Neeraj Chopra wins Doha Diamond League title Ishan Kishan replaces Rahul

O lym p i c ch a m p i o n j a v el i n thro wer Neeraj C hopra began h i s D i am o n d L ea g u e ti tl e d efence w ith a comfortable w in in th e seaso n-op eni ng leg i n

Doha, with a w orld leading and fourth career-best effort

The 25-year-old Neeraj, who had pocketed the 2022 Diamond League Final trophy in Switzerland in September last, beat a star-studded field with a best throw of 88 67m to begin his season in style

Neeraj hit his straps in his first attempt itself with a worldleading throw of 88 67m, which was his fourth career-best effort to position himself on the top of the pile He maintained the lead till the end to win the event in his second appearance at the Qatar Sports Club

He had finished fourth in his first appearance here in 2018 Silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic went agonisingly close to Neeraj's best mark with a second round throw of 88 63m, four centimeter short of the Indian's effort

Vadlejch had also won silver in the Tokyo Olympics He had also won a silver in the Doha Diamond League last year with a 90 88m throw Reigning world champion Anderson Peters, who had won the event in Doha last year with a monster throw of 93 07m, finished third with a modest best throw of 85 88m

Neeraj, who has a personal best of 89 94m, could not sustain the tempo of his first attempt as he could only send the spear to 86 04m and then to 85 47m before fouling his throw in the fourth He managed 84 37m and 85 62m in his fifth and sixth attempts

for WTC final

W ic k e t k e e p e r -b a t sm a n I sh a n Kishan was na med as the in jure d KL R a h ul ’ s r e p la c e m e n t in In dia’s squa d for t he Wor ld Te st C ha mp i o n sh i p ( W T C ) fi n a l aga in st Austr alia at Th e Ov al in Ju n e R a h u l, w h o h a d be e n ca pta ining the Luckn ow Super Gian ts, was r ule d out of the re st of t he IPL a nd t he W TC fin al after suffe ring a t high injury in a match while cha sin g a ba ll As per a BCCI statement, a decision on the availability of left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkatwho had hurt his left shoulder while training - for the WTC final has been deferred Once Rahul was ruled out, the choice was between a specialist opener (Yashasvi Jaiswal or Ruturaj Gaikwad and a ’keeper-bat ) Ultimately, Kishan made the cut Kishan has played 14 ODIs and 27 T20Is so far He scored the fastest-ever ODI double hundred (210) off just 126 balls-against Bangladesh in Chattogram in December last year

“After consultations with specialists, it has been decided that Rahul will undergo surgery at the earliest, followed by rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for the same, ” the BCCI said in its statement Rahul’s LSG teammate Unadkat has been out of the IPL after suffering a freak injury while training He fell over the side rope while bowling in the nets “Unadkat is currently at the NCA in Bengaluru undergoing strength and rehab sessions for his shoulder A decision on his participation in the WTC final will be taken at a later stage,” the BCCI said in its statement Squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (capt ), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk) Standby players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mukesh Kumar and Suryakumar Yadav

Gambhir, Kohli fined for ugly fracas

V i ra t Ko hl i a n d G au ta m

Gambhir were both fined 100% of thei r match fee following an u gl y po s t m a tc h a l te rc a t i on a f te r th e c on c l us i o n o f t he

RCB- LSG game

Afghan bowler Naveen-ul Haq of the Lucknow Super Giants was fined 50% of his match fee, who grabbed Virat Kohli's arm during some heated exchanges before RCB's Glenn Maxwell was able to separate the two Gambhir, mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants, and RCB batting mainstay Kohli were fined for breaching Article 2 21 of the IPL code of conduct, which relates to public acts of misconduct, unruly behaviour and inappropriate comments detrimental to the interests of the game

Both Kohli and Gambhir have indulged in aggressive onfield behaviour in the past They also have a previous history of public post-IPL match brawling The two had a showdown, and a heated exchange of obscenities, way back in 2013 following an RCB-KKR game Gambhir was then KKR captain This time, the conversation between LSG opener Kyle Mayers and Kohli appeared to be the catalyst Gambhir then appeared to break up the conversation by yanking Mayers away Kohli was agitated following Gambhir's boisterous celebration of LSG's one-run victory during the first leg of this match at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru Gambhir had earlier pointed at the Chinnaswamy crowd and gestured it to shut up Kohli repeated the gesture at the Ekana Stadium crowd in Lucknow Following the incident, cryptic messages were put out from the social-media handles of both Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq

This is the second time during this IPL that Kohli has got into a controversy for his post-match behaviour Earlier, his apparent refusal to shake hands with Delhi Capitals mentor Sourav Ganguly during the customary post-game handshakes created a minor furore on social media

After the government’s intervention, the Chinese embassy informed the BAI about the processing of visas and appointment time for biometrics on Monday The matter had also been taken up with the Badminton World Federation – the sport’s global governing body “It has certainly come as a relief to everyone We were worried about missing the tournament this time India are one of the favourites to lift the trophy banking on our players’ recent performances in team events,” a source said India had qualified for the Sudirman Cup after winning bronze at the Badminton Asia mixed team championships in February

Khaps, farm unions join wrestlers, give Centre 2 weeks to arrest WFI president

The call to arrest Wrestling Fed eration of Ind ia (WF I) presi dent and BJP M P Brij Bh ushan Sharan S ing h grew shriller with more than 30 0 kh ap panch ayats and sev eral fa rm e rs ’ u n i on s j o i ni n g th e ag it ati n g wrestlers at Jantar Mantar

The protesters gave the Centre time till May 21 to arrest Singh over allegations of sexual harassment against him Urging more people to join, the protestors announced they would hold a candle march at 7 pm daily and appealed to people in other cities to hold similar marches Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, Khap Maham 24 chief Mehar Singh, Sankyut Kisan Morcha’s (nonpolitical) Baldev Singh Sirsa and RLD joined the wrestlers on the dias Tikait said, “These wrestlers are the pride of the nation and we will support them at any cost We will continue our silent protest with them We are giving time till May 21 to the government However, if something happens to these wrestlers, we will gather nationwide support in solidarity with them Vinesh Phogat said that people’s anger is uniting them “We are glad that the khap and kisan unions have come to our support and make us feel strong in this fight for justice ” Talking about the deadline on May 21, she said if no action was taken till then by the officials, “ we will take this fight further”

She said many women can connect to the cause and hence is a fight for all the women “Why are senior officials silent on the issue,” she asked Speaking about the disruption in wrestlers’ practice, she said, “We are trying to continue our practice while we are sitting on protest

Protestors, especially women who came to Jantar Mantar to support the protest, claimed that many of them faced difficulties crossing borders Kavita Goyat (34), sarpanch of Haryana’s Kharakramji panchyat, said, “We could not come by buses as buses are not being allowed to enter Delhi So we had to come by train There are around 250 women who have come together from our village We were stopped at different Metro stations and interrogated ”