Ankita Raina, who has been the torchbearer of Indian women’s tennis after Sania Mirza, became only the fifth Indian woman - after Sania, Sikha Uberoi, Nirupama Vaidyanathan and Nirupama Mankad - to make it to the main draw of Australian Open. In Melbourne, she will partner Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu and the pair will take on local wildcards Belinda Woolcock and Olivia Galdecki in the first round. The 28-year-old Ahmedabad-born Ankita, who has been plying her trade on the ITF and WTA circuits, made it to the main draw of the event on the back of sustained performance over the last three to four years.
Byju’s to be ICC’s global partner in £13 mn deal
After becoming the Indian cricket team’s official sponsor, edtech major Byju’s has now signed a deal in the range of £12-13 million to become a global partner with International Cricket Council (ICC), according to sources. Byju’s three-year deal with ICC comes at a time when India is slated to host two major cricketing events - the T20 World Cup in 2021 and the 50-over cricket World Cup in 2023. As a global partner, Byju’s will have extensive in-venue, broadcast, and digital rights across all ICC events. This marks yet another instance of internet firms spending on cricketing events to acquire users. Paytm, PhonePe, credit card payments startup Cred and edtech startup Unacademy are some of the other names who have bagged different sponsorship rights for blockbuster events, including the IPL.
Vijay Hazare trophy from Feb 20
The BCCI will organise the Vijay Hazare Trophy from February 20 to March 14 across six cities, with the teams entering the bio-secure bubble from February 13 to undergo three Covid tests. Surat, Indore, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Jaipur are five of the six venues. Eight Plate Group teams will be playing their matches at various grounds across Tamil Nadu. As per the BCCI protocol, players will undergo three more RT-PCR tests on arrival before the start of the knockout stages (pre-quarterfinals) from March 7. Elite Group A: Gujarat, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Tripura, Baroda, Goa (venue: Surat). Group B: Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh (Indore). Group C: Karnataka, UP, Kerala, Odisha, Railways, Bihar (Bengaluru). Group D: Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Puducherry (Jaipur). Group E: Bengal, Services, Jammu and Kashmir, Saurashtra, Haryana, Chandigarh (Kolkata). Plate Group: Uttarakhand, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim (TN).
Sunetra named BCA women’s team coach
The Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) appointed former India cricketer Sunetra Paranjpe as the head coach of its women’s team. The association had appointed former India cricketer Anju Jain as the senior women’s team coach last year. But a fallout between Jain and BCA following differences over accommodation and other issues ensured that she didn’t join the association. Paranjpe is an International Cricket Council (ICC) level-1 coach and NLP practitioner. BCA officials said Paranjpe has worked as Under-19, Under-23 and senior women’s team coach with Mumbai Cricket Association apart from a trainer of Indian railways Under-23 women’s team. A right hand batswoman and medium pacer, she was a member of Indian women’s team between 2002 and 2007 and has played in 28 ODIs apart from three Test matches. Former Maharashtra Ranji player Mandar Sane has also joined as the bowling coach of the Baroda women’s team.
Australia scrap SA tour over Covid risk
Australia pulled out of their Test cricket tour to South Africa citing an “unacceptable” risk to players with the coronavirus rampant in the country. Justin Langer’s men were due to play three Tests against the Proteas. But the situation became untenable with the outbreak in South Africa accelerated by a new variant said to be more contagious than earlier strains of the virus. “It has become clear that travelling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and the community,” Cricket Australia interim chief Nick Hockley said. “This decision has not been made lightly and we are extremely disappointed... However, we have been consistent since the start of the pandemic that the health and safety of our people is always our number one priority and unfortunately despite best efforts to agree a biosecurity plan, the risks are simply too great at this time.”
