Sri Lanka Cricket Board official arrested, Arjuna Ranatunga wants Indian help to tackle corruption

Agencies
October 23, 2018

New Delhi, Oct 23: Sri Lanka Cricket, which is currently fighting the menace of deep-rooted corruption, was dealt a blow after its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was arrested for alleged financial fraud, police said on Monday.

The police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said that Piyal Nandana was arrested following a complaint lodged by the SLC to the Inspector General of Police.

Earlier on Monday, former Sri Lankan captain and country’s Petroleum Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) could provide technical expertise in probing widespread allegations of corruption in cricket.

“India has specialized knowledge on the issue having taken action against many corrupt activities in match fixing. The Prime Minister (Sri Lankan) and I made a special request to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He pledged assistance,” Ranatunga told reporters.

“We don’t have the expertise or the laws to deal with this problem in a proper manner. India promised to help us in drafting legislation too,” Ranatunga said after returning from New Delhi.

Former Lanka skipper Ranatunga said that the corrupt local administration was responsible for the current lowly standing of Sri Lanka in international cricket. “It is no point blaming the players for the poor showings,” Ranatunga said.

The arrest of the Sri Lanka Cricket CFO is related to an alleged financial fraud, which was unearthed last September.

An alleged attempt to transfer to an offshore account USD 5.5 million connected to the broadcasting rights of the current England tour of Sri Lanka was reported to the police’s crime investigation department.

The SLC had cited the CFO Nandana as the prime suspect, who had claimed that his e-mail account had been hacked and sent the request to transfer the money to an off shore account. He was sent on compulsory leave.

The money was one of the three tranches coming from Sony Picture Networks for broadcast rights of the England tour. The corruption and fixing allegations have hit the country’s cricket hard after a documentary aired in May alleged massive global corruption in cricket.

After it was aired, Galle groundsman Tharanga Indika and former first-class cricketer Tharindu Mendis were found allegedly speculating about fixing the pitch to ensure a result in under four days in a Test match against England.

Both men have been suspended by Sri Lanka Cricket pending an ICC investigation. A third man, provincial coach Jeevantha Kulatunga, was also suspended. Sanath Jayasuriya, a member of the 1996 World Cup winning squad, is under investigation by the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit, along with several others. Jayasuriya has been charged for not co-operating with a match-fixing probe and concealing information.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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News Network
February 21,2020

New Delhi, Feb 21: Vinesh Phogat yet again fell to Japanese nemesis Mayu Muakida to go out of the gold medal race but Sakshi Malik will fight for the title after winning her semifinal bout at the Asian Wrestling Championship, here on Friday.

Vinesh had lost twice to Mukaida in 2019 – at World Championship and Asian Championships —and the trend continued as the gritty Indian yet again struggled to break the strong defence of the Japanese.

In a tough opening round, Vinesh tried single leg attacks a number of times but every time Mukaida blocked her move and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite.

In her last two meetings, Vinesh had not scored a single point against the 2019 world silver medallist. She managed a takedown this time before eventually losing 2-6.

The hard-working Vinesh will now fight for bronze against Vietnam's Thi Ly Kieu but even a medal won't suffice to lift her mood as she and the fans have high expectations from her.

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, who has been struggling of late, lost her opening round 1-2 to Naomi Ruike from Japan but later overcame two weak opponents to eventually reach the final of the non-Olympic 65kg category.

She could hardly attack Naomi but outplayed Korea's Ohyoung Ha in the next round, winning by technical superiority.

In her semifinal against Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva, Sakshi led 5-0 but her rival pulled off consecutive two-point moves to make it 5-4.

Sakshi has been losing in closing stages of late but this time she managed to hold on to her narrow lead, surviving anxious last two seconds.

Also in medal contention are India's brightest youngsters Sonam Malik (62kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg).

Sonam, who had defeated Sakshi in the trials, showed good tactical mind in her resounding win against Korea's Hanbit Lee and also in the 2-5 defeat against world bronze medallist Yukako Kawai.

She pulled off a superb point-scoring move from a disadvantageous position and resisted the 2018 U-23 world champion Yukako in a good fashion.

She will now fight for bronze against Aisuluu Tynbekova.

Anshu Malik opened up her campaign against Kyrgyzstan's Nuraida Anarkulova, winning by technical superiority but was outplayed by reigning world champion from Japan Riskao Kawai.

She will have to beat Sevara Eshmuratova from Uzbekistan to grab a bronze.

In the non-olympic 72kg, Gursharanpreet Kaur is in bronze medal contention. She beat Uzbekistan's Svetlana Oknazarova but lost to Kazakhstan's Zhamila Bakberzenova.

She still made it to the semifinal in which she lost to Japan's Mei Shindo.

She is now up against Mongloia's Tsevegmed Enkhbayar.

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