Raman alleges smear campaign

NEW DELHI: Sacked women’s cricket team coach WV Raman has alleged that a “smear campaign” against him has gained unwarranted traction and urged the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly to stop it.

In a mail that has also been marked to National Cricket Academy head Rahul Dravid, Raman wrote it will be “extremely disconcerting” if his candidature was rejected due to reasons other than “my incompetency as a coach”.

“I presume you might have been told different views about my style of functioning and work ethic. Whether those views conveyed to the officials of the BCCI had any impact on my candidature is of no consequence now,” Raman wrote in the letter.

“What is important is that the smear campaign seems to have gained some unwarranted traction with some BCCI officials which needs to be halted permanently,” he added,

‘Self-explanatory that Aus bowlers were aware’

LONDON: Cameron Bancroft said it was “self explanatory” that apart from Steve Smith, David Warner and himself, Australian bowlers were also aware of balltampering during the 2018 Newlands Test.

In an interview with The Guardian, asked if some bowlers knew what he was doing, Bancroft said: “Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory.”

Federer wants certainty on Tokyo Olympics

GENEVA: Tennis great Roger Federer has called on Olympics organisers to end the uncertainty around the Tokyo Games, adding that he was still in two minds whether to compete.

“I would love to play in the Olympics, win a medal for Switzerland... But if it doesn’t happen because of the situation, I would be the first to understand,” Federer said. “I think what the athletes need is a decision: is it going to happen or is it not going to happen?”

Nadal storms into 12th Italian Open final

ROME: Rafael Nadal advanced to the Italian Open final for the 12th time on Saturday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over USA’s Reilly Opelka.

Earlier, Novak Djokovic regained his cool after throwing his racket off the court in a raindelayed 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 quarter-final win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. In the women’s draw, Iga Swiatek won her quarter-final and semifinal matches on the same day to set up a title clash with ninth seed Karolina Pliskova.

Non-bailable warrants issued against Sushil

NEW DELHI: A Delhi Court on Saturday issued non-bailable warrants against two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and six others in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl that led to the death of a wrestler here, police said.

Roger Federer