Sports
3rd Test: India beat England by 10 wickets to complete two-day victory
On a pitch that won't be forgotten in a hurry and will certainly be up for debate if it needs to be rated poor, or points need to be docked, the pink ball did things that England would have never prepared themselves for. If one can stretch imaginations a bit, it began to appear like every delivery, after pitching, would wait to see how the batsman was trying to read it before deciding to go the other way.
Canada women's soccer headed in right direction despite frustrating SheBelieves Cup
Sports/Soccer: In their first game action in nearly a year, it was a mixed bag for the Canadian women's soccer team at the SheBelieves Cup. CBC Sports' Signa Butler examines some of the burning questions following the team's 1-2 performance in the competition.
Utah Jazz investigating alleged bigoted comment made by former team executive
Sports/Basketball/NBA: The Utah Jazz said they will "thoroughly investigate" an allegation from former NBA player Elijah Millsap that longtime team executive Dennis Lindsey directed a bigoted statement toward him during an end-of-season exit interview in 2015.
Ex-US Olympics gymnastics coach John Geddert kills himself after abuse charges
Sport|: Los Angeles: Former US Olympics women’s gymnastics coach John Geddert died by suicide on Thursday, his body found hours after prosecutors filed human trafficking and sexual assault charges against him, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “My office has been notified that the body of John Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life,” Nessel said in a statement. “This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved.” Earlier Thursday, Nessel had announced a 24-count complaint against Geddert, who owned a training facility where convicted sex offender Larry Nassar served as the gym doctor. It included sexual assault charges involving an unnamed athlete between the ages of 13 and 16, and alleged that Geddert’s treatment of young gymnasts constituted human trafficking “as he reportedly subjected his athletes to forced labor or services under extreme conditions that contributed to them suffering injuries and harm. “Geddert then neglected those injuries that were reported to him by the victims and used coercion, intimidation, threats and physical force to get them to perform to the standard he expected,” prosecutors said. Nessel had said at a press conference streamed on social media Thursday morning that Geddert was expected to surrender to authorities on Thursday and be arraigned in the afternoon. The ex-coach came under scrutiny because of his close personal and professional relationship with Nassar, the former US national team doctor sentenced to life in prison over the sexual abuse of multiple young female gymnasts under the guise of medical treatment. A personal coach to US gymnast Jordyn Wieber and owner of the Twistars training facility in suburban Lansing, Michigan, Geddert was accused by many Nassar victims of requiring them to be treated by Nassar. USA Gymnastics suspended Geddert in 2018. He immediately announced his retirement and said he had “zero knowledge” of Nassar’s crimes. However, in three weeks of sentencing hearings during which some 200 women, girls and victims’ family members confronted Nassar by reading victim impact statements, Twistars gymnasts said they had endured physical and verbal abuse by Geddert. Amy Preston, mother of an unidentified Nassar victim who was trained at Twistars, said in court that her daughter suffered under Geddert’s emotional abuse, which she said Nassar exploited to build trust with the young gymnast. “John Geddert behaved as brutally as they say, and Larry was as kind as they speak. A very toxic and lethal combination as it turns out,” Preston said. Prosecutors stressed on Thursday that the only charge against Geddert specifically linked to Nassar was that of lying to authorities when asked whether he knew the doctor was sexually abusing athletes. Otherwise, they said “the crimes alleged against Mr Geddert are his own.” He was also charged with racketeering, with prosecutors alleging he trafficked 15 athletes for financial gain. ‘Never secret’ Nessel acknowledged that the forced labour-human trafficking charges “have not typically been used and applied to the set of circumstances that I think exist in this case.” But she said months of reviewing case law convinced prosecutors they are applicable. “The victims suffer from disordered eating, including bulimia and anorexia, suicide attempts and self-harm,” Nessel said, adding that Geddert subjected his gymnasts to “excessive physical conditioning, repeatedly being forced to perform even while injured, extreme emotional abuse and physical abuse, including sexual assault.” Rachael Denhollander, a former gymnast who was the first woman to publicly accuse Nassar of sexual assault, tweeted that Geddert’s abusive behavior was widely known as early as 2000. “Geddert’s abuse, like so much, was never a secret. EVER,” she tweeted. “In my memoir I wrote about knowing of it even as a club level gymnast in 2000. Because we have to grapple with the reality that it was known, and no one stopped him. It was known, and he was promoted and given more power.”
Keegan Messing leads Canadian figure skating team named for worlds
Sports/Olympics/Winter Sports/Figure Skating: Keegan Messing headlines the Canadian team for next month's world figure skating championships in Stockholm. The worlds, March 22-28, cap a rocky season for Canadian skaters.
India vs England: Records broken and achieved in the third Test
India comprehensively defeated England in the 3rd Test in a rare two-day affair to go 2-1 up in the 4-match series. With the emphatic victory, India also got to the top of the WTC standings, taking a step closer to the final spot. From Axar Patel's maiden 10-wicket haul to Joe Root taking a fifer, the match witnessed quite a few records. Here's a look at all the records that were created and shattered in the Test.
Christine Sinclair leads list of 10 Canadians given allocated status in NWSL
Sports/Soccer: Portland Thorns captain Christine Sinclair leads the list of 10 Canadians allocated to the NWSL in 2021. Allocated players have their salaries paid by Canada Soccer or the U.S. Soccer Federation. There are a total of 32 allocated players this year with the other 22 coming from the U.S.
Hima Das wins 200m gold in her first race after more than a year
Star Indian sprinter Hima Das ran her first competitive race in more than a year and won a gold in the women's 200m in the Indian Grand Prix II at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports campus on Thursday. The 21-year-old Hima, the 2018 world junior champion in 400m, won the race in 23.31 seconds.
Former players feel Motera pitch not ideal, Gavaskar thinks otherwise
Several former players, including Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman said that the turning Motera pitch, on which India defeated England by 10 wickets inside 2 days, was not ideal for Tests, an opinion that was not shared by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. The batting legend said the overtly defensive mindset of the batsmen was responsible for their dismissals as most of them got out to straighter deliveries.
