Anil Kumble took the right decision: Azharuddin

Agencies
August 9, 2017

Mumbai, Aug 9: Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin on Wednesday defended Anil Kumble's decision to quit as Indian cricket team's head coach, saying the legendary leg-spinner took the right call in the interest of his self respect.

Kumble had controversially quit two days after the Champions Trophy final loss against Pakistan in London in June, calling his partnership with captain Virat Kohli "untenable".

He was given an extension for the West Indies tour, but Kumble chose otherwise, marking a closure to his acrimonious episode as the head coach.

"I feel very sad for him. It is sad that something like this happened to Anil. Knowing Anil, I don't think he is that type of a person. Maybe he thought it is better to be away than losing your self-respect. I think he took the right decision," Azharuddin said.

The former skipper, who led India in three ODI World Cups - 1992, 1996 and 1999 - was speaking to reporters at the pre-launch event of 3D mobile game Azhar - the Captain, by Hyderabad based firm BigCode Games.

Azharuddin also begs to differ with current head coach Ravi Shastri, who had recently said that Indian teams of past 20 years have not achieved as much as this current lot has.

"The Indian team in those days were different to the team now so it is unfair to compare. He (Shastri) was also part of the team in those days so he is also including himself. The bowlers were different, the opposition teams were different so it is difficult to compare between the two eras," he said.

Almost five years after the Andhra Pradesh High Court has quashed all charges of match-fixing against him, Azharuddin is yet to receive his pending from the BCCI.

Azharuddin's case came up for discussion on Wednesday during a meeting between BCCI office-bearers and Committee of Administrators, where it decided to refer the matter to the Board's general body.

"My expectations are positive because I never think negative. The letter that I sent to the Board it has been put in the agenda of the meeting so that means they are serious about it. I am hoping this case is resolved at the earliest and we move ahead," Azharuddin said.

"I never had a problem with BCCI. Obviously when I got the ban I had to defend myself, that is the only thing other than that there is nothing against the Board," said Azharuddin, who has been banned for life by the BCCI for his involvement in match-fixing.

Two days back, S Sreesanth's life ban was revoked by the Kerala High Court.

Asked about the case, Azharuddin said, "I think if the court order has come then they have to follow it. He has lost four years but Sreesanth will have to bring his fitness up to the required standards. He will have to put in good performances.

"According to me, Sreesanth was one of the finest fast bowlers but I think he was not handled properly. If he was handled better, he would have turned out to be a good fast bowler. If you see very few bowlers could manage to land the ball on the seam as he did, so he was very good."

"The BCCI will have to take a positive decision (on Sreesanth) if the court has given an order," he added.

Azharuddin also expressed his displeasure after he was barred from contesting the Hyderabad Cricket Association elections.

"Regarding the HCA elections, they could not stop me from contesting but they misled the lower court. The Lodha Committee recommendations clearly states that an election commissioner who has been in the same role in the past only can conduct the elections. If you don't have a person fulfilling the criteria in Hyderabad then you can call someone from outside to conduct the elections," he said.

"But they misled the lower court and did all wrong things. Like in the last meeting they said they have followed the Lodha Panel recommendations, but if they have followed it then 90 per cent of the people in the association will have to go.

"Even the HCA president will have to go because he has got a cabinet rank post in the TRS government. He is claiming that he doesn't get any salary but the fact of the matter is that it is a salaried post and it doesn't matter whether you take the salary or not. So if they have followed the Lodha recommendations as they are claiming, then they will have to first remove the president," he added.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
May 13,2020

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

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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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