Four Commonwealth Games wrestlers caught for doping
Sep 2, 2010, NEW DELHI: Four Indian wrestlers, including Arjuna Awardee Rajiv Tomar, were found to have flunked NADA dope tests and a red-faced national federation on Thursday announced their removal from the team for the Commonwealth Games.
In an embarrassment to the Wrestling Federation of India, Sumit (74kg), Mausam Khatri (96kg) and Rajiv Tomar (120kg), who were earlier named in the Games squad in men's freestyle, and Gursharanpreet Kaur (women's 72kg) tested positive for Methyl Hexa Neamine, a non specified substance.
Rajiv Tomar was recently conferred the Arjuna Award while Alka Tomar was bronze medal winner in the Asian Championship held in May.
"The wrestlers from Commonwealth Games team have tested positive for Methyl Hexa Neamine (non specified substance) as per the report received from NADA," a statement from Wrestling Federation of India President GS Mander said.
"In an emergency meeting of the selection committee of Wrestling Federation of India held today in KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium, New Delhi, the selection committee has selected the replacements of three Freestyle and one female wrestler who were earlier selected for wrestling competition of Commonwealth Games-2010," the statement added.
Mander said the national federation has provisionally suspended all these wrestlers.
"Narsingh Pancham Yadav (74kg), Anil Mann (96kg), Praveen (120kg) - all men's freestyle - and woman wrestler Anshu Tomar (72kg) have been named as replacement," Mander said.
India had named 21 wrestlers, including seven women, for the Commonwealth Games. The squad had included Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar in men's 66kg freestyle.
Match-fixing: Pakistan drops tainted trio from England tour
Thursday 02 September, 2010: Under pressure from the ICC and England Cricket Board, Pakistan on Thursday dropped the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir from the Twenty20 and one-day series against England starting on Sunday.
The three are implicated in a spot-fixing scandal exposed in a British tabloid’s sting operation last week.
Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said the players, who are in London to present their case to Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ijaz Butt and the High Commission officials, will not play the two Twenty20 and five one-day matches.
“We are 13 this morning and it will remain the same. We have asked for replacements for the three players who have gone. We will remain 13 for the first two Twenty20 matches,” Saeed told reporters.
The trio’s axing comes after intense pressure from the ICC and the host ECB, both of whom made it clear that the players had to be dropped for the series to go on.
England’s Professional Cricketers’ Association had also demanded their sacking, saying that the host players would find it very tough to carry on against the three, who allegedly took money from a bookie to bowl no-balls during the Lord’s Test last week.
So far, the PCB had been adamant about not dropping the trio, insisting that the players had not yet been charged of by the Scotland Yard, which is investigating the scandal.
Match-fixing: Pakistan players claim innocence
The three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of match-fixing allegations have insisted they are innocent.
Bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir and test captain Salman Butt proclaimed their innocence in a meeting on Thursday with Pakistan High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan in London.
Hasan said in a statement the players maintain “they are entirely innocent in the whole episode and shall defend their innocence as such.”
Earlier, the players were omitted from the Pakistan squad for the rest of the tour of England.
Hasan said the players requested not to play the remainder of the tour “on account of the mental torture, which has deeply affected them.”
Bhupathi-Mirnyi in second round of US Open
Sep 2, 2010, NEW YORK: Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi overcame a late resistance from Arnaud Clement and Nicolas Mahut to advance to the second round of the men's doubles event of the US Open.
Bhupathi, who was a finalist here last year, and his Belarussian partner beat the French pair 6-1, 6-4 in the opening round match, on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and his Chinese partner Zi Yan bowed out of the mixed doubles event with a 2-6, 4-6 first round defeat against America's Rajeev Ram and Aravane Rezai of France.
Bopanna had on Wednesday made it to the second round of men's doubles along with his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Quershi.
Two rookie pacers in Australian Test squad for India tour
Melbourne, September 02, 2010: Rookie pacers Peter George and Josh Hazlewood were the surprise picks, while fit-again opener Philip Hughes made a return to the 15-member Australian cricket squad announced today for the two-match Test series against India next month. The squad, to be led by Ricky Ponting, will miss regular wicketkeeper Brad Haddin due to an elbow injury and Tim Paine will be doing the duty behind stumps in his absence.
"While the excitement builds for the forthcoming Vodafone Ashes, the immediate focus for this squad is the Test series
against India," Australia's National Selection Panel Chairman Andrew Hilditch said in a statement.
"India is ranked number one in Test cricket and there is no harder assignment in Test cricket at the moment than
playing India on their home soil. The Australian squad is really looking forward to the challenge," he said.
Opener Hughes, who missed the series against England in June due to a dislocated shoulder, returns to the squad.
"The squad we have selected sees the return from injury of Phillip Hughes and includes a very good mix of experience
and new young talent with Steven Smith, Hughes and two young fast bowlers in Peter George and Josh Hazlewood," Hilditch said.
George and Hazlewood will be part of the new-look Aussie pace attack which will be spearheaded by Mitchell Johnson and Doug Bollinger.
While the 23-year-old George is yet to make his international debut in any form of the game, the 19-year-old
Hazlewood has a one-dayer against England to his credit in June.
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