Firstpost Spodcast Episode 158: WADA appeals shot putter Inderjeet Singh’s exoneration, Indian women's cricket team loss to England and more

The World Anti-Doping Agency, or WADA, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision of the Indian Anti-Doping Appeal Panel (or ADAP) to exonerate shot putter Inderjeet Singh in his 2016 doping case. WADA has sought reinstatement of Singh’s four-year suspension, according to a source privy to the development. Inderjeet, a 2014 Asian Games bronze medalist and the 2015 Asian champion, had tested positive in June 2016 in the run-up to the Rio Olympics. The Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel’s decision to impose a four-year suspension finally came in July 2018. The Indian women’s cricket team suffered its sixth straight loss in the T20 format after losing the second T20I match to England in Guwahati on Thursday. England won the toss and chose to field. They put on a brilliant performance to skittle out the hosts for a below par score. Katherine Brunt was England’s most successful bowler, taking 3/17 including the wickets of the in-form Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues. Those wickets put India on the back foot and they never quite recovered. Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth had to toil hard to earn their way through to the quarterfinals of the $1 million All England Championships on Thursday. Eighth-seeded Saina rallied her way to an 8-21 21-16 21-13 win over Denmark’s Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt in a 51-minute contest. She was blown away by World No 19 Line in the opening game but kept her cool to take the match to the decider and eventually come up trumps against her Danish rival. The BCCI’s Committee of Administrators chairman Vinod Rai said yesterday that the BCCI is still seeking an ICC ban on countries that harbour terrorism despite the recent rejection but remained non-committal on whether India will boycott Pakistan at the World Cup. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani said on Thursday that the BCCI had rejected its invitation to attend the PSL final in Karachi on 17 March. Mani said they had sent invitations to the ICC and all its affiliated boards to attend the Pakistan Super League final but the world body’s chairman Shashank Manohar, who is an Indian, as well as BCCI acting-president CK Khanna had cited personal engagements for their unavailability. NorthEast United FC scripted an incredible 2-1 victory over table-toppers Bengaluru FC in the first leg of the semi-final clash of the Indian Super League on Thursday.