Good Bad Ugly ft. MCC's first female director, Burnley supporter's life ban and Covid-19 scare for Tennis stars
The picture is far more promising than a month back, with European football leagues already back in action while we might see some cricket action soon with the England-Windies series to start on July 8. With action aplenty on and off the field, we bring you this week's good, bad and the ugly.
The Good
Indian paddlers mesmerize with their wonderful initiative
Indian Table Tennis has seen a steep rise in the past few years, with the contingent winning several medals in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 Asian Games. Stranded inside domestic perimeters during the lockdown, top Indian stars have now taken a great initiative to financially help junior players, coaches, support staff, and umpires who are struggling to tide over during the unprecedented health crisis. India’s top-ranked player and legend Sharath Kamal, along with Gnansekaran Sathiyan and Neha Aggarwal started the chain to raise funds for 100 beneficiaries associated with the sport in India.
The players aimed to collect a sum of 10 lakh in three days, with their plan falling into place, having raised a total of 6 lakh already. The response was great, with as many as 80 people donating for the cause, which will see each of the beneficiaries get a one-grant of INR 10,000 to keep their activities flowing without much hassle once the lockdown is eased. With Table Tennis on the rise in our country, the veterans admitted that it would be shameful if youngsters were forced to leave the sport or a coach to shut down his academy, which is the main reason for the initiative - stating that the table tennis ecosystem needed to boost amid the crisis.
MCC gets its first-ever female President
For the first time in its glorious 233-year history, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is set to appoint a female as its President. Former English cricketer Clare Connor will be leading the charge from October 1, 2021, following Kumar Sangakkara’s tenure, as reported earlier this week. This is a historic move as far as the most prestigious club, which was once the governing body of cricket in England. Meanwhile, Kumar Sangakkara’s stay has been extended by six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Clare Connor was a mainstay for the English eves during the late 1990s and the early 200s, having played 16 Tests, 93 ODIs and a couple of T20Is for the Three Lions. She led the side for six years and led them to a historic Ashes triumph in 2005 - for the first time in 42 years. Connor is currently the ECB’s Managing Director of Women's Cricket, has been a part of the ICC Women's Cricket Committee since 2011, and is a former director of the Sussex cricket board. This is a great boost for Women’s cricket at a time when the popularity of the game is on a rise.
The Bad
Novak Djokovic tests positive for Covid-19
Top-ranked Tennis player in the world, Novak Djokovic is the latest addition to the list of the players infected by Covid-19, yes, this is getting worse right now. The Serbian should blame himself mostly, with him taking part in an exhibition series - the Adria tour, staged in Serbia and Croatia, in spite of the lockdown measures in place. The 17-time grand slam winner was criticized for bringing in players from different countries to participate in the tournament, where social distancing norms were not maintained amid the global health crisis. As a result, Novak Djokovic, along with his spouse Jelena Ristic, was tested positive for Covid-19.
Three-time grand slam semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov, incidentally, was the first Tennis star to contract the virus among the players featured in the Adria tour, which had thousands of people in attendance. Borna Coric, Victor Troicki, also a part of the controversial event, added up to the list of affected players by the Coronavirus. In another development, 10 Pakistani cricketers were also tested positive for Covid-19, along with Mohammad Hafeez - the situation is not likely to go away soon, isn’t it?
Ex-cricketer Robin Singh charged by Police for not maintaining social distancing norms
Ex-Indian cricketer Robin Singh was fined INR 100 and had his car confiscated by the police after he violated lockdown rules in Chennai. Tamil Nadu is one of the most affected states in India owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, with the number of people infected by the virus already crossing 74,000, while the number of deaths recorded is over 900. As per the sources, the former cricketer had gone by car to purchase vegetables and was busted by the cops for not maintaining social distancing norms. The City and its adjoining three districts have been under intense lockdown from June 19 to June 30 in the wake of the recent spike in the number of Covid-19 cases.
As per the rules, the locals are advised to move only within two kilometers of their residents to purchase essentials, while they are prohibited to use their vehicles for the time being. Robin’s car has been seized and taken to the Shastri Nagar police station, as per the latest reports. The southpaw has featured in 136 ODIs for the Men in Blue and was a regular in the playing XI during the 1990s. Having played his domestic cricket for Tamil Nadu throughout, Robin has taken up roles as a fielding coach for the National Team and Mumbai Indians post-retirement.
The Ugly
Burnley supporter handed a lifetime ban
The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has gained momentum in the aftermath of the infamous killing of George Floyd, with Premier League players spotted ‘taking a knee’ before the starting whistle. But, the match between Manchester City and Burnley was marred by an incident which was really uncalled for in the present situation. During the game, a banner which read ‘White Lives Matter’ was flown over the Etihad Stadium, which was done by a Burnley supporter, as the banner suggests. The police investigated the matter and held Jake Hepple, a 24-year old Burnley supporter for the incident.
As a result of which, the alleged person has been handed by a lifetime ban by the club. Even though Jake has escaped any criminal action, the Burnley follower has been terminated from his job at Paradigm Precision, an Engineering Company. The company confirmed that there has been a breach of their policy. Meanwhile, Jake’s girlfriend also lost her job, after she made questionable posts on social media. At a time, when the world is fighting together to eradicate ‘racism’, this incident was the least that we could have expected.
Indian sports ministry withdraws annual recognition of all 54 National Sports Federations
The Covid-19 outbreak has already been a major roadblock for sports activities in our country, but our athletes are set to get inflicted by a fresh assault altogether. The Indian sports ministry withdrew the annual recognition of all 54 National Sports Federations earlier this week, following a Delhi High Court verdict on the matter. The annual recognition is granted to each Federation in January each year, but the process was delayed this year and before the process was completed, the lockdown was enforced.
Earlier this month, the ministry had extended the Federations’ recognition up to 30th September 2020, but they reversed the order last Thursday. Now, the decision can have grave consequences on the athletes. The government usually grants funding to the National Sports Federations’ and permission for national camps, only if they are recognized, which in this case, stands void. Even though there are no major sporting events at the moment, it can hurt the Tokyo-bound athletes set to re-start their training. As a matter of fact, the Boxing Federation of India has already chalked out plans to resume national camps.