Facing a cash-crunch owing to rising maintenance costs, the Railway Board has identified 15 sports facilities across the country for techno-economic studies for commercial development.
These facilities are Railway Sports Complex in DLW (Varanasi), Chennai, Kolkata, Raebareli, Maligaon in Guwahati, Kapurthala and Secunderabad; Indoor Stadium at Parel in Mumbai and Patna, Railway Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Bahala in Kolkata and Mahalaxmi in Mumbai; Cricket Stadium at Yelahanka in Bengaluru and Lucknow; Gorakhpur Stadium in Gorakhpur.
Effectively, this move will see Railways selling off these facilities to private players thereby ending all sporting activities.
The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) had written to the chairman, Railway Board, protesting the move.
French Open 2021
Defending champion Iga Swiatek held off a fierce challenge from Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk to reach the French Open quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. The eighth-seeded Pole has now won 22 consecutive sets at Roland Garros going into her clash with Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari as she bids to become the first woman to retain the Roland Garros title since Justine Henin in 2007.
Indian Women Archery Team Eye Tokyo Ticket
The Indian women's archery team, led by former World No. 1 Deepika Kumari to compete in their final Olympic qualification event on June 20.
The women's trio of Deepika, Ankita Bhakat and Komalika Bari will have to finish in the top-3 to clinch the last available berth for the Tokyo Olympics.
Jun 07, 2021
Sifan Hassan Smashes Women's 10,000m World Record
According to World Athletics, Dutch long-distance runner Sifan Hassan broke the women's 10,000 m world record, clocking 29 minutes 6.82 seconds.
She achieved the feat in a Continental Tour, meeting on home soil in Hengelo.
Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana held the previous record of 29:17.45, set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Roger Federer Pulls Out of French Open 2021
Roger Federer withdrew from the French Open to give himself a chance to recover after emerging from a tight third-round victory that lasted about 3 1/2 hours.
After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it's important that I listen to my body and make sure I don't push myself too quickly on my road to recovery," the 20-time Grand Slam champion said in a statement released by the French tennis federation.
Jun 06, 2021
T20 World Cup Set to be Moved Out of India
The marquee T20 World Cup in October-November is set to be shifted to the UAE and Oman with the BCCI having internally intimated the ICC to go ahead with its preparation due to a tricky Covid-19 situation in India.
While the UAE was always the first back-up option, Oman's capital Muscat has been added as the fourth venue, apart from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, for the tournament that will start in the last week of October.
A majority of the ICC board members believe that India is trying to bide time as they take stock of the situation at a time when it is very difficult to predict how things pan out in October-November.
Jun 05, 2021
Wrestler Sumit Malik in Dope Net, Faces Life Ban from WFI
Heavyweight wrestler Sumit Malik's life has turned upside down. Not only has he failed a dope test, he now faces the prospect of a life ban from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
Sumit, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after beating Daniel Robertti Diaz of Venezuela 5-0 in the 125 kg semifinals at the World Olympic Games Qualifier in Sofia (Bulgaria), has been provisionally suspended by the United World Wrestling (UWW) after his sample showed presence of a banned stimulant.
His sample, which was collected by the International Testing Agency (ITA) during the world qualifiers, showed traces of methylhexanamine.
Jun 04, 2021
Gujrathi Qualifies for Chess World Cup
India No. 3 Vidit Gujrathi has qualified for the FIDE Chess World Cup, to be held in Sochi, Russia, from July 10, on the basis of his rating. Grandmaster Gujrathi, ranked 23rd in the world, becomes the fourth Indian man to qualify for the upcoming World Cup. Grandmasters P. Harikrishna, Aravindh Chidambaram and P. Iniyan have also qualified for the World Cup. Koneru Humpy, D. Harika, Bhakti Kulkarni, R. Vaishali and Padmini Rout have qualified for the women's event.