Junior Digest

Mumbai: Anurag Thakur was today unanimously elected as the second youngest BCCI President, while Ajay Shirke was chosen as Secretary in a smooth transition of power at a time when the world’s richest Cricket Board is sailing through choppy waters.

The 41-year-old Thakur replaced Shashank Manohar who quit the position to take up the ICC chairman’s job. The Maharashtra Cricket Association chief and business magnate Shirke expectedly filled in the Secretary’s post which was left vacant by Thakur’s resignation yesterday.

Senior BCCI vice-president C K Khanna chaired the Special General Meeting (SGM) and announced Thakur’s name for the top job.

“I feel humbled and honoured to be sitting here, it’s a journey which started 16 years ago,” Thakur said after taking over.

Manohar’s exit from the top post barely seven months into his tenure had necessitated the election of the new chief of the world’s richest and most powerful cricket body.

Soon after his resignation, Thakur got the signatures of all six east zone units in his BCCI presidential nomination from yesterday, paving the way for his unanimous choice as the 34th President of the world’s most influential cricket body.

In a show of solidarity yesterday, all the six east units – Cricket Association of Bengal, Assam CA, Tripura CA, NCC and Jharkhand SCA – had signed his nomination papers even though the rules required only one unit to nominate the name of the presidential candidate. It was the East zone’s turn this time.

The BJP MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh will be taking over the reins of the embattled Board in rather tough times as the BCCI is facing heat from the Supreme Court to implement the Justice R M Lodha Committee’s recommendations for sweeping reforms.

Thakur, incidentally, will go into the books as the first first-class cricketer to turn BCCI president after Raj Singh Dungarpur ended his tenure in 1998-99.

Although cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar had held the post jointly with another Test cricketer Shivlal Yadav briefly, specifically in charge of IPL affairs, that had been done at the direction of the Supreme Court which ordered then President N Srinivasan to step aside in the wake of the 2013 IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.

While Dungarpur had played 86 first-class matches for Rajasthan and the then Madhya Bharat as a medium pacer and also claimed 206 wickets, Thakur has represented HP in a lone Ranji Trophy game as a right-hand batsman and off break bowler in 2000-01 season.

Thakur is also the third person backed by East Zone to be elected to the top post during the 2014-2017 period.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was the consensus candidate after Srinivasan’s exit, died in office last year and Manohar took over in October, 2015.

@ Agency report.

New Delhi, May 17: The Delhi High Court today said “individuals may suffer” but the country has to be placed on a “higher pedestal” and left it to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to decide on India’s challenge in 74 kg men’s freestyle at the Rio Olympics, a bone of contention between wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Pancham Yadav.

The court’s observation came amidst allegations by the WFI counsel that two time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar had been approaching the Prime Minister and media for getting Olympic berth even as Narsingh Pancham Yadav had won a medal in world wrestling championship in 74 kg freestyle category.

When Sushil’s counsel pressed for a direction to WFI for conducting the trial in first week of June, Justice Manmohan said, “The Indian cause will suffer. We cannot do this at this stage. Indian cause has to be placed on a higher pedestal.

Individuals may suffer but the country has to be placed higher.”

“He (WFI counsel) is pointing out relevant facts. They (WFI) are the people who will have to take decision. I will only interfere as a last resort. You cannot deny the fact that one of them (Yadav) has given India a place in the Olympics,” the court said.

The court, which directed WFI to give a hearing to Sushil, also told his advocate, “you both (Sushil and Yadav) are equally placed. How can I decide this? They (WFI) are the experts. Let them decide first. I cannot interfere in this.”

During the hearing, WFI’s counsel told the court, “he (Sushil) is going to the Prime Minister and the media.”

To this, Sushil’s counsel said, “I am going because I am not getting any response from the federation.”

At the fag end of hearing, the court asked WFI to sort out the issue and observed, “I think everyone needs to focus on the training aspect. You cannot have such disputes. How these athletes will concentrate.”

The court was hearing the plea filed by Sushil in which he has sought a direction to WFI to conduct a selection trial to decide who will represent India in the category at Rio Games.

@Agency report.

Kunshan (China), May 20 : Indian women’s team settled for a bronze medal after suffering a 0-3 defeat at the hands of defending champions China in the semifinals of the Uber Cup badminton championship, here today.

After top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu went down narrowly against their respective opponents in the two singles match, Jwala Gutta and N Sikki Reddy also bit the dust in the first doubles, ending India’s campaign.

Indian eves had scripted history in the last edition when they won a historic bronze in New Delhi and they repeated the feat this time at Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.

Indian eves, who assured themselves a bronze after 3-1 win over Thailand yesterday, needed a magical performance to tame 13-time champions China at home but unfortunately the miracle did not happen.

A lot was riding on Saina and Sindhu, being India’s best shuttlers, but despite their best efforts they could not give India a positive start.

Starting the proceedings once again, Saina played out of her skin before losing 15-21 21-12 17-21 in a thrilling match that lasted an hour and four minutes. It was her eighth successive loss to Li. The last time Saina had beaten the Olympic champion was in 2012 Indonesia Open.

Coming into the match with a 4-5 head-to-head record against Shixian Wang, Sindhu went full throttle before suffering a 13-21 21-23 in a 50-minute match. It was her fourth consecutive loss against the World No. 6.

Down 0-2 in the five-match rubber, Jwala and Sikki tried their best before capitulating 6-21 6-21 against Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei in 25 minutes.

Earlier, in the first singles, Saina blew a 10-6 lead in the opening game before entering the break with a slender 11-10 lead, which Li erased and eventually pocketed the game.

In the second game, Saina erased a 2-6 deficit early on to break off at 8-8 and then reeled off nine straight points to bounce back in style.

In the decider, the duo fought tooth and nail before the Chinese marched ahead from 13-13 to shut the door on Saina.

In the second singles, Sindhu was no match for Shixian in the opening game as the Chinese zoomed ahead from 3-3 and never looked back.

In the second game, Sindhu had a healthy 18-8 advantage but all of it vaporised as Shixian crafted her way back in the contest and caught up with the Indian at 20-20. But in the end it was the Chinese who had the last laugh.

@Agency report

Astana (Kazakhstan): Five-time world champion M C Mary Kom and Asian Games bronze-medallist L Sarita Devi failed to qualify for the Olympics after they went down in their respective second round bouts of the AIBA Women’s World Boxing Championships here today.

Mary Kom (51kg), who was a bronze-medallist at the 2012 London Olympics, lost 0-2 to Germany’s Azize Nimani, while Sarita (60kg) was beaten 0-3 by Victoria Torres in the second round of an event from where only the semifinalists in the three Olympic categories would make the cut for the upcoming Rio Games.

The only Olympic hope left for India in the event is Pooja Rani (75kg), who is in the prequarterfinals after winning her opening bout yesterday.

“I gave my best effort after a lot of sacrifices. Winning and losing is a part of game. The decision hurts me but it is not in my hand. I just have to respect the judges decision with true sportsmanship,” Mary Kom told PTI.

“I believe God has a different plan for me. I want to thank all my fans and my support team for not letting me down in this crucial moment. I wish our remaining Indian boxers all the best and I hope they make our country proud,” she added.

Mary Kom has a hypothetical chance of making it to Rio depending on the medallists in her category but that possibility is way too far-fetched and complex at this point.

Nimani will next be up against top seed Davide Marzia of Italy who got the better of Hungary’s Katalin Ancsin.

In an exciting contest, Mary Kom took off aggressively but Nimani managed to keep her at bay by fighting from a distance.

In fact, Nimani hardly attempted any attack on the Indian in the opening two minutes but managed to connect a few counter-jabs to take the initial edge.

Mary Kom continued to be aggressive in the second round as well, connected much better but failed to get the judges’ nod, who again ruled in favour of Nimani on a split decision.

Gaining in confidence, Nimani stuck to her gameplan and forced Mary Kom to let her guard down.

The diminutive Manipuri threw herself aggressively at the German, whose punching was far from clean. Nimani’s defensive tactics frustrated Mary Kom, who tried hard to engage the back-paddling German.

However, the determined attack failed to yield the desired results for Mary Kom as Nimani was declared winner on a split vote.

@Agency report.

New Delhi, May 10 ,2016: Shashank Manohar today stepped down as BCCI president barely seven months after being appointed for a second term in place of the late Jagmohan Dalmiya and is all set to take over as first independent chairman of ICC.

Manohar leaves at a time when the board is being directed to comply with the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha panel’s reform recommendations.

According to reliable sources, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur is being tipped to take over the hot seat. IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla is also in the running along with Maharashtra CA president and business magnet Ajay Shirke.

As per BCCI rules, a Special General Meeting (SGM) has to be convened within 15 days, apprising the members of the current situation. It is the prerogative of secretary Thakur to call such a meeting.

As per norms, Manohar has also resigned from ICC chairman’s post as he was a BCCI representative at the apex body and resignation in country’s board effectively means that he does not stay as ICC’s chairman. His tenure was supposed to end in June, 2016, after which he was set to take over as the first independant chairman of ICC.

The 58-year-old Manohar will not be a representative of any country’s cricket board as per the changes recommended by ICC board and will need two independant members of the ICC Board to recommend his name.

@Agency report.