Sports
4th Test: Team India banking on resilience against Australia | Cricket News
What has also made this tour incredibly hard for the players are the Covid-19 restrictions and bio-bubble environments they have to abide by. A large majority of them have been away from home for almost five months now, beginning with the IPL in UAE.
The mounting list of cricketers on the casualty list with various injuries has only compounded India’s woes. But they have found a way to brave through those challenges and are still in with a chance of winning the series as the deciding fourth Test looms.
Former India player Sujith Somasundar, a certified mental toughness and life performance coach, credits the coaching staff for this mental toughness in the team. “I think a lot of credit goes to people who are around the Indian team. They receive a lot of brickbats. But let’s give them credit where it is due,” he said.
“Sometimes breakdowns happen. It happened to us in Adelaide (2nd innings where India were all out for 36). But how you deal with it is important. I think our support staff dealt with it really well. If you make winning and losing highly significant, then you are making players emotionally attached to the results. But rather, the focus should be on improving the players’ work ethic. I think that’s where head coach Ravi Shastri and his team have done a commendable job,” said Somasundar, the head of education at the Indian cricket board’s National Cricket Academy (NCA).
The former Karnataka cricketer thinks that the new players who have stepped in have not looked out of their depth because of the work that has gone behind the scenes. “I think they (coaching staff) have handled each player differently. They have treated each one of them according to their potential. They have made them aware of what is possible and tried to make them realise it,” he added.
Virat Kohli too had spoken highly about the character of the team before he took paternity leave. “We are a team that will show belief and not necessarily give up. That is one hallmark of this team,” Kohli had said.
This ‘hallmark’ is what stand-in-skipper Ajinkya Rahane will bank on in Brisbane. “Physically we may be disadvantaged. However, mentally they will have a lot of gumption after Sydney, which was kind of a moral victory,” said Somasundar.
If India can defy the odds in Brisbane too, their mental toughness will become the stuff of legend.
Paes, 47, said he skipped the Australian Open as he is apprehensive of playing in a bio-bubble but is looking ahead to the French Open.
“Playing sport in a bio-bubble is very tough and may not be the best thing to do. I got a grand farewell at the Australian Open last year so I felt this year I would be sitting out and watching,” Paes said.
The Olympic bronze medallist in singles and multiple-time doubles Grand Slam winners was speaking during the launch of a cricket tournament named after his father Dr Vece Paes, a bronze winner at the 1972 Olympics.
“I hope that by the time of French Open, by the end of May, Europe will get to a better position than now.”
On the Christmas Day of 2019, Paes had announced his “One Last Roar” tagline, calling 2020 to be his last season as a professional player, culminating with the Tokyo Games that was pushed back by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s my goal to represent India in the eighth successive Olympics. I’m keeping myself in good physical and mental fitness which is not easy being away for 11 months.
“I’ve been practising hard, putting in three hours everyday and I’m in the last 100m sprint of a long career. Tokyo Olympics is important to make sure India remains in the record,” Paes said.
The Dr Vece Paes Cricket Cup will be held between CC&FC and Doctors’ XI at CC&FC on Tuesday.
The doctors of Kolkata wish to make the 75th year of Dr Paes and his achievements a memorable annual event by organising a cricket match which will be played by Paes and former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan.
“I’m very emotional about CC&FC. As a young boy growing up, this very ground where I grew up, learnt leadership, sportsmanship and camaraderie.
“It’s an honour to be your son. I’ve tried to run it and play the game of life as best as I could. I hope I have done you proud,” the tennis great concluded.
Sports
Olympics would be ‘extremely difficult’ for unvaccinated athletes: France | Tokyo Olympics News
Unvaccinated athletes who go to the Games in Japan face “quarantine of a fortnight” and “will have to undergo tests in the mornings and evenings,” Denis Masseglia warned.
The issue of vaccination of athletes for the Tokyo Olympics, postponed last year because of the pandemic, is to be discussed Wednesday at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Committee.
The IOC officially encourages the vaccination of athletes but says it cannot impose it.
Masseglia said there was no choice. In a video press conference, he said that “holding the Games is at stake”.
“We are not alone,” he said. “For our Japanese friends to receive athletes and accredited people from all over the world requires some precautions.”
He said that the difficulties they would face could have “a dissuasive effect” for athletes who did not want to be vaccinated.
Masseglia said he spoke to IOC president Thomas Bach last week.
In France, nearly a million priority people have been vaccinated, but the pace of vaccination is extremely varied around the world. Some countries, including Japan, have not started yet.
The issue of vaccination of athletes also raises an ethical problem.
“It’s out of the question that athletes should be given priority over other categories of population, but between now and the Games we can assume that it is possible to have them vaccinated without penalising other people,” Masseglia said.
“I have taken a position in favour of vaccination, I hope that all French athletes will share this perspective,” he added.
The Indian team was to take part in the next AFC U-16 Championships, which was slated to be held in 2021 after being rescheduled twice last year. A total of 16 teams were to play in the tournament.
“In line with FIFA’s decision to cancel the FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups in 2021 and taking into consideration the safety and health of Asia’s youth players, the AFC has reluctantly decided to cancel the AFC U-16 Championship Bahrain 2020 and the AFC U-19 Championship Uzbekistan 2020,” the continental football body said in a release.
The AFC said the next editions of both the competitions will be allocated to the same hosts in 2023.
The U-16 tournament was originally scheduled between September 16 and October 3, 2020, and then rescheduled between November 25 and December 12, 2020. It was later announced that the tournament would be postponed to early 2021 due to the pandemic.
AFC general secretary Dato’ Windsor John said: “We are grateful for the support of the hosts for these competitions who agreed with the AFC the need to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders during this time of uncertainty and taking into consideration the risks of the current pandemic.”
The AFC also cancelled its Futsal Championship Kuwait 2020 and the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup Thailand 2021.
Both the Kuwait Football Association and the Football Association of Thailand will host the next editions. Kuwait will stage the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2022 and Thailand, the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023.
The AFC has also decided to reschedule the qualifying rounds for the U20 Women’s Asian Cup 2022 and U-17 Women’s Asian Cup 2022.
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