Dipa eyes Olympic berth with strong performances

Agencies
March 13, 2019

New Delhi, Mar 13: India's Dipa Karmakar will look to secure an Olympic berth with "some good performances" at back-to-back Artistic Gymnastics World Cups in Baku and Doha, beginning Thursday.

Dipa had claimed a bronze at the vault event of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus, Germany in November 2018, to make a strong bid for her Olympic qualification.

It was Dipa's first appearance after recovering from a knee strain, which had spoilt her chances at the Jakarta Asian Games, where she missed the vault final and also had to pull out of the team event.

However, she recovered in time to secure a third-spot finish at Cottbus, keeping alive her chances of Olympic qualification.

Although Dipa skipped the World Cup in Melbourne (February 21-24), she is now eyeing good outings at the two World Cups - Baku (March 14-17) and Doha (March 20-23).

"This time the Olympic qualifications is through several routes including the World Cups. I want to explore all possible routes to increase my chances for the 2020 Olympic qualifications and my confidence has risen after winning a medal at the World Cup in Germany last year," Dipa had said.

"I hope to produce some good performances and progress towards the Olympics," added the gymnast from Agartala, who had vaulted her way to a fourth place finish at the Rio Olympics.

The two upcoming tournaments are part of an eight-event qualifying system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, under which the gymnasts will make the cut based on the their top three scores.

However, the run-up to the two events was shrouded in uncertainty for Dipa with the Sport Authority Of India (SAI) not clearing the trips even though the Gymnastic Federation of India (GFI) had sent her entry to FIG in time.

On March 5, SAI cleared her and coach Bisweswar Nandi's trip for the two World Cups and they left for Azerbaijan last Tuesday.

Nandi had made it clear that nothing less than a gold will do for his ward.

"To qualify for the Olympics, she will have to win gold in the next 3-4 events of the World Cup she participates in," Nandi had said.

While Dipa will be the only Indian hope at Baku World Cup, the country will also see representatives in the men's category at Qatar.

SAI conducted a selection trial for the men gymnasts on Monday here and Karnataka's Ujwal Naidu pipped seasoned Ashish Kumar in floor event to grab a berth, while Yogeshwar Singh of SSCB emerged on top in vault to qualify for the Doha event.

Interestingly, GFI had sent the entries of Ashish Kumar and Yogeshwar Singh in the men's artistic event in Doha after they showed interest to participate in the tournament.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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News Network
June 29,2020

Jun 29: The West Indies cricketers will sport a 'Black Lives Matter' logo on the collars of their shirts during the upcoming three-Test series against England to protest against racism in sports.

Skipper Jason Holder, who has voiced his support to the cause that has once again come to the forefront after the killing of American George Floyd, said in a statement on Sunday: "We believe we have a duty to show solidarity and also to help raise awareness."

The ICC-approved logo, designed by Alisha Hosannah, will be the one which featured in the shirts of all 20 Premier League football clubs since the sport's resumption earlier this month.

"This is a pivotal moment in history for sports, for the game of cricket and for the West Indies cricket team," Holder was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

"We have come to England to retain the Wisden Trophy but we are very conscious of happenings around the world and the fight for justice and equality. "As a group of young men, we know of the rich and diverse history of West Indies cricket and we know we are guardians of the great game for a generation to come."

Holder, who wants racism to be treated at par with doping and corruption, said they arrived at the decision to wear the logo after much thought.

"We did not take our decision lightly. We know what it is for people to make judgments because of the colour of our skin, so we know what it feels like, this goes beyond the boundary. There must be equality and there must be unity. Until we get that as people, we cannot stop," he said.

"We have to find some way to have equal rights and people must not be viewed differently because of the colour of their skin or ethnic background."

The West Indies players are likely to wear the shirts for the first time in this week's four-day warm-up match at Emirates Old Trafford, starting on Monday.

The opening Test of the series, which will mark the resumption of international cricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus, will get underway at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on July 8.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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