The Indian Premier League (IPL) is sending officials to England and South Africa to decide which country should host this year’s Twenty20 cricket competition.
“Delegations from IPL will be going to both countries within 24 hours to assess venues and discuss the possibilities and logistics,” IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi said yesterday.
A decision on the host was expected within days.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India announced on the weekend it was shifting the tournament offshore because the government had refused to sanction its match schedule. The April 10-May 24 competition clashes with India’s federal elections, causing concern that security forces would be stretched too thinly to cover both events.
The IPL attracts many of the world’s leading players on lucrative contracts.
Some players and officials have expressed concerns about playing on the subcontinent after terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, Pakistan earlier this month.
Seven Sri Lankan Test players, an assistant coach and a match official were among those injured in an ambush by gunmen as the team traveled to Gaddafi Stadium. Six policemen and a driver were killed.
Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram earlier yesterday defended the government’s stance on security for sports events in the wake of the IPL’s decision to move the tournament.
“I’ve repeatedly said that cricket or any other game is completely safe when played in India,” Chidambaram said. “The question is when the matches should be played. Should they be played when the elections are in full swing?”
Elections for the Indian Parliament’s lower house will take place across the country in five different phases between April 16 and May 13. The government wanted IPL organizers to delay the tournament, but that would have been impractical with the Twenty20 World Cup scheduled for June in England.
“Holding matches outside India is their [the BCCI’s] decision. I don’t wish to make a judgment on that,” Chidambaram said. “Cricket is a game. In India, it’s a hugely popular game. However, it appears IPL is more than a game, it’s a shrewd combination of sport and business.”
“There’s no need to add politics to this combination,” he said.
Chidambaram said the cricket board’s statement obliquely criticized the government, even though it was the state security agencies that raised the most concern about match scheduling.
“The schedule substantially overlapped the election schedule, when we found that we conveyed our views to the IPL organizers,” Chidambaram said. “Every state that has expressed its reservation, saying they could provide security after the elections are over.”
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS