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Friday May 15, 2020
Kaieteur News
Vincy Premier T10 League to Ratified: Kipruto’s 5km and begin on May 22 in the Caribbean 10km world records and Zhoya’s ESPNcricinfo - For the first time since March, competitive cricket involving international players of a Full Member team is set to return after a long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Vincy Premier League (VPL), a franchise-based T10 tournament, is scheduled to start from May 22 in the eastern Caribbean country of St Vincent and the Grenadines. This will be the inaugural season of the VPL, a six-team tournament, which will be played from May 22 to 31 at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex in St Vincent. Although the Pacific nation of Vanuatu became the first country to resume cricket since the pandemic halted all sport in March, the VPL will be the first instance when the game will resume in a Full Member region comprising international players. The VPL will also become the first tournament where the players will not be allowed to use saliva on the ball, a concept that the ICC and medical experts at various cricket boards have been discussing, as reported recently by ESPNcricinfo. The tournament is set to be open for fans as there are no restrictions imposed by the government in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The VPL comprises 30 matches, which will be streamed live, with three games scheduled per day. A total of 72 players were picked by the six franchises via a draft held on May 11. Among them are six marquee players, including three West Indies players - seamer Kesrick Williams, opening batsman Sunil Ambris and left-arm fast bowler Obed McCoy. The last recognised match before Covid-19 halted games across the world was played on March 15 when the Karachi Kings hosted the Quetta Gladiators in the PSL. The VPL will be hosted by St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association (SVGA), whose president, Kishore Shallow, is also the vicepresident at Cricket West Indies (CWI). Shallow said the VPL was put together in the last two weeks after he was approached by Dream 11, an India-based sports technology company. He then alerted CWI and sent in a
world U20 60m hurdles record
Dr. Kishore Shallow formal request via the Windward Island Cricket Association (of which the SVGA is a member) asking for the VPL to be sanctioned. Shallow said he had spoken to both CWI chief executive Johnny Grave and CWI cricket operations manager Roland Holder about the VIPL. “We have formally written to CWI. And I expect to get a positive response from them soon,” Shallow told ESPNcricinfo. According to Shallow, there were a total of 18 positive cases of Covid-19 in St Vincent and the Grenadines as of Wednesday, of which 10 had successfully recovered. Keeping in mind the risk posed by the pandemic, Shallow said the tournament had the “endorsement” from the local government and the ministry of health. He said the players would not be “exposed to the public” and all necessary precautions as advised by the government would be ensured including having additional short breaks at various points during the match where players would be asked to use hand sanitisers. “No player would be allowed to use any saliva on the ball,” he said. “Of course, we will be having different dedicated, assigned spaces around the players’ pavilion for teams so that they are not necessarily crowded together. All teams would have their own space where they could practise physical distancing.”
Shallow said that since there was no “formal limitations in terms of social gatherings” imposed by the local government the organisers had decided to not play behind closed doors, a mandatory policy issued by several other countries around the globe to sporting organisations. “What we have been doing is managing the risk. So what we plan to do during the tournament is ask spectators to practise social and physical distancing. So they will be sitting at least a few seats apart. And because of the time the matches are taking place, we do not anticipate a massive crowd at the matches.” Shallow said all the league matches would start at an “unusual time”, 8.30am local time and go on until 2pm only to “capture” the Indian audience where Dream 11 has its wide user base. “We came up with this T10 franchise format because of the absence of sports content at this point, and thought that this brand of cricket would be enticing to cricket fans across the globe in a short duration,” Shallow said at the launch of the draft on May 11. Shallow pointed out that the SVGA would be “sensitising” players about the anti-corruption programme too. “We will make sure our players continue to observe and conform to the anticorruption code.”
Rhonex Kipruto breaks the world 10km record in Valencia (Organisers) © Copyright. WorldAthletics - Rhonex Kipruto’s world records over 5km (13:18) and 10km (26:24), as well as Sasha Zhoya’s world indoor U20 60m hurdles record of 7.34 have been ratified. Kipruto’s world record marks came when winning at the 10k Valencia Ibercaja on 12 January. The world 10,000m bronze medallist from Kenya dominated the race, passing through 3km in 7:59 before dropping the last of his challengers. The 20-year-old reached the halfway point in 13:18, four seconds inside the ratified world record of 13:22 set by Kenya’s Robert Keter in Lille on 9 November 2019. Despite running on his own for the second half, Kipruto increased his pace and covered the final five kilometres in 13:06. His winning mark of 26:24 took 14 seconds off the previous world 10km record of 26:38 set by Joshua Cheptegei in the same Spanish city on 1 December 2019. “I’m over the moon,” said Kipruto, who is coached by Colm O’Connell. “When I clocked 26:46 in Prague in 2018, I set myself the target of breaking the world 10km record and today my dream came true.” In Monaco on 16 February 2020, one month after Kipruto’s run in Valencia, Cheptegei clocked 12:51 over 5km, a mark that
Sasha Zhoya. Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images is pending ratification. Sasha Zhoya’s run in the 60m hurdles (99cm height) on 22 February 2020 was the highlight of the French U20 Championships in Miramas. The 17-year-old had threatened the mark in the earlier rounds, clocking 7.53 in the heats and 7.43 in the semifinals, just 0.03 shy of the record set by USA’s Trey Cunningham in New York City on 12 March 2017. But just 70 minutes later, Zhoya was back out on track and went even faster, winning in 7.34. “This is the performance I wanted,” said Zhoya. “I was hoping to dip below 7.40, so I can’t be happier. The Miramas audience pushed me a lot; it is thanks to them that I beat the world record.” Zhoya, a talented all-rounder, also holds the world U18 bests for the 110m hurdles at 12.87 and in the pole vault with 5.56m. Last year he also scored 7271 in the decathlon and clocked a 100m PB of 10.41, both performances ranking him among the top 10 on the 2019 U18 lists.
Serie A resumption on 13 June ’99% likely’ - Italy Olympic Committee chief
Italian striker Mario Balotelli’s Brescia side are bottom of Serie A. (EPA)
BBCsport - There is a “99%” chance the Italian government will allow Serie A to resume on 13 June, the head of the country’s Olympic committee (Coni) says. Clubs are back in training and the league approved 13 June for resumption if permitted by the government. Serie A was suspended on 9 March with most teams having 12 games to play. “To talk about the chances of it finishing, you would need a crystal ball,” Coni president Giovanni Malago said. “It’s a real risk, but Serie A’s primary and only objective is to restart.” Juventus, chasing their ninth consecutive Serie A title, are top of the league, a point ahead of Lazio. Malago added the government might also change its stance on a whole squad having to go into a 14-day isolation if a player tested positive for coronavirus. “I do not know the reason for the [health ministry] decision but I am told it is one that could be reviewed,” Malago said.