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Russia to exert every effort to prepare for FIFA World Cup: Putin
Moscow, Sep 10 (IANS) President Vladimir Putin has promised that Russia will do everything possible to prepare in an efficient and timely manner for hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
“Everything is going on schedule, everything is financed properly,” Putin said on Saturday at a meeting with world football’s governing body FIFA President Gianni Infantino, reports Tass news agency.
“Russia will exert every effort to fulfil everything in an efficient and timely manner,” he added. “I am hopeful that your specialists who oversee the work will go on with it and we together will carry preparations for the World Cup through to the expected finish.”
Prior to the meeting, Putin and Infantino inspected the renovated Luzhniki stadium and watched young footballers’ training sessions.
The Russian President drew the FIFA head’s attention to how Russian “young athletes and would-be champions” perceive the preparations for the World Cup.
“You were absolutely right saying that the Cup has some magic significance, some magic capacity,” Putin told Infantino.
The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in 11 cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in Moscow.
The country has selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup — they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.