CWG 2018: Buoyed by 2017 Success, Srikanth Chases Golden Dream at Gold Coast

Agencies
March 23, 2018

New Delhi, Mar 23: His Commonwealth Games debut spoiled by brain fever four years ago, Kidambi Srikanth, now the toast of the nation, is eyeing a maiden medal at the Gold Coast multi-sport extravaganza after a sensational run last season.

Weeks before he was to make his debut at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Srikanth was battling for life in an Intensive Care Unit. He was found unconscious on the bathroom floor of the Gopichand Academy and later diagnosed with brain fever. He ended up spending about a week in the ICU, giving a mighty scare to his near and dear ones. But that is history.

Cut to 2018, Srikanth is arguably one of the best sportspersons in the country, walking shoulder to shoulder with the who's who of the sporting world. With four titles under his belt, Srikanth swept all the sports awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri, and is considered a hot-favourite for the coveted gold medal at Gold Coast.

"It was some sort of a virus, I don't even know the name. Nobody even wanted to tell me what happened that day and I don't remember much," Srikanth says, recalling the incident in 2014.

"I was playing good enough so I returned and played at the Commonwealth Games but lost to a Singapore guy in the quarters," he recollects.

"Now after four years, I think I am much more confident after all the experience of the last one year, so it will be a different experience. Of course, winning a medal at CWG ranks high in my list," he says.

In less than a fortnight, Srikanth will carry the aspirations of millions on his shoulders as he looks to retain the Commonwealth Games gold medal that Parupalli Kashyap had won for India in Glasgow after 32 long years.

Only Prakash Padukone (1978, Edmonton) and Syed Modi (1982, Brisbane) have won gold in badminton at this multi-sport event. "Last time we had won a good number of medals and now we are playing much better than what we were four years back and we have a great chance of winning more medals this time.

"Commonwealth Games is priority for me. Winning a medal there is more important than becoming world number 1 and I will look to remain fit. It is one of the targets of the year," adds the 25-year-old.

Born in Ravulapalem, a small town in Andhra Pradesh, Srikanth's journey in badminton was all about following the footsteps of his brother Nandagopal, a doubles India player. While he followed Nandagopal to train at Gopichand Academy, his life took a massive turn at Fuzhou, China where he became the first Indian to win a Super Series Premier Men's title, beating five-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan at 2014 China Open final.

The following year, Srikanth won the Indian Super Series title and Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold and zoomed to world number 3, a peak that has been scaled only by two other Indian men — Padukone and Pullela Gopichand, now the chief India coach.

He continued his good run, winning the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold before qualifying for the Rio Olympics. However, after being on the cusp of a historic Olympic medal, Srikanth failed to outwit Lin Dan, a defeat that left him rattled for a long time. That was followed by an ankle injury.

With his right leg heavily strapped, Srikanth worked on his reflexes and eye-arm coordination. Unable to stand for long he sat and took one shuttle after another fed by coach Gopichand.

His determination bore fruit as once he was back on court, Srikanth simply owned it by clinching titles at Indonesia, Australia, Denmark and France, which catapulted him to the upper echelons of sports world.

However, when it came to a big-ticket event like the Glasgow World Championship, Srikanth couldn't break the ceiling, finishing at the quarters again. Another injury kept him away from China Open and Hong Kong Open before he entered the Dubai Super Series, but disappointment was in store for him as he crashed out without a single win.

At the recently-concluded All England Championship, Srikanth again finished at the pre-quarterfinal and the Indian ace will have to quickly get over the disappointment and switch his focus to Gold Coast.

With a slew of big events lined up this season, Srikanth would look to sort out the issues plaguing him at the biggest stage, and the process will start at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre.

If he can help India retain the men's gold, it will be one big step forward ahead of the Worlds, Asian Games and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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News Network
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: Former Australia captain Ian Chappell has proposed radical changes in the LBW laws, stating that a batsman should be given out leg before as long as the ball is hitting the stumps irrespective of the spot of its landing and impact.

Chappell also said captains should agree on one way of working up the ball which will encourage swing bowling, even as the ICC is considering the use of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of sweat and saliva in post-COVID-19 scenario.

"The new lbw law should simply say: 'Any delivery that strikes the pad without first hitting the bat and, in the umpire's opinion, would go on to hit the stumps is out regardless of whether or not a shot is attempted'," he wrote in a column for ESPNcricinfo.

"Forget where the ball pitches and whether it strikes the pad outside the line or not; if it's going to hit the stumps, it's out."

The 76-year-old said the change in lbw law would attract expected criticism from the batsmen but it would make the game more fair.

"There will be screams of horror - particularly from pampered batsmen - but there are numerous positives this change would bring to the game. Most important is fairness.

"If a bowler is prepared to attack the stumps regularly, the batsman should only be able to protect his wicket with the bat. The pads are there to save the batsman from injury not dismissal.

"It would also force batsmen to seek an attacking method to combat a wristspinner pitching in the rough outside the right-hander's leg stump," said Chappell.

He cited Sachin Tendulkar's example on how he negotiated Shane Warne's round the wicket tactic during the 1997-98 Test series in India.

"Contrast Sachin Tendulkar's aggressive and successful approach to Shane Warne coming round the wicket in Chennai in 1997-98 with a batsman who kicks away deliveries pitching in the rough and turning in toward the stumps. Which would you rather watch?

"The current law encourages "pad play" to balls pitching outside leg while this change would force them to use their bat. The change would reward bowlers who attack the stumps and decrease the need for negative wide deliveries to a packed off-side field," he said.

Chappell said his proposed change to the lbw law would also cut down "frivolous" DRS challenges.

"This change to the lbw law would also simplify umpiring and result in fewer frivolous DRS challenges. Consequently, it would speed up a game that has slowed drastically in recent times.

"It would also make four-day Tests an even more viable proposition as mind-numbing huge first-innings totals would be virtually non-existent."

On the substitute of shining the ball without sweat and saliva, Chappell said international captains should find out a way of working up the ball.

"With ball-tampering always a hot topic, in the past I've suggested that administrators ask international captains to construct a list (i.e. the use of natural substances) detailing the things bowlers feel will help them to swing the ball.

"From this list, the administrators should deem one method to be legal with all others being punishable as illegal," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.

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