The Jaipur race walk course might have got praise from international experts but national record holder Khushbir Kaur was not happy with it as she limped out of the finishing line after winning the gold in the women's 20km event here today.
     Irishman Pierce O'Callaghan, who is in the international panel of race walking judges of the IAAF, praised the course as one of the best he had seen and capable of hosting top level international events, but Khushbir was not impressed.
     After winning the women's 20km race walk event today in a moderate time of 1:34:52.70, Khushbir, who has already qualified for the Rio Olympics, blamed the slope of the course for her limping as she said that she felt pain on her right thigh from the 11km mark onwards.
     She continued and completed the race to win the gold but later made her displeasure known to the officials about the slope in the course.
     Khushbir's national record (which she created in 2014) stands at 1:31.40 and given that her ...

Khushbir not happy with race walk course; experts praise it

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Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has expressed disappointment at former captain Mahela Jayawardene taking up the role of consultant with the England team for the upcoming ICC World T20.
     Jayawardena is to continue his batting mentor's role with the England team, a job he had already performed with them in the UAE in the last series against Pakistan.
     "A cricketer joining another nation so close to his retirement is not a good thing, SLC chairman Thilanga Sumathipala told reporters yesterday.
     "I am of the view that a player who retires from international cricket should not be allowed to work as an expert of another team at least for a period of two years," Sumathipala said.
     "This is because he will be aware of inside information on strengths and weaknesses. These are strategic secrets. This is a question of ethics in sport not anything personally against Mahela Jayawardena. I respect him for his vast knowledge of the game."
     Jayawardena retired from international cricket ..

Sri Lanka unhappy with Jayawardena's England role at World T20

Uttarakhand's Gurmeet Singh turned out to be the winner as a record number of seven Indian 20km race walkers bettered the Rio Olympics qualifying standards on a fast Jaipur course in the National Championships here today.
     While the Rio Olympics qualifying time was set at 1 hour and 24 minutes, Gurmeet clocked 1:21:24.57 to clinch the gold on the first day of the National Championships.
     Tamil Nadu's K Ganapathi and Haryana's Sandeep Kumar finished second and third in 1:21:51.43 and 1:21:56.81 respectively.
     National record holder K T Irfan (1:22:14.02) of Kerala, Manish Singh (1:22:18.89) of Uttarakhand, Devender Singh (1:22:40.60) of Haryana and Neeraj (1:23:34.02), also of Haryana, were the other four outside of a podium finish but who still went past the Rio Games qualifying time.
     Ganapathi, Irfan, Devender and Neeraj were the four race walkers who crossed the Rio Games qualifying standard while Gurmeet, Sandeep and Manish have done so last year.
     Now, there ..

Walkers create record, seven better Olympic qualification time

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has expressed disappointment at former captain Mahela Jayawardene taking up the role of consultant with the England team for the upcoming ICC World T20.
     SLC president Thilanga Sumathipala termed Jayawardene's decision "sad and disappointing", even though it will be for just 10 days.
     Interestingly, both Sri Lanka and Eggland are clubbed in the same group.
     "I had a lot of respect and gratitude for Mahela's knowledge, but now he's advisor to a competing team of ours. I'm very disappointed that a national captain, within a few months of retirement, has been retained by another team at a World Cup," Sumathipala was quoted as saying by 'ESPNcricinfo'.
     He added, ""You could go to a club, a province, an IPL kind of team, or a county. But this is a World Cup. You can't have a player who has just left your country's team joining a competitive nation. All the contracted players who are playing, once they retire from the game, should have at least 24 ...

SLC terms Jayawardene's England job 'sad and disappointing'

England seamer Steven Finn has been ruled out of the ICC World T20 in India owing to a calf strain with Liam Plunkett named as his replacement.
     For Finn, it is the latest blow during an injury-hit period. He was ruled out of the tour of the UAE late December with a stress injury to his left foot and left the tour of South Africa early with a side strain he picked up during the third Test in Johannesburg.
     "Really disappointed to have picked up another injury on my road to recovery," Finn tweeted.
     "Gutted doesn't describe it. Good luck to the guys out there!"
     In Finn's absence, Plunkett will form England's pace attack in the tournament alongside David Willey, Reece Topley, Chris Jordan and Ben Stokes.

England seamer Finn ruled out of World T20

New FIFA leader Gianni Infantino was hailed for being "not a politician, not a superstar" but as a reform-minded administrator who can lead the scandal-plagued football body into a brave new world.
     The 45-year-old multilingual Swiss-Italian lawyer was elected as the new FIFA president yesterday, ending Sepp Blatter's controversial, rollercoaster 18 years in charge.
     "He's not a politician. He's not a superstar. He's just very together, very organised," said Greg Dyke, chairman of England's Football Association.
     "He has run UEFA really well and he'll be great as the president of FIFA.
	"I think we can be more optimistic about the future of FIFA now than we could have been certainly a week ago, after a terrible year. It's been a corrupted organisation for a long time and now I think this is some hope for the future."
	Infantino had served for seven years as general secretary of UEFA where he was Michel Platini's right-hand man.
	But with Platini serving a six-year ban, ...

Infantino hailed as right man, right time for FIFA

Gianni Infantino won FIFA's presidential election and vowed to lead the scandal-tainted body into a new era as he faced immediate calls to ensure genuine reform.
     The 45-year-old UEFA general secretary scored a convincing victory in the battle to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter, whose 18-year reign ended with FIFA mired in unprecedented crisis.
     Infantino, a Swiss-Italian, defeated Asian rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in the second round of the vote of 207 members.
     "FIFA has gone through sad times, moments of crisis, but those times are over," he said, asserting that a "new era" had begun for world's football's governing body, dogged by a vast set of corruption scandals.
    	Blatter, who many hold responsible for the culture of patronage and graft that plagued FIFA, congratulated Infantino on his win.
    	"With his experience, his capacities, his sense of strategy and diplomacy, he has all the qualities to continue my work," Blatter said in a statement.
  

Infantino pledges new era after winning FIFA vote

Europe's Gianni Infantino today won the presidency of FIFA with a convincing win over Asian rival Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and vowed to lead the scandal-tainted body into a new era.
	The 45-year-old Swiss-Italian general secretary of UEFA got 115 votes in the second round of the election held at the FIFA Congress while the Asian Football Confederation president got 88.
	Infantino takes over the 209-member, multi-billion dollar body from Sepp Blatter with world football's image at an all-time low.
	Blatter has been banned from football for six years and US and Swiss authorities have launched major corruption investigations into FIFA and other football federations.
	Infantino said that despite the scandals of the past year football deserves to be "highly respected."
	"And we will restore the image of FIFA and the respect of FIFA and everyone in the world will applaud us," a visibly surprised Infantino told the Congress.
	Sheikh Salman, a member of the Bahrain royal family, ..

Europe's Infantino wins FIFA presidency

Gianni Infantino of Switzerland today became the new FIFA president after winning a second-round vote here.
	Infantino got 115 of the 207 eligible votes to take a decisive majority ahead of Sheikh Salman of Bahrain. Sheikh Salman got 88 votes after being the front-runner during the four-month campaign. Prince Ali of Jordan had four, and Jerome Champagne of France got zero.
	In the first round, Infantino surprising led with 88 votes. Sheikh Salman had 85 votes, Prince Ali 27, and Champagne seven.
	Infantino, the 45-year-old general secretary of European governing body UEFA, is the second straight FIFA president from the Valais region in the Swiss Alps. The 45-year-old from Brig replaces the 79-year-old Blatter, who was born in neighbouring Visp.

Gianni Infantino wins FIFA presidency

Bangladesh might have comfortably defeated UAE by 51 runs but skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said their batting was a concern after they could only post a modest 133-8, here today.
     There was not much to write home about hosts Bangladesh's batting as opener Mohammed Mithun (47 off 41 balls) and Mahmudullah (36 off 27 balls) emerged as the top-scorer.
     "Our batting has been a concern for us, hopefully we'll learn from our mistakes today and look to deliver in the next few matches," Mortaza said after his team dismissed UAE for 82 in 17.4 overs.
     "We were looking for 150 on this wicket, Mahmudullah played sensibly, the last over was good for us. We needed early wickets and we got it and the game was on from there on.
     "We got a good seam attack, outside of this team, there are 2-3 more. They are young and have many years to serve Bangladesh cricket. I'm very close to finish, and do my best till I can," he added.
     His UAE counterpart, Amjad Javed also rued their missed ...

Batting is a concern, says Mortaza

India's oldest first-class cricketer and former captain of Mysore - as Karnataka was called till 1974 - B K Garudachar passed away today in the city aged 99.
     A right-hand batsman and a leg-break bowler, Garudachar made 1126 runs at an average of 29.63 from 27 matches in first-class cricket between 1935 and 1946.
     Born on January 13, 1917 in Chikamagalur, Karnataka, Garudachar graduated in engineering from the Benares University, and started playing for Mysore before representing United Province and Bombay in the 1940s.
     As a bowler, Garudachar finished his career with exactly 100 wickets, which included seven five-fors and three ten-wicket match hauls.
     His only century came against the Holkar team in the 1946 Ranji Trophy semi-final.

India's oldest first-class cricketer dead

Volleyball Federation of India's secretary Ramavtar Singh Jakhad today termed the suspension of the sports body's 10 members by VFI president Choudhary Avdesh Kumar illegal.
     Reacting to the news that Kumar had suspended 10 officials including chief executive officer K Murugan, executive vice-president Rajkumar and treasurer Ranjit Roy Chaudhary along with seven other state unit affiliate members, Jakhad said the president do not have such powers.
     "He is behaving like a dictator. The core committee was constituted by the executive committee and he was also a member of it. How he can dissolve it. In fact he is trying to take control of the federation and has also forced seizure of the VFI accounts in bank which was a big blow to the sport in country. We have called an Emergent general body meeting on 3rd of March and he too has called a meeting on same day," said Jakhar.
     The suspended members were accused of attending an invalid core committee meeting that was called by ..

VFI secretary terms members' suspension illegal

Bangladesh defeated United Arab Emirates by 51 runs in their Asia Cup cricket match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium today.
     Brief Score:
     Bangladesh: 133-8 in 20 overs (Mohammad Mithun 47; Mohammad Naveed 2/12, Amjad Javed 2/34).
     UAE: 82 all out in 17.4 overs (Muhammad Usman 30; Mashrafe Mortaza 2/12, Mahmudullah 2/5).

Bangladesh beat UAE by 51 runs in Asia Cup

Mahmudullah Riyadh produced an all-round effort to guide hosts Bangladesh to a comprehensive 51-run win against United Arab Emirates in the Asia Cup T20 tournament, here tonight.
     Batting first, Bangladesh managed only 133 for eight largely due to rearguard action from Man-of-the-Match Mahmudullah, who scored a quickfire 36 off 27 balls with the help of a boundary and two sixes.
     However UAE's batting faltered once again as they produced a below-par effort to get bowled out for 82 in only 17.4 overs. Mahmudullah took 2/5 along with a brilliant catch to make it a memorable outing for him.
     Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (2/12), left-arm seamer Mustafizur Rahaman (2/13 in 4 overs), Shakib Al Hasan (2/20) and Al-Amin Hossain (1/8) were also amongst wickets.
     It was a day where Mahmudullah showed his all-round skills taking a smart diving catch at gully to dismiss Shaiman Anwar off Mortaza's bowling.
     UAE's chase again started on a disastrous note as Muhammaed Kaleem (0) ...

Bangladesh thrash UAE by 51 runs in Asia Cup

Hosts Shillong Lajong were held to a 1-1 draw by newcomers DSK Shivajians in an I-League encounter at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.
     Cameroonian striker Aser Pierrick Dipanda (60th minute) gave the visitors the lead at the hour mark, while Boithang Haokip restored parity in the 74th minute.
     After today's draw, Lajong remained fifth on the league table with 11 points while DSK moved up a rung to the eighth spot on the nine-team ladder with six points.
     After a goalless draw, Dipanda headed in a Juan Quero cross to help DSK go ahead. They tried to hang on to the lead, but Haokip found the back of the rival goal with a clean strike from a free-kick.

Shillong Lajong held to 1-1 draw by DSK Shivajians

Stan Wawrinka reached his second final of the season as Nick Kyrgios retired injured from their semi-final at the ATP Dubai Championships today.
     The Australian quit due to back pain while trailing 6-4, 3-0, having had on-court treatment after the seventh game of the opening set.
     Wawrinka now moves into position for a possible second trophy of the season after winning in Chennai to start the year.
     The French Open champion will face either sixth seed Feliciano Lopez, who advanced in the quarter-finals when Novak Djokovic was unable to continue due to an eye infections, or former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis.
     Wawrinka, ranked fourth, carries an enviable record into the Saturday title match at the Aviation Club, having won his last eight finals.
     Kyrgios ran out of puff after winning his first career ATP title last week in Marseille and travelling directly to the Gulf; his win streak of nine consecutive matches was ended by Wawrinka in 44 minutes.
     

Wawrinka into Dubai final as injured Kyrgios withdraws

Captain Manjeet Chhillar led from the front with a superlative performance to guide Puneri Paltan to a win over Telugu Titans in a crucial tie of the Pro Kabaddi here today.
     He raided well not by claiming points but by ensuring that he ran down the clock with empty raids. Chhillar was superb in defence, his forte and with the ever alert Surjeet Narwal and Jasmer Gulia also joining hands the trio plotted their rivals' downfall by a handsome 41-24 margin with two all-outs.
     At half-time they had ensured that this would be a no contest by stretching the lead to 21-6 with an all-out in the 7th minute.
     Till then the Telugu Titans had even failed to open their account. They finally got the first point in the 9th minute which came through Sukesh Hegde. Nothing went right for the losing side as they slumped to their second all-out immediately after resumption. At 25-6 only a miracle or a slump from Pune would have brought them back.
     Telugu Titans may well have shut the door 

Puneri Paltan beat Telugu Titans in crucial tie

IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon has been conferred with an AIMS certification, helping it to attain qualification status for major marathons like Tokyo, Boston and Berlin.
     Indian elite runners Rahul Pal, Naba Chandra, Sanjith Luwang, Jyoti Gawte and Kiranjeet Kaur today interacted with the media ahead of the first edition of IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon. The marathon will flag off on Sunday from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
     Over 80 athletes will be participating. In the Indian elite men category, TH Sanjith, who recently finished Mumbai Marathon with a record 2:20:00 timing, is confident about winning the title. He will compete against Naba Chandra and Rahul Pal in this edition.
     TH Sanjith said, "This time around, with better training and preparation, I feel confident about winning the title."
     The victory may not come easy as Rahul Kumar Pal ran a full course during the Mumbai Marathon 2016 edition and completed the race at impressive .

New Delhi Marathon conferred with AIMS certification

Poland's former international and well-known coach Dariusz Kubicki, who will conduct a football clinic here for coaches and players on Sunday, says a good result for India in the U-17 World Cup next year will be a shot in the arm for the country.
     The 52-year-old Kubicki, who has years of managerial experience besides plying his trade at Premiership clubs like Aston Villa and Sunderland in his playing days, will conduct the workshop at the capital's Ambedkar Stadium.
     The initiative is being undertaken by Delhi Soccer Association (DSA) in partnership with Nisha Sports Group. Considering the anticipation around the U-17 World Cup, the two tied up to organise a India-Polish Sports Week from Sunday.
     "India will have to take advantage of the fact that they are hosting the tournament. If they can field a strong team and achieve a good result, that will be great for them as far as moving ahead in world football is concerned," Kubicki said today.
     "He added, "It won't be ...

'India should utilise hosting U-17 World Cup to fullest'

Sent into bat, Bangladesh posted 133 for 8 against United Arab Emirates in their Asia Cup match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium today.
     Brief Score:
     Bangladesh 133-8 in 20 overs (Mohammad Mithun 47; Mohammad Naveed 2/12, Amjad Javed 2/34).

Bangladesh post 133-8 against UAE in Asia Cup

FIFA approved major reforms at a congress today, part of world football's effort to end the culture of corruption that has plagued its governing body for years.
     The measures were adopted by 179 members, while 22 voted against and six abstained at a congress in Zurich that will also elect a replacement to FIFA's disgraced president Sepp Blatter.
	The reforms were developed since June by a committee led by Francois Carrard, a Swiss lawyer tasked with a similar cleanup effort at the International Olympic Committee more than a decade ago.
	Among the most crucial measures are changes in the role of FIFA's president and its executive committee.
	The president's job has been altered to function like a corporate chairman of the board, providing strategic guidance but with less management authority.
	FIFA's executive committee, which had become an epicentre of graft, has been re-branded as a FIFA council, and will operate similar to a corporate board of directions.
	FIFA's secretary ...

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