MoS sports Khadse inaugurates basketball league in Pune
Pune, July 7: Minister of state for sports Raksha Khadse inaugurated the fourth season of the ABC Pro Basketball League here and said the event “perfectly resonates” with the government’s Khelo India initiative. According to the organisers, the league garnered a turnout of over 5,000 young aspirants participating in trials from across Maharashtra. Following a rigorous selection process, 1,000 players were shortlisted through an auction process, and 310 players were ultimately selected to join the league’s 19 teams across Under 14 and Under 17 categories for both boys and girls. “Investing in grassroots sports like this is paramount. Every point scored, every strategic pass, is a step towards building a healthier, more competitive, and more unified India, propelling you closer to Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi’s vision of a developed nation where every talent finds its rightful stage,” Khadse said at the inauguration on Sunday evening. (PTI)
Prithvi Shaw joins Maharashtra ahead of 2025-26 season
Mumbai, July 7: India batter and former Mumbai player Prithvi Shaw on Monday joined Maharashtra ahead of the 2025-26 season, the state governing body announced. Shaw had requested the Mumbai Cricket Association late last month to be granted No Objection Certificate to leave Mumbai and play for another state, which was approved by the governing body. Shaw was dropped from the Mumbai’s red-ball teams owing to poor fitness and disciplinary issues and had last played for the domestic giants in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy against Madhya Pradesh. “International cricketer and Indian team’s dynamic top-order batter Prithvi Shaw has officially parted ways with the Mumbai Cricket Association and will represent the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) from the upcoming domestic season,” the Maharashtra Cricket Association said in a statement. (PTI)
Kissing contamination defence clears French fencer in doping case
Lausanne, July 7: French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus was cleared of a doping allegation Monday because the judges accepted she was contaminated by kissing her American partner over a period of nine days. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling echoed a verdict clearing another French athlete with a similar defence in a doping allegation – tennis player Richard Gasquet in the celebrated “cocaine kiss” case in 2009. CAS said in the Thibus case its judging panel dismissed an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which asked for her to be banned for four years. Thibus tested positive for the anabolic substance ostarine in January 2024. She was later cleared by an International Fencing Federation tribunal weeks before the Paris Olympics, which let her compete there. WADA challenged the explanation that Thibus was contaminated “through kissing with her then partner, who had been using a product containing ostarine without her knowledge,” CAS said. The court said Monday “it is scientifically established that the intake of an ostarine dose similar to the dose ingested by Ms Thibus’ then partner would have left sufficient amounts of ostarine in the saliva to contaminate a person through kissing.” The CAS judges “accepted that Ms. Thibus’ then-partner was taking ostarine from Jan. 5, 2024, and that there was contamination over nine days with a cumulative effect.” Her partner at the time was Race Imboden, a two-time Olympic fencing bronze medallist for the US. Thibus, a silver medallist in women’s team foil at the Tokyo Olympics, placed fifth at that event in Paris and 28th in the women’s individual foil. (AP)