Indian cyclists finish second with 16 medals in Track Asia Cup

September 17, 2016

New Delhi, Sep 17: The Indian Cyclists finished second in the Track Asia Cup campaign by winning 16 medals overall, including 5 Gold, 4 Silver and 7 Bronze here at the Indira Gandhi Stadium velodrome on Friday.

Asia

On the final day of the Track Asia Cup, India bagged eight medals including 2 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Hongkong took the top spot with 18 medals overall, including 11 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze.

On finishing second in the medal tally, Coach RK Sharma said "I am satisfied with the performance of our cyclists in the Track Asia Cup especially Junior cyclists have shown good performance in this prestigious event and lived upto the expectations. I am sure this event has been a great learning experience for all the cyclists looking ahead Asian Track Cycling Championship in 2017. We have ample time before our next event and our cyclists will surely improve their performance by then".

Onkar Singh, Secretary General, CFI said "5 years back, when we taken over Cycling Federation of India at that time Indian Cyclists were at 149th place in World Ranking but now Indian Cycling has been improved much and most of our riders are Under-10 rank in UCI World Ranking. The day is not so far when we will win the medals in World Championships, he added."

Indian cyclist Deborah Herold in her final Sprint event took the first position, grabbing a gold medal with a time of 12.576 and 12.493 in the first and second round respectively. She beat Zhaojuan of Hong Kong, who went on to take the silver medal, clocking 12.820 and 12.734 in both the rounds respectively. The third position was awarded to Farina Shawati of Malaysia with a timing of 12.552 and 12.342 in the rounds. While Kezia Vargheese of India was given the fourth in this event.

Deborah lost the gold medal in her favourite event 'Keirin' by a whisker and could manage only silver ahead of her teammate Kezia Varghesse (Bronze) while two other riders of Hongkong and Malaysia collapsed and fell down after which they were unable to complete the race.

Deborah turns out to be the star performer of the event with 3 golds and one silver medal with her.

On winning silver medal in her favourite event 'Keirin', Deborah said, "I am unlucky that I lost the easy gold, I lost my focus due to the collision of other riders, this happened to me even last year also because of which I failed to win any medal in this event and this time I don't want to repeat the history and lost the medal. I am determined to do better in the Asian Track Cycling Championship to be held in India in February 2017 where riders from nearly 31 countries will take part".

In the Men's elite Keirin event, Indian cyclist Amarjeet Singh fails to win any medal and finished 8th.

In the Men Junior Sprint final, the gold and silver was awarded to Chun Long and TSZ Chun from Hong Kong respectively. Chun Long was clocked at 11.315 and 12.842 in both the rounds respectively and Tsz Chun was timed at 11.445 and 13.098 for the rounds. The bronze medal was awarded to our Indian cyclist Sanuraj P with a timing of 12.203 and 12.322 in the first and second round respectively. Emerson was at the fourth position with timing of 12.225 and 11.352 in both the rounds.

In the Men's Junior Keirin, Emerson wins bronze medal for India.

The Women Junior Sprint final however saw India bag the first two positions adding another gold and a silver to the medal tally. Nayana Rajesh, was awarded the gold medal and was clocked at 12.658 and 12.865 in both the rounds respectively. Anu Chutia grabbed the silver position, with a timing of 12.764 and 13.178 in the first and second rounds. Hoi Wah of Hong Kong was at the third position with a time of 13.644 and 13.300.

However, the Men Elite Sprint Final could not manage getting any positions in the event, the gold and silver positions were awarded to Shih Fang from Taiwan and Ali Askari from Iran respectively. The bronze medal went to Shih Hsin from Taiwan. Shih Fang was timed at 11.085 and 11.091 and Ali Askari was clocked at 10.994 and 11.412.

In the team Elite Women's team pursuit, India bagged bronze medal comprising Raj Kumari Devi, Bidya Luxmi Tourangbam, Ratuja Satputhe and G Amritha Regunath.

The main attraction of the last day was the point race of 30 km, where 14 riders took part together and they have to complete the 120 rounds of the track. However, Indian couldn't win the medal in this race and Krishna Nayakodi and Ramesh Nagarajan could secure 8th place and 10th place respectively.

Ka Yu Leung and Chun Wing Leung of Hong Kong distributed Gold and Silver each other with 90 and 73 points respectively. The third place went to Yousif Alhammadi of UAE with a total of 40 points.

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News Network
June 18,2020

Jun 18: Sri Lanka "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India, the country's former sports minister said on Thursday, reviving one of cricket's most explosive match-fixing controversies. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is the second senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. "I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals," Aluthgamage told Sirasa TV. "Even when I was sports minister I believed this."

Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister for renewable energy and power, said he "did not want to disclose" the plot at the time.

"In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about it now. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved," he said.

Sri Lanka lost the match at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium by six wickets. Indian players have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Ranatunga, who was at the stadium as a commentator, has previously called for an investigation into the defeat.

"When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt," he said in July 2017. "We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final."

"I cannot reveal everything now, but one day I will. There must be an inquiry," added Ranatunga, who said players could not hide the "dirt".

Sri Lanka batted first and scored 274-6 off 50 overs. They appeared in a commanding position when Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar was out for 18.

But India turned the game dramatically, thanks partly to poor fielding and bowling by Sri Lanka, who were led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lankan cricket has regularly been involved in corruption controversies, including claims of match-fixing ahead of a 2018 Test against England.

Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan cricket board said the International Cricket Council was investigating three unnamed former players over alleged corruption.

Sri Lanka introduced tough penalties for match-fixing and tightened sports betting restrictions in November in a bid to stamp out graft.

Another former sports minister, Harin Fernando, has said Sri Lankan cricket was riddled with graft "from top to bottom", and that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended in 2018 for corruption relating to a limited-overs league.

He was the third Sri Lankan charged under the ICC anti-corruption code, following former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa.

Jayasuriya was found guilty of failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and banned for two years. Zoysa was suspended for match-fixing.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: After being named as India's 'Most Valuable Player' in Test cricket in the 21st century, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday said that he will always aim to give his best for the country.

His remark came as Jadeja achieved an MVP rating of 97.3 and as a result, he was also rated as the second most valuable player Test player worldwide, only second to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Thank you Wisden India for naming me the 'Most Valuable Player'. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, fans, and well-wishers for your support as I aim to give my best for our country. Jai Hind," Jadeja tweeted.

Based on CricViz's market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket was awarded an 'MVP rating' by Wisden using a statistical model to rank their 'match impact' compared to their peers.

Jadeja has played in 49 Tests from 2012, managing to score 1,869 runs and has also picked up 213 wickets.

"It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India's spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 - contributing to a very high match involvement," the official website of Wisden quoted CricViz's Freddie Wilde as saying.

"But Jadeja's position is based on more than simply volume: it's what he does when he's involved that really counts. The 31-year-old's bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne's and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson's. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second-best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality," he added.

With the bat in hand, Jadeja has managed to score one century and 14 fifties in the longest format of the game.

He was last seen in action during India's two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year.

He would have been in action for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL had the tournament commenced from March 29.

However, the IPL has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: "It is never too late to fight for the right cause," said opening batsman Chris Gayle as he came out in support of former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy. The debate around racism in sport has kickstarted once again after former Windies T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2014 Indian Premier League. Taking note of Sammy's revelation, Gayle tweeted: "It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game".

Earlier, Gayle had also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that racism is something that has been bothering cricket as well.

On Tuesday, Sammy had released a video specifying that the racial slurs against him were used within the SunRisers camp.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn't know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.

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