Passion for speed takes MS Dhoni into world of racing superbikes

August 28, 2012

New Delhi, August 28: Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's love for bikes is no secret. His garage boasts of a Hellcat X132 (only one in South Asia), a Kawasaki Ninja, a Yamaha 650cc, aHero Honda CBZ Xtreme and a TVS Star Cityamong others.

The Indian skipper has now taken his passion a step further by foraying into the world ofSuperbike championship with his own team -MSD R-N Racing Team India.

This team - the only one from India - is currently competing in the Supersport World Championship after making its debut in the Czech Republic race in Brno last month. The team was put together in a matter of weeks and is expected to take part in the full championship next year. Frenchman Florian Marino and Dan Linfoot of Great Britain are the two riders of the team.

The Supersport series was introduced as a support class to the World Superbike Championship in 1990. The series is organized and supported by FGSport and sanctioned by FIM - motorbiking's international governing body.

The news about Dhoni's involvement with the team was kept under wraps for weeks until it was reported on the official website of the championship. Dhoni's close friend Arun Pandey is the chairman and managing director of the team. Dhoni is mentioned as part of the management of the team which also includes Telugu film actor Nagarjuna as one of the directors of the team.

"We are definitely involved with the superbike team but I can't reveal more details at this moment," Pandey told TOI from Moscow, where the team competed in its third race of the season.

The team has been launched to cash in on the arrival of the World Superbike Championship in India. The Buddh International Circuit is set to host the first race next year in March.

"We are looking at it from the long term perspective," team principal Amit Sandill said at the launch last month. "Trying to grow the sport in Asia. The sport itself is in a pretty nascent stage in Asia so this is a first step. Trying to get to the championship and making a kind of mark in the championship and then take the sport to India and then other countries in Asia. We would also like to start a racing academy. Behind all this is the passion, which comes as a bonus."

The team officials, however, are keen on keeping mum about Dhoni's involvement. "We have just launched the team a couple of weeks back. We are planning a full-fledged launch soon but it depends on Dhoni's availability," a team official said.

In the first race of the season, Marino managed a 13th place finish on his Kawasaki ZX-6 R bike after starting in the 23rd place. The Frenchman followed that up with a 19th place in Silverstone on August 5. In this weekend's race in Moscow, Marino and Linfoot came in 14 and 16.

What is World Supersport Championship?

Supersport series was introduced as a support class to the Superbike World Championship in 1990 as the European Championship.

A Supersport Championship race takes place at every Superbike World Championship round.

Each race is approximately 100 km long.

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Virat Kohli only Indian again in Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes

News Network

May 30,2020

New York, May 30: Cricket superstar Virat Kohli remains the only Indian in the Forbes' list of world's highest-paid athletes with total earnings of USD 26 million, jumping to the 66th spot from 100 in the 2020 standings.

Kohli's earnings from endorsement stand at USD 24 million and USD 2 million from salary/winnings. The 31-year-old is also the only cricketer in the top-100 list.

With earnings of USD 25 million, Kohli was ranked 100th in 2019 and 83rd in 2018 with USD 24 million.

Tennis legend Roger Federer has toped the list for the first time with earnings of USD 106.3 million, rising from fifth place last year.

Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are second and third respectively with earnings of USD 105 and USD 104 million.

The others in the top-10 are Neymar (football), LeBron James (basketball), Stephen Curry (basketball), Kevin Durrant (basketball), Tigers Woods (golf), Kirk Cousins (American football) and Carson Wentz (American football).

The athletes' earnings have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to suspension of sporting activities all around the world.

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Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to feature in the world’s 20 most charitable athletes, as per a list compiled by the US based website in Athletes Gone Good.

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Was ashamed of myself after seeing training regime of Kohli, says Tamim Iqbal

News Network

June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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Will eat grass but raise Pakistan Army budget, says Shoaib Akhtar

Agencies

August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate."

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