Sports
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INDIA IN NEW YORK FEBRUARY 14, 2014
Keshavan
finishes
disappointing
37th
Independent Olympic
Indian participants
walk at the opening
ceremony with the
Olympic flag ahead.
Inset, Shiva Keshavan
LUCY NICHOLSON/REUTERS
due to the suspension of the Indian
Olympic
Association, finished 37th and
34th in the third
and fourth rounds
held February 9.
He was also 37th
after two rounds a
day earlier too.
The medal winners were decided
according to the
combined timings
of the four rounds.
Felix Loch of
Germany won the
gold with a combined time of
3:27.526 while
Russia’s Albert
Demchenko
(3:28.002) and
Italy’s Armin
Zoeggeler
(3:28.797) bagged
the silver and
bronze respectively.
This was
Keshavan’s worst
performance in the Winter Olympics. He had
finished 28th in Nagano (Japan) in 1998, 33rd
in Salt Lake City (USA) in 2002, 25th in Torino
(Italy) in 2006 and 29th in Vancouver (Canada)
in 2010.
Two other Indians are competing in the
Games — cross country skier Nadeem Iqbal and
alpine skier Himanshu Thakur.
Iqbal was to participate in the 15 km Classic
run February 14 while Thakur’s Giant Slalom
event begins February 19.
I
ndia’s Shiva Keshavan finished a disappointing 37th in the men’s singles luge
competition of the Sochi Winter Olympic
Games in Sochi.
The 32-year-old Indian, who is competing in
his fifth Winter Olympics, clocked a combined
time of 3:37.149 over four rounds to end the
event at 37th out of 39 lugers in the competition at the Sanki Sliding Center in Sochi.
Keshavan, who was competing under the IOC
flag as an Independent Olympic Participant
ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES
International Olympic Committee
lifts its ban on India
R
ajeev Mehta, secretary general,
Indian Olympic Association,
confirmed February 11 that the
International Olympic Committee has
lifted the ban on India.
The Indian body returned to the
Olympic fold after a 14-month suspension following the election of
Narayanswami Ramachandran as the
IOA president after fresh elections
were held February 9.
India's athletes have been competing at the Winter Olympics in Sochi
under the Olympic flag due to the
country's suspension, imposed after
the IOA held a 2012 election in which
a corruption-tainted official was voted
in as secretary general.
February 9, the IOA elected a new
set of officials. World Squash
Federation chief Ramachandran was
elected president, and All India
Tennis Association chief Anil Khanna
treasurer.
The polls marked the exit of corruption-tainted Abhay Singh Chautala
and Lalit Bhanot from the IOA.
‘The IOC Executive Board reinstated the National Olympic Committee
of India, the Indian Olympic
Association, during an ad hoc meeting
in Sochi today," read a statement from
the IOC.
N Srinivasan
to be ICC
chairman
T
he International Cricket Council
passed key proposals February 8, effectively placing the cricket boards of
India, Australia and England in charge of the
game.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India
president Narayanswami Srinivasan was nominated ICC chairman. He will chair the ICC
board from July.
Wally Edwards, chairman, Cricket Australia,
will head a newly formed executive committee.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka abstained from voting on the proposal, citing need for more time
to discuss it, while the other eight full members backed the reforms, the ICC said after the
meeting in Singapore.
‘The Board has made some significant decisions, which provide us with long-term certainty in relation to the future governance,
competition and financial models of the ICC,’
Alan Isaac, president, ICC, said.
The financial restructuring will see India,
cricket’s biggest fund generator, as well as
England and Australia, pocketing greater
share of the ICC revenue.
The proposals had invited widespread criticism, with some suggesting that the ‘Big
Three’ would take over the sport at the
expense of the other cricketing nations.
England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman
Giles Clarke will continue to head the finance
and commercial affairs committee in the new
structure.
‘Full members will gain greater financial
recognition based on the contribution they
have made to the game, particularly in terms
of finance, their ICC history and their on-field
performances in the three formats,’ the governing body said.
The ICC said a Test cricket fund would be
introduced to help its members sustain the
health of the five-day format.
‘The structure of the model will ensure that
none of the full members will be worse off
than they are at present and — if forecasts of
revenue generation prove to be correct — all
will be significantly better off,’ the ICC added.
The proposed World Test championship has
been scrapped and replaced by the 50-overs
Champions Trophy tournament in 2017 and
2021.
‘It proved impossible to come up with a format for a four-team finals event in Test cricket
that fits the culture of Test cricket and preserves the integrity of the format,’ the ICC said.
‘The most recent ICC Champions Trophy
event proved to be very popular with supporters around the world and the future events
will build on this success.’
The associate members will now get a
chance to play Test cricket with the champions
of a lower-tier tournament taking on the lowest-ranked full member in a play-off for a shot
at test status.