CA to name Lehmann replacement soon

Sydney: Cricket Australia said today a decision on who will replace national coach Darren Lehmann will be made “in coming weeks”. The CA Board met and discussed the process through which a new coach, as well as the captain and deputy of the men’s One-day team will be named prior to the team’s tour to England in early June. Board chairman David Peever said recommendations for preferred candidates for the leadership positions will be ratified before being publicly announced. “The Board has asked management to provide recommendations regarding candidates for the men’s head coach, ODI captain and ODI vice-captain,” Peever said in a press statement.

Coimbatore

National Junior Athletics: Gurpreet wins gold 

Haryana’s Gurpreet Singh won gold in the 5000m event on the inaugural day of the 16th Federation Cup National Junior Athletics Championships here on Friday. Gurpreet clocked 14 minutes 46.51 seconds to take the top spot. In the current season, only two other Asian runners, Taku Miura of Japan (14:21.81) and Chinese Xinxin Wang (14:27.47), have clocked better timings than Gurpreet. In the junior women’s 10,000m walk, Uttarakhand’s Roji Patel clinched the gold clocking 51:44.52.  

New Delhi

Visa issues scuttle boxers’ training trip to US  

Indian boxers’ training trip to the acclaimed Michael Johnson Centre in the US has been cancelled for the second time owing to visa problems. The boxers were originally scheduled to travel to the US in December to prepare for the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. However, that did not work out because of visa issues. As per the revised plan, the Indian squad was supposed to head to the facility in Texas in the first week of May. However, the visa issues have again ruined the trip.

Kampala

Three more Ugandan athletes disappear after CWG

Three more Ugandan athletes have disappeared in Australia after the conclusion of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Charles Bakkabulindi, minister of state for sports, said on Thursday that the three did not board the plane to return home. The three who disappeared include Regan Ssimbwa, Nasir Bashir and table tennis female player Halima Nambozo. This brings the number to five Ugandans who disappeared during this sports event. Last week two weightlifters — Irene Kasubo and Kalidi Batuusa — had disappeared. Bakkabulindi said that this behaviour may make it difficult for countries to give Ugandan athletes visas to attend international sports events. Besides Uganda, athletes from Rwanda, Cameroon and Sierra Leone are reported to have vanished during the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. 

Chandigarh

Haryana sports dept to hire foreign trainers

The Haryana government has decided to hire foreign trainers to impart training to the sportspersons of the state for winning more medals in Olympics. Sports minister Anil Vij said the medal winners at the national and international level would get jobs under the new sports policy. — Agencies