Dravid paid Rs 2.4 crore as professional fees
sydney: Rahul Dravid, head coach of the India U-19 ICC World Cup-winning outfit, received Rs 2.43 crore as professional fees from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the six-month period ended December 31, 2017. Paras Mhambrey, the bowing coach of the triumphant colts team, had received Rs 27 lakh as professional fees from the BCCI for the four-month period between August and November last, as per the details of the payments done by the BCCI for January 2018 put up on the Board's website. Former left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra has been granted a one-time benefit of Rs 60 lakh by the Board which has also paid the tour, match and retainer fees of current India cricketers Ajinkya Rahane (Rs 1.47 crore), Hardik Pandya (Rs 1.27 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 1.08 crore) and others due to them for services rendered last year.
Sanga calls for Test pay to stop T20 exodus
hong kong: Sri lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara has called for Test cricket to introduce a minimum match fee for all countries to stop young players ditching the long-form for lucrative Twenty20 leagues. Sangakkara, the fifth-highest run scorer in the history of Test cricket, retired from the first-class game last year but has continued playing for domestic T20 franchises around the world, including in this week's Hong Kong T20 Blitz. The 40-year-old praised the shorter format for spreading the game's popularity to new markets but warned that without change Test cricket could face a battle to remain relevant for young players and fans.
Indian men rout Maldives 5-0 in Asia c'ship
Alor Setar (Malaysia): World No 5 Kidambi Srikanth led the charge as India drubbed minnows Maldives 5-0 to make a resounding start in the men's team competition of the Asia Badminton Championships, here on Wednesday. Kidambi started the proceedings, easily outplaying Shaheed Hussein Zayan 21-5, 21-6 in the first singles match, before B Sai Praneeth took just 17 minutes to get the better of Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4. The rest of the tie followed a similar script as Sameer Verma toyed with Mohamed Arsalaan Ali 21-5, 21-1 to take an unassailable 3-0 lead. In the men's doubles matches too, the Indians hardly broke a sweat. In the first doubles match, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Shaheed Hussein Zayan and Shaheem Hassan Afsheem 21-8, 21-8.
Kapur takes over as Director General, SAI
chandigarh: Ms. Neelam Kapur has taken over as Director General, Sports Authority of India on Wednesday. An Indian Information Service officer of 1982 batch, she has earlier handled important assignments in National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) and headed Directorate of Film Festivals, Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) and Directorate of Field Publicity(DFP).