Weekly Digest (April 27-May 3): From The Hundred's postponement to F1's possible resumption

From the controversial postponement of The Hundred to F1's plans on starting the new season, here are the top headlines from the week gone by.

English cricket's controversial new Hundred competition has been delayed until 2021, F1 hopes start the season with a double-header in Austria.

Here's a wrap-up of sports news and updates from across the world. From the controversial postponement of The Hundred competition to Formula One's plans on starting the new season, here are the top headlines from the week gone by.

CRICKET

Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report spot-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Monday. Umar, who turns 30 next month, pleaded guilty to not reporting the fixing offers which led to his provisional suspension on February 20 this year.

(READ)

 

Australia will not allow the use of saliva or sweat to shine the ball once cricket training resumes in the post COVID-19 world, says a framework released by the federal government regarding the staged return of sports amid the pandemic. (READ)

English cricket's controversial new Hundred competition has been delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, cricket chiefs announced on Thursday. The new 100-balls-per-side format, to be played by eight franchises rather than the established 18 first-class counties, had been due to start in July. (READ)

Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh were among the players to miss out on national contracts from Cricket Australia for 2020-21. (READ)

 

Shoaib Akhtar has yet again landed himself into trouble after PCB legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi filed a criminal as well as defamation suit against the former fast bowler for his allegedly inappropriate comments against him in a YouTube show. (READ)

Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB's) Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. (READ)

FOOTBALL

On Thursday, former India football captain Chuni Goswami, 82, passed away, following prolonged illness. (READ)

Chuni Goswami was the poster boy of Indian football in the 50's and 60's.

 

It emerged this week that three members of Bundesliga club Cologne tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to training. (READ)

A German interior minister backed the resumption of the Bundesliga season in May, saying the clubs would have to follow the guidelines to protect themselves from being affected by coronavirus. (READ)

At the stakeholders’ meeting on Friday, Premier League reiterated its commitment to completing the 2019-20 season if the UK government gives it the go-ahead. (READ)

 

Paris Saint-Germain was declared the Ligue 1 champion after Ligue de Professional Football (LFP) called off the season, with Toulouse and Amiens relegated to Ligue 2. (READ)

KABADDI

Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday said that kabaddi has huge potential not just in India and Asia, but globally and the ultimate aim of the country is to have the sport included in the Olympics. (READ)

HOCKEY

The extension of FIH Pro League by one year augurs well for the Indian hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics, feels defender Varun Kumar. (READ)

Indian hockey great Gurbux Singh paid a glowing tribute to late Indian football legend Chuni Goswami during his days in Calcutta . (READ)

 

Indian women’s hockey team midfielder Reena Khokhar opened about her road to recovery from a freak training accident which sidelined her from the team. (READ)

SHOOTING

Veronika Major, double gold-medallist at the 2019 Delhi shooting World Cup, believes that the safest possible decision had been arrived at when the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo was postponed. (READ)

 

TENNIS

Sania Mirza has been nominated for the Fed Cup Heart Award from the Asia/Oceania zone. (READ)

Andy Murray is in favour of ATP Tour for a merger with the WTA. (READ)

Andy Murray will return from his latest injury problem on June 23 in a tournament organised by his brother Jamie to raise money for a UK National Health Service charity.

 

Andy Murray won the Virtual Madrid Open title after Diego Schwartzmann, logging in from Argentina, suffered a connection glitch (READ)

BADMINTON

The 2021 World Badminton Championship has been moved from August to the end of the year due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics. (READ)

The Thomas and Uber Cup Finals was on Wednesday postponed for the second time due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the Badminton World Federation (BWF) deciding to hold the global showpiece team championships from October 3 to 11 in Aarhus, Denmark. (READ)

 

The Badminton Association of India is ready to host the USD 400,000 India Open in December, 2020, or January, 2021. (READ)

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday suspended the US Open World Tour Super 300 tournament to be held in June due to the fast-spreading COVID-19 pandemic which has infected over 3 million people globally. (READ)

BOXING

India lost the hosting rights of the 2021 men’s World Boxing Championship to Serbia after the national federation failed to pay the host fee.  (READ)

Tyson Fury has backtracked on his initial retirement plans and the world heavyweight champion is now planning to fight until he is 40. (READ)

 

WRESTLING

India’s foreign wrestling coaches Andrew Cook and Temo Kazarashvili left India with half of their monthly salary for March in their pockets and are wondering if they will be paid their dues along with the remuneration for the current month. (READ)

MOTORSPORT

Formula One hopes to finally start the season with a double-header in the naturally isolated environment around the venue for the Austrian Grand Prix. (READ)

The end of July is the target for the start of the MotoGP season after races in Germany, the Netherlands and Finland were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. (READ)

 

The mandatory shutdown period in Formula One has been extended by a further four weeks, the FIA announced on Tuesday. (READ)

ATHLETICS

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju said his ministry is devising a plan for phase-wise resumption of national camps for Olympic-bound athletes by the end of this month. (READ)

IOA president Narinder Batra said that the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics will “definitely” be held next year, amid concerns over staging the mega event before a COVID-19 vaccine is found. (READ)

 

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said it would be “difficult” to hold the postponed Tokyo Olympics next year if the coronavirus pandemic is not contained. (READ)