UAE’s Sharjah Stadium Renames Stand after Sachin Tendulkar

India's Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot against Australia during the second cricket test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 6, 2012. (Reuters)
India's Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot against Australia during the second cricket test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 6, 2012. (Reuters)
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UAE’s Sharjah Stadium Renames Stand after Sachin Tendulkar

India's Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot against Australia during the second cricket test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 6, 2012. (Reuters)
India's Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot against Australia during the second cricket test, at the Sydney Cricket Ground January 6, 2012. (Reuters)

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium has honored India batting great Sachin Tendulkar on his 50th birthday by naming a stand after him.

The venue in the United Arab Emirates held a ceremony for the former India captain on Monday, announcing that the "West Stand" had been renamed the "Sachin Tendulkar Stand".

Tendulkar smashed 143 runs against Australia at the stadium in April 1998 in a One-Day International dubbed "Desert Storm" after play was disrupted for 25 minutes due to a sand storm.

His knock guided India to the tri-series final against Australia, which India won by six wickets with Tendulkar striking 134 runs on his 25th birthday.

"I can't forget his birthday celebrations," said Khalaf Bukhatir, the chief executive of Sharjah Cricket. "It mesmerized the whole audience and I feel lucky to have been there.

"That day is not just special to Sachin but special to everyone who witnessed it."

The Sydney Cricket Ground also paid tribute to Tendulkar on Monday, unveiling a set of gates named after him and West Indies batsman Brian Lara.

Tendulkar retired from the professional game in 2013 after notching a still unmatched 100 international centuries in a glittering 24-year career.



Olympic Champion Hall Jr. Receives Replicas of 10 Medals Lost in LA Fires

US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. (L) holds one of the original medals as he is presented with repilicas of his Olympic medals by IOC President Thomas Bach during a handover ceremony after the originals were destroyed with his house in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, at the Olympic House in Lausanne on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Denis Balibouse / POOL / AFP)
US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. (L) holds one of the original medals as he is presented with repilicas of his Olympic medals by IOC President Thomas Bach during a handover ceremony after the originals were destroyed with his house in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, at the Olympic House in Lausanne on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Denis Balibouse / POOL / AFP)
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Olympic Champion Hall Jr. Receives Replicas of 10 Medals Lost in LA Fires

US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. (L) holds one of the original medals as he is presented with repilicas of his Olympic medals by IOC President Thomas Bach during a handover ceremony after the originals were destroyed with his house in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, at the Olympic House in Lausanne on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Denis Balibouse / POOL / AFP)
US swimmer Gary Hall Jr. (L) holds one of the original medals as he is presented with repilicas of his Olympic medals by IOC President Thomas Bach during a handover ceremony after the originals were destroyed with his house in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year, at the Olympic House in Lausanne on May 5, 2025. (Photo by Denis Balibouse / POOL / AFP)

Multiple Olympic swimming champion Gary Hall Jr. received replicas of his 10 Olympic medals on Monday after the originals were destroyed during the Los Angeles wildfires in January.
The medals were presented to him by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach during a ceremony at the Games ruling body's headquarters in Lausanne, Reuters reported.
"Thank you for the medals," Hall Jr. said in a brief speech. "Never before have 10 Olympic medals been replaced. Probably because no one has lost 10 medals before. I will do a better job at taking care of these.
"The realization through this process that outweighs any sense of loss is this word of solidarity and what it means which cannot be taken away."
Hall represented the United States at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics, winning five gold, three silver and two bronze medals in Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.
The 50-year-old was forced to leave the medals behind at his Pacific Palisades home during the fires which tore through the Los Angeles area.
"When we were reading your tragic story of losing your house and all your possessions and all your worldly properties, this was going straight to our heart," Bach said.
The wildfires killed at least 29 people and destroyed large sections of the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods in Los Angeles, displacing tens of thousands of people.
It is estimated to be the most expensive natural disaster in US history.
Los Angeles will host the next summer Olympics in 2028.