Serena Williams teams up with sister Venus for another Wimbledon trophy

July 10, 2016

London, Jul 10: Serena Williams is leaving Wimbledon with two trophies, teaming with her older sister Venus to win a women's doubles final that began a little more than 3 hours after the singles final ended Saturday.

WilliamsThe American siblings won their sixth doubles championship at the All England Club and 14th as a pair at all Grand Slam tournaments by beating fifth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4.

Earlier Saturday, also on Centre Court, Serena collected her 22nd Grand Slam singles title with a straight-set victory over Angelique Kerber in that final.

"I had just enough time to change and get my ankles re-taped," Serena said about going from one match to the other. "But there was so much adrenaline. I didn't want to cool down too much."

Venus sat in the guest box during the singles final.

"Watching Serena earlier was so amazing, and I was so into that. And then you have to re-set yourself and say, 'OK, we've got to play a match and we're going to have to try to win,'" Venus said during a joint interview with the BBC after the doubles. "So she brought the energy from Game 1 and that really brought me up, too."

The Williams sisters also won doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2000, 2002, 2008, 2009 and 2012. Each time, one or the other also won the singles championship, with Serena doing it in 2002, 2009 and 2012 in addition to this year.

They're now 14-0 in major doubles finals. But they were unseeded this time because they play doubles so infrequently, and their most recent Grand Slam title before Saturday had come four years ago, at the All England Club. Until playing at the French Open in May, they hadn't even entered a doubles draw at any major tournament since 2014.

They're planning to compete in doubles, in addition to singles, at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month. They already have won three gold medals in doubles, at the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Summer Games.

When they were asked during the BBC interview which one is in charge of their doubles team, Serena immediately pointed toward Venus and said with a laugh, "She's definitely the boss."

And Venus said: "Well, I'm the older sister, so it kind of falls on me. But (there are) different times on the court that we both take over. So whatever the team needs, it kind of happens organically. That's the best kind of team."

Shvedova, who lost to Venus in the singles quarterfinals this week, was trying to win her third Grand Slam doubles title, after teaming with Vania King for trophies at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010. Babos has never won a major doubles trophy; she was the runner-up with Kristina Mladenovic at Wimbledon in 2014.

In men's doubles, Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-6 (1), 6-3 to win their first Wimbledon title. It was the first all-French Grand Slam men's doubles final of the Open era.

The victory gives Mahut a happier memory from the grass-court tournament where he lost the longest match in tennis history, 70-68 in the fifth set against John Isner in the first round of singles in 2010.

"We talk a lot about this match already. I'm very proud of it," Mahut said, referring to the contest that lasted more than 11 hours, spread over three days. "But now it's something different. Now I can come in the press conference as a Wimbledon champion. It's great."

This is the second major title together for the top-seeded team of Mahut and Herbert, who won the US Open last year.

They're only the second pair of Frenchmen to earn the doubles trophy at the All England Club in the Open era, which began in 1968. Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra won Wimbledon in 2007.

Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin won the 2014 French Open doubles championship.

Mahut knows Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin rather well, having won ATP doubles titles with each of them in the past. Mahut and Benneteau even had success together as teens, collecting seven junior doubles titles in 1999.

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News Network
February 11,2020

Dubai, Feb 11: Two Indian players-- Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi -- and three Bangladeshis have been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for involvement in the quarrel just after the U-19 cricket World Cup summit clash in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Sunday.

Akash and Bishnoi and three Bangladeshi players -- Md. Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan -- were found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after a few players from both sides nearly came to blows after Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win their maiden U-19 World Cup title.

"Five players have been found guilty of a Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Support Personnel ... (they) were charged with violating Article 2.21 of the code, whilst Bishnoi received a further charge of breaching Article 2.5," the ICC said in a statement.

"All five players have accepted the sanctions proposed by ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Match Referee Graeme Labrooy," it added.

A near brawl broke out after Bangladesh’s historic win over India in the final. The Bangladesh players were aggressive during the Indian innings with lead pacer Shoriful Islam frequently sledging the Indian batsmen.

As soon as the match ended, Bangladeshi players rushed into the playing area.

"India's Akash accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years," the ICC said.

Compatriot Bishnoi accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of five suspension points, which equates to five demerit points.

"Bishnoi also accepted a level 1 charge of breaching Article 2.5 for a separate incident during the match, where he used language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter following the dismissal of Avishek Das in the 23rd over," said the ICC.

"For this he received a further two demerit points meaning seven demerit points will remain on his record for the next two years."

Bangladesh's Towhid Hridoy accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of ten suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Shamim Hossain accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Rakibul Hasan accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of four suspension points, which equates to five demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

All charges were levelled by on-field umpires Sam Nogajski and Adrian Holdstock, third umpire Ravindra Wimalasiri as well as fourth umpire Patrick Bongni Jele. Level 3 breaches carry a minimum penalty of four suspension points and a maximum penalty of 12 suspension points.

The suspension points will be applied to the forthcoming international matches the players are most likely to participate in at either senior or U-19 level. One suspension point equals a player being ineligible for one ODI or T20I, U-19 or A team international match.

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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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June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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