Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts

New York Marathon cancelled for the first time in its history as Sandy chaos continues

Labels: , , , on Saturday, 3 November 2012

Some 47,000 entrants from all over the world had been due to take part in Sunday's marathon but, just hours after Michael Bloomberg insisted the race would go ahead, came a surprise U-turn. This is the first time that the race has been cancelled, it even went ahead in 2001, just two months after the September 11 terror attacks.

The decision was welcomed by New Yorkers who had organised a social media campaign asking officials to scrap the event, saying it would be in poor taste while people were still suffering in the wake of Sandy. There were also safety concerns, amid fears that police resources might be stretched.


However, thousands of runners who have spent months training for the event, like Teri Butler from Houston in Texas, have been left disappointed: "We spent thousands of dollars to bring our family here, paid for hotel rooms, airline tickets. Cancel it before we come.



"Cancel it two days ago when everyone had an opportunity to not spend all that money. We understand and we're so sorry for the people who've suffered and a natural disaster is a terrible thing but we can't change that. So let us run, and we were donating so much to the cause. We were helping people through our running."

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Former New Zealand skipper Martin Crowe diagnosed with cancer

Labels: , , , on Monday, 15 October 2012

Former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe has been diagnosed with lymphoma, an invasive cancer of the immune system.

Louise Henderson said the 50-year-old Crowe had only recently received the diagnosis and requested privacy while he and his family deal with the news.

 "the family have a number of issues to confront over the next couple of weeks. The diagnosis is very new, the family is still in shock and obviously dealing with the understanding that life as they know it for the unforeseeable future is different." Crowe is married to former Miss Universe Lorraine Downes.

Crowe played 77 tests and 143 one-day internationals for New Zealand between 1982 and 1995. He scored more than 5,400 test runs at an average of 45 with 17 centuries.

Crowe made his test debut at a tender age of 19.

He was also the backbone behind New Zealand’s memorable run to the World Cup semifinals on home soil in 1992.

His 17 centuries are still the most by any New Zealander at Test level.

A knee injury forced him to retire at just 33 in 1996 or he might well have broken more.Crowe also attempted a comeback last year, but in his first premier match for Auckland club Cornwall he was forced to retire hurt and conceded his body wasn’t up to the rigours of the sport.

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Match-fixing sting: ICC suspends tainted umpires pending inquiry

Labels: , , , , , , , on Wednesday, 10 October 2012

New Delhi: Six umpires, who were allegedly caught in a TV sting willing to fix decisions in T20 cricket matches, have been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its relevant Full Members, pending the completion of an inquiry against them.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) and its relevant Full Member Boards have agreed not to appoint any of the umpires named in a sting operation recently conducted by India TV to any domestic or international cricket matches pending the outcome of the ongoing investigations into the allegations made," the governing body.

"The officials named are not contracted by the ICC and those Boards who employ and nominate the umpires directly will conduct the investigations as a matter of urgency,"

The six umpires, who are purportedly shown in the TV sting willing to give 'favourable' decisions or provide inside information on teams and playing conditions in return for illicit payments, were Nadeem Ghauri and Anees Siddiqui of Pakistan, Nadir Shah of Bangladesh, and Gamini Dissanayake, Maurice Winston and Sagara Gallage of Sri Lanka.

In the sting, Pakistan umpire Ghauri agreed to give LBW decisions on demand, Sri Lankan umpire Sagar Gallage agreed to part with pitch information one and a half hours before the game, Bangladesh umpire Nadir Shah agreed to warn bowlers unfairly. Maurice Winston too allegedly shared a pitch report, team reports and playing XIs for the warm-up match Australia-England T20 match in exchange for Rs. 50,000.

However, the umpires have rubbished the allegations and are considering legal action against the channel. Pakistan's  suggestion they  was open to bribery was "absolutely rubbish". "If  they are  going to fix match, they will be caught some day by the ICC... no umpire fixes matches," 
 Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in Chief of India TV, stood by the channel's expose  it was open to any inquiry or public scrutiny of their journalistic work if the authenticity of the tapes is in question.

 "They are most welcome to file a case. They know that this is what they have . they  are not bothered about what they are saying because it is the least they can say. These are on the expected lines. They will say pictures are morphed, tapes are doctored. All tapes are available for any kind of inquiry. Anyone can go through the tapes and decide themselves." 

When asked about the lack of bite in sting as there was no exchange of money,  "All stings are done differently. Somewhere money exchange happens, sometime words are important. This is where the umpires, who are considered god on the field, who are most credible and who are the judges, who take decisions on the field, are saying this. Is it not enough? 

"The fact that the umpires were willing to do a "criminal" thing is unfair to cricket," .

Meanwhile, the BCCI has reacted to the suspension of the umpires caught in the sting operation,  the matter completely belongs to the ICC.

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