New Delhi, May 4: Delhi Capitals on Saturday registered a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match here on Saturday.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan Royals: 115/9 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 50; Amit Mishra 3/17, Ishant Sharma 3/38).
Delhi Capitals: 121/5 in 16.1 overs (Rishabh Pant 53 not out; Ish Sodhi 3/26).
New Delhi, Apr 28: IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ex-New Zealand player and coach had arrived in India on March 5 for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but was stuck in the country after the lockdown was imposed and all flights were suspended.
"What a wonderful sight after spending over a day on a bus to get to Mumbai airport. The staff on @FlyAirNZ were simply outstanding on our return to New Zealand," Hesson tweeted.
He also thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Zealand Embassy in India, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"Special thanks to Down pointing backhand index @NZinIndia @MFATNZ @narendramodi @jacindaardern #repatriationflight #india #NZ" he added.
To stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, India and New Zealand had announced lockdowns in their respective countries last month, alongside travel restrictions, forcing the 45-year-old to stay in Bengaluru.
While India remains in lockdown till May 3, New Zealand eased its stringent measures on Tuesday.
The IPL, which was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, has been suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.
The cornavirus outbreak, that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected over 30 lakh people across the world while killing more than two lakh.
All sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics, have either been cancelled or postponed.
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.
May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.
The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.
"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.
"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."
Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.
Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.
"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.
"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."
In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.
"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.
The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.
After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.
The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.
But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.
Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.
With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.
"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.
"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."
However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.
"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.
"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."
But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.
"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."
As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.
"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."
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