Sachin Tendulkar is an Incredible Genius, I am

Sport 7
THE ECHO OF INDIA SILIGURI
Friday
June 10, 2016
Sachin Tendulkar is an Incredible
Genius, I am Not: Alastair Cook
Six thousand runs
is a long way away.
It was set by an
incredibly talented
genius. I'm no genius and Tendulkar
is, so that is a long
way ahead
-------------England captain Alastair Cook
London, June 9/--/ He might have bea ten Sachin
Tendulkar's record of being the youngest to 10,000
runs but England captain Alastair Cook says he is
well aware that he is nothing like the "incredibly talented genius" from India and has a long way to go before matching up to him.
Cook became the 12th player in history to score
10,000 Test runs during England's nine-wicket win
against Sri Lanka at Durham last month but he is
nearly 6,000 runs short of Tendulkar's record aggregate of 15,921 runs from 200 matches.
T he left-handed opener, 31, broke Tendulkar's
earlier record of being the youngest to score 10,000
Test runs by more than five months. Cook, who has
now scored 10,042 runs in 128 Tests, said
Tendulkar's record Test runs are a long way off for
him as of now. "Six thousand runs is a long way
away. It was set by an incredibly talented genius. I'm
no genius and Tendulkar is, so that is a long way
ahead," Cook said at the Lord's ahead of the third
Test against Sri Lanka. "I want to play for England for as long as I can and at the moment I'm really enjoying it. I am really motivated and hungry and where that takes me who knows." "I've
never lived my life by saying where I want to get
to publicly. In private you have a few goals you
want to try and achieve, but at the moment a lot
of my goals are very immediate with this England team and as a captain that takes me away
from personal milestones as a batter." The England skipper has 28 Test hundreds to his name at
an average of 47, whereas Tendulkar bowed out
of Test cricket with a record 51 centuries at an
average of nearly 54. Former India captain Sunil
Gavaskar, the fir st man to score 10,000 Test
runs, said last week that Cook had it in him to set
a new aggregate record for most Test runs because of his age and the fact that England play
more g ames over the long fo r mat than many
other nations.
Anju accuses minister of insulting Zinedine Zidane touches down in
her; CM bats for colleague
Mumbai to warm reception
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JUN
chief minister said. When she came
Bengaluru, where she is based, to
9/--/ Olympian and Arjuna awardee
to meet him, Vijayan said he told
Thiruvananthapuram for attending
Anju Bobby George Thursday acAnju that they had not seen her as a
the council meetings. This facility
cused Kerala Sports Minister E P
political person. Anju, who made
had been allowed by the previous
Jayarajan of allegedly insulting her
history after she won a medal in the
government, she said.
with "corruption" charges even as
World Championships in Athletics
She alleged that the minister had
Chief Minister of the south Indian
in 2003, said she had gone to meet the
told her that it was all corruption and
state of Kerala Pinarayi
against rules and he could
Vijayan came out in supstop all of this. Anju said
port of his Cabinet colbesides
her,
Preeja
league. Jayarajan, who
Sreedharan,
Indian
denied the charge, found
Hockey captain P R
himself at the centre of
Sreejesh and Kerala
another controversy days
Cricket Association Presiafter leaving the Commudent, T C Ma thew, are
nist
Party
of
other members of the
India(Marxist)- led Left
Council. "The minister
Democratic Front (LDF)
said that all of us are ingovernment red-faced
volved in corruption. We
when he described boxare not acting for any poing icon Muhammad Ali
litical party. Sports is our
as a sportsman from
party. I am not a member
Kerala during his obituof Congress, Communist
ary reference. Anju,
or BJP," Anju said.
President of the Kerala
"We are doing our
Sports Council, said she
duty. If the government is
had complained to the
not ready to accept that,
chief minister regarding
File image of Anju Bobby George (left),
they can ask us to leave.
the issue. She was apwith her Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Sports
But instead, calling all of
pointed to the post by the
award, standing alongside her husband (right).
us corrupt is not acceptprevious Congress-led
able," she said. Asked if
United Democratic Front (UDF) govSports Minister along with the Counshe planned to quit her post, Anju
ernment. On Anju's allegation that
cil Vice President on June 7 after the
said she had not taken a decision yet.
the sports minister had insulted her
new government came to power.
"We are sports persons. I have a duty
and spoken harshly, Vijayan told a
"We thought he will ask us about
to inform the Chief Minister about
meet-the-press programme here,
the status of sports in Kerala. In the
the minister's behaviour," she said.
"The sports minister had only asked
first meeting itself, the minister said
Jayarajan, however, denied the
her about her flight tickets. How
'you all are elected members by the
charge and said Anju had parted
does that become an insult?" "The
previous ministry. So you all are
"very happily" after meeting him.
previous government had offered
other party members... All transfers
Asked about her charge, the minister
her various concessions, including
and appointments you are doing are
said he had not behaved rudely. "No,
sponsoring her flight tickets from
illegal," Anju told PTI. The athlete
never," he told reporters. He said he
Bengaluru to Thiruvananthapuram.
said the minister also objected to the
was not aware that the athlete had
That was not a proper practice," the
flight tickets availed by her from
complained to the Chief Minister.
Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid manager, arrived in Mumbai to fulfil a
contractual obligation as ambassador of a Mumbai based Real Estate
company and will attend the inauguration of a project on Friday
MUMBAI, JUNE 9/--/
French football legend
Zinedine Zidane, on Thursday, touched down in India
to a warm reception from a
swarm of enthusiastic fans,
who converged at the city's
international airport to greet
one of the game's all-time
greats. The former Real Madrid star and current manager is here to fulfil a contractual obligation after being named as brand ambassador for a city-based real estate development company.
He was escorted out of the
terminal by a posse of security men. The 43-year-old
Zidane, who played a pivotal
role in France's only World
Cup triumph in 1998, was accompanied
by
wife
Veronique Zidane. A prominent part of the famous
Galacticos, Zidane, who
guided Real Madrid to the
Champions League triumph
in his first season as manager
recently, will be endorsing a
real estate group's upcoming
project in Bandra Kurla
Complex, titled 'Kanakia
Paris'. Following a victory at
San Siro on May 28, Zidane
joined an elite group of legends, who have won the
Champions League both as
player and coach. Zidane
will be unveiling the project
tomorrow, which will be followed by a media conference. Zidane was roped in as
the brand ambassador of
Kanakia Gr oup in May. He
had then said, "It's a pleasure
to be associated with the
Kanakia Group Pvt Ltd and
all thanks to PMG for bringing us together."
Euro 2016: Cristiano Ronaldo brace helps Portugal rout Estonia
Ricardo Quaresma also
scored twice, while Danilo
and Eder got second-half
goals. Karol Mets' own-goal
completed
the
rout.
Ronaldo took the role of
center forward before his
halftime substitution but
roamed freely and often
dropped
back
into
midfield. The Portuguese
beat Norway 3-0 and lost 1-0
against England in recent
warmups. No player appeared to be injured in
Wednesday's match. Portugal is in Group F at Euro
Saina, Srikanth enter Australian Open quarters
SYDNEY, JUNE 9/--/ Riobound Indian shuttlers
Saina Nehwal and K
Srikanth registered
straight-game wins to
reach the quarterfinals
of the women's and
men's singles events
respectively at the USD
750,000 Australian Open
Super Series badminton
tournament here
Thursday. London
Olympics bronzemedallist, Saina outclassed Malaysia's Jin
Wei Goh 21-12 21-14 in a
37-minute clash to set up
a quarterfinal battle
with 2013 world champion and second seed
Ratchanok Intanon of
Thailand.
In men's singles,
Srikanth, who had taken
a break for a month to
train after a hectic April,
defeated Indonesia's
Sony Dwi Kuncoro 21-19
21-12 in 34 minutes. The
World No. 13 will next
face Korean qualifier
Kwang Hee Heo tomor-
File image of Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth.
row. However, it was
curtains for young Tanvi
Lad and Sameer Verma
after they suffered
contrasting defeats in
the pre-quarters Thursday. Runners-up at
National Championships, Tanvi Lad went
down 18-21 6-21 to
fourth seed Chinese
Wang Yihan, while
national champion
Sameer played his heart
out before going down
21-11 7-21 19-21 to
Anthony Sinisuka
Ginting of Indonesia.
Saina was lagging
initially when Jin took a
4-1 lead and held on to it
till 9-7. The Indian then
reeled off six points to
reach 13-9 and then just
zoomed ahead to pocket
the first game.
In the second game,
Saina led 5-2 early on but
Jin tried to grab the lead
and put up a tough fight
before the Indian broke
off 9-9 to gradually
march ahead. In the end,
she comfortably closed
the issue. Saina has a 6-5
head-to-head record
against Ratchanok but
the Indian has lost to the
Thai girl twice in
straight games in the
last two meetings.
Srikanth, who had faced
a series of first-round
losses in the last few
tournaments since
wining the Syed Modi
Grand Prix Gold in
January, fought back
from 4-6 and 13-15 to
grab the opening game
against Sony. In the
second game, Srikanth
was more clinical as he
surged ahead after 3-3
and never looked back.
2016 and plays its first
game against Iceland on
Tuesday. Austria and Hungary are also in the group.
Estonia did not qualify. Despite producing some of
Europe's top players, Portugal has never won any silverware. It was the losing
finalist against Greece at
Euro 2004, a tournament it
played on home turf.
Tender
&
Notice
Statement of Vacancy
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace in his first game from
injury as Portugal demolished Estonia 7-0 in their final
warm-up game ahead of the Euro championships.
LISBON, JUNE 9/--/
Cristiano Ronaldo's two
first-half goals in 10 minutes helped Portugal to a 70 demolition of Estonia on
Wednesday in the hosts'
last warmup game before
the European Championship.
Ronaldo marked his return to the Portugal squad
after a two-game absence
by scoring with a powerful
header in the 38th and then
shooting home from inside
the area, extending his Portuguese record tally to 58
goals. He has 126 caps —
one shy of Luis Figo's
record. The Portuguese
captain showed no signs of
the muscle problems that
appeared at the end of last
season with Real Madrid.
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days of publication of this advertisement.
Maria Sharapova: Russian tennis superstar to appeal 'unfairly harsh' two-year doping ban
LONDON: Russian superstar Maria Sharapova on
Wednesday vowed to appeal a two-year doping ban which
looks certain to end one of sport`s most celebrated and
high-profile careers. Sharapova, 29, tested positive for the
controversial banned medication meldonium during
January`s Australian Open. A statement by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said "an Independent Tribunal" had "found that Maria Sharapova committed an
anti-doping rule violation" and consequently had "disqualified the affected results and imposed a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on 26 January, 2016".
Sharapova blasted the ban as "unfairly harsh" in a statement on her Facebook page. "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the
anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh twoyear suspension," fumed Sharapova. "The tribunal, whose
members were selected by the ITF, agreed that I did not do
anything intentionally wrong, yet they seek to keep me
from playing tennis for two years. I will immediately appeal the suspension portion of this ruling to CAS, the
Court of Arbitration for Sport." Sharapova slammed the
ITF for spending "tremendous amounts of time and resources trying to prove I intentionally violated the antidoping rules" before adding that "the tribunal concluded I
did not". The US-based Russian failed a drugs test on January 26 and was charged with an anti-doping violation on
March 2. In a packed press conference in Los Angeles a
few days later, she admitted to taking meldonium but said
she hadn`t realised it was on the banned substance list.
One of her top sponsors Nike, which had suspended ties
with the Russian in the immediate aftermath of her confession, stoked controversy Wednesday by revealing they
were rekindling their relationship. "Maria has always
made her position clear, has apologized for her mistake
and is now appealing the length of the ban," Nike said in a
statement. "Based on the decision of the ITF and their factual findings, we hope to see Maria back on court and will
continue to par tner with her." Racquet sponsors HEAD
said they had no hesitation in staying loyal to their client
just as they had done after her failed test. "We believe,
based on the facts and circumstances provided to us, that
this is a flawed decision. HEAD will continue to stand by
Miss Sharapova," said chairman Johan Eliasch.
Meldonium was added to the world anti-doping WADA list
on January 1. Sharapova said she`d been taking it for 10
years to help treat illnesses, a heart issue and a magnesium deficiency. Her ban is backdated to January 26 and
due to end on January 25, 2018.