Sunil Gavaskar "remains my hero", says Sachin Tendulkar
Mumbai: Every person needs a hero and for a young Sachin Tendulkar while growing up, the only person he would aspire to become was none other than India's original 'Little Master' Sunil Gavaskar.
On the 50th anniversary of Gavaskar's iconic Test debut against the West Indies, legendary Tendulkar took to twitter paying glowing tributes to his role model.
"50 years ago on this day he took the Cricketing World by storm. He scored 774 runs in his debut series and each one of us growing up had a hero to look up to, Tendulkar tweeted.
"India won the series in the West Indies and then in England and all of sudden the sport in India had a new meaning. As a young boy, I knew I had someone to look up to and try and be like him. That has never changed. He remains my hero. Wish you a happy 50th in international cricket Gavaskar," added Tendulkar.
India, then led by late Ajit Wadekar won the series in West Indies 1-0 and then also clinched the series in England within a space of few months.
Tendulkar also said that the entire 1971 team made the country proud and showed the light.
"To everyone of the 1971 team a happy 50th Anniversary. You all made us proud and showed us the light," added Tendulkar.
A tribute to My Idol! ??? pic.twitter.com/l6nP89pUQi
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 6, 2021
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
