October 13, 2009:Indian fast bowler Sreesanth has been given a final warning by the BCCI that he will be suspended from domestic cricket if he violates the code of conduct again.
Sreesanth, who has had disciplinary issues in domestic and international cricket, was recently fined 60% of his Irani Cup match fees for using offensive language against Mumbai's Dhawal Kulkarni.
Following the incident, the BCCI sent a letter to the Kerala Cricket Association secretary TC Mathews issuing the warning to Sreesanth. "You are hereby given a final warning to ensure that you do not violate the BCCI Code of Conduct. Any repetition of such behavior will be dealt with severely by the BCCI including suspension from domestic cricket matches."
Allan Donald, the former South African fast bowler, recently said Sreesanth needed to change his habits if he still wanted to play for India.
Sreesanth has already been in the dock in the past for his publicised spat with Harbhajan Singh during the IPL and various other run-ins with opposition and umpires. During this Irani Cup, apart from his stand-off with Kulkarni, he was also involved in an exchange of words with Ramesh Powar.
Both were seen taunting each other but Sreesanth later said it was just a friendly joust with his IPL team-mate and that neither of them crossed the line.
Pakistan's Younus offers to quit
He submitted his resignation to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) - who are yet to accept it - on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old said he was "disgusted by match-fixing allegations made against me and the team."
Younus was attending a hearing to discuss Pakistan's performance in the recent ICC Champions Trophy.
National Assembly committee chairman Jamshed Dasti had alleged that Pakistan deliberately under-performed during the competition - although he later insisted that the committee never intended to make match-fixing allegations against the players.
"We are totally satisfied with the explanation of the team management and board," he said. "The committee is satisfied no match-fixing took place."
Younus told the Reuters news agency: "Yes, I have submitted my resignation. I have told the chairman to go through my resignation and read my point of view."
PCB chairman Ijaz Butt added: "It's an emotional decision and I reject it.
"I hope to convince Younus to revoke his decision, but if he sticks to his stand then the matter will be decided by the PCB's governing council next week on 19 October."
Younus has scored 5,260 runs in 63 Tests - at an average over 50 - since making his debut against Sri Lanka in 2000, and succeeded Shoaib Malik as Pakistan captain in January 2009.
He has also appeared in 194 one-day internationals and led Pakistan to victory at the ICC World Twenty20 tournament in England earlier this year - before retiring from Twenty20 internationals.
Appoint Monitoring Committee for CWG: BJP
BJP today said lack of preparations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games by the Delhi government has turned it into a "joke" and demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appoint a Monitoring Committee to keep an eye on the progress.
"Delhi government has turned the Commonwealth Games into a joke. They kept sleeping for the last six years. They are misleading the nation by saying that Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Mike Fennel was satisfied and happy," BJP general secretary Vijay Goel charged.
Goel, who held a meeting with Fennel last week to discuss the preparations, claimed that the latter was not at all happy with the state of affairs.
"He told me that there was no way he could transfer these Games to a new venue (due to lack of time), postpone them or not hold them at all," Goel said.
The former Union minister said other than infrastructure, Fennel was concerned about completion of the projects on time and without compromising on quality.
The requirements for those games to be held in August 2010 should be finalised now, Goel said.
"The Prime Minister should appoint a Monitoring Committee, which can have members from different walks of life, to keep an eye on the progress," he said.
"There should be a one-window clearance system for the projects," Goel said, adding, the delay in projects had led to manifold increase in the budget for the Games.
Two India lifters face life bans
NEW DELHI — Two Indian weightlifters with Commonwealth Games medals face life bans after testing positive for banned substances a second time, an official said on Tuesday.
Shailaja Pujari, who won three gold medals in the women's 75-kilogram (165-pound) category at the 2002 Games in Manchester, failed an out-of-competition test conducted by India's National Anti-Doping Agency.
Vicky Batta, a silver-medallist in the men's 56-kilogram (123-pound) event at the 2006 event in Melbourne, returned positive when tested by the World Anti-Doping Agency, Indian official Balraj Gulati said.
"Out-of-competition tests were conducted a few days ago and both Shailaja and Vicky tested positive," Gulati, secretary of the Indian Weightlifting Federation, told reporters.
"Both can demand to have their B-samples tested, but if that too comes out positive, they will be banned for life."
Both lifters have already served dope-related suspensions after Pujari failed an out-of competition test in 2006 and Batta tested positive at the National Games in 2007.
Gulati said India could be barred from competing in international events for a year if a third lifter tested positive before the end of 2009.
"Weightlifting is a power sport and lifters need supplements," he said. "But they have to be careful of the banned substances.
"We have tried to educate them about banned substances and reminded them to consult specialists before consuming any supplements.
"It?s the greed of a few lifters which spoils the image of not just the federation but the entire country," Gulati said.
Both Pujari and Batta were regarded as medal prospects at the next Commonwealth Games to be held next year in the Indian capital New Delhi.
Indian lifters missed the Asian Games in Doha in 2006 due to a 12-month ban imposed on the national federation after four athletes tested positive within a year.
India's lone lifter at the Beijing Olympics, Monika Devi, was withdrawn over an alleged doping offence. Devi denied the charge and is fighting the allegation in court.
Down to the Wire for the World Cup
After more than two years, the contest to whittle down 201 countries to the 32 that will go to the World Cup in South Africa next year is down to its last dozen places. A few will remain in question into November, but Wednesday is D-Day for most of those nations whose attempts to qualify have gone down to the wire.
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One match, winner-take-all, is the red meat of the situation.
It comes back to where the World Cup started, in the same Estádio Centenário in Montevideo where Uruguay won the inaugural World Cup in 1930, beating Argentina, 4-2, in the final.
Forget Diego Maradona and the soap opera for just a few moments. Smell the liniment, smell the fear, sense the opportunity of players of two nations, divided only by the River Plate and by centuries of political and cultural rivalry.
Inside that locker room in the Centenario, inside the veins of men such as Diego Forlán, there is mixed Argentine and Uruguayan blood, and mixed sporting heritage.
Forlán is the chief goal scorer of the modern Uruguay. He was born in Montevideo. His injury-time penalty kick, an incredible burden to a tired mind and body after more than 90 minutes last Saturday in the high altitude at Quita, defeated Ecuador to give his country this chance of reaching the World Cup finals for the first time since 1990.
Forlán’s father, Pablo, played in the World Cup for Uruguay. His grandfather Juan Carlos Corazo played in the World Cup for Argentina. And Diego Forlán, who might until his early teens have chosen a tennis career instead of soccer, wants this chance to shoot La Celeste to the tournament at the expense of Los Albicelestes.
They are that close. Celeste, sky blue, is Uruguay’s national color. White and sky-blue stripes are normally the colors of Argentina, which, as the away team in Montevideo, must change to a darker uniform.
But come the darkness in the stadium, come 8 p.m. on the night when the anthems are played, there will be 73,000 Uruguayans and only 3,000 or so from across the River. When the hour strikes midnight in Central Europe, 7 a.m in Tokyo or 6 p.m. in New York, this will be the focus of truly global soccer fans, because, thanks to modern communications, there will be a television set near you showing the game.
Of course, if you are Swiss or Slovakian, Portuguese, Greek, Croatian or Ukrainian, you might have other things closer to your heart as those countries strive to qualify, or at least to reach the playoffs.
Forgive my preoccupation, therefore, with Montevideo.
It’s just that the night is so compelling, so wrapped in the history of the sport. Not only did Uruguay, a country of fewer than four million people, make full use of home advantage to win that first World Cup more years ago than most of us have lived; it won the trophy again in 1950, beating Brazil on Brazil’s home turf in front of 199,854 yellow-clad supporters in the Maracanã stadium of Rio de Janeiro.
Uruguay has fielded star players of the quality of Juan Schiaffino, who scored in that 1950 final, and who later also represented Italy. Thirty years later, it produced Enzo Francescoli, a prince of elegance in a team prepared to go to war to win soccer matches.
This uncompromising side of Uruguay could just as likely show against the Argentines as the beauty. No one knows what side Maradona might line up in the Centenário, but Lionel Messi will be on the wing. Everyone knows what instruction Oscar Washington Tabárez, the experienced coach to Uruguay, will give.
A tied result is no good to Uruguay. One point would put Argentina through and, depending on how Ecuador ends up against already-qualified Chile, Uruguay might not even gain the consolation of a playoff.
So for Forlan and his pals, this is Waterloo, win or bust.
“I have history,” Forlán says in relation to his grandfather’s past, and also to his own start in professional soccer with Independiente in Argentina. History, but also a yearning to find one of his inspirational volleys, a desire to run until he drops, a duty and a longing to put his homeland first.
Sporting history is on neither team’s side. Argentina has won 82, Uruguay 54 of the 175 matches the neighbors have played since 1901. But more recent form offers more encouragement to Uruguay, which has lost only one of its eight 2010 qualifiers at home, whereas Argentina last won outside its own territory way back in Venezuela in October 2007.
Maradona was in charge for the last four away defeats, but his players bear responsibility for the record outside of Buenos Aires. It reads “played 8, won 1, tied 2, lost 5.”
It is a failure of some of the finest individuals in the sport. A failure that possibly started with complacency now comes down to fear and uncertainty, sown by a coach who seldom fields the same lineup and who does not know his own best game plan.
On paper, you’d think that Messi and Carlos Tévez, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuaín and Martin Palermo have enough goals in them to rescue Argentina at this 11th hour. But only Maradona, and perhaps not even he, knows which combination he will go with in any area of the pitch.
Oscar Tabárez knows what he needs to know. “Not many people thought we could win two games in a row, yet here we are,” he said Monday. “Now we’re going for a third. In our home stadium, in front of our supporters, I have total faith in my team.”
The one imponderable is Carlos Amarilla, the Paraguayan electrical engineer chosen to referee this match. Mr Amarilla has a history of awarding controversial penalty kicks. ... Heaven forbid that it should recur Wednesday in the Centenário.
All-around favorite out of world gymnastic championships
Fabian Hambuechen of Germany, the favorite for the men's all-around title, has been knocked out of the world gymnastics championships this week in London after rupturing a ligament in his left foot.
Hambuechen said Monday that he doesn't need surgery and should be able to resume full training in six weeks. He suffered the injury during training on floor exercise Sunday.
The loss of Hambuechen, the 2007 silver medalist, leaves Olympic silver medalist Kohei Uchimura of Japan and American Jonathan Horton as leading contenders for the gold.
Figure skating: For the first time in six years, figure skating fans can watch the ISU Grand Prix series on network television, with NBC Sports and Universal Sports broadcasting five of the six Grand Prix events. NBC's broadcast will feature coverage of the ladies' and men's free skates, and Universal Sports will focus its coverage on pairs, ice dance and the men's and ladies' short programs. The broadcasts begin with coverage of the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Tennis: American James Blake rallied to defeat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, in the first round of the Shanghai Masters. Karlovic, who holds the record for serving aces in a match with 78 during a five-set loss to Radek Stepanek in the Davis Cup semifinals last month, double-faulted on the final point.
OU Notebook: Simmons out
Bob Stoops confirmed that left guard Brian Simmons "will be out" against Texas. He declined to discuss other specifics of Simmons' injury, including how long Simmons might be out.
Simmons left last Saturday's game against Baylor with an apparent knee injury. Stoops said Simmons' replacements in practice were "our other guys." That presumably means sophomore Stephen Good, freshman Tyler Evans and junior college transfer Tavaris Jeffries, the Sooners' three guards other than Simmons who have started.
Carter questionable: Stoops said strong safety Quinton Carter "did some things today" and would also be evaluated as the week progresses. When Carter left the Baylor game, trainers checked out his left hamstring. Carter previously had hamstring problems that kept him out of games and spring practice.
Run amok: With Vondrell McGee and Tre' Newton listed as day-to-day, the Texas running backs — already a questionable lot, without much of a workhorse — are running low on bodies. Sort of. Fozzy Whittaker, who has had his own injury problems, is atop the depth chart.
"We'll figure out a way," said Texas quarterback Colt McCoy. "Our running back situation is very deep. We have several guys who have a lot of playing experience. We have been injured here and there, but we'll have somebody in there ready to go."
Said Texas coach Mack Brown, "We have not consistently run the ball this year, and OU is one of the best at stop the run in the country. So that's a real concern for
us."
Granger update: Stoops said defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger "just hasn't quite fully recovered from the back injury. He's trying. He's working on it. It's coming slowly. But he just hasn't quite been able to get over the hump with it."
Granger had surgery last December to relieve pain in his back. Granger has said he's pain free, but still stiffens up, and after several months of inactivity, he is still trying to get his weight and conditioning under control.
ABC to carry OU-Kansas: Oklahoma's game next week at Kansas will kick off at either 2:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. and will be televised by ABC (KTUL-8). The network has decided to use one of its opportunities for a six-day selection window and will announce next Sunday the start time of both Oklahoma at Kansas and Texas at Missouri.
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