New Delhi : The Sports Ministry has revoked the suspension imposed on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), ending the months of uncertainty surrounding the sport and paving the way for resumption of activities, including selection trials for the upcoming Asian Championship in Amman.

The ministry had suspended the WFI on December 24, 2023 for lapses in governance and procedural integrity by the new body, which was elected on December 21.

The Sanjay Singh-led body had announced the conduct of Under-15 and Under-20 National Championships in Nandini Nagar, Gonda – the stronghold of former WFI chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh – and the choice of venue irked the government since the former BJP MP was facing charges of sexual harassment.

The ministry, in its order, said that the WFI has taken compliant measures, so in larger interest of the sport and athletes, the ministry has decided to lift the suspension.

“I thank the government for taking this step. It will allow us to function smoothly. It was needed for the sake of the sport. The athletes were suffering for lack of competitions,” Sanjay Singh told PTI.

The ministry, though, has asked the WFI to follow certain directions, such as the federation has to ensure that there is a balance of power among the elected office bearers, and it keeps itself disassociated from the suspended/terminated officials.

It may be noted that Prem Chand Lochab, the new general secretary, was elected from the rival camp and the ministry’s directive could be understood in that context.

“The EC of the WFI must give an undertaking in this regard within 4 weeks.

Any violation of the undertaking will invite appropriate legal action, including the action under the Sports Code,” the ministry said in its order.

It also said that the WFI must ensure that the selection for all international events should be done in a free, fair and transparent manner as per the extant provisions of the Sports Code and the other latest instructions issued in this regard along with regulations issued from time-to-time by the UWW (United World Wrestling),” the order said.

WFI president said there is nothing that can’t be followed.

“We have already shifted to a new office and soon we will call for an EC meeting and also issue a circular for the selection trials. We have no issues in following these instructions,” he said.

The Asian Championship is scheduled to be held in Amman, Jordan from March 25.

The Indian wrestlers missed out on competing in Ranking Series tournaments in Zagreb and Albania due to the ministry suspension and the court cases filed by prominent wrestlers, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Satyawart Kadian.

The wrestlers, who had led the protest against Brij Bhushan, had contended that the WFI did not have the authority to pick national teams since it was suspended.

The court had directed the Indian Olympic Association to restore the ad-hoc panel for managing the WFI but the sports body had refused, saying UWW, the world governing body, recognises only the WFI and won’t accept entries from the ad-hoc panel.

The UWW had threatened IOA to suspend WFI again if there was interference in its governance.

“We are so relieved that this suspension has been lifted. There was a compete lull, the young wrestlers were suffering for no fault of theirs. They were missing tournaments, there was no national camp. The suspension should have been lifted long back,” said a coach associated with a leading training centre in Haryana.

Lahore: Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson struck commanding centuries as New Zealand hammered South Africa by 50 runs in a high-scoring semifinal to set up a summit clash with India in the Champions Trophy, here on Wednesday.

Ravindra played a brilliant knock of 108 runs off 101 balls, laced with 13 fours and a six, while Williamson struck 102 off 94 balls, including 10 fours and two sixes, after skipper Mitchell Santner opted to bat.

Daryl Mitchell (49 off 37 balls), Glenn Phillips (49 not out off 27 balls) and Michael Bracewell (16 off 12 balls) then capitalized on the solid foundation, adding 112 runs in the final 10 overs to power New Zealand to a massive total of 362/6 — the highest score in Champions Trophy history.

Only twice has a higher target been successfully chased in ODIs — both by South Africa — but this time it was not to be as the Proteas were restricted to 312 for 9 in pursuit of the record target, despite a scintillating century from David Miller (100 not out off 67 balls) and fighting fifties by Rassie van der Dussen (69) and skipper Temba Bavuma (56).

Santner (3/43) was the most successful New Zealand bowler, as he, along with the other spinners — Michael Bracewell (1/53), Glenn Phillips (2/27) and Ravindra (1/20) — tightened the screws in the middle overs.

New Zealand will now face former champions India in the final on Sunday in Dubai. Wednesday’s semifinal marked the end of Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan.

Chasing 363 for a win, South Africa lost Ryan Rickelton early for 17, but Bavuma, who initially struggled, found his rhythm and shared a vital 105-run partnership with van der Dussen, with the duo bringing up the team century in the 18th over.

However, New Zealand skipper Santner’s three-wicket burst derailed the chase.

The left-arm spinner first broke the stand by removing Bavuma in the 23rd over, before producing a beauty to clean up van der Dussen. Santner then had the dangerous Heinrich Klaasen (3) holed out to Matt Henry.

Ravindra then dismissed Aiden Markram (31) with a caught-and-bowled effort, leaving South Africa at 189 for 5 in the 33rd over. Wiaan Mulder (8), Marco Jansen (3) and Keshav Maharaj (1) followed in quick succession before Miller put up a top-class show with 10 fours and four sixes to reach his hundred in the last ball of the South African run chase.

Earlier, opting to bat, New Zealand built a strong opening stand of 48 between Ravindra and Will Young (21), before the latter was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi (3/72) in the eighth over.

Ravindra and Williamson then shared 164 runs for the second wicket as the Kiwis crossed 250 in the 40th over.

Ravindra, looking in complete control, played exquisite pull shots and back-foot drives on his way to his second century of this Champions Trophy, following his 112 against Bangladesh. This was his fifth hundred in an ICC tournament, having also scored three centuries in the 2023 World Cup in India.

Williamson, despite early jitters, batted calmly to bring up his 15th ODI century and his fourth against South Africa. He has now scored hundreds in his last three ODIs against the Proteas.

The right-left combination of Ravindra and Williamson proved difficult for the South African bowlers. All-rounder Wiaan Mulder was forced off with a strain after bowling six overs for 48 runs and one wicket.

Ravindra was caught by Heinrich Klaasen off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada (2/70), while Williamson mistimed a ramp shot to be caught by Ngidi off Mulder.

Mitchell then struck four fours and one six in his 37-ball knock, while Phillips blasted six fours and a six in 27 balls to swell the total.

Dubai: India beat New Zealand by 44 runs here on Sunday to top Group A in the Champions Trophy.

Shreyas Iyer top-scored for India with 79 off 98 balls while Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel chipped in with 45 and 42 respectively.

Kane Williamson kept New Zealand in the run chase with a sublime 81 before the Black Caps ended with 205 all out in 45.3 overs.

Varun Chakravarthy was the standout bowler for India, taking five wickets for 42 runs in 10 overs.

As table toppers, India will face Australia in the first semifinal on Tuesday while New Zealand will play South Africa in Lahore on Wednesday.

Brief Scores:

India: 249 for 9 in 50 overs (Shreyas Iyer 79; Matt Henry 5/42).

New Zealand: 205 all out in 45.3 overs (Kane Williamson 81; Varun Chakravarthy 5/42).

Vadodara:: Smriti Mandhana smashed a blistering 47-ball 81 to power reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the Women’s Premier League here on Monday.

RCB bowlers, led by Renuka Singh (3/23) and Georgia Wareham (3/25), produced a disciplined performance to bowl out Delhi for 141 in 19.3 overs.

RCB’s opening duo of Smriti and Danni Wyatt-Hodge (42 from 33 balls; 7×4) made the target look effortless, forging a commanding 107-run partnership in just 55 balls before Richa Ghosh (11 not out from 5 balls) sealed the chase with a six in 16.2 overs.

The Indian vice-captain Smriti smashed 10 fours and three sixes, dominating the bowlers with her signature sweeps, inside-out drives, and a towering pull over deep mid-wicket off Marizanne Kapp.

She reached her fastest fifty of the tournament in just 27 balls, setting the tone for RCB’s clinical chase.

Danni provided solid support, striking seven boundaries, keeping the momentum going.

The English batter survived a dropped catch at long-off when Jemimah Rodrigues spilled a sitter with Danni on 34.

The duo’s staggering opening stand in just 10 overs, left Delhi with no answers.

RCB stormed to 50 in just five overs, ensuring there was no let-up.

Smriti’s powerful six off Arundhati Reddy over long-off was an early statement of intent, while back-to-back boundaries off Shikha Pandey further dismantled Delhi’s bowling attack.

The toss also proved crucial as RCB’s decision to bowl first paid off.

With dew making it difficult for Delhi’s bowlers to grip the ball, the spinners struggled, allowing Smriti and Danni to dominate the chase.

With this emphatic win, RCB flexed their batting firepower and bowling discipline to lead the standings with two wins out of two.

Earlier, after being put in to bat, Delhi had a solid powerplay, reaching 55/1, but RCB struck back with a double blow in the seventh over, triggering a dramatic collapse.

Jemimah, who was looking fluent with a 34 off 22 balls (4×4, 2×6), was stumped by Richa while attempting a reverse sweep.

Five balls later, captain Meg Lanning fell for 18, mistiming a short ball from Georgia Wareham, caught by Ellyse Perry at square leg.

Renuka continued her magic, dismissing Annabel Sutherland (19) in the 11th over, just when she was looking dangerous after hitting Bisht for a six.

The Indian pacer had earlier made an impact in the first over itself, removing Shafali Verma for a golden duck.

Despite surviving an umpire’s call for LBW earlier, Jemimah’s dismissal swung the momentum in RCB’s favour.

Lanning played some elegant strokes to rebuild, but Delhi lost their last five wickets in six overs, crumbling under sustained pressure.

Wicketkeeper-batter Sarah Bryce chipped in with a 19-ball 23, but Wareham got the better of her as Delhi failed to last the distance.

Rajkot: Records tumbled like nine pins as the Indian women’s cricket team, powered by skipper Smriti Mandhana’s 70-ball century, demolished Ireland by a whopping 304 runs to claim its biggest-ever ODI win and complete a 3-0 clean sweep here on Wednesday.

The result of the match was a mere formality once India set Ireland a massive target of 436, and Ireland could only garner 131 before getting bundled out in 31.4 overs.

India put the first step forward towards a crushing victory through record-breaking Mandhana (135, 80b, 12×4, 7×6) and her opening partner Pratika Rawal (154, 129b, 20×4, 1×6), reaching 435/5, highest total by an Indian team — men’s or women’s — in ODIs.

India men’s highest ODI total is 418/5 made against the West Indies in Indore in 2011.

Mandhana and Rawal added a whopping 233 runs for the first wicket in just 26.4 overs and there was no looking back.

Then spinners Tanuja Kanwar (2/31) and Deepti Sharma (3/27) took over, sharing five wickets among them to decimate the Irish line-up, which was well short on experience.

Orla Prendergast (36) and Sarah Forbes (41) added 64 runs for a fluent third wicket stand that helped Ireland to recover from a shaky 24 for two to reach 88 without further damage.

But once Prendergast was cleaned up by Kanwar, India were all over the tourists like a bad rash, claiming the remaining seven wickets for just 33 runs.

It also helped India eclipse their previous largest margin of victory (by runs) — 249 registered against the same opposition in 2017 at Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Mandhana’s 10th ODI century came off just 70 deliveries as the left-hander surpassed Harmanpreet Kaur’s 87-ball hundred mark against South Africa last year.

It also set the tone for India breaching the 400-run mark for the first time, joining Australia and New Zealand in that elite list.

Mandhana was in her usual destructive self, and was not afraid to take the aerial route over the ‘V’ and clear the 30-yard circle.

Pratika complemented her captain brilliantly with a measured knock, making the occasion even more special by notching her maiden international century in her sixth innings.

Pratika relied on precise placement and deft touches in the point region and she showed her aggression only after reaching the ton, hitting Freya Sargent for her first six.

Demonstrating hunger for a bigger knock, she powered her way to an impressive 150 — a perfect blend of composure and aggression.

Their 233-run partnership made them only the fourth Indian pair to record a 200-run stand in Women’s ODIs.

It was also the third instance of both Indian openers scoring hundreds in ODIs, following Reshma Gandhi and Mithali Raj’s feat at Milton Keynes in 1999 and Deepti and Raut’s partnership at Potchefstroom in 2017 — all against Ireland.

The duo added 90 runs during the Power Play and 67 in the subsequent 10 overs, maintaining a brisk scoring rate.

Mandhana reached her first century of the calendar year with an exquisite drive off Arlene Kelly.

Kelly bore the brunt of her onslaught, conceding successive sixes in one over.

Even Kelly’s variations, including back-of-the-hand deliveries, were dispatched with ease, with the Indian batter following a six with another boundary in the 24th over.

Mandhana also took on Ireland’s leading bowler, Prendergast, smashing her for a boundary down the ground and a towering six over long-on.

Promoted to No. 3, Richa Ghosh also returned to form, making a 37-ball fifty, her fifth in ODIs.

Legendary cricketer Kapil Dev

New Delhi: It is needless to compare two generations of players and pass a judgement on who was better, legendary cricketer Kapil Dev said on Monday and refused to get into a debate if BCCI selectors were right in excluding Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant from the T20I squad for the five-match series against England.

Kapil bowled nearly 300 overs during the 1991-92 Test series against Australia and in the same rubber he became the first Indian to take 400 wickets in the traditional format apart from contributing with the bat in the team’s cause.

India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah could not bowl in the second innings of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Test recently because of back spasms. India lost the five-match series 1-3. The 31-year-old Bumrah bowled more than 150 overs and emerged the highest wicket-taker on both sides with 32 scalps.

“Please don’t compare. You cannot compare one generation with another. That is not required. Today, players are scoring 300 runs in a day. It didn’t happen during our time. So don’t compare the two (generations),” said Kapil during an event hosted by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) of which he is the president.

The 1983 World Cup-winning skipper also added that one should not question the judgement of the selectors as they would have arrived at the decision to not play Jaiswal and Pant after giving it a thought.

The two cricketers played all five Tests during the gruelling Australia series, with Jaiswal (391) emerging the second-highest run-getter, second only to Travis Head (448).

Asked if it was the right decision to drop two for the home series, Kapil said, “How can I comment on the judgement of others? I think the selectors would have though about it.”

“So, if I say something it would be criticising them. I don’t want to criticise them. They (selectors) are a group of people who must have planned and thought about that.”

With batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli dishing out below-par performances in Australia, and talks of whether it’s time for them to retire swirling, Kapil said the decision should be left to them.

“They are very big players. Let’s hope when they think it’s the right time to play, when they think it’s not, they will call it off,” said Kapil, in response to a question whether they should be there for the Test series in England later this year.

With Bumrah taking over the captaincy from Rohit in the fifth BGT Test at Sydney and talks on whether he should be given a long stint to prove himself going forward, Kapil said, “If he has been given the opportunity (to lead the side), then give him some time also.”

India head coach Gautam Gambhir

Sydney : Asserting that “debates” in the dressing room should not come out in public domain, India head coach Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said he has had some “honest” conversations with his players as only performance can help them stay in the set-up.

Gambhir also side-stepped queries on whether out-of-form skipper Rohit Sharma will get a place in the final XI for the fifth and final Test against Australia starting on Friday. Amid speculation of unrest in the dressing room, the feisty head coach sought to douse the fire by declaring that they were “just reports, not truth”.

“Debates between coach and player should remain in dressing room. Stern words. They were just reports not truth,” Gambhir said in the pre-match press meet here. “Indian cricket will be in safe hands till honest people stay in the dressing room. Only thing that keeps you in the dressing room is performance,” he added. “There were honest words and honesty is important,” he asserted.

Gambhir refused to say whether Rohit will get a place in the team. The question thrown at him was why the captain had not come to address the match-eve press conference as is the norm and if he is there in the final XI. “Everything is fine with Rohit. The head coach is here and that should be enough. We will decide on the playing XI after looking at the pitch,” Gambhir said.

The former opener also said his discussions with senior batter Virat Kohli and Rohit have only been about strategies to win the ongoing Test series. “Every individual knows what are the areas to work on. We have only had one conversation with them (and that is) how to win Test matches,” he said.

Gambhir also confirmed that pacer Akash Deep will miss the New Year Test with a stiff back, though he refrained from naming a replacement for him. Although he refused to analyse individuals when asked about the questionable shot selection of players like Rishabh Pant in crunch situations, Gambhir did assert that the team’s interest is paramount. “I don’t want to talk about individuals. Team first ideology matters. People can play natural game but in team sport, individuals only contribute,” he said.

Melbourne : Australia beat India by 184 runs in the fourth Test to take a 2-1 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Chasing a 340-run target, India were bowled out for 155 in 79.1 overs on day five.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (84 off 208) fought a lone battle for the visitors with his second half century of the game. Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant (30 off 104) batted out the entire second session to take India to 112/3 but the latter’s fall opened the doors for the home team.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins was the standout bowler, striking thrice in a relentless display of fast bowling. Resuming the day at 228 for nine, Australia were bowled out for 234.

India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah (5/57) expectedly led the show with a five-wicket haul.

Brief scores: Australia 474 & 234 all out in 83.4 overs (Marnus Labuschagne 70, Pat Cummins 41, Nathan Lyon 41; Jasprit Bumrah 5/57, Mohammed Siraj 3/66)

India 369 & 155 all out in 79.1 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 84; Pat Cummins 3/28, Scott Boland 3/39).