Dutch FA terminate Hiddink’s contract
The Hague (Netherlands): The Dutch football federation terminated the contract of national team coach Guus Hiddink, ending his second stint in charge after just one disappointing season. The KNVB said that Hiddink’s contract will now end on Wednesday. It had been set to last through next year’s European Championship. Hiddink took over after louis van Gaal led the Netherlands to third place at last year’s World Cup, but the Netherlands have had a poor qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 so far. It sits third in Group A, behind leader Iceland and the Czech Republic.
Financial aid to shuttlers under TOP scheme
New Delhi: As part of its Target Olympic Podium (TOP) Scheme, the Sports Ministry on Tuesday decided to provide financial assistance to the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad, where four shuttlers are currently training under the programme. The four players are Parupalli Kashyap, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and RMV Gurusaidutt. A little over Rs28 lakh has been earmarked to cater to expenses incurred on gym equipment, Rs40,000 per month will be spent on one physiotherapist while Rs20,000 will be used on a masseur. The financial assistance from National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), approved under this sanction, is out of the contribution made by the India Infrastructure Finance Company limited (IIFCl), under its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, to TOP scheme under the NSDF.
Indian shooters winning spree continues
New Delhi: Akhil Sheoran clinched the silver medal in 50m Rifle 3 Position as India’s medal tally rose to an impressive 11 at the ongoing 2nd ISSF Junior Cup shooting tournament in Suhl, Germany. This was India’s fifth silver medal in the competition. Akhil’s narrowly lost out on the gold in a shoot-off to Switzerland’s Christoph Duerr. Italy’s Marco Suppini won the bronze medal, finishing with a score of 439.5. Both Christoph and Akhil had earlier finished with a score of 454.3, before the Swiss shooter scored 10.4 in the shoot-off to Akhil’s 10.0. The premiere shooting tournament for juniors is being played at the Shooting Centre in Suhl and had already seen India win nine medals in the first three days.
Injured Bolt pulls out of Diamond league
Paris: Slowed by an injured left leg, Usain Bolt withdrew Tuesday from this month’s Diamond league meetings in Paris and lausanne, dealing a blow to his title defense preparations for the world championships in August. “I’m disappointed not to be able to compete in Paris and lausanne,” Bolt said in a statement on his website. “I love running at these meetings but at the moment I am unable to compete at 100 percent. I look forward to getting back into full training as soon as possible.” The statement said the 28-year-old “has been feeling discomfort in his left leg since his last competition which has restricted his training.”
UEFA tells Spanish league to accept 2022 WC dates
Prague: UEFA told the Spanish league on Tuesday to stop challenging the decision to move the dates of the World Cup in 2022 to November-December. To avoid Qatar’s fierce summer heat, the 2022 World Cup is being moved from its traditional June-July slot, resulting in European competitions stopping for around two months.
Fearing losses of around $70 million if the league shuts down, the Spanish league appealed against FIFA’s scheduling change to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Pandit named as new Mumbai coach
Mumbai: Former India stumper Chandrakant Pandit was on Tuesday chosen as the coach of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team as well as the head coach of the Mumbai Cricket Association’s indoor academy at the Bandra Kurla Complex. The decision to appoint Pandit as coach and Milind Rege as the chairman of the senior selection panel was taken by MCA’s Cricket Improvement Committee headed by former India skipper and MCA vice president Dilip Vengsarkar. Former Mumbai captain Rege would lead a four-member senior selection panel with former India left arm bowler Karsan Ghavri, former Mumbai left arm spinner Ravi Thaker and ex-batsman Nishit Shetty as its other members.
Bangladeshi newspaper mocks Indian team
New Delhi: Showing utter disrespect towards the Indian cricket team, a Bangladeshi newspaper has produced a fake ‘cutter’ advertisement, in which seven Indian cricketers are seen standing with their heads half-shaven. Young Bangladeshi paceman Mustafizur Rahman, who tormented the Indian players in the ODI series, is shown endorsing a cutter symbolising his ‘offcutters’ and the Indian players are holding a banner which reads, ‘We have used it. You can use it too’. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan and R Ashwin are shown standing with their heads half-shaven.
‘SlC elections will be held on time’
Colombo: Sri lanka Cricket (SlC) governing body elections will be held on time so as not to have any friction with the ICC’s laid down procedures, chief of the interim committee Sidath Wettimuny said on Tuesday. Responding to a reported ultimatum from the ICC that elections must take place by October, Wettimuny said his committee hopes to clarify the practical issues faced by the interim committee which compels to delay the election till January.
Cricket World Cup boosted Aus and NZ economies
Dubai: The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, hosted by Australia and New Zealand provided a significant boost to the economies of the two countries, according to the world governing body of the game.The findings of an economic impact and benefits analysis carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers show that the tournament generated more than 1.1 billion Australian dollars, created the equivalent of 8,320 full time jobs, and had a total of 2 million bed nights across the two countries.