Luis Suarez banned for four months for biting Giorgio Chiellini

June 27, 2014

Jun 27: Uruguay's Luis Suarez was hit with the biggest ban imposed at a World Cup on Friday morning as FIFA threw the book at one of football's most talented but controversial players for biting an opponent.

Suarez biteThe sport's governing body suspended Suarez from all football-related activity for four months and ruled he could not play in Uruguay's next nine competitive games, meaning he is unlikely to appear in non-friendly matches for his country until 2016.

The ruling ended Suarez's World Cup and his lucrative off-field sponsorships are now in doubt.

"Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field," said chairman of the disciplinary committee Claudio Sulser.

The four-month ban means Suarez will have to sit out the first two months of the next English season. He will miss Liverpool's opening Premier League and Champions League matches.

The 27-year-old striker must immediately leave his Uruguay team-mates who are preparing for a World Cup last-16 match against Colombia on Sunday (AEST).

FIFA also fined Suarez 100,000 Swiss francs ($119,000) after 10 hours of deliberations by its independent disciplinary committee.

The Uruguayan FA will appeal against the ruling, but Suarez cannot play even if a challenge is lodged. The imposition of the fine could be delayed pending the appeal.

Suarez is one of the most gifted players in world football, scoring 31 league goals in 33 games for Liverpool last season.

He returned from a month on the sidelines with an injury to score twice in Uruguay's 2-1 win over England last week, transforming the team's World Cup which began with a loss to Costa Rica in a game Suarez sat out.

But he is also one of the game's most troubled players and has been banned twice previously for biting opponents.

Former Brazil striker Ronaldo had no sympathy.

"Football must set an example and show examples of good players," he told reporters. "People who are out of line must be punished.

"If my little children bit me, they are sent to the dark room with the big bad wolf. This is football's equivalent."

Suarez will not be able to train or attend matches with Liverpool until late October, a huge blow to their domestic and European ambitions.

"Liverpool Football Club will wait until we have seen and had time to review the FIFA disciplinary committee report before making any further comment," Liverpool chief executive officer Ian Ayre said on the club's website.

Although FIFA has banned many players for life and issued other lengthy playing bans, this is the record punishment imposed for wrongdoing at the World Cup, surpassing the eight- game ban handed to Italy's Mauro Tassotti for breaking the nose of Spain's Luis Enrique in 1994

As well as the biting cases, Suarez was banned for one match at the last World Cup in South Africa for a deliberate handball that cost Ghana a match-winning goal in a quarter-final.

The latest incident occurred in the tense final minutes of Uruguay's last Group D match against Italy, shortly before the South American champions scored to seal a 1-0 win and knock Italy out of the tournament.

Suarez clashed with Giorgio Chiellini and the defender pulled open his shirt to show the mark to the referee, who took no action.

Reuters photographs show what FIFA's disciplinary committee accepted were bite marks on Chiellini's shoulder. Pictures also showed Suarez sitting on the ground holding his teeth.

Uruguay to appeal 'excessive' ban

Uruguay will appeal against the ban imposed by FIFA, labelling it excessive.

"The punishment is too strong for the foul," Uruguay FA president Wilmer Valdez told local television, which reported that the appeal will be filed later on Friday (AEST).

"Uruguay does not feel persecuted and Suarez is not a victim," Valdez added.

However, Uruguayans are incensed by the ban, with many slamming it as exaggerated, hypocritical, or even biased.

Suarez will miss Uruguay's last-16 match against Colombia in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and will play no further part in the tournament in Brazil if the team progresses.

Uruguay FA vice-president Jorge Barrera was earlier reported by local media as saying Uruguay would appeal.

The ruling may have long-term repercussions for Suarez off the pitch. His sponsors had said they would decide on their relationship once the outcome of the investigation was known.

German sportswear firm Adidas has stopped short of axing Suarez but said it would not use him in any further World Cup marketing.

"Adidas certainly does not condone Luis Suarez's recent behaviour and we will again be reminding him of the high standards we expect from our players," a spokeswoman said.

Suarez's value in the transfer market, estimated to be at least 50 million pounds ($90.4 million), could also be affected should Liverpool decide to sell him.

He served a 10-match ban last year after biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic in a Premier League match and in 2010 he was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal while playing for Ajax Amsterdam.

The other major controversy of his career came in 2011 when he was alleged to have racially abused Manchester United's French defender Patrice Evra during a Premier League match.

He was banned for eight matches and fined 40,000 pounds for that and was then handed a further one-match ban for making a gesture at Fulham fans.

When Liverpool played United in the return match he refused to shake Evra's hand before the game.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 9: Bangladesh clinched their maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title after beating favourites India by three wickets in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Set a revised target of 170 after a brief rain interruption, Bangladesh won the match with 23 balls to spare.

Sent in to bat, India's batting wilted under pressure as a superb Bangladesh bowling attack shot the defending champions out for a paltry 177 in 47.2 overs.

Yasashvi Jaiswal (88 off 121 balls) was once again a standout performer but not for once did he look like dominating the Bangladesh bowling unit whose new ball bowlers Shoriful Islam (2/31 in 10 overs) and Tanzim Hasan Shakib (2/28 in 8.2 overs) literally stifled the Indians for runs.

The third seamer Avishek Das (3/40 in 9 overs) was the most successful bowler in terms of figures but it was Shoriful's first spell with channelised aggression that put the Indians on the back-foot from the onset.

After a short rain break towards the end, the target was revised to 170 from 46 runs but Bangladesh reached 170 for 7 in 42.1 overs to win the match.

Opener Parvez Hossain Emon top-scored for Bangladesh with a 79-ball 47 while captain and wicketkeeper Akbar Ali was not out on 43 from 77 deliveries.

For the India U-19 side, Ravi Bishnoi was the most successful bowler with figures of 4/30 while Sushant Mishra had 2/25.

India thus missed out on a record fifth title in their seventh final appearance.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Claiming to be saddled with faulty equipment from China, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on Monday called for a boycott of sports apparatus made in that country after the violent face-off in eastern Ladakh killed 20 Army personnel last week.

The IWLF ordered four weightlifting sets, comprising barbells and weight plates, from Chinese company 'ZKC' last year. The body said that the equipment turned out to be faulty and the weightlifters are no longer using them.

"We should boycott all Chinese equipment. The Indian Weightlifting Federation has taken the decision that it will not use any equipment made in China," IWLF secretary general Sahdev Yadav said.

The IWLF, in a letter, has informed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about its decision to stop using any equipment made in China.

"In a letter to SAI we have written that IWLF won't be using the Chinese equipment," he said.

"In future also we will not use made in china sets. We will use sets made by Indian origin companies or any other company but not from China," Yadav added.

National coach Vijay Sharma revealed that the plates were found to be sub-standard when the lifters started training again earlier this month following the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

"The sets were spoilt. We can't use them now," Sharma said.

"All the weightlifters in the camp are against China. They have stopped using Chinese apps like Tik Tok. Even while ordering things online, they check where the product has been manufactured," he added.

Asked why the sets were even ordered, Sharma said they had no option as the equipment from China is to be used in the Tokyo Olympics and lifters needed to be familiar with it.

"We had ordered four sets from China for Olympic training a year ago. Now, since we have resumed training post the lockdown we haven't used them. All the lifters are against the use of Chinese equipment," he said.

He said equipment was ordered from China for the first time.

"We don't order equipment from China as the quality is very bad. This was the first time we got it."

The weightlifters are currently training with equipment made in Sweden.

"Post the lockdown we started training on sets from Swedish company 'ELICKO'. SAI has issued 10 sets for us. The main training takes place with those. Maximum international competitions have sets from ELICKO," Sharma said.

Yadav also said that there are ready alternatives to Chinese equipment.

"We have a lot of alternatives. We already have good Indian sets and we also have equipment from Sweden. We will use that, why should we use Chinese?" Yadav said.

Calls to boycott China-made goods erupted across India after the Galwan valley clash last Monday. It was the most violent face-off between the troops from the two countries in more than four decades.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has said it is open to boycotting Chinese products in the wake of the incident.

The BCCI will also review IPL's sponsorship deals, including the title deal with Chinese mobile manufacturing company Vivo later this week.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Rajkot, Jan 16: Skipper Virat Kohli is set to be back at his regular number three position after the strategy of coming two-down boomeranged in the lung-opener as India take on a resolute Australia in the must-win second ODI here on Friday.

India go into the game 0-1 down after Australia registered a 10-wicket win in the lung-opener at Mumbai, courtesy David Warner and Aaron Finch, who hit unbeaten hundreds.

In a bid to field all three in-form players -- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul --, Kohli dropped himself down the order but the plan backfired spectacularly as he was unable to convert his start.

Opener Dhawan later said he was ready to bat at number three if asked to by the team management, but since Kohli has been successful at that position, the skipper would be more than willing to walk in one-down.

Kohli batting at three also provides stability to the middle-order.

With a concussed Rishabh Pant out of the second game, Rahul is a certainty as he will keep wickets.

So, like in the last game, Rohit and Dhawan, who made a dogged 74 off 91 balls in Wankhede, could open, and there could be a toss-up between Rahul and young Shreyas Iyer at number four. Iyer had a rare failure on Tuesday.

Pant's absence could pave the way for the inclusion of Karnataka batsman Manish Pandey, who made optimum use of the opportunity that he got in the third T20 against Sri Lanka in Pune.

It would also be interesting to see which among the experienced Kedar Jadhav and rookie Shivam Dube makes the squad.

Rohit, who had a phenomenal 2019, failed in the first game, but given the form he is in, the opener is expected to bounce back strongly here.

Ditto for Kohli, who is just one hundred short of equalling cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar's record of most hundreds on home soil for India.

The bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah had a forgettable outing at the Wankhede and they would be more than eager to make a strong comeback and prove their mettle.

Bumrah, since his comeback, has not been as effective as earlier and he would like to change the perception.

It would be interesting to see whether India play Delhi speedster Navdeep Saini or persist with Shardul Thakur, who gave away 43 runs in Mumbai.

Ravindra Jadeja looks a certainty and so the choice would be between chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, who conceded 55 runs in the first ODI and Yuzvendra Chahal as the lead spinner.

On the other hand, a high on confidence Australia will be looking to seal the issue to register back to back series wins in India, a rare feat for any visiting team. The Finch-Warner combination will look forward to carry the momentum.

Their middle-order comprising the experienced Steve Smith, in-form Marnus Labuschange, Ashton Turner and Alex Carey looks more or less settled.

If all of them fire in unison, along with the openers, then it will hard for the opposition bowlers.

However, it will be quite a test of their middle-order at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.

Australian bowlers also showed at the Wankhede, why they are considered among the best.

Led by pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, they bundled out India for a sub-par 255 and Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins would be raring to go once again.

Spinners Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar, not only contained the runs, but provided crucial breakthroughs and are expected to play a similar role again in the middle overs.

The track here is expected to be a belter and India can draw confidence from the home series against New Zealand in 2017, when they won 2-1 after losing the opener, co-incidentally in Mumbai.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Shami.

Australia: Aaron Finch (Captain), Alex Carey (Wicket-keeper), Patrick Cummins, Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschange, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner and Adam Zampa.

Match starts at 1.30.

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