India will play Asia Cup at neutral venue: BCCI secretary Jay Shah
Mumbai (PTI): BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Tuesday made it clear that India will play Asia Cup next year at a neutral venue.
The 2023 edition, which will be played in the 50 over format ahead of the ODI World Cup in India, has been allotted to Pakistan. "We have decided to play at a neutral venue," Shah was quoted as saying by multiple cricket websites after the conclusion of BCCI AGM.
The Asia Cup being held at neutral venues is not unprecedented. Shah also happens to be the Asian Cricket Council president, after the BCCI's Annual General Meeting (AGM) here. He was re-elected as secretary for a second term.
The 2022 Asia Cup was held in the UAE last month after hosts Sri Lanka expressed their inability to host the event amid the economic crisis back home.
India and Pakistan only play each other in Asia Cup and global events due to political tensions between the two countries. Both teams played twice in the Asia Cup last month and are set to clash in Melbourne on October 23 in the T20 World Cup.
BCCI's cash reserves grew by approx Rs 6000 crore in last 3 years ;
At the AGM, outgoing treasurer and new IPL chairman Arun Dhumal informed the state units that the BCCI's treasury grew from Rs 3648 crore to Rs 9629 crore in the last three years.
The Ganguly-led regime had taken charge in 2019 after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators' 33-month tenure.
"When the current team took over the reins of the BCCI in 2019, the BCCI's coffers had funds of Rs 3648 crore. We are handing over an organisation that sits over a treasury that has Rs 9629 crore of funds which is roughly thrice of what we got at the time of our taking over from COA," said Dhumal in his speech.
"The disbursement to the state associations has seen a jump of nearly five times, from Rs 680 crore in the COA time to Rs 3295 crore now," he added.
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'Amazon of Aligarh': Google Doodle pays tribute to India's first woman wrestler Hamida Banu
New Delhi (PTI): It was on this day in 1954 when Hamida Banu defeated famed wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just one minute and 34 seconds. While Baba Pahalwan deemed it fit to retire from professional wrestling, Banu's career expanded to international arenas and her victories reported across the globe.
Commemorating Banu's victory and to pay tribute to her as "India's first woman wrestler," Google on Saturday put up a colourful doodle on its homepage.
Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling, winning over 300 competitions throughout her career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s at a time when women's participation in athletics was strongly discouraged.
Banu, however, competed with men anyway, and issued an open challenge to all male wrestlers, wagering her hand in marriage to whoever defeats her, Google wrote in a post.
Banu's success in international matches gained her further acclaim. One of these matches was the one against Russian woman wrestler Vera Chistilin, who she defeated in under two minutes.
Having made newspaper headlines for years, Banu came to be known as the "Amazon of Aligarh".
The bouts she won, her diet, and her training regimen were widely covered.
According to a BBC report, she weighed 108kg and was 5ft 3in tall.
"Her daily diet included 5.6 litres of milk, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, a fowl, nearly 1kg of mutton and almonds, half a kilo of butter, 6 eggs, two big loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani," the British media outlet reported.
Reuters noted that she slept for nine hours and trained for six.
A "trailblazer of her time," Banu not only fought fellow wrestlers but the norms of her times.
"Hamida Banu was a trailblazer of her time, and her fearlessness is remembered throughout India and across the world. Outside of her sporting accomplishments, she will always be celebrated for staying true to herself," Google's note read.
