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Sports Minister Uma Bharti today proposed introduction of code ofconduct and bringing sports under concurrent list to free it frompolitical and other interference and promote games in the country

27-Apr-2001Sports Minister Uma Bharti today proposed introduction of code ofconduct and bringing sports under concurrent list to free it frompolitical and other interference and promote games in the country.Replying to supplementaries during question hour in the Rajya Sabha,she said her ministry was confronted with the problem of politicalinterference in sports and the code of conduct was aimed at removingsuch irritants.On concerns expressed by Ram Jethmalani over inadequate preparationfor the Afro-Asian Games to be held in India, Bharti said the gameswould be held from November three and a meeting had already been heldby her ministry to prepare for the games. Of the total Rs 70 croreexpenditure for the games, the central government would allocate Rs 35crore and the Indian Olympic Association Rs 20 crore. The rest wouldbe generated internally, she said.On the general poor performance by Indian sportspersons, Bharti askedHuman Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi to allocate 10per cent of the funds provided for education.”Give me 10 per cent of the funds allocated for the Education Ministryand I can assure you India will be the top sporting nation within thetext 10 years”, she said. In reply, Joshi quipped “I have heard you”,amidst laughter in the House. She also asked members to contribute aportion from the MPLAD scheme for sports development. On bringingsports sector under concurrent list, she said this proposal had foundacceptance in some quarters.

Indian preparations for their first series victory on foreign soil in 15 years will be put to the test when they take on Zimbabwe A in their tour opening three-day match at Mutare on Monday

27-May-2001Indian preparations for their first series victory on foreign soil in 15 years will be put to the test when they take on Zimbabwe A in their tour opening three-day match at Mutare on Monday.This being only one of the two matches before the first Test starting in Bulawayo on June 7, the Indians have left nothing to chance. They are fielding a full strength Test eleven against an equally strong Zimbabwean side which boasts of nine past and present Test players.A measure of their seriousness was evident in the manner the Indians took to practice within hours of arriving in Harare on Friday and captain Sourav Ganguly today took the unusual step of announcing the final eleven a day in advance. The team included three medium pacers to exploit the windy and bouncy conditions prevailing here. “These pitches suit the seamers. So we will go in with three fast bowlers,” he said.Harbhajan Singh is the only spinner included in the team to bowl alongside Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. There was no experimentation in the batting order with the normal Test line up of Shiv Sunder Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and Samir Dighe being fielded.On the other hand the Zimbabweans baffled the Indians by including two schoolboys – Tetindu Taibu and H Masakadza – in their final eleven.Taibu is a wicket-keeper who toured England recently with a Zimbabwe A side. He is widely tipped to take over from Andy Flower once the former captain retires.Masakadza is an opener who caught the eye of the selectors by becoming the youngest centurion in the domestic national competition.Led by Gavin Rennie, the side includes the likes of Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Dirk Viljoen, Travis Friend, Bryan Strang, Brian Murphy, D Mutendera and Dion Ebrahim all of whom have represented Zimbabwe one time or the other.However only Rennie and Strang stand some chance of making it to the Test side in this series. Rennie, who was in the team that toured India last year, scored 93 and 37 against New Zealand earlier this year but was strangely not selected to play in the home series against Bangladesh.Strang, who too was not considered against Bangladesh, looks set to return to the national side as his fellow pacemen have been found wanting. Strang has the knack to make the batsmen play all the time and will be closely watched by the selectors.Friend missed the series against Bangladesh due to an injury sustained on the tour to Australia and if he performs well and is fully fit, he too can be picked for the Test.The venue, surrounded by hills and overhead trees, has a lovely setting but the pitch is flat and should help the batsmen, according to Kish Gokal, manager of the home side.The teams:India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Shiv Sunder Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sameer Dighe, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Debasis Mohanty (12th man).Zimbabwe A: Gavin Rennie (captain), H Masakadza, Dion Ebrahim, Craig Wishart, Craig Evans, Dirk Viljoen, T Taibu, Travis Friend, Bryan Strang, D Mutender, Brian Murphy and S Matsikenyeri (12th man).Umpires: Graham Gilmour and Kevin Barbour.

Speaking to Football Insider, pundit and former Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson has told Tottenham Hotspur to target Rangers boss Steven Gerrard.

The Lowdown: Spurs managerial search continues…

Many names have been linked in the press, including elite managers like Julian Nagelsmann, Antonio Conte and Hansi Flick, but the search goes on for Spurs’ heir to former boss Jose Mourinho.

Alasdair Gold reported that Tottenham are aiming to appoint their new manager by the end of this season, and while a shortlist has been drawn up, they’re fast running out of time.

The Latest: Tottenham told to target Gerrard

Robinson, speaking in an interview with Football Insider, has urged Levy to swoop for the Gers boss after he ended Celtic’s near decade-long dominance over the SPFL.

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“When I look at the list of managers nobody is jumping off the page at me,” he explained to the outlet.

“There could be a massive rebuild once again. Who do they trust to do it? They had the young exciting manager in Pochettino and they have had the serial trophy winner Mourinho. Neither return a trophy for Spurs.

“Where do they go now? The only one that would excite me, and he has not been talked about yet, is Steven Gerrard. I would love to see him there.

“What he has done at Rangers has been incredible. He is a young, exciting manager who has pull in the transfer market.

“Yes, Scotland is not anything like the Premier League but I like what he has done there and how he has gone about it.”

The Verdict: A credible outsider with one fatal caveat…

Gerrard has received no shortage of praise for his job at Ibrox, with former Spurs striker Jermain Defoe even likening him to Harry Redknapp last year due to his personable approach to man management (talkSPORT via the Daily Record).

As well as this, former Scotland international and Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has hailed him as ‘fantastic’ for the job he has done in Glasgow (The Athletic).

It is no secret he has achieved a brilliant turnaround for Rangers, but Gerrard’s lack of experience in a more competitive division like the Premier League could be the only caveat to his possible appointment.

In other news: Tottenham now set to interview this ‘top coach’, find out more here.

Former Premier League striker Dean Windass has exclusively told Football FanCast that Danny Ings would jump at the chance to sign for Tottenham should Harry Kane leave.

Kane’s future at the club is in serious doubt following reports from Sky Sports suggesting that he wants out this summer with Spurs on the cusp of failing to qualify for the Champions League or winning silverware.

Those same reports also believe that Tottenham are already lining up potential replacements for the England captain if he does get his wish to leave.

There aren’t many strikers that can replace Kane’s goalscoring record, but Windass thinks that his Three Lions colleague Ings, whose own future at Southampton is up in the air, would be keen on a move to north London.

Ings hasn’t been his prolific self this season, scoring just 12 times, but has 46 goals in 98 matches for the Saints since making the January switch from Liverpool more than two years ago.

“If Kane doesn’t stay, Danny Ings would jump at the chance,” Windass told Football FanCast.

“It’s a great stadium, massive club, great fan base. These players want to play first-team football and if Harry Kane goes, they will bring someone in. And as a 20-goal striker like Danny Ings is, he will want to play week in, week out.”

Welcoming the support from the International Cricket Council (ICC),CBI on Sunday said it would soon send a team to London to gatherinformation from the world body on the cricket telecast rights caseand other matters arising out of the match-fixing

10-Jun-2001Welcoming the support from the International Cricket Council (ICC),CBI on Sunday said it would soon send a team to London to gatherinformation from the world body on the cricket telecast rights caseand other matters arising out of the match-fixing scandal.”We would be soon sending a team to London and the support from ICC isimportant for us as some of their officials have also been named intwo of the cases,” CBI spokesman S M Khan told reporters in NewDelhi.He said the agency was always in touch with the anti-corruptionbranch of ICC and looked forward to any support from them which wasvery crucial to the investigation into the telecast rights case.CBI on November 8 registered five cases against some Doordarshanofficials for allegedly cheating the Prasar Bharti of crores of rupeesin award of telecast rights for cricket matches. The five cases relateto alleged bunglings in telecast rights for 1997 Independence Cup, ICCKnockOut tournament in 1998 played in Dhaka and the World Cup in 1999.CBI alleged that some officials of Doordarshan had entered into acriminal conspiracy with the Bangalorebased WorldTel and Delhi-basedStracon India and dishonestly enhanced the bid for the telecast of thetournament.Referring to the alleged nexus between betting syndicates andunderworld, the spokesman said “we are still looking into whetherthere is any link between match-fixing syndicate and organised crimesyndicate in the country and abroad.”Former Director of CBI R K Raghavan had sought help from other statepolice departments and central intelligence agencies in this matter.The ICC report on match-fixing, unveiled in London on May 23, hadvoiced grave concern over corrupt practices in international cricketand pledged its support to CBI in probing the links between organisedcrime and match-fixers.The CBI on May 4 last year registered a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) oninstruction from the Union Sports Ministry. The agency later submitteda 164-page report to the then Sports Minister S S Dhindsa on October31. The CBI hopes that the ICC’s efforts would lead to further probeinto the role of nine foreign players, who were not investigated bythe agency.

Ben Smith’s maiden CricInfo Championship century of the summer helped put Leicestershire in command on the opening day of their clash with Kent in Canterbury

Mark Pennell of The Kent Messenger Group20-Jun-2001Ben Smith’s maiden CricInfo Championship century of the summer helped put Leicestershire in command on the opening day of their clash with Kent in Canterbury.Batting first on a sublime pitch, Leicestershire and Smith in particular took advantage of unusually short St Lawrence boundaries and some mediocre Kent bowling to post 296 for four come the close.Prodigal son Trevor Ward, the former Kent opener who graced Canterbury for 14 years before his switch to the East Midland two years ago, suffered a disappointing return when he went to the second ball of the day.Pushing forward to a lifting leg-cutter he edged to Paul Nixon to become the first of three victims for Martin Saggers.That bought together Iain Sutcliffe and Smith for a second wicket stand worth 190 in 75 overs – a new record for the Foxes against Kent beating Laurie Potter and James Whitaker’s 176 in Folkestone back in 1989.Smith scored his ton in 246 minutes and with 13 fours and Sutcliffe reached his half-century from the next delivery from 184-balls and with six boundaries.Their stand came to an end three balls after tea when Smith aimed to drive at Saggers but lifted the ball enough for Matthew Walker to claim the catch at cover.Sutcliffe’s vigil ended when he risked a single to Min Patel at cover, only to be sent back by Daniel Marsh and lose the race to re-gain his ground when Nixon whipped off the bails.Marsh made amends, however, lifting the tempo and the spirit of the innings with a chirpy 72 with 12 fours before falling in the final over of the day after being undone by the extra bounce of the new ball.

Queens Park Rangers forward Paul Smyth looks set to depart the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium this summer.

What’s the talk?

That’s according to a report by West London Sport, who claim that Mark Warburton does not look likely to offer the 23-year-old a new deal at the club, with his current contract expiring next month.

Smyth must go

Having moved to QPR from Linfield FC in what was a £225k deal back in 2017, it would be a fair assessment to make that Smyth has not quite lived up to expectations in west London.

Despite getting off to the perfect start in his career with the Rs, scoring on his debut against Cardiff City, the Northern Ireland international failed to cement a place in the first-team, scoring one further goal and providing one assist over his total of 13 Championship appearances in the 2017/18 season.

A series of loan moves followed, with the £4.8k-per-week striker scoring six goals and providing six assists over 37 appearances during two spells at Accrington Stanley, bagging one goal and registering two assists over 21 fixtures for Wycombe Wanderers and netting one goal and providing two assists over 14 appearances with Charlton.

As can be seen, these returns – while playing at a lower level than the Championship – are not exactly breathtaking, despite the fact that Lee Bowyer dubbed the forward an “excellent” player during his time at The Valley.

As such, it would very much appear the right move for Warburton to allow Smyth to move onto pastures new this summer, as the 23-year-old simply does not appear to have what it takes to make it in the Rs’ first team.

Meanwhile, his rather hefty weekly wage could also easily be spent elsewhere by the 58-year-old manager, who will be looking to build a team capable of a push for promotion ahead of next season.

In other news: Warburton drops “staggering” update on £5k-p/w beast that will surely delight QPR fans – opinion

The Sport Relief Kwik Cricket Tournament 2002 and a Pay to Play cricket weekend are among the exciting events being organised by ECB in support of Sport Relief.

Media Release28-Mar-2002
The Sport Relief Kwik Cricket Tournament 2002 and a Pay to Play cricket weekend are among the exciting events being organised by ECB in support of Sport Relief.A joint Comic Relief and BBC concept, Sport Relief is aimed at uniting theworld of sport to raise money for vulnerable children and young people, both in the UK and across the world.The campaign will culminate in a entertaining night on Saturday 13 July on BBC1 featuring sport, celebrities, entertainment, and fundraising – hosted by BBC cricket presenter Jamie Theakston alongside Gary Lineker, Ulrika Jonsson and Clare Balding.Alongside the Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, the RugbyFootball Union and other sports bodies, the ECB hope to raise considerable funds for the Sport Relief pot.One of the big ideas across several sports is Pay to Play, with sports men and women at every level being encouraged to pay to play their own sport.Cricketers all over the country – from England captains Nasser Hussain andClare Connor and the rest of national squads to local village players – will be asked to ‘pay to play’ the game on a nominated weekend during the summer. This is looking like being the weekend of 15/16 June, but has still to be confirmed.As a grassroots initiative the involvement of children is key to the campaign, and the Sport Relief Kwik Cricket Tournament 2002 will provide the younger cricketers with their chance to drive the funds total in the right direction.Fundraising takes place during the second round of the competition when theKwik Cricketers taking part can be sponsored for every run their team scores. As an extra incentive, the winning team will earn a 30-minute coaching session with England coach Duncan Fletcher as well as skipper Hussain.The involvement of the game’s top stars doesn’t end there, as members of both the England men’s and women’s teams will be taking part in a Celebrity Cricket Challenge in the studio on 13 July.Other events with cricket involvement include the Sport Relief MemorabiliaAuction, and the Sport Relief Competition – which offers the winner the chance to attend every major sporting event in Britain and selected events around the world in 2003.Sport Relief is encouraging the public to get active in a variety of waysranging from the very simple to the highly physical. This could be as simple as walking to work to snowboarding. The campaign is not only targeted at sport enthusiasts but also people in offices, who could organise their own sports days, stage an office Olympics or simply ‘pay to play’ to do anything active.All schools will be mailed with a Sport Relief schools pack and video, supported by Sport England, that will show how schools can fundraise, forexample by adding a fundraising dimension to their existing sports days.Children and young people around the world will benefit from every penny raised through Sport Relief. Half of it will stay here in the UK, and the other half will reach the most vulnerable children and young people in some of the poorest countries in the world. The Government’s Commonwealth Education Fund, launched in Jubilee Year, will match the international efforts of Sport Relief to improve educational opportunities in the Commonwealth.

Newcastle checked on Ozan Kabak last season, with the centre-back having joined Liverpool on loan back in the January transfer window.

What’s the story?

The Magpies could be set for a major revamp of their defence with a number of players finding themselves out of contract and potentially moved on to fund a rebuild.

And, according to The Shields Gazette, Steve Bruce’s side have made their checks on Kabak, with QPR’s Rob Dickie and Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer also those who have said to have been scouted.

Shades of Sergio Ramos

With Liverpool without the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, Kabak was thrust straight into the deep end by Jurgen Klopp, but that certainly didn’t faze him, with the centre-back’s maturity something that has been previously lauded.

Thomas Hitzlersperger once commented: “It’s incredible how worldy-wise he is for his age. It’s astonishing. I see him every day and am amazed at how he mature he is.”

In fact, Klopp even revealed that Schalke boss David Wagner said “he would be a future captain”, while Arsenal’s former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat was equally effusive in his praise of the defender.

He told The Athletic: “I told Jurgen that he’s a top lad. Top mentality, top character, top aggression. He’s a (Dejan) Lovren-type player. Very good in the air, both defensively and in the opposition box.

“He played his best stuff for us (at Stuttgart). He hasn’t been able to show how good he is at Schalke. He still needs to learn but he has all the skills for Klopp to make a success of him.”

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That “aggression” and “character” means that it’s perhaps no surprise to see the Turkey international likened to Sergio Ramos, with Bundesliga.com writing:

“Kabak has a sound in-game radar and a deceptively quick turn of pace. Powerful in the air and with a great sense of timing, four of his six Bundesliga goals have been headers. He also comes complete with the same bite for which Real captain Ramos has become so well known.”

With Liverpool having decided not to take up their option to sign Kabak, the £22.5m-rated ace could well be a shrewd signing for the Magpies.

Meanwhile, Steve Bruce could create a formidable Newcastle duo by signing this “unique talent”…

Somerset continue their build up for the new season when they play Cardiff UCCE in a three-day match at Millfield School, Street, on Saturday

Richard Walsh11-Apr-2002Somerset continue their build up for the new season when they play Cardiff UCCE in a three-day match at Millfield School, Street, on Saturday.Coach Kevin Shine has named a strong side for the match, which in the absence of Jamie Cox is captained by Mike Burns.The full side in likely batting order for the game at Millfield is: Piran Holloway, Matt Wood, Mike Burns, Keith Parsons, Ian Blackwell, Carl Gazzard, Keith Dutch, Graham Rose, Steffan Jones, Simon Francis and Matt Bulbeck.Former Millfield pupil all rounder Arul Suppiah, who is now on the Somerset playing staff, is named as the twelfth man for the match.Carl Gazzard, who missed the whole of last season with a shoulder injury and who kept wicket in both of the one day matches earlier this week, retains his place behind the stumps in place of Rob Turner who is still suffering from a niggling foot injury.Earlier this evening the Somerset coach told me: “We are taking the game against Cardiff on Saturday very seriously, and gearing ourselves towards our first Championship match on April 24th.”He continued: “We have had two games of short form cricket, but this will be our first match of the longer form, and will give our batters a chance to build an innings and our bowlers the opportunity to bowl a longer spell.”On Friday those players who are selected for the three-day match at Millfield will prepare their kit and make their final arrangements, whilst those who miss out on the game will remain back at the County Ground with assistant coach Mark Garaway and continue with their pre-season preparations.