SPORTS

Former India offspinner Ramesh Powar has been appointed by the BCCI as the head coach of the senior India Women's team. Powar's candidature was finalised and recommended to the board by a three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sulakshana Naik, Madan Lal and RP Singh.

A total of 35 applicants for the post were received with the committee shortlisting six candidates and interviewing three hopefuls on Wednesday. Incumbent coach WV Raman, who guided the team to the final of the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, was an automatic entry in the shortlist.

Incidentally, Raman had replaced Powar at the job in December 2018 after a controversial five-month stint for the Mumbaikar that included a public fallout with veteran cricketer Mithali Raj during the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

The Singapore Open, the last of the qualifying events for the Tokyo Olympics, got cancelled on Wednesday. With this, there is no chance for Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth to qualify for the Olympics, scheduled to be held in Tokyo in July-August.

Already, the chances of these two world No.1 players were hanging by a thread even before this tournament. The spate of cancellation of tournaments due to the surge in the novel coronavirus cases affected their chances.

This would be the first time since the 2008 Beijing Olympics that Saina would not be seen in action at the quadrennial games.

Team India players are getting themselves vaccinated in a hurry, especially the ones who have been picked in the squad for World Test Championship (WTC) Final against New Zealand and for the Test series against England as they are scheduled to fly to the UK on June 2 as per reports.

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah on Tuesday (May 11) received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while on Monday (May 10), India skipper Virat Kohli, pacer Ishant Sharma, and batsman Cheteshwar Pujara also received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Last week, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and his wife had taken their first jab.

At the peak of his prowess, Sushil Kumar single-handedly lifted Indian wrestling to unprecedented heights but as police looks for him in relation to a murder case, the sport's image has taken as much a beating as that of the trailblazing grappler.

Sushil's international success triggered a revolution and created an inspirational legacy. The reserved grappler from Najafgarh's Baprola village is till date India's only world champion (2010) in the sport. He is also the only one to claim two individual Olympic medals, an exceptional feat for a country which has seen very limited success at the Games.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is concerned that the good reputation built over the years with stupendous international performances, many of them given by Sushil himself, has been ruined.

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said that India will travel to Sri Lanka for a limited-overs series which would consist of three ODIs and five T20Is later this season. However, skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma will not be part of the tour as they will be engaged in a marquee five-match Test series in England.

"We have planned a white ball series for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told a news agency in an interaction.

Ganguly said the Indian team for the Sri Lanka tour will have none of the players selected for the England Tests.