Posts for 'Sports' Category

Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif have been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) following last week’s allegations in the News of the World newspaper.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Britain, has been one of the trio’s most vocal supporters. On Friday, he accused the ICC of trying to “play to the public gallery” with the suspension, adding they had “no business” to impose it.

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Ace Indian shuttler and brand ambassador of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Saina Nehwal on Saturday evening regretted for describing preparations for the Commonwealth Games 2010 “not being up to the mark in comparison to the games held in Melobourne and Beijing on previous occasions.”

Talking to mediapersons in Hyderbad in the evening, Saina said: “I am one of the good sports persons of the country and I want to do well in front of my home crowd and I am very proud that the Commonwealth Games are being held in India.

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Gambling controversies have cast a shadow over cricket for many years, with the 1990s seeing several proven cases of match fixing crop up, while countless other rumours surfaced without being proven. The problem seemed to have halted after the International Cricket Council set up an Anti Corruption and Security Unit in 2000. But, with the emergence of spread betting, the issue seems to have reared its ugly head again.

Here Press Association Sport looks at some previous high-profile examples:

Mark Waugh/Shane Warne

Waugh and Warne were questioned after being given money by 'John the bookmaker' for information on pitch and weather conditions. The players received fines from the Australian Cricket Board after an independent enquiry by Rob O'Regan QC concluded the duo were not fully informed of the dangers of interacting with bookmakers. They were warned that future misdemeanours could result in bans.

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Controversies In The Indian Premier League: Lalit Modi vs. N Srinivasan, Round 2: Season three of the Indian Premier League was concluded some months back, but its controversies still haunt many in the Indian cricket fraternity. Allegations and counter allegations are on the rise. Corruption charges are rampant and every day some new accusations surface in the media. The recent allegations by the former IPL’s chairman Lalit Modi against Secretary N Srinivasan fuelled the already controversy strife IPL management. In the blame game between Lalit Modi and the senior officials of IPL, BCCI had a dominant role to play. In this controversy of a serious nature, the BCCI has now supported Secretary N Srinivasan against Lalit Modi. BCCI repudiated Lalit Modi’s accusation against Srinivasan. The allegations leveled by Lalit Modi involved senior officials of IPL for fixing the 2009 players’ auction. BCCI President Shashank Manohar regarded the allegations as baseless and false lies. He rebuffed the former Chairman for accusations against the Secretary. The BCCI president offered his comments after the working committee meeting. It is pertinent to mention that Secretary IPL Srinivasan owned the Chennai Super Kings.

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Every football world cup ends with newer surprises, controversies, issues and some totally incurable decisions. The football world cup is always expected to be the best tournament ever as it is played and loved by billions around the world. So considering this fact, the expectations from South Africa 2010 were sky high. The football world cup was supposed to be the biggest sporting event in the world but people are considering it as one of the worst world cups ever recorded in the history of football.

South Africa 2010 started with a number of controversial umpiring decisions. Some of these decisions were made so abruptly that they apparently tormented and shattered the hopes of the victimized teams and nations to compete any further in the cup. It is understood that decisions regarding disallowed goals and off side fouls happen quite regularly. However, the world cup in South Arica proved to be much worse and is expected to lead the list of controversial decisions in a single world cup.

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Let's face it: College football and controversy are two subjects that go hand in hand. Unfortunately, one cannot survive without the other, and when you add in the Bowl Championship Series, the two become even more compelling. Let's take a look at the top college football controversies in the SEC during the BCS era.

Ever since FIFA World Cup 2010 kicked off in South Africa June, the buzzing of the vuvuzela -- a cheap, plastic, monotone trumpet -- is the incessant accompaniment to every match. Although it has become an unlikely symbol of South African football and an unusual element of public attention across the world, the opinion is different among most people, especially players.

A recent survey found that the sound emitted by a vuvuzela was the equivalent to 127 decibels - louder than a drum's 122 decibels or a referee's whistle at 121.8 decibels. Prof James Hall III, Dr Dirk Koekemoer, De Wet Swanepoel and colleagues at the University of Pretoria found that the vuvuzelas can have negative effects on people’s eardrums when exposed to the high-intensity sound for a certain amount of time.

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It wouldn’t be a World Cup for England without a traditional controversial ending for the team. Ever since winning the trophy back at the old Wembley Stadium in London in 1966, it seems the team has been cursed. In fact, that’s when the controversies started, when the home team beat West Germany 4-2 in extra time. England was leading the game 2-1, but Germany drew level in the 89th minute to force extra time.

Geoff Hurst, who had scored in the 18th minute, then slammed a shot that hit the underside of the crossbar and came crashing down on or just over the goal line. The action stopped and the Swiss referee went over to his Russian linesman to confer with him. After several seconds, a goal was given and England led 3-2 after 101 minutes.

Hurst then added another in the last minute of extra time to become the only player to score a hat trick in a World Cup Final game and gave England their one and only trophy. Hurst’s second goal is always referred to as the ‘ghost goal’ as it was never proven if it actually crossed the goal line.

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and controversies seem to go hand in hand, as members of the selection committee have now threatened to resign, saying they were not consulted over the team picked for the upcoming England tour.

According to reports, a member of the selection committee Salim Jaffer has objected to the team selected for the exhaustive tour and alleged that chief selector Mohsin Khan did not consult them before announcing the 17-man squad. "Jaffer pointed out that normally when teams are selected, all the selectors put their signatures on the final sheet but this time no such thing happened," highly placed sources in the PCB said.

Sources said that the selectors want to resign in protest, as they felt betrayed by Mohsin, who had told them that only the team for the Twenty20 internationals against Australia would be picked in the first phase. "But they went ahead and picked the Test squad as well for the six Tests against Australia and England which is unacceptable," The News quoted sources, as adding.

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Today's second match France vs. Uruguay is scheduled at 2.30pm EST, Capetown is anticipated as an salvager for France to prove themselves as an serious contender.

The French run up to the world cup 2010 has been marred with allegations and controversies.While Uruguay banks on the strengths of Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez to kickstart their campaign in style against France. Thierry Henry is on of the players France would be banking on. Thierry Henry as striker raises hopes of the French team.

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