Usain Bolt knocked over by cameraman on segway in Beijing but laughs off incident

August 28, 2015

Beijing, Aug 28: Usain Bolt escaped unscathed after he was knocked over by a cameraman on a segway while celebrating his 200m win at the world championships in Beijing.

Usainbolt

The bizarre accident happened when the cameraman strayed too close to a barefoot Bolt as he posed for photos following his gold-medal run.

The local television journalist bumped into a fixed railing and went flying off backwards, shooting the scooter into Bolt's legs from behind and sending the Jamaican crashing to the ground.

Bolt climbed gingerly to his feet to complete his lap of honour.

"He took me out," said the Jamaican after videos of his mishap quickly went viral.

"The rumour I'm trying to start right now is that Justin Gatlin paid him off, so that's what I'm going with. But I'm all right so it's all good."

Bolt's American rival quickly shot back: "I want my money back, he didn't complete the job!"

Lucky to escape with only his pride hurt, Bolt pondered getting his legs insured in case of future bumps and scrapes after winning his fourth consecutive world title in the 200m.

"I probably should get my legs insured," smiled the six-times Olympic champion. "It was pretty scary when it happened but accidents happen.

"I have a few cuts but it's nothing that I've never done to myself in training so I'll be all right," added Bolt. "He didn't hit me in my ankles, he hit me in my calf area so I'll get over it."

Bolt, winner of an astonishing 11 of the last 12 individual world and Olympic sprint titles since he shot to fame at the 2008 Beijing Games, revealed that the red-faced cameraman had apologised for mowing down the biggest name in athletics.

"He said sorry as much as he could," said Bolt with a chuckle. "But I checked to make sure if he was okay because I think he got the worst of it. He was off-balance going backwards and I'm not sure if he hit his head but I'm just happy that he's okay. I'm fine so it's all fun."

In the chaos that followed the final, Bolt also lost his spikes to a spectator who ran away with them.

"When I jumped over the fence I gave a guy who was calling me my spikes to hold," he said. "When I did my interview I looked around and he was gone, he was just running."

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News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: "It is never too late to fight for the right cause," said opening batsman Chris Gayle as he came out in support of former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy. The debate around racism in sport has kickstarted once again after former Windies T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2014 Indian Premier League. Taking note of Sammy's revelation, Gayle tweeted: "It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game".

Earlier, Gayle had also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that racism is something that has been bothering cricket as well.

On Tuesday, Sammy had released a video specifying that the racial slurs against him were used within the SunRisers camp.

"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.

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.

Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Jun 2: Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy has spoken strongly against the killing if George Floyd in USA, and has now urged the ICC & all the other boards in the world to come together and fight the evil.

In a series of tweets Sammy wrote how the blacks have been suffering for a long time.

“For too long black people have suffered. I’m all the way in St Lucia and I’m frustrated If you see me as a teammate then you see #GeorgeFloyd Can you be part of the change by showing your support. #BlackLivesMatter,” Sammy wrote.

He also wrote, “@ICC and all the other boards are you guys not seeing what’s happening to ppl like me? Are you not gonna speak against the social injustice against my kind. This is not only about America. This happens everyday #BlackLivesMatter now is not the time to be silent. I wanna hear u.”

“Right now if the cricket world not standing against the injustice against people of color after seeing that last video of that foot down the next of my brother you are also part of the problem.”

Earlier, West Indies star batsman Chris Gayle has said racism exists in cricket too, saying he gets the 'end of the stick' even within teams.

"Black lives matter just like any other life. Black people matter, p***k all racist people, stop taking black people for fools, even our own black people wise the p***k up and stop bringing down your own! I have travelled the globe and experience racial remarks towards me because I am black, believe me, the list goes on," Gayle wrote in his Instagram story.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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