Ozil quits German national side citing racism

Agencies
July 23, 2018

Berlin, Jul 23: German soccer star Mesut Ozil said on Sunday he would no longer play for the national team because he faced racism and disrespect.

His impassioned statement comes amid a political debate in Germany about an influx of immigrants that has seen a rise of the far right at the expense of traditional parties.

Ozil was a member of Germany's World Cup-winning side in 2014 and has been voted by fans as the team's player of the year five times since 2011.

But the creative midfield player faced a barrage of criticism at home for having his photograph taken with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in May.

He and Ilkay Gundogan, a team mate also of Turkish descent who also posed with Erdogan, were jeered by some German fans in warm-up games before the World Cup in Russia.

Germany failed to qualify from the group stage of the World Cup in Russia, making their earliest exit from the tournament in 80 years and Ozil was one of the scapegoats for their unsuccessful title defence.

"Is it because it is Turkey? Is it because I'm a Muslim? I think here lays an important issue" he said.

"It is with a heavy heart and after much consideration that because of recent events, I will no longer be playing for Germany at international level whilst I have this feeling of racism and disrespect," he said.

"I used to wear the German shirt with such pride and excitement, but now I don't," he said. "I feel unwanted and think that what I have achieved since my international debut in 2009 has been forgotten."

Ozil, who also plays for English club Arsenal, said German Football Association (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel had blamed him for Germany's poor performance in Russia.

"In the eyes of Grindel and his supporters I am German when we win, but I am an immigrant when we lose," Ozil wrote in a statement posted on his Twitter account.

He added he did not feel accepted in German society despite paying taxes there, making donations to German schools and being part of the team that won the World Cup.

Germany is home to some 3 million people with Turkish roots.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has donated an undisclosed amount to financially help 4,000 underprivileged people, including children from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools, amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tendulkar made the donation to the Hi5 Foundation, a non-profit organisation based out of Mumbai.

“Best wishes to team Hi5 for your efforts in supporting families of daily wage earners,” Tendulkar tweeted.

The organisation, through a tweet, thanked Tendulkar for doing his bit for the needy.

“Thanks @sachin_rt for proving once again that #sports encourages compassion! Your generous donation towards our #COVID19 fund enables us to financially aid 4000 underprivileged people, including children from @mybmc schools. Our budding sportspersons thank you, Little Master!”

The legendary batsman had earlier contributed Rs 25 lakh each to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the country’s fight against COVID-19. Tendulkar had earlier pledged to bear the cost of feeding 5,000 people for a month in a couple of areas in Mumbai.

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Agencies
February 7,2020

New Delhi, Feb 7: It was on February 7, 1999, that Anil Kumble became just the second bowler in the history of cricket to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He achieved the feat against Pakistan at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, now known as Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in Delhi during the second Test of the two-match series.

India had set Pakistan a target of 420 runs in the match and the visitors got off to a steady start as openers Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar put on 101 runs for the first wicket.

It was then Kumble who came into the attack and wreaked havoc on the Pakistani batting line-up.

The spinner, also known as 'Jumbo' first dismissed Afridi (41) in the 25th over. After the right-handed batter's dismissal, India kept on taking wickets through Kumble and Pakistan was reduced to 128/6 in no time.

Kumble then kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and he got his tenth scalp in the 61st over after dismissing Wasim Akram.

This effort enabled India to register a win by 212 runs, and Kumble became the second bowler after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in a single Test inning.

Kumble finished with the bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs.

Kumble announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008 and finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

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Agencies
February 25,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 25: India opening batsman KL Rahul will be available for Karnataka's Ranji Trophy semi-final clash against Bengal at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on February 29.

Rahul had asked to be rested from Karnataka's quarter-final match but is now available for the climactic stages of the Ranji Trophy. 

Karnataka had already been strengthened by the addition of Manish Pandey for the quarter-finals, with both Pandey and Rahul having returned from New Zealand after India completed the limited-overs leg of their tour, ESPNcricinfo reported.

Last year's finalists Saurashtra will take on Gujarat in the other semi-final at Rajkot. The other prominent players who will be part of the last four include Parthiv Patel (Gujarat), Jaydev Unadkat (Saurashtra) and Manoj Tiwary (Bengal).

Gujarat, Bengal, Karnataka, and Saurashtra had finished on top of the combined Groups A and B table, and all four progressed to the semi-finals after dominating their respective quarter-final matches.

Rahul has been phenomenal with the bat in the limited-overs series against Australia and New Zealand. He scored one century and four fifty-plus scores in his last ten innings in ODIs and T20Is combined

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