Sehwag, Moody, Pybus in fray
Virender Sehwag became the most notable applicant for the Indian cricket team's chief coach's post, which would be technically vacant when Anil Kumble's term comes to an end after the Champions Trophy. While Kumble is an automatic entry into the process, the others in the fray are Australian Tom Moody and Englishman Richard Pybus, who has coached Pakistan earlier. The two Indians among applicants are former fast bowler Dodda Ganesh and former India A coach Lalchand Rajput. Moody and Rajput had applied for the chief coach's job last year also but it was Kumble, who got the nod. However, the entry of Sehwag—one of India's greatest ever game changer—makes the battle for the position very interesting. One of India's biggest match-winners and a part of two-time World Cup winning team, Sehwag played 104 Tests and 251 ODIs for India scoring 8586 and 8273 runs respectively. He doesn't have any prior coaching experience apart from mentoring IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab recently, it was the BCCI top brass that convinced him to apply for the post.
Guha quits as BCCI administrator
Noted historian Ramachandra Guha told the Supreme Court that he has resigned from the Committee of Administrators (CoA) that runs the affairs of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Guha cited personal reasons to resign from the four-member CoA appointed by the Supreme Court to implement the R.M. Lodha Committee's recommendations on the BCCI. A vacation bench of Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and Justice Deepak Gupta were informed of the historian's decision by Guha's lawyer Rakesh Sinha, who sought the court's permission to file an application for its nod. Guha's resignation letter was dated May 28. Guha was a member of the CoA headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai. Former cricketer Diana Edulji and IDFC Ltd Managing Director and CEO Vikram Limaye are the other members on the panel. The Supreme Court will hear Guha's plea to relieve him on July 14.
Cilic, Nadal, Djokovic advance
Marin Cilic, World No. 8, advanced to the second round of the French Open after an easy victory over Russian Konstantin Kravchuk. The Croatian tennis star needed one hour and 38 minutes to beat the Russian 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. Defending champion Novak Djokovic has defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal in straight sets to enter the third round. The second seeded Serbian star defeated Sousa 6-1, 6- 4, 6-3 in 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Rafael Nadal confidently moved one step closer to a potential 10th French Open title with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 second-round victory over Robin Haase. The Spaniard needed just an hour and 49 minutes to overcome his 46th-ranked opponent, playing a clean match in which he struck 33 winners, committed just 13 unforced errors and did not face a single break point. Ukraine tennis player Elina Svitolina and ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska rallied past their opponents in the second round. Placed sixth on the WTA world rankings, Svitolina, after losing 3-6 in the first set, turned around at 6-3, 6-2 against Tsvetana Pironkova while Radwanska defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes. Svitolina will face Magda Linette of Poland in the third round and Radwanska will play local favourite Alize Cornet.
Smith criticises CA over pay dispute
Australia captain Steve Smith has criticised Cricket Australia's (CA) arguments in the ongoing pay dispute between the players and the board on the eve of their first match in the Champions Trophy. The CA has argued that it cannot increase the players' current salaries as more money is needed to fund the game at the grassroots. Smith, however, challenged the CA's statement, asserting that the players have chipped in with significant contributions to the grassroots programmes. Australia had a poor start to their campaign in the last edition of the Champions Trophy in 2013 when they had lost to England in their first match before crashing out in the group stages. Smith is keen to avoid a repeat this time round and reiterated the importance of focusing on the job at hand and not giving too much thought to the off-field issues.
Praneeth reaches quarterfinals of Thailand Open
Indian shuttler B. Sai Praneeth advanced to the quarterfinals of the USD 120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold after notching up a straight-game win over Malaysia's Iskandar Zulkarnain. Singapore Open champion, Praneeth didn't break much sweat in getting across ninth seed Zulkarnain 21-13 21-18. The third seeded Indian will now face Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen tomorrow. However, it was curtains for Sourabh Verma and Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka in men's and women's singles competition. While 12th seeded Sourabh fought hard before going down narrowly 16-21 25-23 11-21 to fifth seeded Brice Leverdez of France, Sai Uttejitha Rao lost 15-21 17-21 to Pattarasuda Chaiwan of Thailand.
Garrincha's body goes missing
The body of Brazilian football legend Garrincha, who was part of two World Cup-winning squads, has disappeared from a cemetery where he was laid to rest 34 years ago. Garrincha, born Manuel Francisco dos Santos, died at 49 due to the affects of alcoholism and was buried in his family's vault at the cemetery in Mage. A decade ago, the player's cousin João Rogoginsky was given to understand that Garrincha's remains had been moved to make room for another departed member of the family. But none of the player's kin was present for the exhumation and the family never received any written notification. Recently, Mage Mayor Rafael Tubarão proposed organising an event in October to mark what would have been Garrincha's 84th birthday. When municipal workers sought to determine the exact location of the body, they found that Garrincha's remains were not where they were supposed to be. An investigation is under way.
