Women's T20 World Cup 2023 Schedule and Qualification Process
The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the confirmed schedule and the qualification process for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup which is slated to be played in South Africa in 2023.
The 10-team World Cup has now been rescheduled to February 9-26, 2023 and will see the hosts South Africa and the seven top teams on the MRF Tyres ICC Women's T20I Team Rankings as of November 30, 2021 - from the teams that competed at the Australia 2020 event — qualify automatically for the 2023 edition.
The remaining two spots will be determined through a qualification process, which will start in August 2021 and will have 37 teams.
This is an increase of ten teams from the Women's T20 World Cup 2020 qualification.
Ankita Wins ITF Doubles Title in Dubai
Top Indian tennis player Ankita Raina won her third doubles title of the pandemic-hit 2020 season, clinching the Al Habtoor challenge with Ekaterine Gorgodze.
The unseeded Indo-Georgian pair won 6-4 3-6 10-6 against Aliona Bolsova Zadoinov from Spain and Slovakian Kaja Juvan in the final of the USD 100,000 hard court events.
It was the fourth doubles final of the season for Ankita but the biggest trophy of the calendar since her earlier two titles were at the USD 25,000 level.
Dec 12, 2020
Quinton de Kock to Lead South Africa for 2-match Test Series against Sri Lanka
Cricket South Africa named Quinton de Kock as their Test skipper for the two-match home series against Sri Lanka starting at Pretoria on December 26.
De Kock, who is also their ODI and T20I skipper, will be in the role temporarily, with a permanent appointee to be finalised in the coming months.
South Africa's director of cricket, Graeme Smith, had previously said that the workload of captaining the Test side would be too much for white-ball skipper de Kock, but the selectors have had a change of heart.
Dec 11, 2020
Anand to Launch Chess Academy
Legendary Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand has joined hands with WestBridge Capital to launch a chess academy, through which the five-time world champion will train youngsters. The academy, named WestBridge-Anand Chess Academy, has taken on board five of the country's most promising players to be trained by Anand. The initial list of trainees and grantees of the WACA Fellowship are: R. Praggnanandhaa (15 years old), Nihal Sarin (16), Raunak Sadhwani (15), D Gukesh (14) and Praggnanandhaa's sister R. Vaishali (19).
As part of the partnership, deserving candidates will be identified every year and provided help to break into the top world chess ranking. They will be granted fellowships.
Dec 10, 2020
Government is to Start 1000 Khelo India Centres
The Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports announced that the Government is to start 1000 Khelo India centres all over India.
The announcement was made at the tenth Global Sports Summit organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The centres will help the retired sportspersons to get employment. Also, the centres will aid in encouraging sports culture in the country.
The Sports Ministry is currently working on the target of making India one of the top ten medal grossing countries in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Earlier in June 2020, the Khelo India Centres of Excellence were launched under the Khelo India programme. These centres were established to create a robust sporting ecosystem in the country.
Parthiv Patel Hangs His Gloves
Parthiv Patel, who made his India debut at 17 years in 2002, announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
Patel played 25 Tests and 38 One Day Internationals and made 111 international dismissals as a wicketkeeper — 72 in Tests and 39 in ODIs.
When Parthiv played for the Indian team in 2002, he became the youngest wicket-keeper to represent a country in Tests.
Dec 09, 2020
FIFA World Cup 2022: Hosts Qatar to Join European Qualifying as Preparation
FIFA World Cup 2022 hosts Qatar have been invited to participate in European Qualifying Group A by UEFA, to help them prepare for the tournament.
Qatar will play friendly games against Portugal, Serbia, Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan.
As hosts they have already qualified for the tournament - meaning results will not count towards qualification.
Their 'home' matches will be played in Europe to allow short travel times for their opponents.
Qatar, who beat Japan to win the 2019 Asia Cup, will play the side that has a free matchday, meaning they will play 10 fixtures in total.