IOC CONFIMS INDIA AND QATAR AMONG SEVEN BIDDERS TO HOST 2036 OLYMPIC GAMES

Other formal bidders include South Africa, South Korea, Germany, Hungary and Turkey

Interested parties have until the end of this month to lodge a formal bid for the 2036 Olympics. Photograph: Thibaud Moritz/AFP via Getty

India and Qatar are among seven bidders to host the 2036 Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee has confirmed.

Interested parties have until the end of this month to lodge a formal bid and enter a dialogue process which will culminate in a final vote by IOC members in 2029.

India has long been seen a front-runner, with Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat, the home state of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, already announced as hosts of the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

Qatar launched unsuccessful bids to host both the 2016 and 2020 Games, losing out to Rio and Tokyo respectively. It intends to rely heavily on infrastructure created for its successful 2022 hosting of the football World Cup.

Munich won the right to bid on behalf of Germany following a vote by the country’s sports authority, the DOSB, late last month. Other formal bidders include South Africa, South Korea, Hungary and Turkey.

Following the closure of the initial bidding process, interested parties will make virtual presentations and undergo feasibility studies before the IOC executive board selects an initial shortlist.

South Korea and Germany are the only countries on the current list who have previously hosted the Games. Seoul staged the 1988 summer edition, while Berlin and Munich did so in 1936 and 1972.

An Indonesian bid to host the Games in Nusantara was rejected by the IOC after the country refused to permit Israeli athletes to compete at the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta in 2025.

- The Irish Times

HOLDER STARTS AS GUJRAT TITANS RESTRICT PUNJAB KINGS AND SEAL 4-WICKET WIN IN AHMEDABAD

Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada had set it up for the Titans after they opted to bowl first

Gujarat Titans all-rounder Jason Holder rocked the Punjab Kings with his medium pace bowling, claiming 4/24 in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
PTI

When an aggressive batting line-up like that of Punjab Kings gets restricted to hitting only seven sixes in their innings, it goes on to reflect how well their opponents bowled. The Gujarat Titans bowlers, led by seamer all-rounder Jason Holder (4/24), deserve all the credit for limiting the Kings to 163/9, laying the foundation for their four-wicket victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

The Ahmedabad pitch aided strokeplay and also had purchase for the quicks, keeping them in the game right through.

The likes of Arshdeep Singh, Impact Player Vijaykumar Vyshak and Marco Jansen took the contest closer with their respective strikes, before Washington Sundar (40 not out off 23 balls) sealed the game for the Titans off with a six as Marcus Stoinis failed to execute his yorker off the penultimate delivery.

After Arshdeep had Holder holing out at the deep, the Titans needed 11 off the final over. But Stoinis began with a wide and got his execution wrong as the Titans reached home with a ball to spare, registering their third straight victory. For the Kings, this was the second consecutive loss.

For the Titans, Sai Sudharsan (57 off 41 balls) was their top scorer.

Penetration at its best

Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada had set it up for the Titans after they opted to bowl first. The duo reduced the Kings to 35/3 in the Powerplay and then Holder’s arrival led to the departure of both Impact Player Nehal Wadhera and Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer in the ninth over.

Wadhera and Shreyas were both bamboozled by length and a bit of movement.

Right through his spells, Holder, looking to make a comeback in Test cricket, focused on the back-of-a-length stuff and also looked to shape the ball in towards the right-handers.

It was only when Holder and the other quicks were away that Suryansh Shedge (57 off 29 balls) and Stoinis tried to maximise the scoring opportunities during their 79-run sixth-wicket stand. Shedge alone smashed five of the seven sixes in the Kings innings on way to his maiden IPL fifty.

But, given the damage caused earlier by Holder, it was extremely tough for the Kings to stage much of a recovery.

- The Telegraph India

ENGLAND BOWL FIRST IN AHMEDABAD ODI AS INDIA REST KEY PLAYERS

England, trailing 2-0 in the three-match series, are aiming for a win ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy.

India’s Champions Trophy preparations suffered a setback on Tuesday when fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out with an injury.

ENGLAND captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to bowl against India in the third one-day international in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

England, trailing 2-0 in the three-match series, are aiming for a win ahead of the upcoming Champions Trophy.

Tom Banton replaces Jacob Bethell, who was ruled out with a hamstring injury before the second ODI in Cuttack. The ODIs serve as preparation for the Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.

India made three changes, bringing in spinners Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav along with left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh. Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja were rested, while spinner Varun Chakravarthy was left out due to a sore calf.

India’s Champions Trophy preparations suffered a setback on Tuesday when fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out with an injury.

India: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh.

England: Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler (capt), Tom Banton, Liam Livingstone, Gus Atkinson, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood

- Eastern Eye

WORLD CUP TO BEGIN OCT. 5 | AHMEDABAD HOSTS FINAL

Reuters 

The Cricket World Cup will begin on Oct. 5 with England facing New Zealand in Ahmedabad and the same venue hosting the final on Nov. 19, organisers said on Tuesday, with the schedule for the showpiece in India also confirming Pakistan's participation.

The fixtures were revealed by the International Cricket Council during an event in Mumbai, less than four months before the start of the 50-overs tournament, with the delay partly due to sour political relations between India and Pakistan.

India's refusal to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in August-September triggered the latest dispute between the bitter neighbours, who play each other only in multi-team events.

Pakistan responded by threatening to boycott the World Cup if they were not allowed to stage at least some matches of the Asia Cup on home soil.

The stalemate was finally resolved this month when Pakistan agreed to split matches with Sri Lanka, where India will play their Asia Cup matches.

South Asia's arch-rivals meet in the tournament's most anticipated match on Oct. 15 in Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium - the biggest cricket venue in the world by capacity.

However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) added a caveat saying they would still need government clearance for any tour to India, including World Cup match venues.

"We are liaising with our government for guidance," PCB Communications Director Sami Ul Hasan said in a statement.

"This position is consistent to what we had told the ICC a couple of weeks ago when they shared with us the draft schedule and sought our feedback."

India begin their campaign on Oct. 8 against five-times champions Australia in Chennai.

England's opener against New Zealand is a rematch of the 2019 final in which England prevailed via a now-scrapped boundary count rule.

Among other key fixtures, 1992 champions Pakistan meet Australia in Bengaluru on Oct. 20, while England take on South Africa the following day in Mumbai.

Australia captain Pat Cummins said he was looking forward to the atmosphere at the match with India in Chennai.

"You know there's going to be big crowds, but no bigger than playing India at home in a World Cup game, so that's going to be exciting for us," he said.

"It will be a huge challenge, they're a top-class team but if you want to win a World Cup you're going to have to be better than everyone else, so why not take on India straight up?"

The first semi-final will take place on Nov. 15 in Mumbai with Kolkata hosting the second the following day. Both games, as well as the final, will be day-night fixtures.

There will be a total of 10 venues for the 10-team tournament - Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Dharamsala, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Apart from hosts India, the teams that have qualified include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa.

Two more sides will join them following a qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, which will conclude on July 9.

Twice winners West Indies have appeared at every tournament since it was first staged in 1975 but defeat by the Netherlands in the qualifying event on Monday leaves their chances hanging by a thread.

- Reuters