#Title
SHORT CORNER
‘It is a legal landmark’
The head of Indian cricket’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Friday Britain’s extradition of accused match-fixer Sanjeev Chawla was “a legal landmark”.
Chawla, one of the central figures in the scandal surrounding the late Hansie Cronje, was sent back to India on Thursday after spending four years fighting extradition.
It is the first time India has managed to get an accused individual from the cricket gambling underworld sent back for trial.
Delhi police filed charges against Chawla and five others including former South Africa captain Cronje in 2013.
Chawla is alleged to have conspired with Cronje to fix matches in South Africa’s tour of India in 2000.
After his arrival, a Delhi court ordered Chawla to be held in custody for 12 days for questioning. He has challenged the order at the High Court.
“It is a legal landmark,” Ajit Singh, chief of the anti-corruption unit of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), told AFP of the latest legal outcome.
“Extradition is a difficult process. All sorts of objections were raised, to the extent of threat to life of the accused and even the conditions of the Indian prisons.
“And this one is the first for match fixing.” -- Afp
French Open to be Fed’s only
claycourt appearance in 2020
Roger Federer will make his only appearance on clay this season at Roland Garros, his agent has told Reuters.
The Swiss skipped the entire claycourt season in 2017 and 2018 and last year played only two tournaments on the surface before arriving in Paris for the French Open.
There was speculation that Federer would include the Madrid and Rome Masters in his truncated schedule for 2020 but his agent, Tony Godsick, said that was not the case.
“As his schedule states, he plans on playing just Roland Garros,” Godsick told Reuters.
The 38-year-old has been cutting down on the number of tournaments he plays over the last few years in a bid to prolong his career.
Unlike his main rivals, Federer, who won the last of his 20 Grand Slam titles in 2018 at Melbourne Park, opted out of the inaugural ATP Cup in Australia to spend more time with his family before launching his 22nd season on Tour.
He arrived at the Australian Open having not played a competitive match since the ATP Finals in November but still made it to the semi-finals, where he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
Federer, who has won the French Open only once, in 2009, will arrive well rested for this year’s campaign at Roland Garros, which begins on May 24.
The March 25-April 5 Miami Masters hard-court tournament is the last on his schedule before the Grand Slam.
The Swiss will defend his title at the Dubai Duty Free tennis championships next week before playing at next month’s BNP Paribas Open in California. -- Reuters
Isner sent packing
Australian Jordan Thompson upset US top seed John Isner 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 on Thursday to reach the ATP New York Open quarterfinals.
Thompson, who will face Italy’s Andreas Seppi on Friday for a berth in the semifinals, avenged a loss to Isner in last year’s New York quarter-finals.
The world number 63 took his first victory in four meetings with the big-serving American. -- Afp