The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Last audit slams Indian work on Commonwealth Games
- Rough American football coming to genteel cricket-mad India
- Cricket: Nafees falls late to give Zimbabwe the edge over Bangladesh
| Last audit slams Indian work on Commonwealth Games Posted: 05 Aug 2011 05:59 PM PDT NEW DELHI (AP) — Auditors slammed India's preparations and conduct of the Commonwealth Games last year as deeply flawed, riddled with favoritism and vastly more expensive than planned in a final report that could result in criminal prosecutions. India had hoped the games would buff its image as a rising superpower. Instead it was deeply embarrassed by construction delays, cost overruns and corruption allegations. The head of the organizing committee, Suresh Kalmadi, is in jail on corruption charges. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report questioned Kalmadi's appointment on a recommendation by the prime minister's office in 2004 despite objections from the then-Sports Minister Sunil Dutt. Law Minister Salman Khursheed said the report from India's top auditing body was presented to Parliament on Friday. "Parliament will reflect on it and decide what needs to be done." The report also said there were serious irregularities with bidding and contracts. A parliamentary committee will now decide on prosecuting erring officials. It said the games cost $4.1 billion instead of the $270 million initially estimated. Games revenue that was supposed to pay for the event amounted to only $38 million. It said the construction of venues and infrastructure lagged behind schedule as the seven-year window from 2003 to 2010 for preparations of the games was wasted. "The argument of urgency was used to obviate the regular process of tendering for award of contracts," said Rekha Gupta, one of the auditors, adding that competition was limited to favor particular vendors. The overlays contracts were signed at exorbitant rates by the organizing committee, causing huge financial loss to the committee and the Indian government, Gupta said. The report also said the contract for a timing, scoring and results system was awarded to Swiss timing company Omega SA after irregularly disqualifying MSL Spain. It also said the contract for building the games village for housing athletes and officials was awarded to Emaar MGF Constructions on the basis of a single financial bid, denying New Delhi's Development Authority the benefit of financial competition. It blamed New Delhi's top elected leader, Sheila Dikshit, for using imported luminaries for improving the street lighting in the Indian capital after procuring them at a far higher cost than the domestic luminaries. This cost the government an extra 370 million rupees($7.7 million), the report said. The auditors also said the renovation of Connaught place, a high-end shopping center in the Indian capital, was plagued by long delays. The estimated renovation cost of 760 million rupees ($15.8 million) went up nearly nine-fold from 2004 to 2007. Balbir Punj, a leader of opposition Hindu nationalist party demanded immediate resignation of New Delhi Chief Minister Dikshit. She, however, rejected the opposition demand and said she would fully cooperate with the parliamentary committee which would go into the audit report. |
| Rough American football coming to genteel cricket-mad India Posted: 05 Aug 2011 05:58 PM PDT MUMBAI, India (AP) — India, a country with a passion for the genteel game of cricket, is about to get a taste of the rough and tumble sport of American football. Organizers announced plans Friday for the Elite Football League of India, an eight-team pro league made up of Indian players and coaches that will open next year in this country of more than 1 billion people. The league said investors include former Green Bay Packers linebacker Brandon Chillar, an American of Indian descent, former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski, Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin of the Dallas Cowboys and Hall of Fame tight end and former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. The inaugural season is scheduled to run from Nov. 2012 to Feb. 2013. The teams will be the Bhubaneswar Warhawks, Mumbai Gladiators, Hyderabad Skykings, Goa Swarm, Pune Blacktigers, Kolkata Vipers, Delhi Defenders and Punjab Warriors. "India is beyond doubt a great market for the sports and entertainment sectors," EFLI's chief executive Richard Whelan said at a news conference. "A concept like EFLI presents a huge opportunity and the perfect platform for brands to get visibility and reach out to their potential customers." The league plans to add eight more teams during the second year and four in each subsequent season until 2022. By then, the league would have 52 teams representing all Indian cities with a population in excess of 1 million. American football is the latest sport to set up a pro league in India following the success of cricket's multimillion dollar Indian Premier League. Football, volleyball and the indigenous game of kabaddi have already started leagues while field hockey, wrestling, tennis and badminton are among those in the works. The EFLI is confident of finding a niche despite being new to the country. "We felt that India didn't have enough games or sport to watch on television and thus see a huge potential here," Whelan said "We are training coaches from athletics, volleyball and wrestling and hope to be ready for the first season in time." He said the new league hopes to capitalize on the success of India's victory in this year's cricket World Cup on home soil. "It's very fortunate that India has this cricket history because with the World Cup as the catalyst, all eyes are on the world of sport," he said. The EFLI will invite 600 companies to attend an orientation program to discuss strategy for long-term business affiliation. The league hopes to attract not just corporate backing but also support from the army, city municipalities and political parties. "We will definitely have a pay structure in place soon. We will put up our complete business module in a month or so," Whelan said. Organizers plan to work with the Indian government to develop the first governing body for the game, similar to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. They will also use playing fields owned by the government. All of the games in the first season will be played in the western city of Pune at the government-owned Sports Authority of India center. Organizers said they would share 15 percent of their revenues with India's sports ministry.
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| Cricket: Nafees falls late to give Zimbabwe the edge over Bangladesh Posted: 05 Aug 2011 05:55 PM PDT HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Spinner Ray Price dismissed Shahriar Nafees just before the close to give Zimbabwe the edge after day two of its comeback test against Bangladesh on Friday. Nafees was out for 50 and Bangladesh was 107-3 at stumps, 263 runs behind Zimbabwe's first innings total of 370. Mohammad Ashraful was 34 not out and Mahmudullah 4 not out when the players went off in fading light at Harare Sports Club. Earlier, Hamilton Masakadza hit his first test century in 10 years before a sudden collapse — when the host was set for an imposing first innings total in its first test in six years — brought Bangladesh back into the one-off match. "Slightly disappointed to be in the position we were in and not press home the advantage," Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor said. "But we have put that behind us and I'm glad that the afternoon session belonged to us." Masakadza combined for a 142-run partnership with new skipper Taylor (71), but his dismissal for 104 began a slump as Zimbabwe lost eight wickets for 66 runs to go from 304-2 to 370 all out. Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan and Rubel Hossain took three wickets each to turn things around after a lackluster bowling effort on day one. "We had a good meeting yesterday and we discussed about bowling as straight as possible and not giving away easy runs," Shakib said. "It will be good tomorrow for someone to score a hundred and put a lot of runs on the board." Debutant fast bowler Brian Vitori then took two quick wickets at the start of Bangladesh's reply to revive the Zimbabweans. Nafees and Mohammad Ashraful replied with a 66-run stand but Nafees was dismissed less than five overs before the end, putting Zimbabwe just ahead in a close battle between test cricket's lowest-ranked countries. Nafees had stroked nine fours in his fifth test half-century, then attempted a sweep to off-spinner Price and the ball bounced off the back of his bat and rolled gently onto the stumps. Earlier, the Zimbabweans had looked set to move into a dominant position when Masakadza and Taylor took the overnight score of 264-2 past 300. Masakadza hit eight fours and a six on the way to his second-ever test hundred and first since his debut as a 17-year-old at the same ground a decade ago. When the right-hander, now 27, clipped a shot to the legside to move to 100 he set a new mark for the longest time for a player between his first and second test centuries. "It was a long time coming, it was a great feeling. I was trying to stop people to continue talking about the debut one," Masakadza said. But he fell trying a flashing drive off Robiul Islam (2-106), who also dismissed Taylor, and Zimbabwe lost four wickets before lunch and four more in quick succession in the afternoon session to post a far lower score than expected. Left-arm spinner Shakib led with 3-62 and seamer Rubel Hossain took 3-84 for Bangladesh. Tatenda Taibu — who made stinging criticism of Zimbabwe's cricket board in the run-up to the test — resisted with 23 from 44, but when he was out to Shakib, Zimbabwe fell away. Vitori — one of four Zimbabwean debutants in the test — had Imrul Kayes out for 4 in the fifth over and Tamim Iqbal was on 15 when he was also caught in the slips to leave Bangladesh 36-2. Nafees came to the rescue with his battling innings and reached 50 off 117 balls. His unfortunate dismissal late in the day sparked rowdy celebrations from the Zimbabwean fielders. |
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