PM Modi Opens South Asian Games in Guwahati
The rich and diverse culture of India’s Northeast was on display as curtains went up on the 12th South Asian Games in a colourful opening ceremony with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a host of other dignitaries in attendance.
PM Modi declared the Games open at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium to mark the formal beginning of the 12-day event to be competed by more than 2600 athletes.
Eight countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, besides India -- will be vying for the top honours in the Games to be co-hosted by Shillong.
Yuvraj Star Attraction; Mustafizur, Negi, Pant Dark Horses at IPL Auction
Veteran Yuvraj Singh and rookie all-rounder Pawan Negi could be among those who trigger a bidding war when 351 cricketers go under the hammer in the Indian Premier League players’ auction in Bangalore on Saturday.
Negi, who has just been named in the Indian team for the World T20 and is known to hit big sixes apart from his accurate wicket-to-wicket bowling, has a base price of only Rs 30 lakh. The 23-year-old is likely to fetch way beyond that amount when the eight franchises bid for players of their choice.
This year’s auction will see two new franchises -- RPG owned Rising Pune Supergiants led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Intex mobiles’ Rajkot based team Gujarat Lions led by Suresh Raina.
Yuvraj, Nehra, Negi in; Manish Pandey Ignored for WT20
Uncapped young all-rounder Pawan Negi was the lone new face, while injury-prone pacer Mohammed Shami was also named in the 15-member Indian squad for the Asia Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup.
A brilliant clean sweep against Australia ensured that the core of the team was left untouched by the selectors, who opted to retain veterans like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra.
Young players such as Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, who impressed in the recent series against Australia, also found a place in the squad announced by BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur after a meeting of the selection committee.
Jadeja Gets Engaged to an Engineer in Rajkot
Indian all rounder Ravindra Jadeja got engaged to Rajkot-based mechanical engineer Riva Solanki on Friday.
“In the game of cricket luck plays an important role and when I got engaged to Riva, I hope that lady luck will help me to do better in both cricketing life and personal life,” Jadeja told media persons after the ring ceremony at his restaurant ‘Jaddu’s Food Field’ located on Kalavad road.
Describing the start of the year as good and positive for him, Jadeja said, “In first two months of the year I think I have done well in cricket and after this engagement, I hope that next ten months would bring more success in my cricketing life.”
Asked about his marriage plans, the all-rounder said, “My cricketing schedule is very tight, but I will try to spare some time for marriage...”
DDCA in HC for Certificate to Hold T20 World Cup
The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) moved Delhi High Court seeking directions to the south municipal corporation to issue it an occupancy certificate to hold matches of upcoming T20 World Cup at Ferozshah Kotla stadium in March this year.
DDCA in an application has said it has been granted a no objection certificate (NOC) from Land and Development Officer (L&DO) for getting occupancy or completion certificate from South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and placed the NOC before the court.
The court is expected to hear the matter next week.
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