines of the ongoing Champions Trophy.

The CAC, which is in favour of retaining Kumble, has sought more time ahead of the BCCI SGM on June 26.

"We have left it to the CAC, they are legends, they know what is best for Indian cricket," said Rai, who also rubbished a report claiming that CAC has asked to be paid for the honorary job.

Guha, in his scathing resignation letter, had lashed out at the BCCI's functioning besides alleging conflict of interest in the case of Rahul Dravid who is India A coach and also a mentor of the Delhi Daredevils IPL franchise.

The former batsman had sought more clarity on the subject so that he can take an informed decision.

To address a host of conflict of interest issues, the BCCI will soon have an ethics officer.

"All issues regarding COI will be referred to ethics officer appointed by the BCCI. He will be appointed soon. A lot of complaints regarding COI have been received," said Rai.

He further said that Guha's resignation will be forwarded to the Supreme Court.

The COA was formed mainly to carry out reforms recommended by the SC-appointed Lodha Committee. As expected, some of the recommendations, including one state and one vote and tenure of office-bearers, were met with stiff resistance by the state associations.

However, Rai insisted that reforms are on track and will be placed before the state associations at the SGM.

"The reforms are on track. They will be entrusted to the SGM which is meeting on June 26. It is going to be placed before them but in all our conversations with them, they have expressed their willingness to accept the reforms," he said.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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Agencies
May 31,2020

London, May 31: "Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli," replied umpire Ian Gould when he was asked to name the three best batsmen he loved watching when he was officiating as an umpire.

The former ICC elite umpire said that he was unlucky to not watch Ponting bat as much as he would have liked to.

"Jacques Kallis. I loved watching Jacques. He was a very, very fine player. Sachin. And probably Virat. I was unlucky in some respects. I didn't see the best of Ricky Ponting. He was an outstanding character, outstanding captain, such a proud Australian," ESPNCricinfo quoted Gould as saying.

"But his career was just starting to wane as I came on the scene. But he was incredibly helpful, so I'm disappointed I have to leave him out. Jacques Kallis, I could sit and watch all day, Virat, the same. And Sachin, if you want someone to bat for your life, he was the man," he added.

Gould had retired from the ICC's panel of elite umpires in 2019, after standing in more than 250 international matches over a 13-year career.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

While, Kallis played 166 Tests, 328 ODIs and 25 T20Is for South Africa and he is often viewed as the greatest all-rounder the game has seen.

Many pundits of the game find it hard to pick between him and Sir Garfield Sobers.

Across his career, Kallis scored 25,534 runs in his career and he also managed to take 577 wickets.

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Agencies
April 2,2020

Lausanne, Apr 2: The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the shutdown of the sporting calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic are going to hit international sports federations hard financially.

Many sports that are part of the Games depend heavily on the payouts every four years from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The situation is tense and very gloomy. An assessment will be made, but clearly some posts are under threat," said an official of a major international federation.

The 28 international federations (IF) of the sports that were due to be present at the Tokyo Olympics, would have received substantial sums from the IOC.

However, the postponement of the Games until 2021 could lead to a freeze of their payment.

"We have a lot of IF with substantial reserves, but others work on a different business model, they have income from major events which are suspended, which can be a problem for the cashflow if they don't have enough reserves," said Andrew Ryan, director general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations (ASOIF), which is responsible for distributing this money.

The five additions to the Tokyo Games programme - karate, surfing, skateboarding, climbing and baseball/softball - are not eligible.

The Olympic payout totalled 520 million after the Rio Games, four years ago.

"The Olympic money could be less than for Rio 2016," Ryan warned before adding: "My advice is to budget the same as in Rio".

The federations receive money on a sliding scale determined by their audience and size.

The three largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) can expect approximately 40 million.

For the second tier, made up of cycling, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis, the sum is 25 million.

For group three, which contains eight sports, including boxing, rowing, judo and table tennis, it is 17 million.

The nine sports in the next level (including sailing, canoing and fencing) receive 12 million.

For the three in the last category (rugby, golf, modern pentathlon) the payout is 7 million.

For the largest associations, such as football's FIFA which has a 1.5 billion nest egg, or basketball body FIBA which has CHF 44.4 million (42 million euros) in reserves, IOC aid represents a small proportion of their income.

For others, it is vital.

"Some IF probably don't have the cashflow to survive one year," said Ryan.

For most federations, the postponement of the Olympic Games has a domino effect, forcing them to reschedule their own money-earning competitions.

"The revenues from these events will eventually come in," said Ryan. "But this impacts the cashflow." World Athletics has already postponed the 2021 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon to 2022.

The International Swimming Federation (FINA) will have to do the same for its World Championships scheduled for next summer in Fukuoka, Japan, when they would probably clash with the Tokyo Games.

"One edition of the World Championships means for us 10 million in revenues," said one sports federation official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"If this income is postponed, totally or partially, for a year, we will face major problems, especially if the IOC money, originally expected in September, is not paid out."

The Singapore-based International Table Tennis Federation has already taken steps, with "the Executive Committee agreeing to reduce their expenses and senior staff offering to take a salary reduction," said marketing director Matt Pound, but, he added,"further cuts will take place if needed."

- 'Significant loss of revenue' -

The ITTF has suspended all its competitions until June and that is costly.

Kim Andersen, the Danish president of London-based World Sailing, said commercial revenues are not immune.

"The IOC will eventually pay out its aid, but what weighs most heavily is the uncertainty about whether our competitions will be held and whether our sponsors will be maintained," he said.

The IOC is not prepared to go into details of what it plans.

"It is not possible at this stage to assess the overall impact" of the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, an official told AFP.

"It depends on a number of variables that are currently being studied." According to an official of one federation: "the IOC will discuss on a case-by-case basis, sport by sport".

Another option is for the federations to ask for a share of the public aid set up to deal with the coronavirus crisis, in Switzerland, where 22 ASOIF members are based and also in the United Kingdom, home of World Sailing.

"Can sports federations benefit from federal aid? The answer is yes, in principle," Philippe Leuba, State Councillor of the canton of Vaud, in charge of the economy and sport, told.

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