IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla today resigned from the high-profile position in the wake of the raging spot-fixing scandal that has rocked Indian cricket, piling up pressure on N Srinivasan to follow suit.
     A day before the emergency meeting of the working committee in Chennai, Shukla took the decision to quit saying that he felt it necessary to do so in the light of the recent developments.
     "I have decided to quit as IPL chairman. It is a decision which I was pondering over for some time. I think it is time to step down," Shukla told PTI.
     Shukla said that he also took into account the resignations of BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke before taking the decision to step down.
     "Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke resigned in the best interest of Indian cricket. I thought this is the right time," he said.
     Shukla's resignation just a day ahead of the emergency working committee meeting in Chennai is bound to put more pressure on under-fire Srinivasan ..

Disgusted Shukla resigns from post of IPL chairman

PTI Automatic

Kerala Cricket Association today said BCCI supremo N Srinivasan should not officiate as President till the spot fixing probe was over.
    "He should not officiate as President till the inquiry is over. Only then people will have confidence in the inquiry and this will restore the image of BCCI and IPL and also that of the players, KCA Secretary T C Mathew told PTI here.
    Asked if he would be attending tomorrow's meeting in Chennai, he replied in the negative. Only Andhra Pradesh can represent from the south, he said.
    "Only opportunity for us is to air our views if a special general body meeting is called", he said.
     When pointed that KCA had taken quite some time to take such a decision, Mathew said "we never supported any move. We cannot respond to media speculation", he said.
      The BCCI President had received a severe blow when two board officials-- Ajay Shirke, board treasurer and Sanjay Jagdale, secretary had resigned yesterday.
     Srinivasan was facing the heat .

KCA wants Srinivasan to stay away till probe was over

India's rising shuttler Sourabh Verma is hoping to reap the rewards of undergoing rigorous training sessions with a good show at the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold starting in Bangkok next week.
     The world number 37 from Madhya Pradesh has put in a lot of effort in the last one month after the India Open and said he is looking at good results in Thailand, Indonesia Super Series and Singapore Open.
     "I have been training hard for the last one month. After the India Open I got lot of time to get back to training and I made good use of it by working on my overall strokes," said Sourabh, who would be leaving for Bangkok tonight.
     "Last year I played too many tournaments. It becomes difficult because every week you have two tournaments and one also have to keep a watch on the ranking to qualify for big events such as World championship. Too many tournaments affects performance. But I am happy I could get back to training after a year.
     "This year my performance has not been .

Sourabh gears up for Thailand Open

Young left-hander Kusal Perera and seasoned Tillekaratne Dilshan took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners as Sri Lanka posted a mammoth 333 for three in the first warm-up game here today, ahead of the Champions Trophy starting June 6.
     Dilshan smashed a 78-ball-84 (9x4, 1x6) while Perera also smote Irfan Pathan and Co to all parts of the ground hitting 82 off 94 balls (7x4, 3x6) as they added 160 runs in 26 overs.
     The Indian bowlers were unable to dismiss the duo as both retired in order to allow other batsmen get a decent hit out there in the middle.
     Seamers Pathan (0/45), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/58), Ishant Sharma (1/41) weren't consistent with their length while spin trioka of Ravichandran Ashwin (0/45), Ravindra Jadeja (0/41) and Amit Mishra (1/53) also failed to make inroads.
     With the ball nicely coming onto the bat and not much assistance from the pitch for the bowlers, Perera and Dilshan hardly faced any difficulty in hitting through the line from the ...

Perera, Dilshan hammer Indian bowlers as SL score 333/3

Former BCCI president A C Muthiah today called for dissolution of the three-member inquiry commission, constituted by the BCCI to go into allegations of betting in IPL against embattled Board chief N Srinivasan's son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, in the wake of Sanjay Jagdale's resignation from the panel.
     Only two members are left in the probe panel after the resignation of Cricket Board secretary Jagdale, who withdrew from the commission that was set up to prove allegations of betting against CSK Team Principal Meiyappan, the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals franchise whose players were arrested for their alleged role in spot-fixing.
     "Whoever appointed the 3-member committee, will realise the total illegality of constitution of the probe committee and dissolve the said committee rather than create more confusion and embarrass the 2 retired judges of Madras High Court by filling up the vacancy created by the resignation of Mr. Jadgale," Muthiah said in a statement.
     

Muthiah calls for dissolution of BCCI probe panel

Terming the IPL spot-fixing scandal as unfortunate, BCCI vice-president Chitrak Mitra today said that too much of greed has crept into cricket bringing disrepute to the game.
     "What has happened in the IPL is very very unfortunate. It has become clear that greed is creeping into cricket," Mitra told reporters at his residence before leaving for the Board emergency meeting in Chennai tomorrow.
     He, however, refused to comment on the growing clamour for the resignation of the beleaguered BCCI president N Srinivasan.
     Mitra said secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke's resignations from their respective posts have left the BCCI with no signatories.
     "I cannot comment on Jagdale and Shirke's resignations, that's their individual decision. But what I can say is after the duo's resignation yesterday night, the Board has no signatories. There's nobody to even sign a cheque," he said.
     Reiterating that he was not under any kind of pressure to put in his papers, 

Greed creeping into cricket: Chitrak Mitra

The beleaguered BCCI president N Srinivasan will face the toughest test in his administrative career in tomorrow's emergent Working Committee meeting where members are likely to push for his ouster in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that has rocked Indian cricket.
     While it is all but certain that Srinivasan will have to step down from the president's post paying heed to the popular demand from the affiliated units, it is learnt that the Tamil Nadu strongman wants three of his demands to be met before he quits.
     Srinivasan's three demands are that he should be reinstated as President if he comes out clean after the probe, that he should represent India in ICC meetings and that secretary Sanjay Jagdale and Treasurer Ajay Shirke should not be in the new panel as they had ditched him.
     The BCCI members, it is learnt, are not in favour of ignoring Jagdale and Shirke in the new panel and are unlikely to accept that demand.
     Top Board members are working on a strategy to 

Srinivasan to put three demands before stepping down

Basketball Federation of India (BFI) will host the South Asian Basketball Association (SABA) men's qualifying round at Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium here from June 2-4.
     India will take Nepal on June 2 followed by clash against Afghanistan on June 4.
     The three teams will be competing to qualify for the FIBA Asia Championship to be held in Manila, Philippine from August 1-11.
     SABA constitutes eight national basketball federations namely Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Maldives India, Pakistan, and Bhutan.
     The Indian squad will be led by Foreign coach Scott Flemming, with Jora Singh and GRL Prasad assisting him.
     Squad: Loveneet Singh, Ranbir Singh Virdi, Vinay Kaushik, Basil Philip, Sambhaji P Kadam , Joginder Singh, Narender Kumar Grewal, Rikin Pethani, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, Yadwinder Singh, Amritpal Singh, Amjyot Singh.

BFI to host SABA qualifying round in Delhi

A day after resigning from the post of Cricket Board secretary in the wake of IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal, Sanjay Jagdale today ruled out the possibility of making a comeback into the BCCI fold in future.
     "I am not even looking at the possibility of coming back into the BCCI fold. I think I am done with my innings," Jagdale told reporters here.
     The 62-year-old top official, along with treasurer Ajay Shirke, yesterday quit from their respective posts in a bid to put pressure on beleaguered BCCI President N Srinivasan.
     Jagdale said a "massive" clean-up job is required to rid the game of corruption.
     "The spot-fixing and betting scandal in the IPL has badly dented the image of cricket. A massive clean-up job is required to overcome this. But this will take time as the damage done is very big.
     "It is very difficult to stop fixing in cricket and BCCI has its own limitations. But the the Board can strengthen its surveillance and curb the menace of fixing. At .

I am not going to come back to BCCI fold: Jagdale

Services were off to a winning start as they defeated Goa 28-0 in their first league match of Pool C played at Shiv Chattrapati Sports Complex here today.
     Services scored through Siraju AP (7, 13, 25, 26, 32, 61 min), Ved Prakash (16, 69 min), Sanwar (Ali 22, 31, 33, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57 min), Ignace Tirkey (23, 28 min), Lovepreet Singh (29, 34, 38, 49 min), Johnny Jasrotia (48 min), K Hera Singh (54, 59 min), Rajesh Kumar (58 min) and S Arumugam (62, 64 min), while Goa failed to score any goal.
     In the other match of Pool C, Sports Authority of India edged past Bihar 9-0.
     Namdhari XI continued their winning streak on the fifth day as they defeated Sashastra Seema Bal 8-2 to register third consecutive win in Pool F.
     Gurpreet Singh scored maximum five goals for Namdhari XI followed by Gurpreet Singh, Harpal Singh and Manpreet Singh, while Arif Ansari and Vinay Biswakarma scored a goal each for Sashastra Seema Bal.
     In Pool B, Chhattisgarh beat Tripura 7-3. Pareek ..

Services beats Goa in Hockey India Senior Men National C'ship

Promising paddler Sutirtha Mukherjee led Indian girls to a gold medal finish while the boys had to settle for a silver in the team championship of the Slovak Junior Open at Senec, Slovakia.
     Indian girls defeated Serbia 'A' 3-2 in a close summit-clash while Czech Republic 'A' boys brushed aside Indian challenge 3-1 to claim gold in the boy's event.
     Sutirtha first defeated Aneta Maksuti 3-2 and then went onto beat Anna Fenyvesi by identical margin in the final match played yesterday.
     Earlier, India got off to a good start with Manika Batra staging a great comeback against Anna Fenyvesi in the first match. Despite losing the opening two games Manika won the first match 7-11 3-11 11-4 11-4 15-13.
     Reeth Tennison did not face much challenge from Serbian Viktoria Truzsinszki as she comfortably beat her 3-1 to give India a 2-1 lead.
     The match was forced into decider after Manika was floored 0-3 by Aneta Maksuti.
     The final duel was decided in a cliff-hanger which .

Indian girls win gold in Slovak Junior Open TT

The BCCI Emergent Working Committee meeting, where Board President N Srinivisan might resign in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal, has been rescheduled from 11am to 2:30pm here tomorrow.
     "An Emergent meeting of the Working Committee of the BCCI will be held at 2:30 pm on Sunday, 2 June 2013, at the Park Sheraton, Chennai," BCCI Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.
     During the meeting, the beleaguered Srinivasan may announce his resignation from the post after he was isolated by his team in the Board.
     As pressure mounted on him to quit in the wake of the scandal and the arrest of his son-in-law on betting charges, the BCCI has advanced the Working Committee meeting which Srinivasan had planned to convene next Saturday.
     The announcement came hours after Vice-President Arun Jaitley and Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur told reporters to wait for a "significant" development in a day's time.
    Sources in the Board said Srinivasan may announce his ...

BCCI Emergent WC meet set for tomorrow after 2

India won the toss and elected to bowl in their first warm-up game of the ICC Champions Trophy against Sri Lanka here today.
     Teams:
     India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
     Sri Lanka: Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shaminda Eranga, Rangana Herath, Mahala Jayawardene, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Jeevan Mendis, Kushal Perera, Thisara Perera, Kumar Sangakkara, Sachithra Senanayake, Lahiru Thirimanne.

India opt to bowl against Sri Lanka

An emergency meeting of the BCCI will be held in Chennai tomorrow in which beleaguered President Srinivasan may announce his resignation from the post after he has been virtually isolated by his team in the Board.
     As pressure mounted on him to quit in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal and the arrest of his son-in-law on betting charges, the BCCI has advanced the Working Committee meeting which Srinivasan had planned to convene next Saturday.
     "An emergent Working Committee meeting will be held in Chennai at 11 am", BCCI Game Development Manager Ratnakar Shetty said in an announcement that came hours after Vice-President Arun Jaitley and Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur told reportes to wait for a "significant" development in a day.
    Sources in the Board said Srinivasan may announce his decision to quit the post and he has discussed this with some of the officials.
    In an indication that the resignation might come tomorrow, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said "some ...

Srinivasan may quit tomorrow at Working Committee meeting

Distressed by the IPL spot-fixing scam, BCCI Vice President Niranjan Shah today said the scandal has become increasingly "disgraceful" but stopped short of demanding under-fire President N Srinivasan's resignation.
     "It is much regrettable and distressing that the situation is getting aggravated in increasingly disgraceful manner...The matter pertaining resignation of BCCI's president Mr. Srinivasan should rather be a matter between himself and the rules and regulations of the Board," Shah said in a statement.
     Srinivasan's adamant stand of sticking to his position despite the controversy, last night prompted Board Treasurer Ajay Shirke and Secretary Sanjay Jagdale to resign in protest.
     The crisis in the BCCI has deepened with every passing day after Srinivasan's son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for alleged involvement in betting.
     Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to resign despite repeated ...

It has become disgraceful: Niranjan Shah

The scandal-ridden BCCI could be forced to prepone its Emergency Working Committee meeting due to the crisis created by the resignation of two senior Board functionaries, Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur said today.
     The under-fire N Srinivasan's adamant stand of sticking to the post of BCCI President despite the credibility-crisis created by the IPL spot-fixing scam, last night prompted Board Treasurer Ajay Shirke and Secretary Sanjay Jagdale to resign in protest.
     Srinivasan has convened a working committee meeting on June 8 to discuss the crisis but it might have to be rescheduled to an earlier date.
     "It is sad to see the BCCI Secretary and Treasurer resign. We have requested the President to prepone the meeting and discuss the issues," Thakur said.
     "The meeting was supposed to be on June 8 but it may be preponed. But it depends on the President, last night we have spoken to him to have a fair and transparent probe and to have a meeting as soon as possible," he ...

BCCI emergency meet could be preponed: Thakur

Seeded seventh, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta will spearhead the Indian challenge at the Grand Europe Albena Chess tournament that gets underway here.
     With as many as 28 Grandmasters registered for the 30,000 Euros prize money tournament, it will be a tough challenge for Abhijeet who starts as the seventh seed in the event.
     M Shyam Sundar is the other Indian Grandmaster in fray along with three GMs-in-waiting, V Vishnu Prasanna, Swapnil Dhopade and Ashwin Jayaram.
     The 170-player tournament will have nine rounds in all and the games will be played with 90 minutes for both players for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes each to finish the game.
     As is standard practice, an increment of 30 seconds in the clock will be added after each move is made.
     The major black sea resort in northeastern Bulgaria will have Constantine Luplescu of Romania as the top seed and he is likely to face a tough challenge from the Armenian trio of Tigran Petrosian, Avetik Grigoryan ...

Abhijeet Gupta to spearhead Indian challenge in Albena Chess

A day after two of its senior functionaries called it quits, the crisis-hit BCCI's Vice President Arun Jaitley said the next 24 hours could bring about a "significant" development in the unfolding drama.
     The under-fire N Srinivasan's adamant stand of sticking on to the post of BCCI President despite the damaging IPL spot-fixing scam last night prompted Board Treasurer Ajay Shirke and Secretary Sanjay Jagdale to resign in protest.
     "Wait for a day, you will hear something significant," said Jaitley when asked if the five Vice Presidents of the Board, including him, could put in their papers today.
     The crisis in the BCCI has deepened with every passing day after Srinivasan's son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for alleged involvement in betting.
     Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to resign despite repeated calls for his ouster, insisting that he did no wrong.
     He has, however, convened an ...

Jaitley says something significant to happen in a day

The "caxirola", Brazil's percussion answer to South Africa's plastic vuvuzela horn, will be banned from stadiums during the Confederations Cup and the World Cup for safety reasons, authorities said.
     "The secretariat of major events decided that from a public safety standpoint, it would not be appropriate to allow it inside stadiums," Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo said in a brief statement to the press yesterday.
     He added that the ban was communicated to the World Cup organizers and would be enforced during next year's World Cup.
     Monday, Medeiros Hilario, the official on the Cup's Organizing Committee who is in charge of security, said: "Fans will not be allowed in stadiums with musical instruments and that includes the caxirola."
     "We will apply this measure during friendly games, then during the Confederations Cup," which will be held in Brazil from June 15-30, he added.
     The ban will become effective from Sunday when Brazil and England clash in a ...

Minister confirms ban on 'Brazil's vuvuzela'

Embattled BCCI President N Srinivasan arrived here tonight, returning home after a hectic week which saw pressure mounting on him to quit in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.
     Srinivasan arrived by a Go Air flight from Mumbai around 9.30 pm but declined to respond to questions from the large contingent of mediapersons waiting at the airport.
     He landed here shortly after BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale and Treasurer Ajay Shirke quit from their respective posts in a bid to put pressure on him.
     He made a quick exit from the airport and drove away to his home in a car.
     Earlier in the day, Srinivasan has convened a Working Committee meeting of the cricket board.

Srinivasan arrives in Chennai

Two top BCCI officials -- secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke -- today quit from their respective posts in a bid to put pressure on beleaguered Cricket Board President N Srinivasan in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal.
     Jagdale said he quit from his post as he was deeply hurt by the current crisis that has hit Indian cricket.
     "Yes, that's true, I have resigned from the post of honorary secretary of BCCI," Jagdale said.
     "I don't want to comment further but I am deeply hurt by the recent developments in Indian cricket. I thought it's better to get out so that some new faces come in and deal with it in a better way," he added.
     He, however, refused to divulge the details of the resignation letter sent to Srinivasan.
     "I can't comment about the resignation letter I have written to the President. It's proper to inform the President and I have done that.
     Jagdale said he would no longer be part of the three-man inquiry commission ...

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