SPORTS

Octogenarian shooter Chandro Tomar, who is nicknamed ‘Shooter Dadi’ passed away on Friday after she contracted coronavirus and was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday due to difficulty in breathing. The Twitter handle of the 89-year-old legendary shooter, hailing from the Baghpat village in Uttar Pradesh, had posted the development on Tuesday. “Dadi Chandro Tomar has tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to a hospital due to breathing problem. God protect all – Family,” a tweet on her page read.

On Friday, she lost her battle to the coronavirus and passed away. Her sister and fellow shooter, who picked up the sport very late with her, expressed the pain of her loss on Twitter and wrote, “Mera saath chhoot gaya, Chandro kahan chali gayi (I lost my partner, where did Chandro go).”

Batting maestero Sachin Tendulkar extended his helping hand in the nation's fight against the second wave of COVID-19. The former India cricketer made a contribution of Rs 1 crore to "Mission Oxygen" and urged his supporters to do the same. 

Tendulkar took to Twitter to share this news and appealed to the citizens to stand together in the fight against the deadly virus. 

"His donation of Rs 1 crore to 'Mission Oxygen' in its endeavour to procure and provide life-saving oxygen concentrators to hospitals across the nation in this time of need is incredibly heart-warming," read a statement from Mission Oxygen, which is a fund-raising initiative by Delhi-NCR based entrepreneurs for importing Oxygen Concentrator machines and donating them to hospitals in need.

West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell hasn't quite been his usual explosive self for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After yet another forgettable outing at Ahmedabad on Monday, where the 32-year-old scored just 10 runs against Punjab Kings (PBKS), the Jamaican took to Instagram the next day to share a cryptic message with his fans.

The tall right-handed batsman posted a picture of himself holding a bottle of rum and writing alongside, "It's ok to not be 'ok'".

The BCCI has told the eight teams in the IPL that they will not just be playing to win this time, but for something "much more important…humanity."

Reassuring the franchises that everyone's safety was the priority, the BCCI also confirmed that the tournament will carry on despite the raging Covid-19 pandemic in India, and that the IPL is "strengthening" the biosecure bubble for the rest of the tournament which is scheduled to end on May 30.

With India registering a record number of positive cases over the past 10 days, there has been a lot of apprehension both inside the IPL bubble as well outside about carrying on with the tournament. With countries barring travellers from India, overseas players from different teams have opted to return home with many more questioning how they will get back once their tournament was over.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who plays for Delhi Capitals, has pulled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season to support his family amid the raging coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The cricketer took to the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, on Sunday to announce that he's taking a break from the IPL season.

"I would be taking a break from this year’s IPL from tomorrow. My family and extended family are putting up a fight against #COVID19 and I want to support them during these tough times," Ashwin tweeted.