Sri Lankan cheerleaders branded an 'eyesore'

October 5, 2012

Sri-Lanka-cheerleaders-2

Sri Lankan cricket authorities have complained to organisers about cheerleaders at the World Twenty20 tournament after media criticism describing them as a "disgraceful eyesore".

Nishantha Ranatunga, secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket, told AFP that fans had also provided "negative feedback" after lacklustre displays by the local performers, who lead celebrations when wickets are taken and boundaries scored.

"The impression created by these cheerleaders is not acceptable," Ranatunga said Thursday. "We complained to the ICC (International Cricket Council) that this is harming the image of Sri Lanka.

"We had a lot of negative feedback which we passed on to the ICC as we had nothing to do with selecting the dance troupes."

The dancers, who are dressed in blue leggings, striped skirts and T-shirts bearing advertising slogans, have been attacked in the Sri Lankan media for their amateur dancing and un-coordinated routines.

"The sorry performance of the so-called cheerleaders is not only a disgraceful eyesore, but has show-cased Sri Lanka in a poor light to the entire world," the Daily Mirror said.

The manager of the cheerleaders, Sudev Abeysekara, was quoted in India's Hindustan Times on Saturday as saying that more attractive dancers were not available due to low wages.

"In an event like this you need good looking girls, and to get the beautiful girls who are professional dancers, you have to pay more," he said. "The payment is not that great."

He added that "the girls are not comfortable, the tights they are wearing slip down while dancing and the girls are busy tying them here and there."

Abeysekara, who was not available to comment to AFP, also said that the dancers declined to wear shorts as they "are conscious that parents are watching".

Event organisers said the contract for providing cheerleaders had been awarded to a foreign company which sub-contracted the work to a Sri Lankan firm.

Cheerleaders were popularised in cricket with the arrival of the high-energy Twenty20 format, and they have become a popular part of the annual Indian Premier League (IPL).

The first Twenty20 semi-final will be held on Thursday between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with the final on Sunday.




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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mumbai, Apr 12: Always eager to share his vast knowledge and experience, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has interacted with 12,000 doctors on sports injuries.

In his over two decade long illustrious career, Tendulkar suffered many health issues, the most prominent being the tennis elbow injury.

The veteran of 200 Tests and 463 ODIs, got to know through one Dr Sudhir Warrier, an orthopaedic surgeon, that several young doctors across the country were utilising the lockdown time to effectively gain knowledge on sports injuries through live webinars.

A session on sports injuries was held on Saturday and Tendulkar, knowing that his experiences will help these doctors, volunteered to be a part of it.

Tendulkar, accordingly, interacted with around 12,000 doctors, who attended the session.

It is reliably leanrt that the 46-year-old legend said he was grateful to the medical fraternity for their service.

During the session, the young orthopaedic doctors got to know how the requirements and treatment outcomes of athletes are different from regular patients, sources said.

Dr Warrier moderated the session with Dr Nitin Patel, physiotherapist, who has worked with Indian cricket team and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

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