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By Poonam Mehra Gold Coast, Apr 2 (PTI) In a huge relief for India’s Commonwealth Games contingent, its boxers were cleared of any doping violation, but they remained under the scanner for breaching the Games’ strict ’no needle’ policy. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) though continued to avoid naming the country involved in the matter, which is highly suspected to be India. The concerned Commonwealth Games Association has been summoned for a hearing tomorrow, said the CGF, but clarified that there was no doping offence involved in the matter....

After central defender Harpreet Singh headed the first one in the 37th minute, two goals in two minutes immediately after resumption took the issue beyond Yemen’s reach. While the second goal was headed in by an ice-cool Ridge Demello in the 47th minute, Rohit Danu lobbed it over the rival goalkeeper a minute later, providing the perfect finish to a promising build-up. Head coach Bibiano Fernandes lauded the boys for their “fantastic display”....

Bhutia, and also his vice-Chairman Savio Messias, now finds himself out of the Technical Committee altogether. Henry Menezes is the new vice-chairman of the committee, which also includes GP Palguna, Abhishek Yadav, Pradip Dutta, Ishfaq Ahmed, Prosanto Banerjee and Sundar Raman. However, among the new inductions across all the committees, there are several IMG members as well. The foresaid list of IMG members in the AIFF sub-committee include Sundar Raman, Vandana Gupte (Legal Advisory Committee), Chirag Tanna, Rochak Langer (League Committee), Devang Bhimjyani (Competitions Committee), G Srinivasan (Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee), Yas Patel (Development Committee) and Swati Kothari (Women’s Football Committee)....

Squad Goalkeepers: Sandip Nandy (Mahindra United), Subrata Pal (Mohun Bagan) and Subhasis Roy Chaudhary (Mahindra United) Defenders: Surkumar Singh (Mahindra United), N.S. Manju (Mahindra United), Anupam Sarkar (East Bengal), Gouramangi Singh (Sporting Clube de Goa), Habibur Rehman Mondal (Mohammedan Sporting) and Debabrata Roy (East Bengal) Midfielders: Steven Dias (Mahindra United), Bungo Singh (Churchill Brothers), Subhash Chakraborty (Mohun Bagan), NP Pradeep (Mahindra United), Climax Lawrence (Dempo Sports Club) and Chandam Chitrasen (Churchill Brothers)...

The book is titled ‘From Delhi to Den’ and is scheduled to be released very soon. The 54-year-old explained to Goal that the book was all about the struggles he experienced before reaching this phase in his career. Constantine: ‘There is talent in India. All we need to do is find them" “It’s a biography of how I started in life. It’s just not about football and it is about the struggle in my life....

The coach of the Indian national Football team, Wim Koevermans said, “I welcome our guests from Pakistan, it is always good for the two countries to play each other. These matches are always good, and I’ve been informed both of them have been sold out, which is great.” Pakistan’s national team coach. Mohammed Shamlan Mubarak, expressed his thanks to the AIFF for organizing the friendlies, and said, “We are here to prepare for the future....

India have set the hosts an improbable target of 399 after declaring their second innings at 106 for eight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. At the break, Travis Head (29 not out) and Tim Paine (1 not out) were the unbeaten batsmen, with Australia 261 adrift of the target. Post lunch, Usman Khawaja (33) and Shaun Marsh (44) came out playing attacking shots and the scoring rate peaked at its highest for the duration of this Test....

The CCI’s Order, Explained From the 21-page investigation order by the CCI [PDF], it can be ascertained that the primary reason for the investigation is the policy’s “take-it-or-leave-it” nature. The CCI notes that: The Indian watchdog further mentioned that there is a lack of transparency in WhatsApp’s new privacy policy. The CCI acknowledged WhatsApp’s large userbase in India. It further noted that users who wish to port to other alternatives will lose their historical data....

Rohit Sharma vs South Africa, Super eight match at Durban, 2007 50* runs off 40 balls, Strike rate- 125, 2 Sixes 7 Fours In a must win scenario for India to stay alive in the tournament, Rohit Sharma came out to bat when his team was in deep trouble with the score at 33-3. On a tough wicket in Durban, Sharma, batting for the first time in a T20 match, showed his class and scored a vintage half-century....

KL Rahul was batting on 108, while giving him company was Rishabh Pant on unbeaten 12 at the break. India still require 297 runs for an improbable win with five wickets in hand and two sessions play remaining. Brief Scores: England: 332 and 423 for 8 decl in 112.3 overs India 1st innings: 292 and 167 for 7 in 45 overs (KL Rahul 108 not out; James Anderson 2/33)...

The Hockey competition at the multi-disciple sporting extravaganza will follow the fast-paced Hockey 5’s format and both the teams will have a total of nine members in the squad, which consists of two goalkeepers, two defenders, two midfielders and three forwards. The men’s team is grouped in Pool B, and the Vivek Sagar Prasad-led team will face off against Austria on October 8, Kenya on October 9, 2014 Youth Olympic gold medallists Australia on the October 10 and silver medallists Canada on October 11 apart from playing Bangladesh on the opening day....

Ravi Bahadur Rana and Givson Singh Moirangthem created notable chances for the Blue Colts in the goalless first half before Lalrokima, who replaced Ravi in the second half, scored the 75th minute winner. The coach of the Indian team, Bibiano Fernandes has recently led his boys to the 2017 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) U-15 Championship in Nepal and is now preparing for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship qualifiers that are also slated to be held in Nepal....

With the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series set to begin at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala on 25th March, both India and Australia have all to play for with the series tied at 1-1. The three Tests have provided us with a whole lot of entertainment and nail-biting drama and we could expect the final Test to go down to the wire as well....

Bhuvneshwar has recently suffered a lot of injuries, which has also resulted in a loss of form. Apart from the South African series last year, Bhuvneshwar had a disastrous 2018. He played 12 ODI matches and picked up just 9 wickets in the process, with an average touching 55. In the historic Test series win against Australia, Bhuvneshwar did not play a single match due to fitness issues. He regained his fitness and looked good against the Kangaroos in the ODI series picking up 8 wickets in just 3 matches, but at the other end, Shami too kept picking up crucial wickets which applied more pressure on the former to perform well....

Unfortunately, this fire was extinguished by the British men carried after the first ODI in Nottingham. Henceforth, India lost the One-day series 2-1, a thing that happened for the first time with the King Kohli’s side after an extravagant show in South Africa earlier this year. Thereafter, the faces in the Indian side changed as the tour edged towards the most anticipated phase - The Test Cricket. To be honest, India’s track record in the longer version of the game in England is not a good one....

While the pitch at Rajkot offered little to no assistance to the bowlers, the one at Vizag was a much more even contest with bat dominating early in the game and the spinners coming into their own after day three. So it was interesting to note that the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) curator Daljit Singh spoke about how the surface is unlikely to provide great assistance to the fast bowlers....

Virat Kohli decided against enforcing the follow-on as India came out to bat just before tea. Stuart Broad and James Anderson troubled the Indian openers with some skilful bowling in their first spell which lasted 12 overs with Broad removing Rahul in the 11th over. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara were dismissed soon after that thus putting India in a spot of bother. However, Kohli and Rahane led the revival and put on an unbeaten partnership of 58 runs for the 5th wicket with Kohli scoring yet another half-century....

Opting to bowl first, India did well to restrict South Africa to 149-5 in 20 overs on a batting friendly wicket, and the target was chased down with an over to spare. While India were clinical in their performance, South Africa failed to maintain their intensity throughout the contest to truly test the hosts. Here are the 3 reasons why India were able to outplay South Africa in this match:...

Virat Kohli placed a challenge before the team when he won the toss and elected to bat first on a small ground which aids chasing. The results were not too encouraging as, apart from Shikhar Dhawan (36 from 25), no one really fired, and India stumbled to 134 for 9 from 63 for 1. The South African bowlers had a field day as Beuran Hendricks (2 for 14), left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin (2 for 19) and Kagiso Rabada (3 for 39) combined to put India in all sorts of strife....

Sri Lanka consolidated their position during the first innings as an unlikely batting star in Rangana Herath surfaced as he carved, swept, and cut his way to a feisty 67. This propelled Sri Lanka’s first innings lead to 127 and all of a sudden, the match swung back into the corner of the visitors. However, the Indian openers, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul came out with a lot of positive intent and dispatched plenty of gentle offerings to the boundary as they cruised their way past the 127-run deficit and such was the extent of their dominance that Sri Lankans looked a depleted unit by the end of the day....