OH NO, EKTA KAPOOR SAYS ACTORS USETHEIR SEXUALITY TO GET THINGS DONE!

TEAM PALTAN - JP DUTTA AND ACTORS ARJUN RAMPAL, MONICA GILL, GURMEET CHOUDHARY, HARSHVARDHAN RANE AND SONUSOOD WITH PUNJAB CHIEF MINISTER AMARINDER SINGH AFTER THEY ENJOYED A MEAL WITH THE CM, IN AMRITSAR.

INDIA BEAT S. AFRICA BY 28RUNS IN 1ST T20I

JIAH KHAN SUICIDE CASE TRIAL BEGINS

Director of Varrier's movie booked forhurting religious sentiments

MUMBAI, (IANS) A cour t here beganhearing, last week, the sensationalJiah Khan suicide case trial involv-ing Bollywood actor Sooraj A.Pancholi, who is charged with abet-ment, and posted the next hearing forFebruary 21. The son of Bollywoodactor-couple Aditya Pancholi andZarina Wahab, Sooraj was presentin the cour t. He has been bookedunder the Indian Penal Code for abet-ment of the actress' suicide on June3, 2013. In the chargesheet, the CBIsaid the body of Jiah was found hang-ing at her residence in Andheri onthat evening by her mother RabiyaKhan. The CBI fur ther said Sooraj hadconcealed cer tain facts, and providedfabricated information during his in-

terrogation. Sooraj was arrested onJune 10, 2013 following Jiah's sui-cide and is currently on bail grantedby the Bombay High Cour t. The highcourt also transfer red the case to theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI)in July 2014 following a plea byRabiya Khan's alleging that theMumbai police was not investigat-ing it properly.

HYDERABAD, (IANS) Police in Hyderabad on Wednesday registereda case for hur ting religious sentiments of Muslims against the direc-tor of a Malayalam movie, whose song featuring actress Priya PrakashVar rier has gone viral. On a complaint by some youths in the old cityof Hyderabad, the police registered a case against Omar Lulu, direc-tor of "Oru Adhaar Love" and some others.The case under Indian Penal Code's Section 295 (Deliberate and mali-cious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insultingits religion or religious beliefs) was registered at Falaknuma Police Sta-tion, said Deputy Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana.According to the police official, the case was registered on acomplaint by Abdul Muqeet and others, who alleged that the namesof Prophet Mohammad and his wife Bibi Khateeja were used inthe song. They sought immediate ban on the song as it hur t theirreligious sentiments. The DCP said the police were investigating thecase and appropriate action would be taken after taking legal opinionand ascer taining the facts.

MUMBAI, (IANS) Indian film and television personality Ekta Kapoorsays there are powerful producers who use their position to exploitaspirants in showbiz, but then there are also actors who use theirsexuality to get work. Ekta made the comment amid the hullabalooover sexual harassment allegations that emerged across showbizglobally after several names in Hollywood came out against producerHarvey Weinstein, followed by complaints against a slew of actorsand filmmakers.Ekta said: "Well, I think there are Harvey Weinsteins in Bollywood,but there is probably an equal number of Harvey Weinsteins on theother side of the story, but people do not want to talk about that par t.Yes, there are people in power like producers who use their power totake advantage of people, but at the same time there are people on the

other side, like an actor or others who need the job, would also usetheir sexuality to get things done."Therefore, I believe that predators should not be put in a box based onpower. It is always not true that the person who does not have poweris the victim." Citing an example, Ekta said: "Being a producer, on apersonal level when I talk to my male counterpar ts, they said theywere propositioned blatantly. Is that person not a predator?"In our industry, if one actor meets a producer at 2 a.m. and hooks upwith him and after five days, if she wants a job based on that and theproducer doesn't give the job because he wants personal and profes-sional things separate, then who is the victim here? The interpretationis always that the powerful person took advantage of the poor littlebudding actor or something that is always not the truth."

NEERAJ PANDEY'S 'AIYAARY' BANNED IN PAKISTANMUMBAI, (IANS) Neeraj Pandey's "Aiyaary", a film witha patriotic undertone, has been bar red from release inPakistan. "The film is banned. Its content was disapproved,"Satish Anand, who was to distribute the movie in Pakistan, toldIANS via social media. The spokesperson for the film in India tooconfirmed the development. This is not the first time Pandey'smovie is not releasing in Pakistan. His movies "Baby" and "NaamShabana" - both of which dealt with intelligence agencies on achase for terrorists - too did not make it to the screens there."Aiyaary" is set against an army backdrop. It features Sidhar thMalhotra and Manoj Bajpayee playing the roles of army officers ina storyline that brings to the forefront corruption within the system. In India, the movie got a green signal for release after the Central Boardof Film Cer tification reviewed the film, followed by a screening for the Ministry of Defence, which prescribed cer tain modifications.

JOHANNESBURG, (IANS) A brilliant all-round show helped India beatSouth Africa by 28 runs in the first Twenty-20 International (T20I) atthe New Wanderers Stadium here on Sunday. Put in to bat, ShikharDhawan (72) hammered the South African bowlers all around thepark and helped India to post a massive 203/5 before pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar (5/24) wreaked havoc in the South African bat-ting line-up to take a crucial 1-0 lead in the three-match series.With this bowling stats, Bhuvneshwar also became the first Indianbowler to take five wickets in each of the three formats (fourtimes in Tests and once each in One Day Internationals and T20Is).Chasing a challenging target, South African openers J.J.Smuts(14) and Reeza Hendricks got off to a good start. But in the thirdover, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Smuts to make it 29/1. Middle-order batsmen Jean-Paul Duminy (3) and David Miller(9) were also dismissed cheaply by Bhuvneshwar and HardikPandya respectively .With the scoreboard reading 48/3, Farhaan Behardien (39) camein the middle and played sensibly along with Hendricks. The twodisplayed quality shots and forged an 81-run partnership for the four thwicket. But just when things seemed good Behardien was sent back tothe pavilion by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the 15th over.fter adding a few more runs with new batsmen Heinrich Klaasen(16), Hendricks (70) was caught behind off Bhuvneshwar in the18th over.Now with 46 needed in 14 balls, lower-order batsmen AndilePhehlukwayo (13), Chris Morris (0), Dane Paterson (1) and JuniorDala (2 not out) failed to rise to the occasion and only managed toscore 175/9 in 20 overs. Earlier, opening batsman Shikhar Dhawanonce again unleashed mayhem in South Africa, with his 72 poweringIndia to 203 for five wickets. The Delhi left-hander, who hit 323 runs inthe six One-Day Internationals (ODIs), blasted 10 fours and two sixesin his 39-ball innings as others batted around him.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 22

SILVER MEDALIST SUI WENJING (2ND L) AND HAN CONG (1ST L) OF CHINA, GOLD MEDALIST ALJONA SAVCHENKO (3RD L) AND BRUNOMASSOT (4TH L) OF GERMANY, AND BRONZE MEDALIST MEAGAN DUHAMEL (2ND R) AND ERIC RADFORD (1ST R) OF CANADA POSE FORGROUP PHOTOS AFTER THE PAIR FIGURE SKATING AT PYEONGCHANG WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES, IN GANGNEUNG ICE ARENA, SOUTH KOREA.

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RUNNING SUCCESSFULLYWORLDWIDE

POLITICS SHOULD BE KEPT AWAY FROM INDIAN ARMY: NIMRAT KAURMUMBAI, (IANS) "The Test Case" actress Nimrat Kaur's father waskilled by Muslim militants, but she says her mother kept them awayfrom an anti-Islamic environment and brought her up to have a liberalmind. She also said there should be no political inter ference in theIndian Army. Nimrat plays the role of a combat soldier in the webseries "The Test Case." On last week's ter ror attack in Jammuwhere mil i tants stormed an army camp, Nimrat said: "I thinkpolitics should be in its area and should not enter into the IndianArmy, just the way the Indian Army does not enter politics. See,in our country, it is very easy to grow up in an anti-Islamic envi-

ronment, especially for people like us."Because my father's life was taken by militants who were Muslims,there were many occurrences where people said 'Muslims are likethat, violence exists in their religion, they kill people' and all otherhate thoughts. But my mother always shut them up and took us awayfrom those people because she wanted us to be grow up with a liberalmind." The actress was present along with producer Ekta Kapoor onthe talk show "The Town Hall", hosted by journalist Barkha Dutt, hereon Thursday.On her growing up days in an army cantonment, in a secular environ-

ment, Nimrat said: "See, identifying a Sikh is very easy. A Sikh manhas a turban and facial hair... that is in our religion. Keeping thataside, I have seen or faced no difference between me and my friendsin the army cantonment... We all were given same ration, same food,same space on living all was the replica of each other."We had mandir -masjid-gurdwara next to each other, with no dif -ference. Inside the cantonment, the environment is so secularthat until after my father's death when my family shifted to Noida, Idid not realise religious difference exists." The conversation will airon Mirror Now.

Trolls affect ourfamily, friends:Zareen KhanMUMBAI, (IANS) ActressZareen Khan says she is gladthat her mother is not on socialmedia as she will get disturbedwith the way she (Zareen) getstrolled. "Trolls don't realise thatwhatever they write not onlyaffects us but also affects ourfamily and friends. I am verythankful for the fact that mymother is not on social mediabecause such bad and abusivecomments would definitelydisturb her," Zareen said in astatement.Zareen has been a victim oftrolls on social media plat-forms. She approached MTV tobe a par t of their new show"MTV Troll Police" after watch-ing an episode with actressTaapsee Pannu. "I have seenTaapsee's 'MTV Troll Police'episode. I feel this is a greatinitiative and a great thing thatMTV has come up with to helppeople who are targeted withoutany reason. There is a cer tainsection of people in our societywho hide behind the anonymityof Internet and troll people likeme," said Zareen, who madeher Bollywood debut with"Veer"."Such kind of people are athreat to either themselves orthe entire society because theydo not realise how their actionsaffect others. That's the reason Ihave come on 'MTV TrollPolice'. I want to know if mybiggest trolls have the courageto face me and say the samethings on my face," she added.On her biggest troll, she said: "Iam surprised to see my biggesttroll. He is just 23 years old.The world is his oyster now...He should concentrate on hislife but instead what he is doingis criminal level trolling. I feelsorry for him." She has a subtlewarning for all trolls. "In theworld of social media no onecan hide. The power of socialmedia is so strong that you willbe tracked."

Gurdas Maanrecalls era of duetsMUMBAI, (IANS) VeteranPunjabi singer Gurdas Maan,who joined the music industryover three decades ago, saysback then there was not muchscope for solo vocalists. "Iremember the time when Istar ted out. The industryseemed to have been dominatedby duets. There was not muchscope for solo vocalists.However, convinced with theidea of per forming solo, I washopeful that there was a futurefor me and solo ar tistes," saidGurdas."Today, when I look back, Ithank God for letting me reachmy goal and paving the way forother solo ar tistes," added thesinger, who will be seen as aguest in the upcoming episodeof the reality TV show "RisingStar". Hailing the show, he said:"Along with enter taining theviewers, the show shares avaluable message of#UthaoSochKiDeewar whichwill help our nation progress."The episode will air on Colorschannel this weekend, read astatement. It is co-judged bysingers Diljit Dosanjh, MonaliThakur and ShankarMahadevan.

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10songs

SUBAH SUBAH SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY

KAALA DOREYA KAALAKAANDI

AAJ SE TERI PADMAN

HALKA HALKA SUROOR PADMAAVAT

LAE DOOBA AIYAARY

DIL CHORI SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY

SWAG SE SWAGAT TIGER ZINDA HAI

SALE SAPNE PADMAN

GHOOMER PADMAAVAT

top

SONG

MIDWEEK HIT OR FLOPPADMAN 59 CR

AIYAARY 40 CR

DOWNUP THE EXIT 796 60 LAKHS

KUCHH BHEEGE ALFAAZ 40 CR

JAANE KYUN DE YAARON 20 LAKH

MIDWEEK BOX OFFICEAIYAARY HIT

KUCHH BHEEGE ALFAAZ AVERAGE

JAANE KYUN DE YAARON AVERAGE

PADMAN HIT

DOWNUP THE EXIT 796 AVERAGE

FILM

Soha receives letter of encouragement from Big B

DIL DIYANGALLAN

TIGER ZINDAHAI1

SIDDHARTH MALHOTRA, MANOJ BAJPAYEE AND RAKUL PREET AT SRCC COLLEGE IN DU DURING PROMOTION OF AIYAARY, IN NEW DELHI.

MUMBAI, (IANS) Actress-author Soha Ali Khan has received a letterof encouragement from megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who praisedher book "The Perils Of Being Moderately Famous". Soha recentlytook to Twitter, where she shared the letter from Amitabh. The letterread: "The term 'spine and spunk' comes to mind on picking up yourbook ... It doesn't matter how much polite and self-deprecating fluffyou have on the outside. "Even though on the sur face you are sor t ofreticent and shying away from the spotlight, your genuine and funnysense of humour has been skilfully por trayed confirming that youpossess a steely something in the middle that says 'You know what,I'm actually really, really good at this, and this is what I can do, andnow I have done it'." The thespian, 75, wrote that he enjoyed the bookimmensely. Soha tweeted: "So honoured to get this in the mail! Thankyou so much Amitabh Bachchan for taking the time to write this to me- it is such an encouragement!"

AMITABH WISHES LUCK TO 'BHOOTNATH' DIRECTOR FOR MUSIC VIDEOMUMBAI, (IANS) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has wished luck to "Bhootnath" director Vivek Sharma for his music video "Jaane KyaModd Aaya". The thespian, 75, on Tuesday night tweeted the link of the song and wrote: "This is Vivek Sharma. Director of my film 'Bhootnath', now awriter and creator of a music video. My wishes for this new effor t. Bhootnath", released in 2008, revolved around a boy named Banku and hisparents who move into their new home, the Nath Villa. Banku meets the unfriendly ghost of the house's former owner. Big B currentlyawaits his upcoming film "102 Not Out", which also features veteran actor Rishi Kapoor. The film is slated to release on May 4.

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hollywood

ANUPAM KHER, MANIESH PAUL, MIKA SINGH AND DIRECTOR VISHWAS PANDYA AT THE PROMOTION OF THEIR FILM BAABAAA BLACK SHEEP IN MUMBAI.

Being a homemaker comes first on my list: Shilpa ShettyMUMBAI, (IANS) Actress-entrepreneur and author Shilpa Shetty Kundra, who has launched her second book "The Diary of a DomesticDiva", says being a homemaker is her top priority. "People may assume that I have it easy because I have plenty of help. On thecontrary, being a homemaker comes first on my list and it's the finer details that make me a domestic diva," Shilpa has said in theintroduction to the book, which has 90 "mindful and hear tful" recipes from her kitchen.Married to businessman Raj Kundra, Shilpa has a five-year-old son. At 42, her fit and svelte frame can give actresses of the youngergeneration a run for their money. Her book provides a plethora of recipes ranging from juices, teas, soups, salads, star ters, mains anddesser ts, and also mentions the calorie count for each dish.Shilpa says her cook book is for women like her mother "who want to serve fresh, nutritious food to their families every day withoutspending too much time in the kitchen. It's a beautiful coincidence that the Marathi word for lamp is 'diva'. Each one of us has a divawithin us. I hope through this book, I am able to turn all of you into a real-life divas and light the lamp inside you; I hope I can make yourlife simpler. "Things like preparing for lunch and dinner, pack for your husband and child and serve at par ties easier. If these ideas canmake life easier for you, I'll be so happy. And in that one hour that I'll be able to save in your day, I hope you go for a massage or get apedicure or workout -- do something for yourself," she added. Shilpa has stood for having a good work-life balance, and sayscompar tmentalising life is impor tant.

Was exciting to reunite with Salman: SonakshiMUMBAI, (IANS) Bollywood star Sonakshi Sinha says it was exciting to share screen space with her "Dabangg" co-star Salman Khanonce again for a song in her for thcoming movie "Welcome To New York". Sonakshi and Salman have recreated their magic in the film'ssong "Nain phisal gaye", which was shot in New York. "It was really exciting to be reuniting with Salman for our third film together after'Dabangg' and 'Dabangg 2'. We shot the song entirely in New York. It was nostalgic in many ways. The romantic, melodious song has been filmedbeautifully," Sonakshi said in a statement. The track has music by Sajid-Wajid and lyrics by Kaunsar Munir. Director Chakri Toleti said: "It was an absolute delightto shoot this song. Salman and Sonakshi have such great on-screen chemistry." Produced by Pooja Films and Wiz Films, "Welcome To New York" is acomedy about two youngsters who land in New York and go through a series of hilarious episodes. Releasing on February 23, itfeatures Karan Johar in a double role, Diljit Dosanjh, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani and Lara Dutta, apar t from Sonakshi.

TYRA BANKS DOESN'TWANT SON TO MODELLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Supermodel and host Tyra Bankssays she doesn't want her son to follow her footstepsinto the modelling industry. "Being a mom and raising ason... I just don't want him to be a model," Banks toldpeople.com. The model tried to apply a bit of reversepsychology on her son. "No actually, let me change that.Baby, I want you to model. I want you to get up and modelevery single day. Because they rebel right? They rebel. Ijust think that for guys, being a male model, what doesthat do to you?" she said.

IF I'M MERYL STREEP, PAYME WELL: DAVISLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Actress Viola Davis says she iscompared to icons like Meryl Streep, Julianne Mooreand Sigourney Weaver but she is nowhere close to themwhen it comes to remunerations and job oppor tunities.At a session here, the award-winning actress opened upabout feeling underpaid and overlooked throughout her30-year career, repor ts people.com."I have a career that's probably comparable to MerylStreep, Julianne Moore, Sigourney Weaver," Davissaid. "They all came out of Yale, they came out ofJuilliard, they came out of New York University. Theyhad the same path as me, and yet I am nowhere nearthem. Not as far as money, not as far as job oppor tunities,nowhere close to it."

'VULNERABILITY' KEY TOBELL'S HEALTHY MARRIAGELOS ANGELES, (IANS) Actress Kristen Bell says that"vulnerability" is a key factor in keeping her relationshipwith husband Dax Shepard "healthy". Bell posted a pho-tograph of a hand-written note on Instagram, which de-tailed six key points which help her keep things runningsmoothly with her 43-year-old spouse, repor tsfemalefirst.co.uk. The note read: "Vulnerability alwaysbegets connection and intimacy.Stay vulnerable with each other. In 10 years, when thedopamine has waned, remember: life is a crazy ride. It'sa privilege to go through it with a partner. "Take neces-sary separateness. It will make your marriage better.

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'AIYAARY': THAT SEAMLESS POLITICALTHRILLER BOLLYWOOD NEEDED

CAST: MANOJ BAJPAI, SIDDHARTH

MALHOTRA, NASEERUDDIN SHAH,

RAKUL PREET SINGH

DIRECTOR: NEERAJ PANDEY

SALMAN LOVES CLEANCOMEDY SHOWSMUMBAI, (IANS) Superstar Salman Khan says he loves aclean comedy show, which "doesn't hit below the belt. Ihad a great time while shooting for the 'Comedy HighSchool'. It is a clean comedy show, which is funny, butimpor tantly doesn't hit below the belt. I never felt awk-ward even for a moment," Salman said in a statement.Salman will feature in the premiere episode of "ComedyHigh School" which will air on Discovery JEET on Satur-day. The show, hosted by Ram Kapoor, presents a light-hear ted take on society, culture, education and cur rentaffairs through a classroom-based set-up. It also featuresactors Gopal Dutt, Paritosh Tripathi, Krishna Bhatt, JasmeetBhatia and Deepak Dutta. Talking about the star cast,Salman said: "Actors like Ram Kapoor, Gopal Dutt havetheir own style which has never been explored before ontelevision. I have a feeling that the show will deeply en-gage with the fans across the country."

I'M NOT A FILMMAKER,BUT A STORYTELLER:VIKRAM BHATTMUMBAI, (IANS) Writer-director-producer Vikram Bhattprefers to be called a storyteller rather than a filmmaker.Hence, the platform to tell his stories does not matter tohim. Bhatt launched his OTT (over the top) platform, VBOn The Web.Asked if the change in preference to consume content onphones and on digital platform instead of theatres hasaffected him personally, he said: "I am not a filmmaker, Iam a storyteller. There is a difference. I have done televi-sion also and I have written a book too. I like to tell storiesand this journey actually started on Facebook. I used towrite a story a day and those stories became so popularthat I star ted getting offers from a lot of production housesto make shor t films on them. That's where my interest inthe digital space grew," he added.Bhatt, who made his debut in the web space with his firstweb series "Maaya" last year, feels that the digital spaceis a storyteller's delight. "A storyteller needs a platform totell a story, so it doesn't matter to me if you watch it on aphone or a theatre. It doesn't matter to me personally aslong as I have a story to tell," he said. "This medium is farmore freedom giving than films. You can take your time todraw your story out to 15 episodes and you don't have anyrestrictions. As a matter of fact, digital space is astoryteller's delight," he added.The "Raaz" director thinks "the selling of sex" in films isdead. "Thanks to my par tner Jio (telecom company). Thething is that there was a time when people did not haveaccess to Internet all the time so the only sexuality thatyou could sell was the one they could see on the screen,"he said. "Now with data so cheap, everyone has a phoneand data connection. When you can watch a woman in allher glory on this par ticular platform, why would they payRs 200 in theatres to see a woman in half her glory? Sonow, you have to sell stories. They have app for every-thing now so when they come to your app, they come forstories," he added.Does he have any plans of releasing a feature film on thedigital medium? "I think that day is not far because it is allabout numbers. We have to see how many people watchthe average medium to low budget film, and then we haveto decide. I star ted my channel about a year and a halfback and already in that time, there have been so manychanges. "I think it is a matter of months, when you willsee films releasing directly on the digital medium," hesaid. The app went live on Bhatt's bir thday on January 27.

YOU CAN'T BAN A FILM LIKE'PAD MAN': R. BALKIMUMBAI, (IANS) Filmmaker R. Balki, whose latest film"Pad Man" is yet to release in Pakistan, says banning themovie means being unfair to women and humanity. Balkialong with the film's co-producer Twinkle Khanna attendedan event recently for the celebration of its success and tohold a discussion -- organised by Unicef and the Bill andMelinda Gates Foundation -- on taboos related to men-strual hygiene. Asked about the countries where "Pad Man"got banned, Balki said: "It has been banned only in Paki-stan. I think they have their own reasons but I think theyare wrong reasons." "You can't ban a film like this. If youare banning this film, then you are actually being unfair towomen and humanity because it's not just because of themovie, it's because of a story of this man's life and whatissue its addressing." Balki also informed that the MiddleEast has accepted the film. "Strangely, the film's biggestsuccess is in the Middle East. It's the first film to bescreened in Iraq and a country where Hindi cinema wasn'treleased earlier and are conservative in their outlook."I am sure there (Pakistan) will be a lot of public pressuretoo, to kind of want to see the film because this is not apolitical kind of stuff. It's a simple film for humanity," saidBalki. Sharing an interaction with a central ministry offi-cial about how this film could have become the centre ofcontroversy, Balki said: "Recently, a person from the cen-tral ministry met me and said that menstruation is themost controversial subject in India, but it actually had nocontroversy as a film."He pointed out that this film could have had a larger con-troversy and so many religious and political organisationscould have said so many things but they didn't, and theyactually suppor ted it." Pad Man tells the real life story ofArunachalam Muruganantham and how he came to in-venting low cost sanitary napkins for women. It releasedon February 9.

'SAHEB BIWI AUR GANGSTER 3' TO RELEASE ON JULY 27MUMBAI, (IANS) The third instalment of the "Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster" franchise has been locked for release on July 27. Actor SanjayDutt made the announcement recently. "'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3' to hit the screens on July 27, 2018. Mark the date! Produced byRahul Mittra, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia." Sanjay also shared a still from the film. In the photograph, he is seen sitting with a gunin front of a table which has a couple of filled-up shot glasses.Dhulia, who has described the film as "naughty, crispy and twisty",tweeted: "'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster 3' 'ek nayi shararat' is releas-ing on July 27." The first instalment of "Saheb, Biwi aur Gangster"was released in 2011 and starred Jimmy Shergill, Mahi Gill andRandeep Hooda. The film revolved around a royal family of UttarPradesh. Its sequel titled "Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns"was made in 2013. "Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3" also featuresveteran actress Nafisa Ali, who will play Sanjay's mother.

FIRST POSTER OF 'LOVERATRI'UNVEILEDMUMBAI, (IANS) Superstar Salman Khanhas shared the firstposter of his upcoming production "Loveratri". Salman sharedthe poster on Twitter. In the poster, his brother-in-law AayushSharma and debutante Warina Hussain can be seen lookinginto the camera with dandiya sticks in their hands. "YehValent ine's Day par wishing everyone 'Loveratr i ' . AayushSharma, Warina Hussain," he captioned the poster. The film,which will be directed by Abhiraj Minawala, is said to be alove story based in Gujarat. "Loveratri" marks the launch of Aayushas an actor in Bollywood. Aayush is the husband of Salman'syoungest sister Arpita.

At first, "Aiyaary" seems less seamless than it actually is. Where is all thisleading to? You wonder at the outset, as writer-director Neeraj Pandey setsup what eventually turns out to be pieces of a jigsaw that fits perfectly into themindboggling zigzag of India's political conditioning in contemporary times. Itis very hard to point out plot points in "Aiyaary" that stand out to build thecompelling construct on corruption in military forces.It seems miraculous that Siddhar th Malhotra, playing an army renegade, isallowed to mouth dialogues that openly castigate the corrupt political sys-tem. Illegal arms-deal scams are not only whispered into the commodiousplot. The narrative screams in wounded agony at the dizzying heights ofcorruption in the highest places. This is no mean achievement.Early in the narrative, there is a sharp exchange of malevolent words be-tween an army general and a former armyman who wants to negotiate adefence-purchase scam on behalf of unnamed arms dealers. Here we seetwo seasoned actors, Vikram Gokhale and Kumud Mishra (the latter a wel-come staple in Neeraj Pandey's cinema) spar across the table with a fangedfinesse that would give Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn in "Death BecomesHer" some 'feud' for thought. The performances are not consistently polished.Some of the actors are impossible high-pitched clamouring to make them-selves heard over the bustling officious background music by SanjoyChoudhary that could have been less hammering in its impact. BlessedlyManoj Bajpai and Malhotra play against each other with vitality and force,giving both hef t and history to their parts of a veteran who won't deser t the

cause and the junior who won't stay within the corrupt system. The confron-tation sequences between them are a treat to behold, largely because theyplay not for effect but for reasons that come from within their conscience.There are two vivid flashbacks in Kashmir where we see the two heroes'heroism from each other's point of view. Taking the bullets from the enemieswith a refreshing lack of flourish associated with cinematic soldierliness, thetwo protagonists represent patriotic valour at its most played-down scale.Malhotra is specially surprising, fine-tuning his inner pain, channelizing theRanbir rather than Ranveer within himself, to deliver a mellow blow to asystem of governance that fosters corruption. Adil Hussain as an arms dealerhas one very power ful sequence with Bajpai where the two actors address adevastating debauchery in the defence system with lethal elan.True to the action genre, the female characters are sketchily written. Capableactresses like Juhi Babbar and Nivedita Bhattacharya scarcely get to makeeven a fleeting impression. As for Rakul Preet Singh as Malhotra's love interest,she looks clueless about her function in the plot. But truly, my favourite perfor-mance in this film of indubitable force and inner strength, is by Naseeruddin Shah.His cameo as a common man who, according to the smart script, brings out theAdarsh Housing Society scam, is peerless. If you remember, Naseer that actor parexcellence had played the Common Man screaming in protest against cor-ruption in politics in Neeraj Pandey's debut film "A Wednesday". That Naseeragain plays a Common Man capable of shaking the inert decadent politicalsystem in Pandey's best work since "A Wednesday", is no coincidence.

RAJ KAPOOR STILL ALIVE IN TODAY'S AUDIENCE: RISHI KAPOORMUMBAI, (IANS) Actor Rishi Kapoor, son of late filmmaker-actor Raj Kapoor, says the current generation still talks about his father'sfilms and so, he is still alive in the audience. Rishi along with his brothers Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor attended The Raj KapoorAwards for Excellence in Enter tainment event to honour Raj Kapoor."It's been 30 years since my father passed away and recently I visited Georgia and Tashkent. Today's generation has the exposure towatch any of Khans' films. They can see Kareena Kapoor or Karisma Kapoor or Ranbir Kapoor's movies also, but why the youth stillreacts to Raj Kapoor's films? I also don't understand that," said Rishi."They still talk about his films and his films' music, so I feel Raj Kapoor is still alive in today's audience which is amazing," he added. RajKapoor's 1970 film "Mera Naam Joker" released around the time of the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation but af terthat, political influence in the legendary artiste's films declined.When asked about it, Rishi said: "I don't think he intentionally made statements in his films. He used to like a story and then make a filmout of that story. He always used to give importance to the story in his films." Talking about Raj Kapoor's passion for making films, Rishishared an anecdote. He said: "When 'Mera Naam Joker' was about to release, our studio and all our assets were mor tgaged to releasethat film, and the picture bombed. We were in severe problems."

VARUN GIVES FANS FIRST LOOK INTO 'OCTOBER'MUMBAI, (IANS) Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan shared the first look of his upcoming film "October" on digital platforms especially forhis fans recently. He says the movie has helped him grow creatively. Varun launched a 33-second teaser of the movie. This is the firsttime Varun has collaborated with Shoojit Sircar and is playing a very different character that he hopes is image-changing. Varun toldIANS: "Shooting this film is a life-changing experience for me as an actor and as an individual. At times, success makes us complacentand that was happening with me. Whether it is 'Badr inath Ki Dulhania' or 'Judwaa 2', whatever I have done is commercially successful. "So, as an actorI was earning money, popularity and success, but not growing creatively. There was stagnancy. Thankfully, Shoojitda came to my life at a righttime because among all these commercial films, this is one film that has challenged me the most. "As a director, what he expected meto do was difficult for me and that is when I star ted understanding the deeper side of acting and thought if I would be able to pull it off ."

INDIA WON THE FIRST T20 MATCH FROM SOUTH AFRICA BY 28 RUNS (BCCI).

KAITLYN LAWES AND JOHN MORRIS CELEBRATE AFTER WINNING GOLD IN MIXED DOUBLES IN CURLING AT THE PYEONGCHANG2018 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES IN SOUTH KOREA.

India beat S. Africa by 28 runs in 1st T20ICONTD. FROM PAGE 17After home captain Jean-Paul Duminy put India into bat, India's in-nings was lifted by a brisk 21 off nine from Rohit Sharma, who got outin the fifth delivery of the second over after edging to wicket-keeperHeinrich Klassen off debutant Junior Dala. Dhawan's show beganaf ter this as he got useful support from Suresh Raina (15 off 7) andVirat Kohli (26 off 20). Till the dismissal of Kohli, who was ruled LBWagainst spinner Tabraiz Shamsi in the third delivery of the 10th over,

India had already scored 108.Dhawan made the most of the ill-disciplined bowling from Chris Mor-ris, Dala and Andile Phehlukwayo, who were allowing the 32-year-old to free his arms on the leg side. A failed scoop attempt of a slowerdelivery from Phehlukwayo ended Dhawan's innings as Klassen divedfront to removed the danger. Later, Manish Pandey (29 not out off 27),Mahendra Singh Dhoni (16) and Hardik Pandya (13 not out) took Indiapast the 200-run mark.

Star India wins rights for IPL, domestic cricketMUMBAI, (IANS) Star India Pvt. Ltd on Monday won the rights for audio-visual production services for the Indian Premier League (IPL)and BCCI domestic cricket for the 2018-19 season. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had invited Request For Proposal(RFP) documents for services relating to the live production of all matches for IPL Season 2018 and Domestic season 2018-19. Theservice agreement and the contract term will cover one season of the IPL (2018) and one season of domestic cricket (2018-2019). TheBCCI, however, reserves the right to extend the term for one more season of IPL (2019) and one more season of domestic cricket(2019-2020) and at its discretion, further extend the term to include IPL season 2020, as provided for in the service agreement.

Indonesia aims to complete Asian Games preparations by JuneJAKARTA, (IANS) The government of Indonesia says it expects to finish all preparations for the Asian Games, including infrastructureconstruction, match preparation and other measures by June, Vice President Jusuf Kalla confirmed here on Monday. Kalla revealedthat all work, including construction of spor ting venues, in Indonesia's capital Jakar ta and in Palembang city, the provincial capital ofSouth Sumatra, is on the right track and has not faced significant obstacles, repor ts Xinhua news agency. "We have completed 90 percent of construction projects of spor t venues in Jakar ta, and all others located elsewhere are already completed," he said. Kalla alsosaid that preparation work had been sharpened af ter the holding of test events from February 8 to 15 in Jakar ta. We noticed someplaces where progress was needed and things that must be improved," he added. In terms of sponsorship, Kalla said that the figureshad exceeded targets and that the amount of funds and tax collected are in line with contracts. "There is nothing to be worried about,"he stressed. Indonesia was awarded the 18th Asian Games in September 2014, after the original host, Vietnam, pulled out foreconomic reasons. The 18th Asian Games are scheduled to be held from August 18 to September 2.

Khsitij dropped finally, Kalra on stand byNEW DELHI, (PTI) The DDCA senior selection committee finally dropped controversial pick Khsitij Sharma from the 15--memberDelhi squad for the knock out stage of Vijay Hazare Trophy. However, U-19 World Cup hero Manjot Kalra has been kept on standby withyoung left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi taking Khsitij's place. Khsitij, who had been included in the squad during Syed Mushtaq Ali T20tournament, has attracted a lot of negative attention as he was included bypassing proven per formers. There were strong allegationsthat he was included at the behest of a senior DDCA official, who wanted him to get an IPL contract. Interestingly, Delhi played him oneT20 game in which he failed and he landed a Rs 20 lakh contract with Chennai Super Kings.

KOHLI SET TO BREAK ALLRECORDS, INDIAN CRICKETON RIGHT PATH: VISWANATHKOLKATA, (IANS) Heaping praise on skipper Virat Kohliand the entire Indian team, batting great and former Indiacaptain Gundappa Viswanath has said cricket in the coun-try is on the right track with the U-19 team also winningthe World Cup and the eves on an upwardspiral."Everyone knows what he (Kohli) is doing, it's ab-solutely brilliant. Consistency is amazing, the hunger forruns...and the aggressiveness..I hope he continues inthe same vein. His confidence is telling on his team, theteam is also doing well," Viswanath told reporters on thesidelines of an event."India will play mostly away now, but the confidencethey are showing augurs very wel l for the Indianteam."Asked about the U-19 team winning the World Cupin New Zealand recently beating Australia, Viswanathsaid Indian cricket is on the right path with the women'steam also doing so well in South Africa."Winning againstthe Aussies in the final shows the system is very good. This iswhat Indian cricket needs and they are in right direction. The women'steam is also doing well so it shows that Indian cricket isin good shape."The Mithali Raj-led eves won the three-match ODI series 2-1 in South Africa and in the five T20s,have triumphed in the first two.Coming to Kohli, the 29-year-old amassed 558 runs toguide India to a 5-1 victory in the recently-concludedOne-Day Internat ional (ODI) ser ies against hostsSouth Africa. He has already scored 35 centuries in208 ODIs.Kohli became the first batsman ever to score500 or more runs in a bilateral ODI series. Kohli's sixinnings in the series were 112, 46 not out, 160 not out,75, 36 and 129 not out. Quizzed going by the way he isbatting, if he can break Sachin Tendulkar's record of100 centuries, Viswanath said, "He is showing thatbecause of his consistent performances and gettinghundreds every now and then. It 's a tall order andrecords are meant to be broken. I think Sachin will behappy if he breaks that feat. Still long way to go."OnKohli's captaincy, the 69-year-old, known for his styl-ish batting and late-cut, said the results have under-lined his acumen.

ARSENAL SIGNS RECORD5-YEAR SPONSORSHIP DEALWITH EMIRATES AIRLINELONDON, (IANS) Arsenal signed a record sponsorshipdeal for another five years with their current par tnerEmirates airline, the English Premier League club an-nounced on Monday. The London club and the Dubai-based airline first signed a sponsorship contract in2006, and on Monday extended the deal until the endof the 2023/2024 season for an undisclosed sum, re-por ts Efe."Our shir t par tnership is the longest running in thePremier League and one of the longest relationshipsin world spor t," Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidissaid. "This mutual commitment is testimony to thestrength and depth of our unique relationship. Emir-ates are again demonstrating their great belief in ourapproach and ambition and their significantly increasedinvestment will help us continue to compete for trophiesand bring more success to the club and our fans aroundthe world," he added.

YUKI JUMPS 11 PLACES TO 101IN ATP SINGLES RANKINGSNEW DELHI, (PTI) Yuki Bhambri has jumped 11 places tostand just outside the top-100 bracket in the men's singlesrankings, following his runner-up finish at the ChennaiOpen Challenger tournament.Bhambri had squandered a match point against Australia'sJordon Thompson to settle for 48 ranking points and USD4240 in prize money. With this jump, Yuki is now ranked101 and is followed by Ramkumar Ramanathanm (140,+1), Sumit Nagal (216, +1) and left-hander PrajneshGunseswaran (242, -1). Yuki had achieved his career-best rank of 88 in November 2015.In the doubles category, Rohan Bopanna (20) and DivijSharan (42) were unchanged but Leander Paes lost twospots to be placed 49. He was followed by his par tnerPurav Raja (57). In the WTA rankings, Ankita Raina con-tinues to be India's number one singles players at num-ber 255, a loss of two places, and was followed by KarmanKaur Thandi (281, -3). In doubles, out of action SaniaMirza was unchanged at number 14 in the world.

MidWeek 23MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012

MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018 s p o r t s

Canada to have T20 league on the lines of IPL

FEB 21, WEDSouth Africa vs India, 2nd T20I

SuperSpor t Park, Centurion 11:00 AM

FEB 24, SATSouth Africa vs India, 3rd T20I

Newlands, Cape Town 11:00 AM

INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA 2018 - 6 ODIS,3 TESTS, 3 T20S JAN 05-FEB 24

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS [25 players]MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo. Karn Sharma, Shane Watson, Shardul Thakur, AmbatiRayudu, Murali Vijay, Harbhajan Singh, Faf Du Plessis, Mark Wood, Sam Billings, Imran Tahir, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner,Lungisani Ngidi, Asif K M, N Jagadeesan, Kanishk Seth, Monu Singh, Dhruv Shorey, Kshitiz Sharma, Chaitanya Bishnoi

DELHI DAREDEVILS [25 players]Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, RahulTewatia, Mohammad Shami, Gautam Gambhir, Trent Boult, Colin Munro, Daniel Christian, Jason Roy, Naman Ojha, Prithvi Shaw,Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Avesh Khan, Abhishek Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Harshal Patel, Manjot Kalra, Sandeep Lamichhane, SayanGhosh

KINGS XI PUNJAB [21 players]Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit SinghRajpoot, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Singh Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath,Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS [19 players]Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Kar thik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla,Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, CameronDelpor t, Javon Searless, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi

MUMBAI INDIANS [25 players]Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Pat Cummins, Evin Lewis,Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Cutting, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar, Pradeep Sangwan, Jason Behrendor ff, Jean-Paul Duminy,Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Dhillon, Akila Dhananjaya, Nidheesh M D Dinesan, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Dinesh Lad, MayankMarkande, Sharad Lumba, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan

RAJASTHAN ROYALS [23 players]Steve Smith, Benjamin Stokes, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Jofra Archer, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane,Darcy Shor t, Rahul Tripathi, Dhawal Kulkarni, Zahir Khan Pakteen, Ben Laughlin, Stuar t Binny, Dushmantha Chameera, AnureetSingh, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Midhun S, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Jatin Saxena, Ankit Sharma, Mahipal Lomror

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE [24 players]Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Sar faraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Brendon McCullum, WashingtonSundar, Navdeep Saini, Quinton De Kock, Mohammed Siraj, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Colin De Grandhomme, M. Ashwin, Par thiv Patel,Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Pavan Deshpande,Anirudha Ashok Joshi

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD [25 players]David Warner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Manish Pandey, Rashid Khan Arman, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Siddarth Kaul, Deepak Hooda,Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Kane Williamson, Carlos Brathwaite, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Shreevats Goswami, Mohammad Nabi,Chris Jordan, Basil Thampi, T Natarajan, Sachin Baby, Bipul Sharma, Syed Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Bhui, Tanmay Agarwal

IPL 2018: COMPLETE SQUADS OF EIGHT TEAMS

BEAST WORK HARD BUTWINGS TAKE IT 4-2BRAMPTON: Jordan Henry made his return to thelineup but the Kalamazoo Wings would defeat theBrampton Beast by a score of 4-2. On a snowy night inBrampton the Beast welcomed the Kalamazoo Wingsto the Powerade Centre for Pucks and Paws night.TheWings got off to a hot star t and scored a goal on Beaststar ter Andrew D'Agostini at 3:35. Anton Cederholmgot the puck in the slot and out-waited D'Agostinibefore finding twine. Kalamazoo would score againlater in the period. Aaron Irving would fire a wrist shotthrough traffic that would elude D'Agostini and give theWings a 2-0 lead at 13:32. Despite a late push in theperiod from Brampton, the Beast would head into thefirst intermission down 2-0 and trailing in shots by acount of 11-10.Needing a spark in the second, theBeast turned to Luc Blain. Paul Cianfrini worked thepuck out of the corner and Blain was able to scoop itup. He picked his corner and roofed it over Wingsgoaltender Michael Garteig at 6:10.

BEAST COMEBACK FALLSSHORT IN WORCESTERWORCESTER, MASSSACHUSETTS - Brampton Beastdefenseman Reggie Traccitto had a three-point nightwith a shorthanded goal and two assists but theWorcester Railers scored three goals in the firstperiod and added singles in the second and third tooutlast the Beast 5-3 at the DCU Center in Worcesteron Saturday night. After a scoreless opening half ofthe first period, the Railers quickly found their scoringtouch. Chris Langkow scored on a shor thanded 2-on-1to open the scoring at 12:07. Barry Almeida made it 2-0 off a feed from Langkow at 16:05. Just over a minutelater, Matt Lane struck for a power play tally at 17:08.The goal marked the end of the night for Beast star terAndrew D'Agostini, who allowed three goals on 13shots in 17:08 of ice time.

DRIEDGER STANDS TALL ASBEAST DEFEAT WALLEYEBRAMPTON - Brandon MacLean scored an empty netgoal to ice the game and Chris Driedger made 23stops as the Brampton Beast defeated the ToledoWalleye 3-1 on Tuesday night. The Brampton Beasttook on the Toledo Walleye from the Powerade Centrein a rare Tuesday night game. Toledo has hadBrampton's number this season, but it was the Beaststriking first on Tuesday. Brandon Marino curled offthe sideboards deep in the Walleye zone. He surveyedthe front of the net and threw a pass that was con-verted in front by David Vallorani. That made it 1-0Brampton at 12:17. The rest of the period was prettyeven until the last minute, when the Beast star ted topress once again. Jackson Leef sent the puck toNathan Todd who whipped it towards the front of thenet. Defenseman Cody Donaghey was the recipientand redirected it past Walleye star ter MatejMachovsky to give the Beast a 2-0 lead with fiveseconds left in the first. Brampton would head into theintermission up 2-0 but trailing in shots 9-7.

PAKISTAN HOCKEY TEAMTO VISIT INDIA FOR 2018WORLD CUP IN NOV-DECNEW DELHI - Pakistan will travel to India to take par t inthe Hockey World Cup which is schedule to be played inBhubaneshwar in November-December this year. Thisends the speculation of Pakistan not coming to India toplay the World Cup due to hostile political relations be-tween the two countries. India last hosted the HockeyWorld Cup in 2010 in which Pakistan played.Pakistan had failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cupwhich was played in The Hague, Netherlands and theirreturn to the premier competition is a positive sign forPakistan and Asian hockey. They qualified for the tour-nament by finish seventh at the Hockey World LeagueSemi-Finals in London and then getting the benefit of theEuroHockey Championships.The World Cup in India will be played from November 28to December 16 and India will be looking to give a goodperformance at home. Their one and only title winningrun came way back in 1975 but since then they have notwon the gold medal. Pakistan, on the other hand, are themost successful team in tournament history, having wonthe title a record four times. They also have two silver-medal finish. Pakistan won the title in 1971, 1978, 1982and 1994. Two other teams - Netherlands and Australia- have won the gold medal on three occasions each.

TORONTO, (IANS) With the population of Indian, Pakistani and Carib-bean immigrants growing fast here, Canada could have its own ver-sion of the Indian Premier League T20 cricket soon. Indian-originToronto businessman Roy Singh, who has interests in gold explora-tion in Guyana, says his mission is to launch the Canadian PremierLeague. "I have watched the huge success of the Indian PremierLeague and we can do the same in Canada and the US," said RoySingh, who has already set up the Canadian Premier League T20 toset the ball rolling for T20 cricket in this country.In fact, he did a test run in Montreal for the proposed Canadian Pre-mier League some time ago. The only thing coming in the way is thelack of infrastructure for cricket, he said. To address this problem,Singh has undertaken to build an indoor stadium near Niagara Falls."We are buying 153 acres of land for building the indoor stadium. It isjust eight minutes from Niagara Falls. It is a big-budget venue," hesaid. The fully operational Canadian Premier League will have 27matches every season. "We will have 10 teams in two divisions."Singh said: "As a cricket-loving businessman, I see a big businessoppor tunity in T20 cricket. But a lot of costs are involved... you needa stadium to bring fans and star t broadcasting." Like the IPL, theCanadian Premier League will bank on sponsorships, merchandis-

ing, gate collections and broadcasting rights to become profitable, headded. "Broadcasters can get an estimated 27 million viewers inNor th America alone. We will also sell broadcasting rights in India,the Caribbean and elsewhere," Singh said. Singh also added, "Iknow Viv (Richards), Richie (Richardson), Clive (Lloyd), DeneshRamdin, Dwayne Bravo, etc.." And he plans to bring top cricket-ers from the West Indies to promote the Canadian Premier League.Canada staged its first T20 national league in May 2008. Interest-ingly, Canada was the first country to play a Test match way backin 1844. It was a three-day match played against the US fromSeptember 25-27 of that year at St George's Club in New York,with Canada winning by 23 runs. However, in cricket book records,the first Test match is the one between Australia and England inMelbourne in 1877. Moreover, cricket was Canada's official spor tmore than 150 years ago before it was dethroned by NHL. And thespor t's governing body -- the Canadian Cr icket Association -- wasset up in 1892. But cricket has staged a major comeback in the coun-try as many first-class players from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka andthe Caribbean have moved to this country. In 2008, the Canadian gov-ernment also recognised cricket as a national spor t with promises offederal funding.

Pakistan Super League 2018 trophy unveiled in DubaiDUBAI: The wait for the third edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is almost over: before the cricketing action gets underway fromFebruary 22, a ceremony to unveil the glittering winners' trophy was held in Dubai. The silverware for the tournament was unveiled tothe public at the Dubai International Stadium. The trophy was received by the captains of the PSL teams and carried to the ceremonyby defending champions Peshawar Zalmi skipper Darren Sammy. Speaking in the ceremony, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman NajamSethi said that today is a big day for the Pakistan cricket, adding that he is grateful to the captains for par ticipating in the tournament.Sethi notably said in the press conference: "Imad Wasim is in my eye as somebody who can lead Pakistan in future."

GOLD MEDALIST CHOI MINJEONG OF SOUTH KOREA, SILVER MEDALIST LI JINYU OF CHINA AND BRONZE MEDALIST KIM BOUTIN OFCANADA AFTER WINNING LADIES' 1500M OF SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING AT PYEONG CHANG WINTER OLYMPICS.

24 MidWeek MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2018

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