Aakash Chopra alleges racial England keen to host India...
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THE HIMALAYAN MAIL 7 JAMMU THURSDAY JUNE 11, 2020 NEW DELHI:Former India batsman Aakash Chopra has revealed that he was subjected to racism during his stint in English league cricket. His remarks come a day after West Indies all- rounder Darren Sammy al- leged racism within the SunRisers Hyderabad camp. Chopra said during a league match in England, two-South African players continuously used abusive spree against him. "We (cricketers) at one point or the other, have been victims of racism. I re- member when I used to play league cricket in Eng- land, there were two South African is one of the oppo- sition teams and both of them really went on an abu- sive spree. Even when I was at the non-striker's end, they were after my life. They were constantly calling me Paki," Chopra said on his YouTube channel. "Now many believe Paki is a short form of Pakistan but that is not true. If you are brown-skinned. If you're anywhere from the Asian subcontinent, this term is used to racially abuse. You're called Paki, and nobody likes it. The moment you call anybody Paki in England, you know the intention behind it. That's what happened to me at that time. My team stood by me but the truth is the person in front of me was doing it," he added. The veteran, who played 10 Tests for India between 2003 and 2004, has further explained how deep-rooted the problem is in every part of the world. He cited the example of Australian all- rounder Andrew Symonds who faced racism in India. "It happens everywhere. If you are white-skinned, it happens with them too when they come to this part of the world. They are also subjected to this kind of be- haviour. In fact, when An- drew Symonds came to In- dia, so many Monkey chants started filling up the Wankhede Stadium. That is when people were told that your entry will be banned," Chopra said. Sammy has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African- American man named George Floyd. He had also made an ap- peal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social in- justice and racism. Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston. Aakash Chopra alleges racial abuse in English League Cricket NEW DELHI:Manches- ter United’s friendly against Stoke City was cancelled at the last minute on Tuesday after the Championship club’s manager Michael O’Neill tested positive for COVID-19. Stoke had arrived at United’s training ground for the game when they were in- formed of O’Neill’s positive test. The Northern Irishman had tested negative in the previous five rounds of test- ing, Stoke said in a state- ment. “Stoke can confirm that manager O’Neill has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus following the latest round of testing on Monday (June 8),” said Stoke, who play in the second tier of English football. “He will now follow the relevant guidance and un- dergo a period of isolation, whilst continuing to be in regular virtual contact with his coaching staff and play- ers.” Soccer in England has been suspended since mid- March due to the pandemic but the Premier League is set to restart on June 17, with the Championship following suit three days later. United are fifth in the top flight, three points behind Chelsea, and will resume their campaign against Tot- tenham Hotspur on June 19. Manchester United cancel friendly after Stoke boss tests positive for COVID-19 NEW DELHI:The Eng- land and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is currently in talks with India and South Africa to host a women's tri- series later this year. The Indian women's team were scheduled to play a bi- lateral series comprising three ODIs and three T20Is against England which was postponed due to the coron- avirus pandemic. The women's T20 World Cup in Australia was the last big-ticket event to be held be- fore the COVID-19 pandemic brought all sporting activities to a halt in March and ECB Chief Executive Tom Harri- son is hoping there will be some international women's cricket this year if everything goes as per planned. "Ultimately, we will get some international cricket, all being well. The plan is to get some international cricket for the England team later this summer. We're talking to the BCCI and Cricket South Africa about bringing their women's teams over to play a tri-series," Harrison said dur- ing the Tuffers and Vaughan podcast. "So we've something to cel- ebrate with the women's game, in September this year. We're desperate to continue the momentum, the growth in the women's game which has been so astonishing in the last few years," he said. However, Harrison said a decision on inviting India for the tri-series will depend on how the country combats the contagious disease which is raging in the subcontinent with no signs of abating. "There's a huge amount of work going on but we're not controlling every part of this decision. One of the things that has become clear about this crisis is when you're deal- ing with international teams, you're dealing with the COVID environment here and overseas as well," he said. UK has so far seen over 285000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 40,000 deaths. "If we were in the eye of the storm a few weeks ago, in this country, it very much now looks like that has moved to the subcontinent where they're experiencing their very tough moment with this pandemic. "And hopefully, they can get over that quickly which will enable us to bring the team over," he said. "Hopefully we continue to make progress in defeating this virus and we can have a good tri-series with India and South Africa towards the end of the summer." Over 2.7 lakh people have been infected by the coron- avirus in India with over 7700 deaths reported so far. England keen to host India for women's tri-series NEW DELHI:Pakistan batsman Babar Azam's sparkling form has earned him comparisons with Virat Kohli but the elegant right- hander says he has a long way to go before he can be consid- ered the Indian skipper's equal. Both top-order batsmen score freely and play the cover drive particularly well. Babar averages above 45 in Tests and 50-plus in both One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals, putting him in the top five of all three for- mats. "He's one of the best play- ers. I'm still behind him," Babar told the Cricbuzz web- site."I'll try to be as good as him and win matches for my country." Babar, who is Pakistan's limited-overs captain, said there are some style similari- ties."Asian batsmen have the same technique and stroke- play. I guess some of our shots look similar," he added. The 25-year-old says he closely follows the careers of the top batsmen, watching how they master challenging conditions and overcome dif- ficult phases."I don't look to compare myself with the greats," he said."When I'm playing, I'm not trying to show off or prove any point to anyone. For me, it's about whether I'm satisfied with my performance. "I'm happy as long as I can help Pakistan win matches. "I'm rarely satisfied with my performance because I al- ways see room for improve- ment." Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests and the same number of Twenty20 Inter- nationals against England in August-September though exact dates and venues are yet to be finalised. Pakistan's Babar wants to emulate India captain Kohli NEW DELHI:At its best, the Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma combo can make any opposition look ordi- nary and on one such occa- sion, the desperate rival skipper, Australia's Aaron Finch, ended up turning to the umpire for advice on how to get the two out. The umpire in question was Englishman Michael Gough and he recalled telling Finch, "you're on your own." The 40-year-old Gough, who has so far officiated in 62 ODIs including the two recent India-Australia bilat- eral ODI series in 2019 and 2020, recalled a conversa- tion that he had with Finch while the Indian run-ma- chines went about their business with ease. "I remember a match be- tween India and Australia, and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were putting on a huge partnership," Gough told Wisden Cricket Monthly. "I was stood next to Aaron Finch at square-leg and he said to me, during the game, how it was unbelievable to watch these two great play- ers."Then he asked me how I would bowl at them! I looked at him and said, 'I've got enough on my plate, you're on your own there'," he said. The third ODI between India and Australia at Ban- galuru in January this year is likely to be the one that Gough is talking about. Kohli (89) and Rohit (119) had forged a 137-run match-winning partnership for the second wicket as In- dia chased down a target of 286 to claim a seven-wicket win and seal the series 2-1. During his playing career, Gough featured in 67 first- class games for Durham. As an off-spinner, Gough took 30 first-class wickets and 21 list A wickets. When Finch sought umpire's advice to break Kohli-Rohit stand NEW DELHI:Naomi Osaka, the world’s highest paid sportswoman, says the voices of prominent ath- letes can be more influential than those of politicians and is determined that hers will be heard on the subject of racial injustice. The two-time Grand Slam champion has faced a backlash on social media af- ter throwing her support behind the Black Lives Mat- ter (BLM) protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in police cus- tody on May 25. The 22-year-old Osaka, who has Japanese and Hait- ian parents but grew up and lives mostly in the United States, says she has no in- tention of backing down and hopes to help drive real and permanent social change. “I’m vocal because I be- lieve in the movement and want to try to use my plat- form to facilitate change,” Osaka told Reuters via email. “George Floyd’s murder and the situation generally in America has had a big impact on me. Being silent is never the answer. Every- one should have a voice in the matter and use it.” The death of Floyd while he was in the custody of the Minneapolis police has sparked worldwide protests against racism and calls for reforms of U.S. law enforce- ment. Osaka said she had marched in Minneapolis and attended other Black Lives Matters protests in Los Angeles, where she lives. She says the climate has changed considerably since quarterback Colin Kaeper- nick took a knee during the national anthem before a 2016 NFL game and paid for his protest by being os- tracised by the league. “Colin has been putting this message out since 2016. It took a pandemic, an economic crisis and a torturous murder on cam- era, all at the same time, for people to really hear him,” she said. “It shouldn’t have been that way. If the NFL wants to show that they really care the first thing they should so is take a knee together and give Colin his job back. That some people have said we as athletes should stick to sports is really insulting.” National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell said last week the league had made mistakes in not listening to players and encouraged them “to speak out and peacefully protest”. In response to her com- ments on social media, Os- aka has been told to “stay in her lane” and focus on ten- nis but has chosen to re- spond to her critics with ar- gument and a few amusing GIFs. “I probably shouldn’t read all the trolling but it’s hard to avoid,” said Osaka, who has over a million fol- lowers on Instagram. “Using humour is defi- nitely one mechanism to ex- pose these people ... Calling them out for their ignorance and racism is also worth- while sometimes. I’m more sad for them than myself – to be so hateful and igno- rant can’t be an easy way to live life.” Osaka said racism needed to be challenged all around the world and was delighted to see Black Live Matters protests in Japan, the coun- try she represents on the in- ternational stage. Osaka in no mood to back down on support for Black Lives Matter NEW DELHI:The In- ternational Olympic Com- mittee (IOC) has confirmed that athletes are still banned from protesting at the Olympic Games after sev- eral sports moved to allow protests in the wake of George Floyd's death in po- lice custody, the Telegraph reported. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states "no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propa- ganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas." Athletes who breach the rule are subject to discipline on a case-by-case basis and the IOC issued guidelines in January clarifying that banned protests include taking a knee and other ges- tures. The IOC told the Tele- graph the guidelines are still in place and that it would not speculate on "hypothet- ical cases 13 months before the Olympic Games", the newspaper said. Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died after a white Min- neapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25. His death sparked world- wide protests against racial injustice, with several soccer players in Germany's Bun- desliga delivering their own messages of support during games. World governing body FIFA, which has shown zero tolerance for players ex- pressing their views on the field, has asked competition organisers to use "common sense" regarding protests over Floyd's death. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was widely criticised for the league's handling of Colin Kaepernick's kneeling protests in 2016, said on Fri- day the NFL had made mis- takes in not listening to players and encouraged them to speak out and "peacefully protest". Athletes banned from protesting at Olympics, confirms IOC
Transcript of Aakash Chopra alleges racial England keen to host India...
THE HIMALAYAN MAIL 7JAMMU THURSDAY JUNE 11, 2020
NEW DELHI:FormerIndia batsman AakashChopra has revealed that hewas subjected to racismduring his stint in Englishleague cricket.
His remarks come a dayafter West Indies all-rounder Darren Sammy al-leged racism within theSunRisers Hyderabadcamp. Chopra said during aleague match in England,two-South African playerscontinuously used abusivespree against him.
"We (cricketers) at onepoint or the other, havebeen victims of racism. I re-member when I used toplay league cricket in Eng-land, there were two SouthAfrican is one of the oppo-sition teams and both ofthem really went on an abu-sive spree. Even when I wasat the non-striker's end,they were after my life. Theywere constantly calling mePaki," Chopra said on hisYouTube channel.
"Now many believe Pakiis a short form of Pakistan
but that is not true. If youare brown-skinned. Ifyou're anywhere from theAsian subcontinent, thisterm is used to raciallyabuse. You're called Paki,and nobody likes it. Themoment you call anybodyPaki in England, you knowthe intention behind it.That's what happened to
me at that time. My teamstood by me but the truth isthe person in front of mewas doing it," he added.
The veteran, who played10 Tests for India between2003 and 2004, has furtherexplained how deep-rootedthe problem is in every partof the world. He cited theexample of Australian all-
rounder Andrew Symondswho faced racism in India.
"It happens everywhere.If you are white-skinned, ithappens with them toowhen they come to this partof the world. They are alsosubjected to this kind of be-haviour. In fact, when An-drew Symonds came to In-dia, so many Monkeychants started filling up theWankhede Stadium. That iswhen people were told thatyour entry will be banned,"Chopra said.
Sammy has been a vocalsupporter of the proteststhat are currently going onin the United States overthe death of an African-American man namedGeorge Floyd.
He had also made an ap-peal to the ICC and othercricket boards to supportthe fight against social in-justice and racism. Eversince the demise of Floyd,protests erupted from thedemonstrations in citiesfrom San Francisco toBoston.
Aakash Chopra alleges racialabuse in English League Cricket
NEW DELHI:Manches-ter United’s friendly againstStoke City was cancelled atthe last minute on Tuesdayafter the Championshipclub’s manager MichaelO’Neill tested positive forCOVID-19.
Stoke had arrived at
United’s training ground forthe game when they were in-formed of O’Neill’s positivetest. The Northern Irishmanhad tested negative in theprevious five rounds of test-ing, Stoke said in a state-ment.
“Stoke can confirm that
manager O’Neill has testedpositive for the COVID-19virus following the latestround of testing on Monday(June 8),” said Stoke, whoplay in the second tier ofEnglish football.
“He will now follow therelevant guidance and un-dergo a period of isolation,whilst continuing to be inregular virtual contact withhis coaching staff and play-ers.”
Soccer in England hasbeen suspended since mid-March due to the pandemicbut the Premier League is setto restart on June 17, withthe Championship followingsuit three days later.
United are fifth in the topflight, three points behindChelsea, and will resumetheir campaign against Tot-tenham Hotspur on June 19.
Manchester United cancel friendly afterStoke boss tests positive for COVID-19
NEW DELHI:The Eng-land and Wales CricketBoard (ECB) is currently intalks with India and SouthAfrica to host a women's tri-series later this year.
The Indian women's teamwere scheduled to play a bi-lateral series comprisingthree ODIs and three T20Isagainst England which waspostponed due to the coron-avirus pandemic.
The women's T20 WorldCup in Australia was the lastbig-ticket event to be held be-fore the COVID-19 pandemicbrought all sporting activitiesto a halt in March and ECBChief Executive Tom Harri-son is hoping there will besome international women'scricket this year if everythinggoes as per planned.
"Ultimately, we will getsome international cricket, allbeing well. The plan is to getsome international cricket forthe England team later thissummer. We're talking to theBCCI and Cricket SouthAfrica about bringing theirwomen's teams over to play atri-series," Harrison said dur-ing the Tuffers and Vaughanpodcast.
"So we've something to cel-ebrate with the women'sgame, in September this year.We're desperate to continuethe momentum, the growthin the women's game whichhas been so astonishing in thelast few years," he said.
However, Harrison said adecision on inviting India forthe tri-series will depend onhow the country combats thecontagious disease which israging in the subcontinentwith no signs of abating.
"There's a huge amount ofwork going on but we're not
controlling every part of thisdecision. One of the thingsthat has become clear aboutthis crisis is when you're deal-ing with international teams,you're dealing with theCOVID environment hereand overseas as well," he said.
UK has so far seen over285000 confirmed cases ofCOVID-19 with more than40,000 deaths.
"If we were in the eye of thestorm a few weeks ago, in thiscountry, it very much nowlooks like that has moved tothe subcontinent where
they're experiencing theirvery tough moment with thispandemic.
"And hopefully, they canget over that quickly whichwill enable us to bring theteam over," he said.
"Hopefully we continue tomake progress in defeatingthis virus and we can have agood tri-series with India andSouth Africa towards the endof the summer."
Over 2.7 lakh people havebeen infected by the coron-avirus in India with over7700 deaths reported so far.
England keen to host Indiafor women's tri-series
NEW DELHI:Pakistanbatsman Babar Azam'ssparkling form has earnedhim comparisons with ViratKohli but the elegant right-hander says he has a long wayto go before he can be consid-ered the Indian skipper'sequal.
Both top-order batsmenscore freely and play the coverdrive particularly well. Babaraverages above 45 in Testsand 50-plus in both One-DayInternationals and Twenty20Internationals, putting him inthe top five of all three for-mats.
"He's one of the best play-
ers. I'm still behind him,"Babar told the Cricbuzz web-site."I'll try to be as good ashim and win matches for mycountry."
Babar, who is Pakistan'slimited-overs captain, saidthere are some style similari-ties."Asian batsmen have thesame technique and stroke-play. I guess some of ourshots look similar," he added.
The 25-year-old says heclosely follows the careers ofthe top batsmen, watchinghow they master challengingconditions and overcome dif-ficult phases."I don't look tocompare myself with the
greats," he said."When I'mplaying, I'm not trying toshow off or prove any point toanyone. For me, it's aboutwhether I'm satisfied with myperformance.
"I'm happy as long as I canhelp Pakistan win matches.
"I'm rarely satisfied withmy performance because I al-ways see room for improve-ment."
Pakistan are scheduled toplay three Tests and the samenumber of Twenty20 Inter-nationals against England inAugust-September thoughexact dates and venues are yetto be finalised.
Pakistan's Babar wants toemulate India captain Kohli
NEW DELHI:At itsbest, the Virat Kohli-RohitSharma combo can makeany opposition look ordi-nary and on one such occa-sion, the desperate rivalskipper, Australia's AaronFinch, ended up turning tothe umpire for advice onhow to get the two out.
The umpire in questionwas Englishman MichaelGough and he recalledtelling Finch, "you're onyour own."
The 40-year-old Gough,who has so far officiated in62 ODIs including the tworecent India-Australia bilat-eral ODI series in 2019 and2020, recalled a conversa-tion that he had with Finchwhile the Indian run-ma-chines went about theirbusiness with ease.
"I remember a match be-tween India and Australia,and Virat Kohli and RohitSharma were putting on ahuge partnership," Gough
told Wisden CricketMonthly.
"I was stood next to AaronFinch at square-leg and hesaid to me, during the game,how it was unbelievable towatch these two great play-ers."Then he asked me how Iwould bowl at them! Ilooked at him and said, 'I'vegot enough on my plate,you're on your own there',"he said.
The third ODI betweenIndia and Australia at Ban-galuru in January this yearis likely to be the one thatGough is talking about.
Kohli (89) and Rohit (119)had forged a 137-runmatch-winning partnershipfor the second wicket as In-dia chased down a target of286 to claim a seven-wicketwin and seal the series 2-1.
During his playing career,Gough featured in 67 first-class games for Durham.
As an off-spinner, Goughtook 30 first-class wicketsand 21 list A wickets.
When Finch sought umpire'sadvice to break Kohli-Rohit stand
NEW DELHI:NaomiOsaka, the world’s highestpaid sportswoman, says thevoices of prominent ath-letes can be more influentialthan those of politicians andis determined that hers willbe heard on the subject ofracial injustice.
The two-time GrandSlam champion has faced abacklash on social media af-ter throwing her supportbehind the Black Lives Mat-ter (BLM) protests in thewake of the death of GeorgeFloyd, an unarmed blackman who died in police cus-tody on May 25.
The 22-year-old Osaka,who has Japanese and Hait-ian parents but grew up andlives mostly in the UnitedStates, says she has no in-tention of backing downand hopes to help drive realand permanent socialchange.
“I’m vocal because I be-lieve in the movement andwant to try to use my plat-
form to facilitate change,”Osaka told Reuters viaemail.
“George Floyd’s murderand the situation generallyin America has had a bigimpact on me. Being silentis never the answer. Every-one should have a voice inthe matter and use it.”
The death of Floyd whilehe was in the custody of theMinneapolis police hassparked worldwide protestsagainst racism and calls forreforms of U.S. law enforce-ment.
Osaka said she hadmarched in Minneapolisand attended other BlackLives Matters protests inLos Angeles, where shelives.
She says the climate haschanged considerably sincequarterback Colin Kaeper-nick took a knee during thenational anthem before a2016 NFL game and paidfor his protest by being os-tracised by the league.
“Colin has been puttingthis message out since2016. It took a pandemic,an economic crisis and atorturous murder on cam-era, all at the same time, forpeople to really hear him,”she said.
“It shouldn’t have beenthat way. If the NFL wantsto show that they really carethe first thing they should
so is take a knee togetherand give Colin his job back.That some people have saidwe as athletes should stickto sports is really insulting.”
National Football LeagueCommissioner RogerGoodell said last week theleague had made mistakesin not listening to playersand encouraged them “tospeak out and peacefully
protest”.In response to her com-
ments on social media, Os-aka has been told to “stay inher lane” and focus on ten-nis but has chosen to re-spond to her critics with ar-gument and a few amusingGIFs.
“I probably shouldn’tread all the trolling but it’shard to avoid,” said Osaka,who has over a million fol-lowers on Instagram.
“Using humour is defi-nitely one mechanism to ex-pose these people ... Callingthem out for their ignoranceand racism is also worth-while sometimes. I’m moresad for them than myself –to be so hateful and igno-rant can’t be an easy way tolive life.”
Osaka said racism neededto be challenged all aroundthe world and was delightedto see Black Live Mattersprotests in Japan, the coun-try she represents on the in-ternational stage.
Osaka in no mood to back down onsupport for Black Lives Matter
NEW DELHI:The In-ternational Olympic Com-mittee (IOC) has confirmedthat athletes are still bannedfrom protesting at theOlympic Games after sev-eral sports moved to allowprotests in the wake ofGeorge Floyd's death in po-lice custody, the Telegraphreported.
Rule 50 of the OlympicCharter states "no kind ofdemonstration or political,religious or racial propa-ganda is permitted in anyOlympic sites, venues orother areas."
Athletes who breach therule are subject to disciplineon a case-by-case basis andthe IOC issued guidelines inJanuary clarifying thatbanned protests includetaking a knee and other ges-tures.
The IOC told the Tele-graph the guidelines are stillin place and that it wouldnot speculate on "hypothet-ical cases 13 months beforethe Olympic Games", thenewspaper said.
Floyd, a 46-year-oldAfrican-American man,died after a white Min-neapolis police officerpressed his knee intoFloyd's neck for nearly nineminutes on May 25.
His death sparked world-wide protests against racialinjustice, with several soccerplayers in Germany's Bun-desliga delivering their ownmessages of support duringgames.
World governing bodyFIFA, which has shown zerotolerance for players ex-pressing their views on thefield, has asked competitionorganisers to use "commonsense" regarding protestsover Floyd's death.
NFL CommissionerRoger Goodell, who waswidely criticised for theleague's handling of ColinKaepernick's kneelingprotests in 2016, said on Fri-day the NFL had made mis-takes in not listening toplayers and encouragedthem to speak out and"peacefully protest".
Athletes banned from protestingat Olympics, confirms IOC
