England have no safety concerns in the wake of Saturday’s militant attack that killed seven people in London and the Champions Trophy cricket tournament must go on, bowler Steven Finn has said.
In the third major assault to hit Britain in less than three months, attackers rammed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing revelers in nearby bars.
All team hotels subsequently went into lockdown and on Sunday the International Cricket Council issued a statement saying it would review security in line with threat levels.
Photo: Reuters
“It is a sorry state of affairs, but we will keep playing cricket and be defiant in the face of it and hopefully put a smile on people’s faces here,” said Finn, who on Sunday replaced the injured Chris Woakes in the England squad.
“We are fully supportive of the security plans that are in place. We have been briefed on how we are going to be protected. We are very comfortable that there is a ring of steel around us so that everyone who is in the ground will be safe. As long as our minds are at ease, we will be alright to play cricket,” the 28-year-old added.
“We toured Bangladesh last year under very tight security and were looked after very well,” Finn said.
Some of his teammates were staying in a hotel less than 800m from the attack, while all-rounder Ben Stokes was dining in Leicester Square.
“Ben struggled to get back to the hotel because of the roads being cordoned off,” Finn said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but