India’s cricket chiefs were yesterday hoping Australia’s Test tour would begin as scheduled next week despite security concerns following a series of deadly bomb attacks in New Delhi.
“The blasts are a concern, but I don’t think it will have an impact on the Australian tour,” Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters.
Five synchronized bomb blasts ripped through crowded markets across the Indian capital on Saturday evening.
New Delhi is scheduled to host the third of the four Tests between India and Australia from Oct. 29 after Ricky Ponting’s tourists arrive next Sunday for the six-week tour.
Cricket Australia has commissioned an urgent review of the security situation in India with officials expecting a decision “in the next week or so.”
“The fundamental principle that always comes first is the safety of the team and the team officials,” Cricket Australia’s public affairs manager Peter Young was quoted as saying by the Web site Cricinfo. “There’s a standard process for every tour. Such is the way of the world these days that this process is completed before we go anywhere.”
Australia was one of the nations that declined to tour Pakistan this month for the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy on security grounds, which led to the tournament being put off by a year.
Australia had also refused to undertake a Test tour of Pakistan in March and April for similar security fears.
“The specific answer we were given on Pakistan was that it was not safe to go,” Young said. “We will take advice on this situation and will make a decision. We expect that to be in the next week or so.”
The Australian government’s updated travel advice for India is “to exercise a high degree of caution because of the high risk of terrorist activity by militant groups.”
Indian cricket officials have reason to be wary of Australia’s security concerns.
Ponting’s men are expected to spend the first week training in Jaipur, the state capital of western Rajasthan, where 65 people were killed in similar blasts in May.
The blasts, however, did not deter foreign players, including former Australian spinner Shane Warne, from taking part in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition which was being held at that time in various cities, including Jaipur.
The southern city of Bangalore, which hosts the first Test, was rocked by eight bombs in July that killed a woman and injured seven.
England, who tour India after the Australian series, are scheduled to play the first of two Tests in the western city of Ahmedabad, where 45 people were killed in July in serial bomb blasts.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS