Japan’s Eiki Takahashi smashes world best for 10,000m race walk
Inzai (Japan), Nov 15: Japan’s Eiki Takahashi won the 10,000m race walk event at the Juntendo University Long Distance meeting by completing in a record time 37:25.21.Takahashi managed to hold off a strong challenge from 2018 World Race Walking Team Championships 20km winner Koki Ikeda, who finished second in 37:25.90 on Saturday, according to World Athletics.Ikeda had clocked a Japanese 5,000m race walk record of 18:20.14 – the fastest time in the world for 12 years – just three weeks ago on the same track.Yuta Koga, the World University Games bronze medallist, was at the third spot with timing of 37:35.00.Earlier in 2014 and 2015, Takahashi had set Asian records for the 10,000m race but both were relatively short-lived, as was his 1:18:03 Japanese record for the 20km race walk in 2015. (IANS)
ATP Finals to feature video review
London, Nov 15: The 2020 ATP Finals, for the first time in tournament’s history, will feature electronic line-calling and video review.According to the ATP Tour website, the lines will be called electronically by hawkeye live – as there won’t be line judges this year amid the Covid-19 pandemic — and a chair umpire will oversee the action. Players will be able to request video review for suspected not-ups, foul shots, touches and other reviewable calls.”Innovation and technology have always played a central part in the success of Nitto ATP Finals, and we’re pleased to be incorporating electronic line calling and video review in our 12th and final year in London. And for different reasons, this year also provided the right opportunity for us to use it due to the challenges we’re facing with Covid-19,” ATP Chief Tour Officer Ross Hutchins said.”We believe it’s the right time to use and because of the restrictions that are in place in London, and specifically to tennis with interaction between players and officials,” he added.However, there is one difference between video review at the ATP Finals — to be held between November 15 and 22 — and the ATP Cup, where it was used in January. (IANS)
AC Milan head coach tests positive
Milan, Nov 15: Stefano Pioli, head coach of Serie A club AC Milan, has tested positive for novel coronavirus, the club has informed. Pioli is asymptomatic and currently at home quarantine.”AC Milan announces that Stefano Pioli has tested positive following a quick test carried out this morning. The health authorities have been informed, and the coach, who is currently showing no symptoms, has gone into quarantine at home,” AC Milan said in a statement.”All other tests carried out by the squad and staff came back negative. As a result, today’s training session has been cancelled. Training ahead of the match with Napoli will resume on Monday, subject to the checks set out in the federal protocol,” it added.Earlier, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Daniel Maldini, Matteo Gabbia, and Leo Duarte of AC Milan had also been diagnosed with Covid-19. (IANS)
Morbidelli claims pole in MotoGP
Valencia, Nov 15: Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) sprinkled some more magic to secure his second pole position of the year as the Italian set a 1:30.191 in a blisteringly epic MotoGP Q2 at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana, beating Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) by 0.096 seconds.Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) is on the front row once more as the top three in the World Championship endure difficult qualifying sessions. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will start P12, just behind 11th place Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) fails to make it out of Q2.Soon after FP4 ended, light rain once again started to fall ahead of a monumentally huge Q1 for both Quartararo and Rins. As the green light lit up at the end of pit lane to signal the start of the session, the riders were packed together like a Grand National start.The riders needed to get a lap time in while the Circuit Ricardo Tormo remained dry enough for a slick tyre lap time – and Rins was the guinea pig. The Suzuki man was leading the riders around the opening lap as the times shot in, and it was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Quartararo who topped Q1 after the first lap. (IANS)
Beijing 2022 to replace test events
Beijing, Nov 15: The originally planned international test events for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games will be replaced with an adapted sports testing program, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.It was an agreement jointly made by the Beijing 2022 Organising Committee, Winter Olympic International Federations (IFs), International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC), reports Xinhua news agency.”The current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic affecting many parts of the world means that travel restrictions are currently in place, and the travel situation is likely to remain complex for the coming months in which the Beijing 2022 test events were scheduled. It was necessary to take an immediate joint decision on a tailored program based on the needs of each individual IF,” the IOC said in a statement.”This concept of adapted sports testing is fully in line with the spirit of Olympic Agenda 2020 and its New Norm. It is already being applied in Tokyo for its test events.(IANS)
Sydney Sixers re-sign Brathwaite
Sydney, Nov 15: Sydney Sixers on Sunday confirmed the re-signing of West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite for the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL). Brathwaite’s signing comes less than a week after speedster Mitchell Starc confirmed he would also be available for the side in the upcoming edition of the BBL. The 32-year-old Barbadian all-rounder will arrive in Australia before the start of the tournament and he will join Tom Curran and James Vince as the Sixers’ three international players. Brathwaite played four games for the Sixers in BBL|07 after coming in as a replacement player, helping the side on a late-season four-game win streak that left them two points shy of the semi-finals. “I have very fond memories of Sydney. I think Sydney is easily becoming my favourite city. I have good memories of playing at the SCG in my second Test match and even better memories of playing BBL for Sixers,” Brathwaite said in an official Sydney Sixers release. “The aura of the ground and cricket in NSW with all the history there is special. I remember great times dancing at the games and the times in the dressing rooms with our team. It’s a great organisation,” he added. (ANI)