Aide’s confession puts Vijender in trouble

March 10, 2013

Vijender_in_trouble

Chandigarh, Mar 10: Olympic medallist Vijender Singh appears to be heading for some trouble, with fellow boxer Ram Singh confessing before the Punjab Police that the duo had “experimented” with heroin towards the end of 2012.

The police on Thursday seized 26 kg of heroin valued at Rs 130 crore in the international market from two persons, identified as Anoop Singh Kahlon and Rocky.

Ram Singh, who has been Vijender’s roommate at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) in Patiala for several years, told the police that he had procured drugs from the two persons arrested in the case around six times till February. Singh, however, clarified that neither he nor Vijender was habituated to drugs.

Meanwhile, Kahlon, a Canada-based NRI?and former national level short putter, tried to commit suicide in police custody on Friday evening.

The alleged kingpin of an international drug racket slit his wrist with a wire. He was immediately rushed to hospital and discharged after treatment.

The police are yet to summon Vijender. They are ascertaining the veracity of the charges against the ace boxer. As of now, there is no direct evidence to link Vijender with peddlers.

The police have so far made six arrests in the case and seized some chemical substances.

According to sources, Ram Singh told the police that the duo had visited Kahlon’s Zirakpur residence on a few occasions since they started dabbling in heroin in December last year.

Singh also confessed to have made Vijender try heroin.

Vijender has trashed the allegations. “I completely deny the allegations. I do not know the person in question and I am not involved with him in any way. I may have met him but don’t know him personally or directly. I am more than willing to cooperate with the police and I have nothing to hide. My wife’s car being found at the scene is just a coincidence. The person in custody is possibly using my name to mislead the authorities and malign me.

My focus is and has always been my career,” he said.

Vijender came under the scanner after a car registered in the name of his wife was found outside Kahlon’s residence. Vijender is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and a deputy SP with the Haryana Police.

Another name that cropped up during the interrogations was that of wrestler Jagdish Bhola, a former police officer and Arjuna award recipient. Bhola is facing cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The Punjab Police have recovered 10 kg of narcotics, used mainly in rave parties, from his house in Mohali district.

The contraband was valued at over Rs 1 crore in the international market. The police said the drugs were supplied to rave parties in Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh.

Bhola was earlier deputed as a DSP in Punjab, but suspended in 2002 after his name figured in a drug racket. He was also stripped of the Arjuna award. “We got a tip-off that drugs have been kept at Jagdish’s house during the interrogation of an international drug smuggler. We conducted raids, but Jagdish managed to flee. He is wanted in many other cases related to drug smuggling,” said the senior superintendent of the Fatehgarh Sahib police, who led the raid.

However, the police managed to arrest two accomplices of Jagdish and recovered Rs 1 crore in cash, 20 kg of narcotic chemicals and 2 kg of heroin. They were identified as Manpreet Singh and Gabbar Singh.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 24: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the Anti-Corruption Code, on Friday, said that people are bound to make mistakes and the important thing is that how well they make a comeback.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket on October 29 last year after he accepted the charges of breaching the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. He will be able to resume international cricket from October 29, 2020.

"You have to be honest. You just can't lie to the people and pretend different things. Whatever happened has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. You are not 100%. The important thing is how well you can comeback from those mistakes. You can tell other people not to make those mistakes. Tell them the path so that they never take those paths," Shakib told Deep Dasgupta in a videocast hosted by ESPNcricinfo.

The 33-year-old all-rounder said he has seen many controversies ever since he was first made captain in 2009. He had trouble with the board chief, selectors and the media, mainly about selectorial decisions and not being made permanent captain between 2009 and 2010.
He believes those experiences have changed him as a person over time.

"I think [it's] combination of both [controversy following him, and vice versa]. I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I was captain when I was 21. I made a lot of mistakes, and there are so many things that people think about me. Now I realise that it was my fault in some areas, and in some I was misunderstood. But I get it completely. It is part and parcel in the subcontinent," Hasan said.

"Of course I will try to minimise [my mistakes] as much as I can, but by the time I got married, and now I have two kids, I understand the game and life better. It has made me a calmer person than I was in my twenties. I have changed quite a lot. People won't see me doing a lot of mistakes now. My two daughters changed my life completely," he added.

Shakib is likely return to international cricket during Bangladesh's proposed Test series against Sri Lanka in October. 

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ex-New Zealand player and coach had arrived in India on March 5 for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but was stuck in the country after the lockdown was imposed and all flights were suspended.

"What a wonderful sight after spending over a day on a bus to get to Mumbai airport. The staff on @FlyAirNZ were simply outstanding on our return to New Zealand," Hesson tweeted.

He also thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Zealand Embassy in India, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"Special thanks to Down pointing backhand index @NZinIndia @MFATNZ @narendramodi @jacindaardern #repatriationflight #india #NZ" he added.

To stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, India and New Zealand had announced lockdowns in their respective countries last month, alongside travel restrictions, forcing the 45-year-old to stay in Bengaluru.

While India remains in lockdown till May 3, New Zealand eased its stringent measures on Tuesday.

The IPL, which was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, has been suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.

The cornavirus outbreak, that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected over 30 lakh people across the world while killing more than two lakh.

All sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics, have either been cancelled or postponed.

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