Passion for speed takes MS Dhoni into world of racing superbikes

August 28, 2012
Dhoni

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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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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News Network
June 9,2020

Jun 9: Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy has released a video, alleging racism within the SunRisers Hyderabad camp. Last week, Sammy had lost his cool after learning the meaning of the word "Kalu", which he alleged was directed at him during his Indian Premier League (IPL) stint with the SunRisers Hyderabad. The T20 World Cup-winning Windies skipper had said that he along with Sri Lanka player Thisara Perera were sometimes called that word when they played for SunRisers Hyderabad. However, Sammy did not specify as to who directed these slurs at him, but now the player has released a video, saying he will message all those who called him that word.

"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.

"Now, I realise it was degrading, I will be texting you guys and I will ask you as to when you called me with that name, did you all mean it in any bad way or form? I have had great memories in all my dressing rooms, so all those who used to you call me with that word, think about it, let's have a conversation, if it was in a bad way then I would be really disappointed," he added.

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.

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Agencies
August 4,2020

New Delhi, Aug 4: Former India women's team captain Anjum Chopra firmly believes that the BCCI has a plan for women's cricket but she wants the Board to communicate its ideas more specifically.

Speaking to news agency, Chopra, who is now a successful broadcaster, said the BCCI is thinking in earnest about the progress of women's cricket.

"It's not that the BCCI is not thinking about women's cricket. I only think they need to be more specific in communication about women's cricket," Chopra said.

"I firmly believe that they must be thinking about women's cricket but the communication all this while has been very specific to men's cricket."

The latest trigger for criticism of BCCI was India's withdrawal from a tour of England in September owing to logistical issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chopra concedes it was "not nice" but Indian players' participation in the women's IPL, in November, will still be useful preparation for next year's ODI World Cup.

"It is heartening to see women's cricket making headlines. They should have been a part of that England tour and it did not feel nice initially but the women's IPL, irrespective of the format, will be helpful for World Cup preparations. Any form of cricket is good preparation," Chopra said.

"Missing out on a tournament is not nice, but logistically there may have been issues. And you can't send an under-prepared team."

"If you see in isolation we may have missed out on an opportunity to play in England. The more the girls play the better it is, before playing a tournament of the stature of World Cup. The assurance from the president is a very good thing."

Chopra welcomed the Sourav Ganguly-led BCCI's decision to hold the women's event in the UAE alongside the IPL, which will run from September 19 to November 10. The women's IPL will coincide with the business end of the men's league.

"I am definitely happy, it's always nice to be part of any cricket anywhere across the world.

"They should have been nearing the final stages of the preparation for the World Cup by now, but because of the pandemic things did not go as planned," she added.

Chopra had a successful international career spanning over 17 years, during which she represented India in a record six World Cups and became the first woman cricketer to appear in 100 One-day Internationals.

She also felt that the pandemic would not have much impact on the women's game that has gained momentum in recent times.

"...Cricket was on pause button...Once cricket resumes and players are back on the park, everything is going to get picked up. It might take some time to get started as everything starts from zero...

"The awareness the women's game has created, I hope it stays. They will just restart, not start after the pandemic."

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