A year on, Mohammed Azharuddin and family coming to terms with Ayaz's death

September 4, 2012

captain-son

Hyderabad: As the blue Alto stopped near Hazrath Banda Shah graveyard gate in the bustling Riyasat Nagar locality, a strapping bespectacled man in his 40s came out of the car with a bouquet of roses accompanied by a teenager.

Even from a distance, any onlooker would not be able to miss a striking resemblance of the man with former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin and rightly so.

He is Mohammed Fareesuddin, Azhar's younger brother, who has come all the way from Dubai to pay homage to his nephew Ayazuddin -- who lost his life in a tragic bike accident on a fateful day in September last year.

"It's a huge loss for the family. We are yet to overcome from that tragedy but we are trying our best," Farees said as he tried hard to control his emotions standing in front of Ayazuddin's grave.

"Ayaz was very soft-spoken, introvert lad. There was hardly any interaction between us... But I remember people saying he was a talented cricketer, similar to that of his father."

Farees informed that the family will be planning something on Ayaz's first death anniversary, once Azhar, who is now a busy Parliamentarian is back in the city.

Although Ayaz passed away on September 16 last year, according to Arabic calendar, his first death anniversary is next week.

"As per the English calendar it's on September 16 but according to the Arabic calendar the anniversary is sometime next week. Bhai (Azhar) would come during that time," he added.

September 11 is a date that will haunt the family forever as Ayaz had the bike accident on that very day.

"I was here that time. He really battled for life. Despite heavy internal bleeding, he fought on, continuously for six days before breathing his last," Farees said.

"A father can only understand how difficult is it to lose a child. It was really painful for Bhai... But somehow, he is trying to overcome it. He (Azhar) is quite fine now."

The graveyard is more than 100 years' old with all of Azharuddin's ancestors buried at the place.

"Whenever anybody of the family comes (to Hyderabad), they visit and pay a homage here. All our ancestors are buried here," Irfan said.

55-year-old Mohammad Ahmed, janitor of this graveyard remembered how Azhar broke down during the burial.

"I still remember the evening when Ayaz was buried. It was around 7 clock in the evening. Azhar completely broke down. Later, he (Azhar) had come on the third day, the 10th day and on the 40th day. It's been about two months since he last visited.

"He is a busy man. It's their family's graveyard. I've seen many burials of the family. But Ayaz's death was most tragic," Ahmed, who lives inside the compound with his 10-member family, said.

"The entire city including all the ministers turned up to mourn the death last year. The entire place was cordoned off," he recollected.

The 1000cc Hayabusa was a gift from Azhar to Ayaz on Eid as the teenager was passionate about mean machine.

His passion turned fatal and changed the lives of everyone around him. May be the reason why Azhar didn't pay a visit to graveyard during this year's Eid. Time flies but for some life refuses to move on.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Tokyo, Apr 14: Tokyo organizers said Tuesday they have no B Plan in the event the Olympics need to be postponed again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Masa Takaya, the spokesman for the Tokyo Olympics, said organizers are proceeding under the assumption the Olympics will open on July 23, 2021. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

Those dates were set last month by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials after the coronavirus pandemic made it clear the Olympics could not be held as scheduled this summer.

We are working toward the new goal, Takaya said, speaking in English on a teleconference call with journalists.

We don't have a B Plan. The severity of the pandemic and the death toll has raised questions if it will even be feasible to hold the Olympics in just over 15 months. Several Japanese journalists raised the question on the call.

All I can tell you today is that the new games' dates for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been just set up, Takaya said.

In that respect, Tokyo 2020 and all concerned parties now are doing their very best effort to deliver the games next year." IOC President Thomas Bach was asked about the possibility of a postponement in an interview published in the German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

He did not answer the question directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated they could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the lastest.

The Olympics draw 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and large support staffs from 206 national Olympic committees.

There are also questions about frozen travel, rebooking hotels, cramming fans into stadiums and arenas, securing venues, and the massive costs of rescheduling, which is estimated in Japan at 2 billion- 6 billion.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto addressed the issue in a news conference on Friday. He is likely to be asked about it again on Thursday when local organizers and the IOC hold a teleconferene with media in Japan.

The other major question is the cost of the delay; how much will it be, and who pays? Bach said in the Sunday interview that the IOC would incur several hundred million dollars in added costs. Under the so-called Host City Agreement, Japan is liable for the vast majority of the expenses.

This is impossible to say for now, Takaya, the spokesman said.

It is not very easy to estimate the exact amount of the games' additional costs, which have been impacted by the postponement."

Tokyo says it's spending 12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. But a Japanese government audit published last year says the costs are twice that much. Of the total spending, 5.6 billion in private money. The rest is from Japanese governments.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Jun 27: India's Test batting mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara cannot describe in words the influence that Rahul Dravid has had on his life but says he will always remain grateful to him for teaching the importance of switching off from cricket.

Often compared to Dravid, who was considered the 'wall' of Indian cricket, Pujara said he is thankful to Dravid for teaching him how to keep personal and professional lives separate.

"He helped me understand the importance of switching off from cricket. I had the same thought, more or less, but when I spoke to him, it gave me a lot of clarity about it and I was sure of what I needed to do," he told ESPNcricinfo.

"I also saw in county cricket how they keep personal and professional lives separate. I value that advice a lot. Many people consider me to be focused. Yes, I am focused, But I also know when to switch off. There is life beyond cricket."

In his illustrious international career, Dravid amassed 13288 runs in 164 Tests and 10889 runs in 344 ODIs. He also captained India in 79 ODIs, winning 42 of them, which includes the world record of 14 successive wins while chasing.

"I cannot say in one line what Rahul bhai means to me. He has always been an inspiration, and will remain one," Pujara said.

His mental fortitude and batting technique is often compared to Dravid but Pujara said "despite my enchantment with him" he never tried to "copy him."

"There is a similarity in our games, but that's not because of my fascination with him. That came mainly through my experiences with Saurashtra, where I learned that scoring a hundred alone isn't enough, you have to carry your team," he said.

"That is how I learned responsibility - it is about helping my team to raise a big total, and for that I ought to attach importance to my wicket. I learned that from my junior cricket days with Saurashtra, which was a weaker team in domestic cricket."

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