Sri Lanka Names Squad for ICC Women's T20 World Cup
The Sri Lanka Cricket Board announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Women`s T20 World Cup, slated to commence from February 21. The board also announced five standby players for the ensuing tournament.
The squad members are -- Chamari Atapattu (captain), Harshitha Madavi (vice captain), Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunaratne, Shashikala Siriwardene, Nilakshi De Silva, Ama Kanchana, Kavisha Dilhari, Udeshika Probodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Hasini Perera, Sathya Sandeepani, Umesha Thimashini, Sugandika Kumari, Dilani Manodara.
The standby players are -- Sachini Nisansala, Prasadani Weerakkody, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Tharika Sewwandi, Inoka Ranaweera.
Sri Lanka will take on New Zealand in their opening encounter on February 22.
Madras High Court Orders AICF Elections on Feb. 10 in Chennai
In a setback to the Bharat Singh Chauhan faction, the Madras High Court directed that the All India Chess Federation (AICF) elections be held in Chennai on February 10.
As originally announced by president P.R. Venketrama Raja, the court said that the AICF general body meeting will be held on February 10 for the purpose of electing new office-bearers.
Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy gave the order while disposing off an application filed by the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association for an interim injunction to restrain AICF secretary Chauhan from convening the special meeting of the general body on February 9 in Ahmedabad.
Jan 28, 2020
Karnataka Mini Olympics
The Karnataka Mini Olympic Games, a week-long multi-sport event featuring 18 disciplines, will get under way at various venues in the city from February 3, 2020. The Mini Olympics — jointly conducted by the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Govt. of Karnataka; the Sports Authority of Karnataka (SAK) and the Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA) is the first event of its sort in the country, stated K. S. Eshwarappa, Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
A total of 4000 athletes, all in the U-14 age-group, are expected to participate in the Mini Olympics. The 18 disciplines are: athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kho-kho, kabaddi, lawn tennis, netball, swimming, table tennis, taekwon-do, and volleyball. The top eight athletes in each category in each event have been selected to participate in the Mini Olympics by the respective state associations.
Mumbai to Host IPL Final
The title clash of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in Mumbai on May 24, 2020 and the night matches will have usual 8 pm start as the Governing Council decided against changing the timings, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly announced.
IPL 2020 will have only five double headers (4 pm and 8 pm).
In a first, concussion substitute and 'third umpire no ball' will also be introduced in the upcoming edition. The third umpire will now make the exclusive 'no ball' call instead of the on-field umpires.
In a noble gesture, the BCCI will have an 'All Stars Game' between all top international players before start of the IPL on March 29 for a charitable cause.
Jan 27, 2020
Ghosal into Final of Pittsburg Open Squash
India's Saurav Ghosal made his way into the final of Pittsburgh Open squash tournament with a hard-fought win over Egypt's Omar Mossad.
Ghosal, seeded second, defeated the fifth seed Eyptian in a thrilling 1 hour 13 minute contest.
Ghosal, who is searching for his first World tour win, will now take on top seed Egyptian Fares Dessouky in the summit clash.
Anand Draws with Kovalev at Tata Steel Masters
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus to share the sixth spot after the 12th and penultimate round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament.
USA's second seed Fabiano Caruana took an unsurpassable 1.5-point lead over Magnus Carlsen and ensured the title with a round to spare.
Caruana (9) defeated Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda to reach nine points. Carlsen (7.5) drew with Russia's Vladislav Artemiev.
In the Challengers category, Surya Shekhar Ganguly (6.5) lost to Pavel Eljanov (7.5) and Nihal Sarin (6) drew with Vincent Keymer. Spain's David Anton Guijarro (8) continued to lead despite losing to Max Warmerdam.
Jan 26, 2020
World Archery Lifts Suspension of Archery Association of India
World Archery conditionally lifted the suspension of the Archery Association of India (AAI) following elections that were held in New Delhi.
The AAI had been suspended since August 5, 2019, with Indian athletes only allowed to compete under a neutral flag at events that directly affected their qualification chances for the Olympics.
With the uplifting of the suspension, Indian archers will henceforth be allowed to compete in World Archery events under the national flag.
Union Minister Arjun Munda was on January 18 elected president of the AAI after the much-delayed elections were held in the presence of three observers, including one from World Archery. Munda defeated BVP Rao by a margin of 34-18.
Jan 25, 2020
ICC Announces 6 Host Cities for Women's Cricket World Cup 2021
New Zealand's capital Wellington and five other cities will host the 31 matches of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2021. The other cities apart from Wellington where the matches are scheduled are Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Christchurch and Dunedin.
A total of eight countries are taking part in the Women's Cricket World Cup 2021 which will have 31 matches played between February 6 and March 7, 2021.
Host New Zealand have their matches at all the six venues. The two semi-finals will be hosted at Hamilton's Seddon Park and Tauranga's Bay Oval while tournament final will be a day-night affair at Christchurch's Hagley Oval stadium.