Pakistan team to get visas for T20 World Cup for Blind
New Delhi, Dec 1: Pakistan cricket team for the visually impaired will soon be granted visa to come to India for the third T20 World Cup for the Blind scheduled from December 5-17. Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) President Mahantesh GK confirmed the development on Thursday. India and Pakistan are set to square off at the Siri Fort Ground on December 7. However, there were some issues with regard to the participation of the Pakistan team due to the delay in the issuance of visas. While New Zealand, West Indies and England aren’t participating in this edition, Australia, South Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh will be part of the 12-day event. Matches will be played in Faridabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Indore and Bengaluru where the final will be held. (PTI)
Rossi ousts billionaire Lisin to head Olympic shooting body
Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt), Dec 1: Italian official Luciano Rossi has beaten incumbent president and Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin to become the new head of the governing body for Olympic shooting. Rossi beat Lisin to become president of the International Shooting Sport Federation on Wednesday in an unusually close and combative election for an Olympic federation. In a statement announcing the result on Thursday, the ISSF did not provide a breakdown of the voting, but the German shooting federation said it was 136 to Rossi and 127 to Lisin. “We are excited to see what the future holds for the ISSF under (Rossi’s) leadership,” the ISSF executive board said in a statement. It was the second time Rossi stood against Lisin after losing by four votes for the then-vacant presidency in 2018. Lisin resisted calls from some ISSF members to step aside as president following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under Lisin, the ISSF joined most other Olympic sports by suspending shooters from Russia and its ally Belarus from competing in its events in March, shortly after the invasion began. (AP)
Taskin Ahmed ruled out of opening ODI against India
New Delhi, Dec 1: Bangladesh pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed has been ruled out of the opening ODI against India in Mirpur on December 4 due to a recurring back pain, chairman of selectors Minhazul Abedin said. “Taskin is ruled out from the opening game of the ODIs as his back pain recurred,” BCB chief selector Minhajul told Cricbuzz on Thursday. “We will be seeing his progress before taking further decision regarding his participation,” he added. Veteran opener Tamim Iqbal has sustained groin injury in the warm-up game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadiuum in Mirpur on November 30. “We are waiting for Tamim’s scan report. He had a groin injury and physician asked him to have a scan to take a decision about his availability,” said Minhajul. (PTI)
Ashok Malhotra, Paranjape named in new BCCI CAC
New Delhi, Dec 1: Former India players and national selectors Ashok Malhotra and Jatin Paranjape will join Sulakshana Naik in the three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) which will be entrusted with the duty of picking the new selection panel later this month. Malhotra replaced former India seamer Madan Lal and Paranjape came in place of Rudra Pratap Singh, who has joined Mumbai Indians as a talent scout. Only former women’s international Naik remained from the last committee. In November, the BCCI had sacked the entire selection panel headed by Chetan Sharma. The other members were Harvinder Singh, Sunil Joshi and Debasish Mohanty. It is understood that Chetan, despite his unceremonious dumping and adverse performance report after India’s semi-final debacle at the T20 World Cup, has reapplied alongside Harvinder. Joshi and Mohanty (tenure ended) have decided against reapplication. (PTI)
Ukraine’s Olympian auctioning medals to help war effort
Kiev, Dec 1: One of Ukraine’s most decorated Olympians is auctioning his medals – two golds and a bronze – in hopes of raising a six-figure donation to contribute to the war effort in his native land. “My Olympic medals won’t matter if Ukraine can’t stand for this fight for freedom and independence,” two-time canoe champion Yuri Cheban said on Wednesday. Cheban won Olympic gold in the 200 metres in 2012 and 2016 and a bronze in the 500 metres in 2008. SCP Auctions, which is conducting the sale, expects the gold medals to fetch in the neighbourhood of $75,000 each, an impressive estimate buoyed by the relative scarcity of available recent medals, and also their meaning. Cheban will give the proceeds to the Olympic Circle charity fund, a collection started by athletes and targeted toward helping the city of Mykolaiv, which isn’t far from the recently liberated city of Kherson and also close to Cheban’s home, the Black Sea port city of Odessa. (AP)