By Nitin Srivastava
New Delhi [India], March 8 (ANI): Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports on Monday said that he is confident of the Tokyo Olympics going ahead this year and he urged people to not fall prey to rumours which are doing the rounds regarding the Games.

Tokyo Olympics are set to take place from July 23-August 8 this year. The Games were scheduled to go-ahead last year, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Don’t go with rumours, Olympics is finalised, how we will do it process and protocols are to be decided, otherwise the date and everything is finalised,” Rijiju told ANI.
Talking about the walkathon organised on International Women’s Day, Rijiju said: “We organised this walkathon on International Women’s Day here at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, all our sisters and youth volunteers are participating in it. Secretary Youth Affairs, Usha Sharma ji is leading the walkathon, many volunteers have come up to take part in this walkathon and we want to give a message that women can do anything in society and women empowerment is a priority for us.”
“If you see in the Olympics and in the various international events, Indian women are performing exceedingly well, we are giving equal platform, when women perform it feels much better and good because we want that women of this country should excel,” he added.
On Saturday, Rijiju once again echoed the sentiments that Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes will be given priority for the coronavirus vaccine followed by other athletes.
“We will take care of our elite athletes thereafter all the junior athletes will be taken care of. But the focus is on Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes, they will be given priority because safety is of utmost importance. If any player gets infected at this point in time it will really spoil their chances of competing in the Olympics because if you are infected then you have to follow the quarantine and take medication then your dream is over so that’s why the athletes’ welfare is our priority,” Rijiju had said.
When asked whether BCCI communicated for the vaccination, the minister said, “We are talking about all the sports and all the players but Olympic players will remain our priority because that’s time-bound communication we have with every sports federation I can not just talk about one federation. Every federation is part of the fraternity and we are concerned about all the players. We have to abide by all the methodology being adopted by the health ministry.” (ANI)

St John’s [Antigua], March 8 (ANI): After delivering a match-winning performance in the third T20I against Sri Lanka here at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, West Indies all-rounder Fabian Allen said he backed his plans and executed them well in the game.
Windies defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets on Monday. With this win, the hosts won the three-match series 2-1. Both teams would now lock horns in the three-match ODI series, beginning Wednesday.
Allen delivered an economical spell while bowling as he just gave 13 runs in his fours overs including a wicket. Then with the bat, he played a blasting knock of 21 not out off six balls studded with three sixes in a low-scoring affair.
“I prepare for everything, including bowling in the Powerplay. I just backed myself and executed. The pitch is very slow, so I just needed to execute my plans. When I look in the dressing room we have a lot of batting power. I told Jason Holder that I’m not comfortable batting against Hasaranga, so I told him to bat him out and I’ll be finishing. I just backed myself in the end. It was a good performance overall,” Allen said after the match.
Chasing 132, Windies got off to a steady start as openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis put on 37 runs inside the first five overs. However, Sri Lanka came back into the match as the side dismissed Lewis (21), Simmons (26), Chris Gayle (13), Kieron Pollard (0), reducing Windies to 75/4 in the 12th over.
Nicholas Pooran (23), Rovman Powell (7), Dwayne Bravo (0) also did not manage to stay at the crease to guide Windies home but in the end, Jason Holder (14*) and Allen (21*) took the hosts over the line by three wickets and six balls to spare.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal’s unbeaten knock of 54 helped Sri Lanka post 131/4 in the allotted twenty overs.
Batting first, Sri Lanka got off to a bad start as the side lost Gunathilaka (9), Pathum Nissanka (5), Niroshan Dickwella (4), and Angelo Mathews (11) with just 46 runs on the board.
Chandimal (54*) and Ashen Bandara (44*) then got together at the crease and the duo formed an unbeaten stand of 85 runs to take Sri Lanka’s score past the 130-run mark. (ANI)

Melbourne [Australia], March 8 (ANI): Cricket Australia on Monday announced its commitment to continue addressing gender imbalance on this International Women’s Day, with the formation of a “Recognition of Women in Cricket Working Group”.
As a major first step, the NSW Government’s stadiums authority Venues NSW has committed to housing the first sculpture of a women’s cricketer at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The sculpture will be the first of its type for a female cricketer, compared to the 73 known statues or sculptures of male cricketers across Australia.
“Just as this year’s International Women’s Day theme promotes ‘choose to challenge’, we are committed to challenging ourselves to continue to address gender inequality across our game. Precisely one year ago to the day, we were celebrating a ground-breaking moment when 86,174 fans packed out the MCG for the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup,” Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia’s Interim CEO said in an official statement.
“So many challenges have been presented since that day, and it is now more important than ever that we keep pushing for equality in cricket and keep building the momentum established before the pandemic. This is a historic moment for the game with Venues NSW today committing to the first sculpture of a female cricketer at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and we can’t thank Kerrie and her team enough for their leadership,” he added.
In addition, Cricket Australia has co-commissioned a piece of artwork with the Melbourne Cricket Club that will depict the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 final. The artwork will be painted by award-winning artist Vincent Fantauzzo and will begin to redress the imbalance of artwork that depicts women’s sport on the ground.
The piece will be showcased within the level 2 corridors of the MCC Members’ Reserve where it will feature as a regular of the MCG Tour route, meaning more than 40,000 school children each year will learn the powerful story of the T20 World Cup Final.
Initial Members of the Recognition of Women in Cricket Working Group: Nick Hockley, Angela Pippos, Christina Matthews, Kerrie Mather, Kirsty Henshall, Kristene Reynolds, Lisa Sthalekar, Rachael Haynes, and Rina Hore. (ANI)

Barcelona [Spain], March 8 (ANI): Joan Laporta has won Barcelona’s presidential elections and he would now be in charge of the Spanish club.
Laporta was elected as the president by the club members in the elections for the Presidency and Board of Directors held on Sunday.
It was an exemplary election day, and for the first time, it was held in six different electoral venues and incorporated the vote-by-mail results.
“A total of 55,611 members exercised their right to vote and by a large majority, they chose Joan Laporta with a total of 30,184 votes. Before the start of election day, 20,663 members had already exercised their right to vote by mail, which for the first time was incorporated in elections to the presidency, and 87,479 members could vote in person in any of the six territorial headquarters,” FC Barcelona said in its official statement.
Laporta has a degree in Law from the University of Barcelona and a Master’s in Company Law and Tax Experts at the Institut d’Estudis Superiors Abat Oliba in Barcelona.
Laporta was previously elected president of FC Barcelona after winning the elections held in June 2003, and in the summer of 2006, he was re-elected as president of the club.
With Joan Laporta, a generation of young and dynamic leaders came to the entity who generated a real boost by putting into circulation the expression of the ‘virtuous circle’, which tried to strengthen the club economically and socially, to make a winning team possible and to provide feedback for the social dimension of the entity.
During the seven years of his presidency, the first team achieved two Champions Leagues, four league championships, a Copa del Rey, a Club World Cup, a European Super Cup, three Spanish Super Cups, and three Spanish Cups.
It should be noted that the four professional sections of the club (football, basketball, handball, and roller hockey) managed to proclaim themselves European champions under his presidency too. (ANI)

Manchester [UK], March 8 (ANI): Manchester United defeated Manchester City on Sunday in the Premier League 2020-21 season to reduce the gap between both sides in the table standings.
Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw got among the goal-scoring charts as United defeated City 2-0 on Sunday here at the Etihad Stadium.
City is at the top of the Premier League standings with 65 points from 28 matches while United is at the second spot with 54 points from as many games.
With this loss, Manchester City’s winning run has come to an end. Before this match, Pep Guardiola’s side had won 21 matches in a row.
Bruno Fernandes got the first goal of the match in just the second minute as he converted a goal after getting a penalty. This goal have United an early momentum in the match.
The first half saw no more goals and at halftime, United went in with a 1-0 lead over table-toppers City.
In the second half, Luke Shaw got the second goal in the 50th minute and as a result, the visitors gained a 2-0 lead. No more goals were scored in the match and in the end, United walked away with a 2-0 victory.
Manchester City will next take on Southampton in the Premier League on Wednesday while United will lock horns against West Ham on March 14. (ANI)

St John’s [Antigua], March 8 (ANI): Fabien Allen played an unbeaten knock of 21 runs off just six balls as West Indies defeated Sri Lanka by three wickets in the third and final T20I on Monday here at the Coolidge Cricket Ground.
With this win, the hosts won the three-match series 2-1. Both teams would now lock horns in the three-match ODI series, beginning Wednesday.
Chasing 132, Windies got off to a steady start as openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis put on 37 runs inside the first five overs. However, Sri Lanka came back into the match as the side dismissed Lewis (21), Simmons (26), Chris Gayle (13), Kieron Pollard (0), reducing Windies to 75/4 in the 12th over.
Nicholas Pooran (23), Rovman Powell (7), Dwayne Bravo (0) also did not manage to stay at the crease to guide Windies home but in the end, Jason Holder (14*) and Allen (21*) took the hosts over the line by three wickets and six balls to spare.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal’s unbeaten knock of 54 helped Sri Lanka post 131/4 in the allotted twenty overs.
Batting first, Sri Lanka got off to a bad start as the side lost Gunathilaka (9), Pathum Nissanka (5), Niroshan Dickwella (4), and Angelo Mathews (11) with just 46 runs on the board.
Chandimal (54*) and Ashen Bandara (44*) then got together at the crease and the duo formed an unbeaten stand of 85 runs to take Sri Lanka’s score past the 130-run mark.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 131/4 (Dinesh Chandimal 54*, Ashen Bandara 44, Fabien Allen 1-13); West Indies 134/7 (Lendl Simmons 26, Fabien Allen 21*, Lakshan Sandakan 3-29). (ANI)