Woman trying to sell off minor sister for prostitution arrested

Mumbai: A 24-year-old woman, along with her husband, was arrested from suburban Andheri for allegedly trying to sell her minor sister for prostitution, police said on Wednesday. The accused, identified as Samina Darzi, and her husband Mohammed, walked into the trap set up by the members of a local NGO and were held on Tuesday while accepting an advance of Rs 50,000 towards the "deal' to sell Samina's 12-year-old sister for flesh trade, they said.
According to police, Mohammed was promised a "good deal" by a middleman Mohammed Idrishi who was arrested later. The NGO, however, got the wind of the "deal" and contacted Idrishi by posing as clients, saying they were searching for minor girls. "Idrishi then got in touch with Darzis and promised them to pay Rs 70,000 for the minor girl, following which the couple contacted the minor girl's parents in Bangladesh and convinced them to send her to Mumbai on the pretext of providing her education", said a police officer. Idrishi then met the NGO members and fixed the deal for Rs 70,000 on Monday. He asked them to bring an advance of Rs 50,000 for the girl after showing them her photograph.
"The accused then brought the girl outside Andheri railway station when police caught them while accepting Rs 50,000 from the NGO members", the officer said. The accused were booked under relevant sections of IPC for kidnapping, selling the girl for prostitution and criminal conspiracy, he said. The accused were produced in a local court which remanded them in police custody till April 4, 2013.

The accused were booked under relevant sections of IPC for kidnapping, selling the girl for prostitution and criminal conspiracy.

RCB all set to give a royal challenge to the other teams

Hindu LET'S DO IT: RCB's new skipper Virat Kohli will once again be banking on Chris Gayle for rollicking starts and match-winning knocks. File photo

Ever since its starting-block stumble during the Indian Premier League’s inception in 2008, Royal Challengers Bangalore has made a steady climb, though the peak — a trophy triumph — has remained elusive.

From being whipping boys in the inaugural year (RCB finished seventh among eight teams), the squad is now considered a team to watch out for. The turn-around was engineered ever since it finished runner-up in the 2009 edition in South Africa.

Welcome infusion

The welcome infusion of batting mayhem thanks to Chris Gayle’s presence over the last two years has only added to the team’s allure. And it was largely riding on his heroics that RCB qualified for the 2011 edition’s final, though both the team and Gayle failed in the summit clash against Chennai Super Kings.

As a new season dawns, there has been a change of guard with Virat Kohli being anointed captain. It was a natural progression as Kohli was earmarked as future captain ever since he turned out in the red and gold colours. He had a taste of the hot-seat last year when he briefly stepped in for the then regular skipper Daniel Vettori, who for the sake of team balance sat out a few matches so that Muttiah Muralitharan could represent RCB. Kohli will surely miss chief mentor Anil Kumble, who has moved to the Mumbai Indians camp, but in coach Ray Jennings, the skipper has a solid support-base. Like in the past, the team is driven by its batting that features Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kohli and A.B. de Villiers. Gayle with his 170.17 strike rate and 1,341 runs, has been the force-multiplier for RCB besides stirring up the local fans, who have overwhelmingly embraced him as one of their own.

That Kohli, RCB’s highest run-getter (1,639), the adventurous de Villiers, who caned fellow South African Dale Steyn during last year’s league, and the maverick Dilshan, all play secondary roles to Gayle is just a testament to the Jamaican’s pulverising strength with the bat. A bristling top-order may be RCB’s strength but that cannot mask its soft underbelly despite the faith invested in Saurabh Tiwary, while Cheteshwar Pujara, though not a regular in the playing eleven, has been ruled out for the first set of matches due to a fractured finger.

It would also be interesting to see how RCB strikes a balance while fielding four foreigners in the eleven as Gayle, de Villiers and Dilshan are almost certainties though the last named has been benched a few times to make way for an extra overseas bowler.

RCB’s bowling, meanwhile, is shadowed by the injuries that plagued its key speedsters (Zaheer Khan and Ravi Rampaul) over the past year, though Jennings believes that his attack will deliver.

The spin department has three experienced men in Muralitharan, Vettori and Murali Kartik while seamers R. Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun along with batsman Mayank Agarwal, lend the local flavour. Australian all-rounders Daniel Christian and Moises Henriques also lend extra options to the team management.

All in all RCB is good to last the distance.

Keywords: Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2013, IPL-6

Saina nominated for best player award

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was on Wednesday nominated for the 2012 ‘Female Player of the Year’ award of the Badminton World Federation following an impressive performance in the season which had seen her win a bronze medal in the London Olympics.

World No. 2 Saina is the only non-Chinese among the five contenders for the top annual award among women shuttlers instituted by the BWF.

The four Chinese are world No. 1 Li Xuerui of China who won eight titles in 2012, including the London Olympic gold medal, Olympic silver medallist Wang Yihan and Olympic women’s doubles gold-winning pair Tian Qing & Zhao Yunlei (China). Should a pair win the award, they will share it, the BWF said in a statement.

Saina won four major titles in 2012 — two Super Series and two Grand Prix Gold events, besides bagging London Olympics women’s singles bronze.

She won the Indonesian Open and Denmark Open Super Series titles besides the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold and Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold events.

Male nominees

Among those nominated for the ‘Male Player of the Year’ for 2012 are two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan of China and his rival Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei — the current world No. 1 one and two-time Olympic silver medallist.

Others in that category are Olympic bronze medallist and winner of BWF World Super Series finals, Chen Long (China); men’s doubles Olympic gold medallists Cai Yun & Fu Haifeng (China) and Lee Yong Dae and now-retired Jung Jae Sung (Korea).

The announcement of the winners — to be chosen by the BWF Council — and the presentation of prizes will take place at a gala dinner here on May 18, following the BWF Annual General Meeting.

Keywords: Saina Nehwal, Badminton World Federation

Sale of IPL tickets commences

Ticket sales for the IPL matches in Chennai began on a brisk note on Wednesday. 

 

Ticket sales for IPL-VI matches at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium commenced here on Wednesday afternoon after the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) gave a written assurance to the city police that no Sri Lankan cricketer would figure in the matches here.

After the undertaking — which was asked for by the city police in the morning even as long queues waited outside the stadium gates for tickets — was provided by the TNCA, the selling of tickets got underway. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) takes on Mumbai Indians in the first match at Chepauk on April 6. In all, ten matches will be played here including eight league games.

The stadium has a capacity of 37,000 of which around 20 per cent is already being sold online.

“We expect the ticket sales to be brisk. CSK is a popular team and has a tremendous record in the competition. It has also been very successful at Chepauk,” said a TNCA official.

He added the spectators in Chennai wanted more cricketing action after the Indian team’s sweeping 4-0 Test series triumph over Australia with CSK stars captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay and Ravindra Jadeja playing a big role in the victory.

Keywords: IPL 2013, IPL-6, M.A. Chidambaram Stadium

Cricketer Jesse Ryder in hospital with serious head injuries after being involved in a fight

Jesse Ryder

New Zealand batsman Jesse Ryder is in hospital with serious head injuries after being involved in a fight in Christchurch. A Christchurch Hospital spokesperson told local media that Ryder was in intensive care with a fractured skull.
Calls to the hospital were not immediately returned. New Zealand Police said they were investigating an incident at a bar in Merivale, a suburb of Christchurch, early on Thursday and that Ryder had been involved. Ryder, 28, had left the bar with a group of people when he became involved in the incident, police said in a statement.
Police were called at 12:44 a.m. local time (1144 GMT) and Ryder was rushed to hospital by ambulance. "We are piecing together what took place and speaking to witnesses to understand how this incident unfolded," Detective Senior Sergeant Brian Archer said in the statement. "I would ask anyone who witnessed the incident or were part of the group involved with Mr Ryder to contact police."
Ryder was in Christchurch playing for Wellington against Canterbury in the semi-final of New Zealand's domestic one-day competition on Wednesday. An eye witness told New Zealand's Fairfax Media that the cricketer had been punched and kicked by at least four men. "We are all shocked by what has occurred and extremely concerned for Jesse," New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said in a statement.
"New Zealand Cricket's thoughts are with him and his family." Ryder's manager Aaron Klee, Cricket Wellington chief executive Peter Clinton and New Zealand Cricket Players' Association head Heath Mills were all travelling to Christchurch, NZC said.
Radio New Zealand reported on its website (www.radionz.co.nz) that Ryder was in a coma and had a collapsed lung, without naming sources. The bar's manager said Ryder had been at the venue with his Wellington team mates, the report added. Wellington Cricket CEO Peter Clinton declined to comment on the incident or Ryder's condition when contacted by phone by Reuters, but said police and cricket officials would hold a media conference later on Thursday. Klee did not immediately return calls, but he wrote on his Twitter page: "thanks for the calls and msgs of support for Jesse. Just heading to Chch to see him".
Ryder, one of the most gifted batsmen in New Zealand, has been in a self-imposed exile from international cricket after a series of alcohol-related incidents. In 2008, he needed stitches in his hand after he punched a window in a Christchurch bar, an injury that kept him out of the game for several months. He has also been in trouble several times for other incidents, one of which involved him turning up to training still affected after a heavy drinking session. Ryder was reprimanded by NZC last year after he and fellow New Zealand international Doug Bracewell were involved in a verbal altercation with bar patrons in Napier.
Both had missed a match while injured and breached team protocols about abstaining from alcohol. Ryder has voluntarily stood down from international selection since as he sought to address his issues with alcohol. He had been expected to travel to India for the lucrative Twenty20 tournament with the Delhi Daredevils on Friday, but was not expected to return to international cricket on New Zealand's tour of England in May-June.
New Zealand was within one wicket of beating England in their test series that ended in Auckland on Tuesday, with the visitors finishing the match at 315 for nine, chasing 481 for victory. The series ended 0-0. An aggressive batsmen with a superb eye and delicate touch, Ryder has made 1,269 runs in 18 tests at an average of 40.93 with a highest score of 201 and 1,100 runs in 39 one-day internationals at 34.37.