Category: Sports

Sports

The series against New Zealand at home and the earlier one away against the West Indies were both cakewalks. Neither really offered the sort of resistance that could put the Indian team under the cosh. England, though, is expected to be far tougher opposition. They got the better of India in its own backyard in 2012, winning that set of encounters 2-1. Thus, India surely has a few scores to settle in the forthcoming five-Test series.

The selectors and the BCCI, conscious of the need of the hour, seem to have got the Indian team better prepared and rested than the visitors, who went through a tough series in Bangladesh. They succumbed to the 19-year-old off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who ran circles around them and picked up 19 wickets from two Tests, inflicting their first Test defeat on the Englishmen in Bangladesh.

Mindful that the England batters would continue to struggle against spin, the selection committee headed by MSK Prasad has opted to field an experienced spin attack with Ravichandran Ashwin, who seems to be in the form of his life, as the undoubted leader of the pack. He should be as lethal as Mehedi, if not more, as he has a bag of tricks and experience. Skipper Virat Kohli, who used his spinners wonderfully in the Caribbean and the home series against New Zealand, would surely be eager to let Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja loose on the visitors.

Jadeja, in Indian conditions, can be a handful. He bowls his brisk left-arm spin at the right place and has the variations to probe and torment batters. He would be the ideal foil for Ashwin on Indian pitches. Both are very handy lower middle-order batters, which makes them even more useful to the side. For good measure, Kohli also has the services of leg-spinner Amit Mishra to call upon. Mishra has not played too many tests but is an experienced and wily bowler who can revel in home conditions.

The key to Kohli having three spinners in the playing eleven would probably hinge on the surprise inclusion of Hardik Pandya, whose exploits are almost exclusively confined to limited-overs cricket. It is possible that he could be used as the fifth bowler who could take the shine off the ball and then belt the rival bowlers for some quick runs. In such a scenario, the pitch would have to be heavily loaded in favor of spinners, and thus, just one frontline fast bowler would suffice in the playing eleven. Kohli has a choice between Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav for that role. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar’s injury ruled him out of contention.

The selectors could probably have gone for Yuvraj Singh. The hard-hitting left-hander could have come in handy at number six against the left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari and leg-spinner Adil Rashid. He could have slammed them with the spin or even gone after the off-spinners Moen Ali and Gareth Batty on the relatively small Indian grounds. Yuvraj has been in roaring form in domestic cricket, scoring nearly 600 runs in his last four Ranji Trophy matches, including a mammoth 260 against Baroda.

Yuvraj would have kept the pressure on the bowlers with his powerful hitting and recent form. Besides, he could be called upon to roll his arm over in the right conditions. But alas, that was not to be. India vs. England: Few fitness concerns for hosts, but selectors have a routine task for Test series India vs. England: Few fitness concerns for hosts, but selectors have a routine task for Test series.

India vs. England: Hardik Pandya gets a maiden call-up, Gautam Gambhir retained for first two Tests India vs. England: Hardik Pandya gets a maiden call-up, Gautam Gambhir retained for first two Tests injuries have opened places in the team, and the selectors have rightly gone for young Karnataka batsman Karun Nair. Karun is an outstanding player of spin bowling, and if conditions are conducive, he could force himself into the playing eleven.

Murali Vijay and Gautam Gambhir have retained the opening slots owing to Rahul’s continued absence. The first two Tests present a great opportunity to consolidate their position. Interestingly, the team has been announced only for the first two Tests, at Rajkot (9-13 November) and Vishakapatnam (17-21 November).

The selectors probably expect those injured to be in the mix by the start of the third Test in Mohali (26-30 November), and hence, the onus would be on the chosen players to ensure that they deliver the goods right away. The Indian team is spoilt for choice, which is better any day than a lack of it. The team: Virat Kohli (C), Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Gautam Gambhir, Wriddhiman Saha, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav.

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PUNE: In 2012, Add Crazy Pune got its first-ever sports policy. Apart from promoting sports activities in the city, the police had also promised to protect land earmarked for playgrounds and encourage children’s sports development. Four years later, much of that remains only on paper, mostly as the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has yet to appoint a deputy commissioner for sports. Other initiatives under the policy, such as scholarships for national-level players, have failed to take wing.

The policy, which lays out guidelines for constructing sports complexes and developing grounds, was drafted in consultation with the city’s sportspersons, coaches, and sports organizations. Since then, it has only gathered dust. And this is when corporators are pressing for a new scheme to recruit sportspersons into the PMC. Elected members insist that the administration implements the policy. We have been demanding it for long, but high-ranking officers such as deputy commissioner for sports have not been appointed,” said Vishal Tambe, PMC corporation.

Politics is affecting sports development in the city. The policy was amended many times to accommodate various leaders. The administration should have followed the suggestions,” said Avinash Bagwe, former chairman of the committee that drafted the policy. Promoting sports activities at the school, college, and professional levels was key to the policy, said Bagwell, adding these duties can be executed only by an officer with adequate powers. The lack of such an officer has pushed sports onto the backfoot.

As per the policy, sports activity centers will be set up in different parts of the city. The 1987 development plan had reserved 70 hectares of land in various parts of the town for playgrounds. However, the PMC has acquired only about 10 hectares of it so far. Moreover, several plots of land reserved for sports grounds are lying unused, and some of them have even been encroached upon. Stay updated on the go with the Times of India News App. Click here to download it for your device.

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Hyderabad, Nov 2 Alienation (PTI): In a novel way to promote sports culture in the city and put its vast sports infrastructure to optimum use, the Hyderabad civic body has a mobile app through which educational institutions and individuals can book sports facilities in advance. “A user-friendly Application is prepared, whereby any school can book sports facilities of GHMC online for the benefit of their students on a nominal cost basis.

The emphasis is on using the sports facility for the benefit of students rather than to generate income out of the facility,” a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) official said. The GHMC has 12 sports complexes, seven swimming pools, 521 playgrounds, and numerous other facilities. Though many school managements are not opposed to encouraging sporting activities among their children, the real concern is the unavailability of open spaces in the city, the official said.

Additionally, many fitness-conscious citizens are keen on sports or physical activity. He said that the shortage of playgrounds and lung spaces in urban areas is a serious cause for concern and a prime constraint in promoting sports and physical activity among citizens. The official said this gave rise to “some out-of-box thinking” by GHMC regarding using its sports infrastructure.

According to the new policy, general citizens, including IT employees and business people, can use the facilities at staggered times. The official said that educational institutions can book the sports facilities on weekdays, and government schools can avail of the facilities free of cost every Friday. He added that on weekends, the sports grounds, especially indoor stadiums, would be given to individuals or organizations on a nominal pay-and-play basis. PTI SJR RS GK KHS KHS

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NEW DELHI: The Atticus Blog unavailability of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan has extended Gautam Gambhir’s lease on life as an international cricketer, but the BCCI selectors sprung a surprise by including the uncapped Hardik Pandya in India’s 15-man squad for the first two Tests of the five-match series against England starting November 9 in Rajkot. A thigh strain to Rohit Sharma, which reportedly will keep him out of action for six to eight weeks, has forced the selectors to include Pandya as an all-round option.

MSK Prasad, the chief selector, said of Pandya’s inclusion: “Pandya’s pace has increased, he is moving the ball, and his batsmanship has improved. He is one allrounder, and we thought he was an equally competent bowler and batsman. And a good fielder, too, much quicker and better bowler than Stuart. About form and fitness, Hardik is a better option. Pandya, 23, made his ODI and T20I debuts this year and has been included in India’s Test squad for the first time.

Hardik Pandya

The Baroda allrounder has played 16 first-class matches, scoring 727 runs at 27.96 with a best of 90 and 22 wickets at 33.72, with a solitary five-wicket haul. The uncapped pair of Haryana allrounder Jayant Yadav and Karnataka batsman Karun Nair – who came in as replacements for Ishant Sharma and Dhawan against New Zealand – have been retained. This means that Virat Kohli has four spinners to choose from, with Jayant Yadav’s offspring following R Ashwin,

Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra

Ishant returned after missing the New Zealand series while recovering from the mosquito-borne viral infection chikungunya. Still, there is no Bhuvneshwar Kumar, as he has not proven his full recovery from a back strain picked up during the last series. Ishant’s most recent matches have been for Delhi in the ongoing Ranji Trophy, where he has bowled 62 overs for five wickets.

The selection committee considered the fitness report of the Indian team’s physiotherapist, Patrick Earhart. In it, it was confirmed that Rahul (hamstring) and Dhawan (minor thumb fracture) have yet to fully recover from injuries sustained during the recent Test series against New Zealand. This confirms Gambhir as one half of the Indian team’s opening pair, with no other opener picked.

Gambhir, 35, returned to international cricket after more than two years when he was drafted into the Test squad for the second match against New Zealand in Kolkata last month as the replacement for the injured Rahul. He played in the final Test of that series after Dhawan picked up a hand injury in Kolkata, scoring 29 and 50 as India won 3-0 to reclaim the top spot in the ICC Test Championship. Gambhir’s retention comes after he impressed in Indore, and his most recent innings was 147 for Delhi in the ongoing Ranji Trophy.

The England team’s stunning capitulation to Bangladesh in what proved the final session of the second Test in Mirpur on Sunday – they lost ten wickets, all to spin, in 22.3 overs – to level the series 1-1 has brought further into focus their ability to play quality spin in tough conditions. India offspinner R Ashwin spun the web around New Zealand’s batters, taking 27 wickets at 17.77 apiece, and was backed by Ravindra Jadeja’s 14 at 24.07. Amit Mishra’s leg spin was not called on during the Tests, Still, following his Man-of-the-Series performance in the subsequent ODIs, which culminated with 5/18 in the decider, he could slot in with a three-person spin attack, a very realistic tactic.

Kohli’s team is ranked No 1 in Tests, while England is fourth. England last toured India in late 2012, famously winning the Test series 2-1 after being beaten in the series opener in Ahmedabad. Skipper Alastair Cook was at the forefront of England’s revival, scoring a marathon 176 in the second innings in Ahmedabad to show his team how to tame India’s rampaging spinners. In Mumbai, he laid the foundations for victory with a steely 122. At the same time, Kevin Pietersen made merry, and then in Kolkata, he went a step further and recorded a historic 23rd century to put his team in a commanding position as India was beaten in back-to-back home Tests for the first time since 1999-00.

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Sporting Best News Mag governing bodies must bring in more women or lose public funding, UK Sport and Sports England have warned. Under the new ‘Code for Sports Governance,’ organizations must adhere to “gold standards” of transparency, accountability, and financial integrity. The code sets out a target of at least 30% gender diversity on boards. If the Sport wants to be publicly funded, it must reflect the public it serves,” said the chief executive of Women in Sport, Ruth Holdaway. She said the code sent that message “loud and clear.

The code calls for:

Increased skills and diversity in decision-making, with a target of at least 30% gender diversity on boards Greater transparency, for example, publishing more information on the structure, strategy, and financial position of the organization Constitutional arrangements that give boards the prime role in decision-making The new code applies to governing bodies who ask for UK government and National Lottery funding from April 2017. UK Sport predicts changes in practice should evidence the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

It is vital that our domestic sports bodies and organizations uphold the very highest standards of governance and lead the world in this area,” sports minister Tracey Crouch said. If authorities do not comply with the code, funding could be hit, as well. The government could also take other punitive measures, including withdrawing the support sporting bodies need when bidding to host major events.

Who benefits from the funding at present?

UK Sport and Sports England allocate government and National Lottery money to grassroots initiatives, clubs, charities, local authorities, and national governing bodies. Sports England invested £493m into 46 sports between 2013 and 2017, while UK Sport invested about £350m in the same period. The Football Association is among the many recipients and will receive £30m from Sports England from 2013-2017. However, the sports minister warned the FA earlier this year that it would be stripped of further funding unless it changed its governance.

The FA has just one woman on its board, independent non-executive director Dame Heather Rabbatts, who has been “frustrated” and “disappointed” at its failure to implement reform. However, FA chairman Greg Clarke welcomed the new code: “It will rightly protect public investment in sport by ensuring that transparency, controls, and financial probity are a prerequisite for all organizations in receipt of government money.” British Cycling, the England and Wales Cricket Board, the Lawn Tennis Association, UK Athletics, and UK Gymnastics are other funding recipients, along with many Olympic and Paralympic sports.

What will governing bodies have to do now?

UK Sport’s chief operating officer, Simon Morton, told BBC Sport: “This code includes over 50 requirements that sporting organizations receiving public funding must now implement. It will take different times for every single organization. They all have different constitutions, so we’ll agree on bespoke timescales. However, starting in 2017, they will need to comply with these standards as we move into the next funding cycle. Sports bodies have already done well in governance terms, but there’s a huge amount of public funding going into the Sport, and the key message is [for them] to justify the budget, give the public confidence that the governance of Sport is right.

GB Funding to medals

GB’s success at the recent Olympic Games has demonstrated the importance of UK Sport and Sports England funding.

How has the new code come about?

The government announced a new code developed in its Sporting Future strategy, published in December 2015. In response, UK Sport and Sports England embarked on a consultation period with governing bodies and found strong support for higher governance standards. Of the more than 200 organizations consulted, 98% backed a drive for greater transparency, and 78% agreed on increased diversity. There have been significant improvements in governance standards, which is to be welcomed, but there is still much to do,” Sports England chair Nick Bitel said.

Diversity in sports sector boardrooms is still an issue and requires a mandatory code to achieve sustainable change.” UK Sports chairman Rod Carr added: “We are confident that despite the recent historic successes at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we can be even stronger as a high-performance system with better representation and more openness. This is also about encouraging more diversity ineadership positions in SsSports. I fully expect to see a broad range of talent coming into key roles during the Tokyo cycle.”

Analysis

Dan Roan, BBC sports editor

This could be very serious for governing bodies like the FA. In addition to cutting investment through its funding agencies for sports that fail to reform, the government is prepared to withdraw essential support and guarantees required for bids to host major international events. That could mean the FA’s plans to bid for the 2030 World Cup are blocked if it refuses to modernize. Very few British governing bodies meet the new governance criteria, so this code significantly changes how sports are run. UK Sport is also considering establishing a compliance unit to investigate governing bodies.

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Maybe deep heartache makes Being Mad nearly impossible to cure because, having lost hope, the only remedy is to replenish it by what feels too much like a miracle to ignore.
Maybe these kinds of baseball demons- those that have lasted 108 years in Chicago and taken form in the Never Say Die Mets and the San Diego Padres and poor Steve Bartman- get exorcised only in the most grueling and unlikely of trials.
Because suddenly, after the Cubs’ 9-3 shellacking of a Cleveland Indians team that seemed to have this World Series matchup in hand, the Cubs could end up doing the impossible in the most improbable of ways: winning the World Series by mounting a comeback from a 3-1 series hole to take the crown, change the very meaning of the Chicago Cubs and deliver one of the greatest and most riveting sports stories of all time.

Make no mistake. That is what’s at stake Wednesday in a Game 7 that, regardless of the outcome or how it plays out, will be one of the most captivating sports stories any of us have had the pleasure of watching.
Sometimes, we lose track that sports, for all the headiness and brainpower that now go into managing and making sense of them, are at their best emotional catalysts. When they move us to tears, joy, enthusiasm, uncertainty, captivation, heartache, and, most importantly, awe, they rise above some silly game and become deeper and richer. Something truly lasting.
Whatever happens here at Progressive Field on Wednesday will be gut-wrenching, awe-inspiring, and visceral. It should be baseball at its best.
The Cleveland Indians haven’t won a World Series since 1948, and their fans have a deep and emotional claim as to why winning that game would mean so much. Think of the utter joy — the shock and dancing and tears and awe — that would descend on this city if it goes from winning the NBA championship in June to clinching a World Series in November right here in Cleveland after all those years of being a sports punchline.
And then there’s the Cubs and the days that stretch back generations since they last won this thing. That’s a long time, 108 years, and it’s a story that has the power and potential to be one of the most incredible sports stories ever.
The Cubs winning this series in, say, five games would have been captivating for most sports fans, a thing to see, an I-was-here-when-it-happened moment. But trying to come back after being down 3-1? With one of the best postseason pitchers of all time still waiting to close the door on this crazy run? A Game 7 for it all between the longest-suffering fan bases out there? That is the stuff of greatness, of sports at its best, whatever happens.
If the Cubs pull that off, I’m not sure anything in sports I ever witnessed in person could top it.
Let’s put it in perspective. As my colleague, Dayn Perry, pointed out in his excellent piece, only six teams in MLB history have managed to turn a 3-1 postseason series deficit into victory when having to win the final two games on the road, as the Cubs are trying to do. That’s a very optimism-damping 13.6 percent of those who faced that situation.
Only three teams in the World Series- most recently the 1979 Pirates — have mounted such a reversal of fortunes when having to win the final two games on the road.
Hard to do? Yes. Unlikely? Of course.
And that’s before we even begin to discuss Corey Kluber.
Indians in Game 7. USATSI
In 30 1/3 innings pitched in this, his only postseason experience, Kluber has surrendered a meager three earned runs. His 0.89 ERA, 35 strikeouts over that time, and growing presence as an unbeatable figure with a series or game on the line is the ultimate challenge for a Cubs team trying to overcome the ultimate and ingrained history of failure and heartbreak.
But maybe the biggest curses must be broken in grueling and challenging ways. For teams like the Cubs, there may be two opponents- the Cleveland Indians, of course- but also all that time and history, and angst and pressure are weighing on every pressing moment. Maybe curses — really, truly — are out there to be beaten as much as the opponents themselves.
Scoff. Laugh. Throw your smarter-than-you condescension about the fact that sports teams and the cities that love them can’t live under curses. That such talk is superstitious stupidity.
But tell that to the Boston Red Sox and that 3-0 ALCS deficit sparked by Dave Roberts’ stolen base and all that followed — against the Yankees. That’s what they had to do to move past the curse of the Bambino.
Tell that to, yes, the city of Cleveland after its generations-long championship drought ended in June when the Cavaliers romped out of a 3-1 series hole against a Warriors team that had won 73 regular-season games. LeBron James and his Cavs teammates had to mount the greatest comeback in NBA history against the team that otherwise would have gone down as the greatest NBA team of all time to deliver Cleveland the championship it had for very long believed would never come.
Tell that to the Chicago Cubs if they find a way to win Wednesday in Game 7 of the World Series.
They’re the Cubs.
The 1969 Mets happened.
The 1984 collapse against the Padres happened.
Steve Bartman happened, and having been there in person for that, I’ve learned not to scoff at curses.
Suppose the Cubs somehow turn this 3-1 series deficit into a win over Kluber in Game 7 and, therefore, win the World Series that has eluded them for the lifetime of almost every person on Earth. In that case, we may all have just watched the most incredible sports story ever.

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