Athletes arrive for Games, but future in doubt

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 08:48 PM

The first batch of athletes arrived in India for the Commonwealth Games on Friday, opting to stay at a hotel instead of unfinished, filthy accommodation as the future of the showcase event still hung in the balance.

Forty-seven members of the English men's hockey and lawn bowl teams will stay at a hotel until at least Saturday before moving to the athletes village which, along with a bridge collapse and a suspected militant attack on two foreign visitors, has thrown the Games into crisis.

Commonwealth Games Federation President Michael Fennell, who flew to New Delhi to inspect venues, gave an initial thumbs up for accommodation improvements but said work still needed to be done before the Oct. 3 start of the two-week long event.

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Aisam says will be tough going for Pak duo at Delhi CWG

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 08:34 PM

Lahore, Sep 24 (ANI): Pakistan's top tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, who is a part of the country's contingent scheduled to leave for India on Sept 29, has said the competition in the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG) in New Delhi will be tough.

Talking to reporters at the Bagh-i-Jinnah courts, where the short training-camp for the CWG has begun, Aisam pointed out that while his pair with Aqeel Khan would be unseeded at the event, they were set to face top players from Australia and New Zealand, who played on the international circuit throughout the year, the Dawn reported.

Noting that he and Aqeel had a very good mutual understanding, he said, "We have played around 18 Davis Cup doubles together."

Aisam, who recently earned the biggest achievement of his 15-year-long career by reaching the finals of the US Open's men's and mixed doubles, revealed that he had a hectic schedule in the coming days, as he would be playing at the Shanghai Open, the Paris Open, the Master Open and the Australian Open.

His recently improved doubles' ranking at six found him a place in the Master Open in London for the first time, where only the top-eight players are elegible to participate, Aisam said.

"I will try my best to maintain my doubles' ranking or improve it," he added. (ANI)

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Chris Broad slams UK's assisted suicide laws that forced wife to die alone

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 08:18 PM

London, Sept.24 (ANI): Former England cricketer and now ICC match referee Chris Broad has criticized British laws over assisted suicide which meant his wife, who killed herself over her advancing Motor Neurone Disease, had to die alone.

Michelle Broad, 60, was open to family and friends about her plan to end her life if she got sufficiently ill. However, she refused to tell her husband how she intended to do it to avoid him being implicated in any potentially criminal acts.

Speaking yesterday, a week after the inquest, Broad said it was wrong that the law had stopped him from holding her hand as she died.

The Telegraph quoted Broad, as saying: "If there is a no hope situation and they are of a sound mind and are willing to make this decision, then I think, they should be allowed to with their loved ones around them."

Under current laws, the former opening batsman, could have been implicated in his wife's death if he had witnessed it.

His son Stuart, a current England cricketer who was yesterday selected for the Ashes team, dedicated his recent personal best Test match score of 169 against Pakistan to his stepmother.

Mrs. Broad, known as "Miche", was found dead by her husband at their home in West Bridgford, Nottingham, on July 6 after taking a lethal amount of drugs.

She had been suffering from Motor Neurone Disease since May 2009.

A coroner ruled last week that she took her own life after worrying she was becoming a "burden".

Her husband, interviewed by Channel 4 News, said: "Her body was failing her. The mind was still working but the body was failing her and that was the crucial factor.

He added: "She was struggling to text and to type and that I suppose was the last section, the last piece in the jigsaw. She was struggling to walk, she was struggling to talk and eat - she was being fed through a tube."

He said: "For 18 months I think we'd both been building up to this. We knew there was not going to be a happy ending." (ANI)

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Aussies open India tour with clash against BP XI

Fri, Sep 24 10 08:02 PM

Sanjay Ganjoo Chandigarh, Sep 24 (PTI) The Ricky Ponting-led Australia will be keen to get some vital match practice and key Indian players, who are returning from injuries, would assess their fitness when the visitors and the Board President''s XI clash in a three-day practice match from here tomorrow. Skipper Gautam Gambhir and paceman S Sreesanth, who suffered injuries in the Sri Lankan tour, are making a comeback to the competitive cricket. Eyes will also be on Cheteshwar Pujara, who replaced Yuvraj Singh in the Test squad. The Saurashtra batsman has been a prolific run-scorer in the domestic circuit and for quite some time the right-hander was in the reckoning for a place in the national team. His dominance with the bat in domestic circuit can be gauged from the fact that he has so far made 14 centuries and 13 half centuries in his five-year first class career. Sreesanth, who hurt his knee in the lead-up to the first Test in Sri Lanka, would be looking to get back his rhythm back while Gambhir, who missed the second and third Tests in Sri Lanka with an injured knee, would also be keen to get some runs under his belt before the first Test. The Australians who have been mostly confined to their hotel rooms and gymnasium courtesy inclement weather will hope to make the most of the time they get out there in the middle. Only yesterday, Ponting and his boys seemed to be getting into the groove with some serious net sessions at the indoor facility of the PCA Stadium. "It''s been raining here earlier on. But now sun has come out finally. Playing against India in any conditions and in any form of the game is tough. "We need to be as well prepared as we possibly can be and that''s why we are here so early before the first Test. To get a practice match against a quality opposition and to get that feel of the conditions is very important," Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke said. "We just haven''t played much Test cricket as a team in India, but we are excited about the possibilities. If we can play our best cricket, I am confident we can beat India in this series," he said. More PTI SUN KHS AT

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Fennel meets cabinet secretary

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 07:52 PM

New Delhi, Sep 24 (IANS) Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell, who had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the controversies relating to the event, Friday met Cabinet Secretary K. M. Chandrashekhar here, sources said.

Fennel met the cabinet secretary, who is now in overall charge of the games preparations, after the prime minister declined his request for an appointment, sources said.

Fennel, accompanied by Games Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and other officials, later inspected the Games Village, the sources added.

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PCB in huddle over resurrecting Pak cricket following bitter England tour

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 07:12 PM

Lahore, Sep 24 (ANI): Now that Pakistan's acrimonious tour of England has ended, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been reportedly considering a plan under which cricketing relations with England may be suspended, till Pakistan's name is cleared of spot-fixing allegations.

The tour ended in bitterness between the cricket boards of the two nations, and Pakistani cricketers expressed strong sentiments over the way the ICC and the British media treated the visiting team, The Nation reported.

However, the PCB said that although its officials and legal team was trying to analyse the situation, no official move was likely. The general feeling is that the officials will be asked to remain silent in order to avoid further controversy, the paper said.

According to the paper, the board was also discussing steps it should take to maintain healthy relations with the cricket world and keep controversies away, particularly on tours against countries like England.

PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt, on his return from Dubai, did not disclose details of the meeting he had with ICC president Sharad Pawar.

Since the issue of match-fixing was sensitive, the ICC, the PCB and all those involved might not speak to media, he said, adding, "It was a satisfactory meeting."

The relation between cricket boards of Pakistan and England were strained to a great extent during the tour, especially after Butt's allegation that England cricketers might have fixed the third ODI match at the Oval. The ECB did not push for an apology till the conclusion of the series, but now it has written to the PCB seeking "full and unreserved apology."

"Mr. Butt has been advised that if a satisfactory response is not received, legal proceedings will be commenced against him without further notice," said a joint statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Professional Cricketers' Association.

Top PCB officials had a long meeting to formulate the future course of action and take into account the legalities of the issue. "In this letter multiple demands have been raised. The board has instructed London lawyers, Addleshaw Goddard, to respond on its behalf to these demands," a PCB spokesman said. (ANI)

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34th National Games deferred for sixth time in Jharkhand

Published>Fri, Sep 24 10 07:08 PM

Ranchi, Sep 24 (IANS) The 34th National Games, scheduled for December in Jharkhand, have been deferred for the sixth time due to panchayat elections, state chief secretary A.K. Singh said here Friday.

'It is not possible to hold the 34th National Games this year as panchayat elections will take place in November and December,' Singh told reporters.

The Games were scheduled Dec 9-22. However, they will take place in 2011 now.

The fresh dates will be announced after a meeting of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and National Games Organising Committee (NGOC) officials.

The 34th National Games were earlier postponed four times due to delay in developing the games infrastructure in Jharkhand. The National Games were last held in Guwahati in 2007.

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