Pant, Bajrang win DSJA awards
New Delhi: Asian Games Gold medal winning wrestler Bajrang Punia, women's hockey player Rani Rampal, Test cricketer Rishabh Pant and pistol prodigy Manu Bhaker won this year's Delhi Sports Journalists Association's (DSJA) Best Sportspersons awards on Thursday. The awards were presented by Indian Olympic Association and world hockey body (FIH) president Narinder Batra. While Bajrang and Rishabh won the award among men, Rani and Manu were conferred the recognition in the female category. "It is very inspiring when sports journalists give such awards," said Bajrang, adding that the award would inspire him to work harder in the run up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Cricketer Pant echoed similar sentiment. "I can never forget how many Delhi sports journalists encouraged me from my early days," said Pant about the support he received from the media during his junior cricketing days. Besides, Jaspal Rana (shooting) and Tarak Sinha (cricket) were conferred with the best coaches award.
LaLiga Schools to hold camps
Santa Clara: LaLiga Football Schools, a grassroots development initiative by the Spanish football league, LaLiga, along with India On Track (IOT) will be providing comprehensive training to Indian children and coaches across a range of cities in the country. LaLiga Football Schools will be hosting special training camps for students in 8 cities in India, namely Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Kochi, Calicut, Thrissur, Pune and Surat from April 1 to June 30. The aim will be to make training available to as many children as possible. Following the training provided at LaLiga Football Schools, the camps will be delivered using LaLiga's technical curriculum and detailed methodology, overseen by Javier Cabrera, the programme technical director in India. Ranging from 6-12 days, the aim of the summer camps is to popularise football amongst the youth in India. To ensure long-lasting impact, LaLiga will also organize a "Train the Trainer" programme where 48 Indian coaches will been trained by the technical director and UEFA Pro-Licensed coaches assigned by LaLiga.
Eng Eves whitewash SL in T20s
Colombo: The England women's team rode on a powerful batting effort to outclass Sri Lanka by 96 runs in the third and final Twenty20 International and complete a 3-0 whitewash at the P Sara Oval here on Thursday. Put into bat, England openers Amy Ellen Jones (57 off 38) and Danielle Wyatt (51 off 33) cracked half-centuries to lay the foundation for a big total. After the dismissal of the openers, incoming batswomen Tammy Beaumont (42 not out off 25) and Natalie Sciver (49 off 24) took the Sri Lankan bowlers to cleaners as England piled up 204 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in the allotted 20 overs. Chasing the huge target, just three hosts' batswomen reached the double-figure mark as Sri Lanka could only manage 108 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. The visitors had outclassed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in both the earlier clashes.
FCB announces dates for trials
New Delhi: Ferit Cricket Bash, India's first independent cricket league for amateur players, on Thursday announced the dates of its preliminary trials for Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Delhi trials will take place from April 4 to 8 at Karnail Singh Stadium, Railway Colony, Paharganj. A jury comprising renowned Ranji players and certified coaches will select the best players among the participants. The selected players will further compete in the next round (Phase 2 clinics) to ensure their place in the badge team of their respective state. After rigorous sessions of trials and short-listing processes, the selected candidates will become members of one of the 16 teams. Cricket legends Muttiah Muralitharan, Chris Gayle, Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar will mentor the players. The winning team will also get a chance to play in a local club tournament in Australia.