AP High Court strikes down life ban on Azharuddin

 The Andhra Pradesh High Court Thursday struck down the life ban imposed on former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) 12 years ago.

A division bench of the high court set aside the order of a lower court which had upheld the ban.
It was on Dec 5, 2000, that the BCCI banned Azhar from playing cricket for life after being found guilty of match-fixing.
The Hyderabadi had challenged the Indian cricket board's decision in the City Civil Court, which upheld the ban. He then moved to high court against the lower court's order, his lawyers arguing that the BCCI imposed the ban without any evidence.
The 49-year-old is currently a member of parliament from Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Azhar, one of India's successful captains, played 99 Tests scoring over 6,215 runs during his career. He also played 334 One-Day Internationals scoring 9,378 runs in his 15-year international career.

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Hyderabad team for Ranji match against MP

VVS Laxman will lead Hyderabad in its Ranji Trophy Group `A' League match to be played against Madhya Pradesh here from November 9 to 12.

 

Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) today announced a 14-member team for the four-day match. The team: VVS Laxman (Captain), DB Ravi Teja, P Akshath Reddy, N Arjun Yadav, Hanuman Vihari, Abhinav Kumar, Ibraheem Khaleel, A Lalith Mohan, Vishal Sharma, Ahmed Quadri, Anwar Khan, M A Khader, P Kaneshkk Naidu and Ashish Reddy. Sunil Joshi is the chief coach of the team.

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Indian sport is moving in the right direction: Gopichand

Sports in India has started moving in the right direction and the impact of the six medals the country won at the London Olympics will be huge, said national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand here today. It is huge. Whatever we are seeing in Indian sport, a lot was started by the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Indian sports has started to move in the right direction, which is good. All positive vibes sports is getting is thanks to the six medals in Olympics, Gopichand said.
Gopichand, who was here in his capacity as brand ambassador for a new concept - Mumbai Games - featuring nine sports among eight city teams, said for those outside the country the number of medals, comprising two silvers and four bronzes, may not look a huge haul.
Although it (medal haul) might be looked differently from outside the country, it is a fantastic achievement and a great push forward. It is very important that sport becomes part of everyday life, and a lot of developed nations have realised that. Health, character come from sport, said the former All England men's singles champion.
As a country, we don't have sports as a focus. How many time do we talk about sport in the Parliament or Assembly? Nothing. All of us need to look constructively and not lose time in blaming the system. As a nation, we are young. The last thing we want is an unhealthy and old nation, he remarked.
To buttress his point, Gopichand recalled an old incident that happened in Russia when he was a player.
The Indian team was in Khabarovsk in Russia in the 1990s. We used to play badminton Test matches, India vs Russia.The liaison officer took us around to a theatre and said it was the biggest theatre for 200 people. The entire team laughed and said we have about 20 of them in a small place.
He sounded offended and took us around to a massive sports complex. 'How many of these do you have in your country? We have 20 of them in Khabarovsk. We (sheepishly) said none, Gopichand said.
Sports will be great if two brothers say we want to play, if a family goes out and plays. Kids will remember those quality moments. A lot of time when we go to the corporate world, the thinking is not the same (not like sportspeople) and (we) hope they have played (some) sport. Hopefully, the respect for sports grows, said Gopichand.
Gopichand, who is on the governing council of the Indian Badminton League which is to be launched on November 10, was reluctant to talk about the USD one millon prize money event ahead of the official unveiling.
It is great news for badminton. The badminton fraternity will benefit. It is going to be exciting, the biggest league in the world, he said.

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"My success is due to hardwork and discipline" : Saina

 Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal today said that it is sheer hardwork and discipline that has helped her to reach where she is today.

 Asked to name two things that makes here special, Saina said hard work and discipline enabled her to emerge as a top-ranking badminton player.

 The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is still some time away but Saina feels that her victory in Denmark augers well for her.
 When fellow Olympic medallist Gagan Narang asked what changes does she want to see in the sporting scenario, she said,I want sportspersons to get good facilities so that they can excel in life.
 Replying to a query, Saina said she had ice cream whenever she won a tournament which she cannot have as she had to maintain her fitness.
 When Narang questioned as to what would be her message, she said the youth should have self-belief and discipline to excel in their chosen field. The women are no inferior to men and they can do what they do.
 To a query on her plans to set up an academy in Bangalore, she said she was offered help by the Haryana and Karnataka governments.
 Saina said that meditation helps her to keep her mind cool and maintain mental strength.
 To another query, she said the burning desire to win keeps her motivated and free from fatigue. Narang also stressed that passion and fire keeps the motivation going.

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Bhupathi-Bopanna win 2nd match

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna today won their first Group B match with a 6-3 5-7 10-5 win over Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau to keep their semifinal hopes alive while Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek also made a winning start at the ATP World Tour Finals.

It was a good comeback for fifth seeds Bhupathi and Bopanna after losing the first match to Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielse.
In a Group A match, third seeds Paes and Stepanek began their campaign with a 6-4 7-5 win over seventh seeded pair of Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger, yesterday.
In today's match Bhupathi and Bopanna raced to a 3-0 lead by breaking Lindstedt's serve in the second game. However, the sixth seed Romanian-Swedish team broke Bhupathi in the sixth game to get back on serve.

Lindstedt suffered a second successive break of serve to leave Bopanna to clinch the 28-minute opener with a hold.
Bhupathi, rock solid at the net, ended a short exchange with a forehand volley winner.
As the second set drew closer to a tie-break, with neither team looking likely to break serve, Lindstedt and Tecau raised their return games. Tecau hit a forehand winner on Bhupathi's serve at 30/40 to capture the second set in 43 minutes.
In the Match tie-break, Lindstedt and Tecau broke clear at 3-3, winning two straight points for 5-3. But Bhupathi and Bopanna responded, turning it around, with seven points in a row, ending with a Tecau backhand wide.

Yesterday, Stepanek, making debut at the event, saved one break point on sudden death deuce in the second game. Rojer recovered from 30/40 at 3-3, before Qureshi was broken as Indo-Czech pair produced solid returns and attacked the net.
The Czech closed out the 41-minute set with his second ace.
Five points went against serve in the first six game of the second set, with Paes and Qureshi surviving sudden death deuces in the second and fifth games.
Stepanek won four straight points from 15/40 at 3-4, giving the Czech and Paes the impetus they needed to break Rojer to love for a 6-5 lead. Once again Stepanek closed out the set for victory.
Qureshi and Rojer were left to rue missing out on six break point opportunities.

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