'Depressed' Luke Pomersbach quits cricket

June 6, 2014

Luke quitsMumbai, Jun 6: Depression and mental health issues have cut short the career of one more cricketer. Left-handed opening batsman Luke Pomersbach of Australia, only 29, chose to quit playing on Thursday to deal with his illness.

Pomersbach, who played one Twenty20 International for Australia in 2007-08, was an explosive batsman, more suited for the limited-overs format. Originally from Western Australia, he opted to play for Queensland in the Australian domestic scene for the last two seasons.

Pomersbach, in a statement, said: "I really appreciate all the help and support that I have received from Queensland Cricket over the past three years and especially over the past couple of months leading up to this difficult decision to leave professional cricket so that I can put all my efforts into getting better and making a full recovery."

The Indian cricket fans will remember Pomersbach for his alleged molestation of an American woman that led to his arrest in New Delhi during the 2012 edition of Indian Premier League during which he was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The RCB franchise backed Pomersbach throughout the case and subsequently the complaint against the Australian was withdrawn. Though Pomersbach was not retained by RCB after the incident, he did reappear in the IPL, playing three matches for Kings XI Punjab in 2013.

Pomersbach played for KXIP in 2008, 2009 and 2013 while he was part of the RCB set-up in 2011 and 2012, having played only five matches in the first year and none the next. In the first edition of IPL, Pomersbach averaged an unbelievable 152.00, having stayed unbeaten on four occasions out of the five times he batted. Though he did not set the stage afire, he did score a 50-ball 79 not out against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, his team winning by a solitary run in 2008.

For those who know Pomersbach closely, he comes across a fully committed player, cordial with his team-mates and support staff and someone who wanted to excel in his game.

Pomersbach joins a list of cricketers who had to cut short their career due to depression. Last year end, England batsman Jonathan Trott left the Ashes tour Down Under after the first Test due to "stress-related issues".

Former England opener Marcus Trescothick returned home just before the first Test against India in Nagpur in 2006 due to "clinical depression". Trescothick was included for the Ashes series in Australia later that year but a recurrence of his "illness" forced him to catch a flight back home before the Tests began. However, Trescothick was not completely out of cricket, turning out for his county Somerset in English competitions, doing what he knows best – scoring runs.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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