Alex Loera, the former captain for the Santa Clara University women’s soccer team that captured the NCAA College Cup championship in 2021, was acquired as Bay FC’s first player on Wednesday morning.

The 24-year-old central midfielder is coming off an exceptional season with the Kansas City Current, who made Loera the 26th overall pick in the 2021 draft, though she returned to Santa Clara for a final year of eligibility after the pandemic and did not begin her professional career until 2022.

It only took one season for the Current to lock Loera into a three-year contract extension.

But Bay FC general manager Lucy Rushton said she had circled Loera as a priority acquisition, and when the team had the chance to acquire her in exchange for $175,000 in allocation money and protection in the expansion draft, Rushton was thrilled to pull the trigger.

“We could not have found a better player and a better person to become the first player in this franchise’s history,” said Rushton. “On and off the field, Alex epitomizes what we stand for and what we want with Bay FC.”

Rushton said Loera is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the league. The club expects her to play a defensive central midfield role, where she can showcase her tenacity and aggression she developed as a central defender at Santa Clara.

Having transitioned back to central midfield, her original role before she became a defender at Santa Clara, Loera has transformed into a complete player, Rushton said.

“She has every asset to be a fantastic central midfielder in this league,” the GM said. “She breaks lines and creates chances… She has composure on the ball, a desire to be on the ball and a desire to help us control possession and dictate the game through possession.”

Since hiring longtime Mountain View Los Altos (MVLA) coach Albertin Montoya as the club’s inaugural head coach, Bay FC has been on a mission to inform the public of its attacking-minded brand of football it hopes to play in its first season at PayPal Park, to begin in 2024.

Rushton has been quick to pull off some trades with other clubs who are trying to avoid losing players in the expansion draft, which will take place on Dec. 15.

One of those teams was Orlando, which sent its first-round pick (No. 8 overall) in next year’s draft to Bay FC in exchange for protection from the expansion draft and $50,000 in allocation money.

Rushton said she’s trying to pull off as many of those trades as she can in order to make it less stressful for players on other teams who are left unprotected during a three-day window before Dec. 15.

For now, Loera is the club’s only player.

“It feels a little weird right now being the only person on the team,” she said. “But Lucy and her team and everyone involved has a great soccer IQ so I can trust they’ll have other players that will make this season go so well and smoothly.”

At Santa Clara, Loera was named the defensive player of the tournament during the Broncos’ run to a title in 2021.

“I have some pretty special ties to the Bay Area,” she said. “As soon as I heard Bay FC would be a team in the league I was so excited, I was like, ‘I’m going to end up back here at some point.’”

Loera said she’s trying to recruit some of her former Santa Clara teammates who are now playing professionally to come join her.

Bay FC will train on the campus of San Jose State University and play its home games at PayPal Park, the 18,000-seat home to the San Jose Earthquakes of MLS.

“It’s going to be electric when we play there,” Loera said. “I’m looking forward to overcoming whatever is thrown at us and trying to win a championship in that first year.”

One is a jet-setting high-stakes poker player with a taste for fancy resorts, drinks and cars. Another is a blockchain and cryptocurrency entrepreneur.

They’ve teamed up before for an online gaming venture in Southern California that made millions. Now they’re betting they can do it again. But first they’ll have to sell skeptical tribal leaders and the Golden State’s wary voters — who rejected two sports betting ballot measures in California last year — on a plan to legalize sports books in what would become the largest U.S. market.

Whether Reeve Collins and Kasey Thompson’s 2024 California sports betting initiative campaign gets off the ground could be decided as soon as this week, when they pitch their plan Wednesday to California’s tribal gaming leaders — the same group of people who feel blindsided and disrespected because they weren’t consulted before the partners filed their proposals with state authorities last month.

“The legalization of sports wagering has been a contentious battle in the past, but if the proposition is structured properly and has significant tribal support, 2024 will be the year it passes,” said Collins, one of the proponents of the new sports betting initiative. “We are doing our best to make that happen.”

Added business partner Thompson, “this is not something put together lightly.”

“If I’m willing to fire $25 million in a few weeks” in a bid to qualify a ballot measure, Thompson said, “it shows I’m pretty prepared for this.”

But are others? The California Nations Indian Gaming Association represents 52 federally recognized tribal governments dedicated to the gaming industry. In a statement released the day the proposed initiatives were filed, the organization said that it was “deeply disappointed” the measure proponents didn’t reach out to tribal leaders first.

Tribal leaders have largely avoided further comment before hearing the pitch, but it’s not expected to be warmly received. Victor Rocha, a gaming industry strategist with the Pechanga Band of Indians in Temecula, home to one of the state’s largest casinos, has been sharply critical.

In social media posts after the initiative proposals were filed, he called the proponents “morons” and “idiots” and he’s cut them little slack since, calling their effort a “fool’s errand” last week. But he did say the proposal “opens the conversation” about a possible 2026 measure that would introduce sports wagering at tribal casinos and, eventually, online.

“The tribes will take an incremental approach,” Rocha said in a Nov. 8 post. “We will not be hurried.”

Thompson took that as an encouraging sign.

“I can assure you I will spend time with him to make sure he knows this is the best proposal he’s ever seen,” Thompson said, adding that while no tribal leader has endorsed the proposed ballot measure, none have formally voiced opposition.

The new online gaming proposal comes less than a year after California voters dealt tribal casino and online gaming interests crushing defeats of two November 2022 ballot propositions, despite record spending — nearly half a billion was raised to support or oppose the competing initiatives.

Proposition 26 would have allowed tribal casinos and some horse racetracks to offer sports books, while Prop 27 would have legalized online sports wagering through tribal agreements with proceeds funding programs for homelessness and mental health. The measures split the tribes, and political analysts said voters were put off by the bickering and confusion over dueling plans.

Thompson and Collins were previously involved in a successful online gaming platform — Pala Interactive — developed with the Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County. Nevada casino giant Boyd Gaming Corp. bought Pala Interactive a year ago for $170 million. Boyd Gaming and the Pala Band of Mission Indians said they aren’t involved with the proposed California initiatives.

“We’ve swam in these waters before,” said Thompson. His Instagram account describes him as one of the original “Molly’s Game” high-stakes poker players, and is filled with images of him in private jets, sports cars and at resorts and sporting events. He calls himself as an online gaming executive and “founder of amazing companies” with a passion for charities. He also cofounded All In Magazine, a poker industry trade publication.

Collins describes himself on LinkedIn as “a long-standing pioneer in both digital marketing and the Bitcoin/Blockchain space,” who co-founded BLOCKv, Tether and SmartMedia Technologies.

Thompson said the last-minute filing for a 2024 ballot measure was strategic and designed to eliminate the possibility of competing initiatives. He said their proposal would offer tribes a variety of ways to profit from sports books at no cost to themselves, as he and his partners are prepared to bankroll getting the measure before voters.

Thompson believes it would bring overseas sports books into the sunlight as legitimized operators, similar to what happened with PokerStars, now owned by FanDuel’s parent Flutter. Those overseas sports book are now profiting from gray-market gamblers in the Golden State without providing revenue to tribes or the state.

The event was hosted by CCA founders Hemant and Kinjal Buch, who launched the academy because they wanted their sons to enjoy the game of their childhood in India within the Silicon Valley community. In the ensuing two decades, membership has grown from 23 to over 400 in eight cities.

The CCA received special recognition at the gala from the office of Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), Cupertino City Councilmember JR Fruen and academy sponsors.

Kalra last month announced his intention to introduce an Assembly resolution to recognize and support the sport of cricket in California. Cricket is played all over the world, especially in South Asian countries, Commonwealth nations and the United Kingdom. It was recently announced that cricket will be played in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, one of five new sports to be included. The last time cricket was an Olympic sport was in 1900 in Paris.

CCA’s players of the year were awarded scholarships at the gala from the Arjun-Vohra Trust and Altius Strategic Consulting LLC to support students’ academic and cricketing pursuits. This year’s scholarship winners are Vritansh Velpula in the under 10 age category, Vihaan Apte in U12, Sai Kulkarni in U13-15, Suhrith Kaushik in U15-17 and Akshara Anand in the Girls Player Division.

For more information about the California Cricket Academy, visit www.calcricket.org.

The latest equine fatality was on Oct. 30, when 6-year-old thoroughbred Kind Of Gallant passed away during a training session, according to records from the California Horse Racing Board’s equine fatalities database. His cause of death has not yet been released.

Kind Of Gallant was the seventh horse to die within a 40-day span since late September at Golden Gate Fields, located along the shoreline at 1100 Eastshore Hwy. The track is slated to close next year.

Of the 72 deaths that have occurred across seven different California race tracks so far in 2023, roughly 20% have occurred at Golden Gate Fields.

However, there does not appear to be a consistent pattern connecting the deaths or any one trainer involved in a disproportionate number of fatalities at the storied racetrack, which has straddled the border between Berkeley and Albany since 1941.

The rising death toll has continued to raise concerns among the racing community, as well as stoke protests from animal rights advocates.

Officials with the California Horse Racing Board said this summer that recent efforts to increase safety measures — focused primarily on preventable, musculoskeletal injuries — have successfully protected more of the 8,000 to 10,000 horses that train and race at CHRB-regulated facilities each year.

The state recorded only 26 deaths by the end of the 2022-23 fiscal year on June 30; the death toll was 39 the year prior.

“That’s still too many fatalities,” CHRB chairman Greg Ferraro said in statement, “but it shows that all of the new regulations, policies, and procedures that we’ve introduced in cooperation with the industry have had a significant effect.”

Yet, Golden Gate Fields’ owner, the Stronach Group, abruptly announced in July that its Bay Area racetrack would permanently shutter. The company said the decision will allow them to “double down” on work running training facilities at San Luis Rey Downs’ and the Santa Anita Park racetrack.

The group recently extended Golden Gate Fields’ operations through June 2024, following months of industry negotiations and pending legislation that regulates revenue streams.

That closure timeline is still not fast enough to satisfy groups like Direct Action Everywhere and Stop Bloodsports, which have continued to advocate for Golden Gates Fields’ closure online and protest directly outside the racetrack.

ARCADIA — After horse deaths marred this year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and two more occurred days ahead of the world championships, safety at the Breeders’ Cup is under intense scrutiny.

For the first time, all 14 Cup races this weekend at Santa Anita will be run under the sport’s new national uniform set of medication and safety rules. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, created by Congress under the oversight of the Federal Trade Commission, is charged with keeping horses and jockeys safe.

The most extensive reviews of horses’ veterinary and treatment records in the 40-year history of the Breeders’ Cup will continue up to race day, with contenders subject to random physical exams at any time.

“We know equine fatalities is a complicated issue and that’s why we’re continuing to invest in resources,” Drew Fleming, president and CEO of Breeders’ Cup Ltd., said Wednesday.

Of course, rules and exams cannot guarantee something won’t go wrong with these high-strung athletes whose delicate legs support their 1,200-pound (544 kilograms) weight.

Geaux Rocket Ride was euthanized Wednesday, four days after getting injured during a workout at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old colt was being pointed toward the $6 million Classic on Saturday. His owner, Pin Oak Stud, said he didn’t recover from surgery for a condylar fracture of his leg.

Practical Move, a contender in the $1 million Dirt Mile, collapsed on the track after a gallop Tuesday. Breeders’ Cup officials said his death was due to “a suspected cardiac event.” A required necropsy will determine the official cause.

The Classic lost Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo, who was scratched Tuesday because of an issue with his left hind foot.

Trainer Jena Antonucci erred on the side of caution after the 3-year-old colt’s foot showed excess heat, which can be a symptom of more serious problems.

“As we have said since Day 1, it is horse first,” she said.

Arcangelo’s owner said the horse was being retired and will begin his breeding career in Kentucky.

Kentucky Derby winner Mage didn’t even make it to California. He spiked a fever and his trainer decided to skip the richest two days in North American racing.

“Timing stinks but lucky we caught it early,” co-owner Ramiro Restrepo posted on social media. “Can’t run at below 100%; horse comes first.”

Tragedy struck the Breeders’ Cup in 2019, the last time it was held at Santa Anita.

Mongolian Groom fractured his leg during the running of the Classic on national television and had to be euthanized. He was one of 42 horses that died at the track that year, prompting a series of safety and medication reforms.

“The thing we can take from that is we have learned a lot and we have improved our protocols,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, chief veterinary officer for 1/ST Racing, which owns Santa Anita.

She cited the December 2019 addition of a MILE-PET device, which is designed to image standing horses in an effort to reduce breakdowns.

“We’ve certainly made improvements. We just got to continue on that path,” said Lisa Lazarus, HISA CEO. “That’s really probably all we can say and do as an industry.”

There were 12 fatalities at Churchill Downs last spring, including on Kentucky Derby day. HISA’s investigation found no relationship between the deaths and the track surface, although the track followed HISA’s advice to move the rest of its meet to another location.

At the Preakness two weeks later, a horse trained by Bob Baffert had to be euthanized on the track after an injury. On Belmont Stakes day, a horse in an undercard race was euthanized.

With history in mind, 1/ST Racing is conducting periodic inspections and testing of all racing surfaces before the Breeders’ Cup. The results of those tests, including daily track and weather conditions, are shared with participants.

Among other measures in place are pre- and postrace testing, out-of-competition drug testing, blood and hair follicle testing, a 96-hour window of security surveillance leading up to the event and independent exams by up to 30 veterinarians as well as observation of each runner on a daily basis.

Controversy has enveloped HISA since it was signed into law by President Donald Trump in December 2020. It took over from the 38 U.S. racing states that had set their own rules and meted out punishment for decades.

HISA has been the subject of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. In September, new legislation was introduced in Congress to dismantle HISA and return power to the states to enforce the sport’s safety and medication rules.

“You’re taking livelihoods and making big sweeping changes and so there’s going to be an adjustment period, there’s going to be things that get messed up,” said Antonucci, who became the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race with Arcangelo’s victory in the Belmont Stakes.

“I feel they’re trying their absolute best to listen and shift and make meaningful changes for the long haul.”

Among the most scrutinized trainers at Santa Anita this weekend will be Rick Dutrow and Baffert, who leads all trainers in Breeders’ Cup purse earnings, with over $39 million.

Dutrow saddles White Abarrio in the Classic, his first Breeders’ Cup runner since he returned earlier this year from a 10-year ban for medication violations.

Baffert will saddle three horses in the $2 million Juvenile on Friday and six others, including early 3-1 favorite Arabian Knight in the Classic, on Saturday.

He has been banned the last two years from entering the Kentucky Derby, a race he’s won a record-tying six times, by Churchill Downs Inc. The company extended his ban to next year’s Derby, saying Baffert hasn’t accepted responsibility for Medina Spirit’s failed drug test after the colt won the 2021 race and was disqualified.

“I’m all for the testing,” Baffert told The Associated Press recently. “Our testing is probably the toughest (in all of sports).”

Noting the myriad changes California made after the spate of deaths in 2019, Baffert said the HISA rules are similar to what already has been in place in his home state.

“Change is hard in racing,” he said. “I can see every week they’re tweaking it for the better. They’re listening.”

Playing against Sporting KC in the MLS Western Conference play-in game on Wednesday night in Kansas City, the Quakes failed to score a goal and ended up tied after 90 minutes.

But there was no extra time to be played; the play-in games are designed to go straight to penalty kicks. And Sporting KC featured a goalie, Tim Melia, who entered the game with the highest PK save percentage (42%) in MLS history.

The Quakes struggled to score from the spot as they lost to KC, 4-2, in penalty kicks to see their upstart season come to an end.

“I like how we grew into the game,” said first-year coach Luchi Gonzalez. “If we were in extra time, I have no doubt we could’ve had a good effort to win it there if there were no PKs.”

Having finished their season with four straight draws and only one win in their last 11 games, this was exactly the result the Earthquakes must’ve feared.

The Quakes’ conservative, defensive-minded approach is what allowed them to bounce back from a last-place finish a year ago to earn the nine-seed under a new head coach. But when pressed with a must-win game in which they needed to get numbers up the field and push the ball forward, the Quakes struggled to get anything going.

And instead of moving on to a best-of-three series that would’ve guaranteed them their first home playoff game since 2012, and first in the history of PayPal Park, the Earthquakes will watch the rest of the postseason from home.

They weren’t expected to win this game, it should be said. They entered as three-to-one underdogs against a KC team that had finished the year with six wins in its last nine games after starting the season without any wins in its first 10.

Featuring a starting lineup stacked with players who consistently show a quality first touch, and a coach, Peter Vermes, who has been at the helm since 2009, Sporting KC looked like a team that would be tough to break down.

San Jose’s cautious approach, in which they defend with numbers and look for opportunities on the counter attack, offered them little in the first half, when they hardly sniffed any chances at goal.

Their best player all year, Cristian Espinoza was harassed all night and struggled to get any looks at goal. He did create one brilliant chance for Carlos Gruezo with a smooth pass right on the ground towards the penalty spot, but Gruezo shanked it early in the second half.

The bright spot of the game for San Jose was 20-year-old budding talent Cade Cowell, who struggled in the club’s final regular season game against Austin FC and started this game on the bench. But Gonzalez subbed him in for Mathew Hoppe in the 56th minute and Cowell looked dangerous every time he touched the ball.

He nearly scored on a brilliant individual effort when he outran three defenders from the left side of the box through the right side, but he waited a hair too long to capitalize and his shot was deflected wide.

“Cade came in with fantastic energy and confidence,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a great game for him where we’re trying to defend in lower blocks and create space behind and in isolation. He almost scored a great goal driving across the box.”

Other than Cowell, the Quakes didn’t have many players who looked dangerous in this one.

They spent most of the game putting numbers behind the ball on the defensive side. They were out-possessed, 60-40, and outshot, 18-5. They finished the game without a shot on goal.

Gonzalez felt like his guys could’ve had more chances if they took advantage of opportunities to cross the ball into dangerous areas, but the scoring chances rarely materialized.

“I’m proud of the execution and intention,” Gonzalez said. “We can’t control the outcome and the result. We can focus on what we can control. Our attitudes were excellent. We were aggressive. We were willing to work to get behind the ball. First half we had six or seven possessions in or around their box with the ability to cross the ball and with numbers. And we didn’t execute.”

In penalty kicks, Johnny Russell buried his effort to put KC up 1-0, but Espinoza’s first shot was parried by Melia, who made a diving stop to set the tone in the PK shootout.

San Jose captain Jackson Yueill skied the Earthquakes’ second attempt way over the goal and they couldn’t recover.

Melia is “a good keeper on PKs,” said Earthquakes forward Jack Skahan, who converted his opportunity but it was too late to save his squad. “PK shootouts, it’s kind of a crapshoot. It’s tough. The conversation is to be confident, go up there with confidence, try to bury it. Bring energy. And I think we did that. PKs are just a tough way to end the game.”

Call it the Jimmy Conrad Derby.

The former United States Men’s National Team captain began his MLS career in San Jose and won an MLS Cup with the Earthquakes in 2001 before he was traded to KC. He said he’ll be watching Wednesday’s game like a “mom who just wants both teams to have fun.”

The Earthquakes infamously dealt Conrad to Kansas City for a second-round draft pick after the 2002 season. It was in KC that Conrad became an MLS legend, being named to the All-Star team six times, earning four MLS Best XI selections and being named the 2005 MLS Defender of the Year.

Today, Conrad calls the Bay Area home. He’s the technical director and an assistant coach for the San Francisco Glens, a minor league soccer team, and he’s a friend of Earthquakes head coach Luchi Gonzalez. The two played together briefly in San Jose more than 20 years ago.

But when it comes to which side Conrad favors, he’s a bit nervous to say that Kansas City has his heart.

“My time in San Jose was awesome,” he said by phone this week. “Then I got traded away. I never saw it coming. I don’t hold it against them. But when I went to KC I blossomed. I accomplished so much when I was there. I’m in their Hall of Fame. If you go to their stadium, my name is up there. As much as I love what San Jose has done for me as a player and my continued relationship now, I still have a lot of tethered to my time in KC. I have to say KC is my club.”

Still, Conrad said he’s been impressed with how quickly the Quakes bounced back from being the worst team in the Western Conference last year to making a playoff appearance this season, Gonzalez’s first as the head coach.

“Having been on the Quakes when Luchi got drafted to us, there was something about him,” Conrad said. “He was a student of the game. The details mattered to him. I really appreciate that about him then and I probably appreciate it even more now that he’s the coach. You can see his personality on the team. There’s a sense of care and a warmth to him. Luchi is a special human being.”

The Quakes will have their hands full going up against KC on Wednesday night. San Jose won an early-season matchup, 3-0, back in April, then KC got revenge with a 3-0 win at home in August.

KC is entering Wednesday’s game as one of the hottest teams in MLS, having won six of its last nine contests.

“Kansas City has done really well, and we recognize that,” Gonzalez said Tuesday. “Probably the perception and the expectation out there is that because we’re not home and they are, and with their form and their talent, that we aren’t supposed to get through. We’ll embrace that. It’ll drive our motivation and mentality.”

Gonzalez’s club hasn’t won a game since Sept. 16, having tied in four consecutive matchups to squeeze into the playoffs as the No. 9 and final seed.

“With four consecutive ties it proves that they have some resilience to them, they know how to stay in games,” Conrad said. “If they’re not playing well they can still grind out results. But can they take their chances when they come? There’s something to be said that they haven’t been beaten in a little while. You need that. You need to be tough.”

In their most recent appearance in the MLS Playoffs in 2020, the Quakes also played against KC and lost in penalty kicks, 3-0.

Wednesday night, there will be no extra time. If the game is tied after 90 minutes, it goes straight to PKs.

“That first goal is so important,” said Conrad. “If they can go get that first goal that really changes KC’s approach and I wonder what that looks like. You have to punch them first.”

The winning team will move on to play against the top-seeded St. Louis City FC in a best-of-three series that begins on Sunday in St. Louis. Either San Jose or Kansas City will host the second game of the series. The Quakes haven’t hosted a playoff game since 2012 and have never hosted a playoff game at PayPal Park.

They finished their regular season 10-14-10. Argentinian winger Cristian Espinoza led the squad with 13 goals and 13 assists, participating in 67% of the team’s goals, tied for highest in MLS this season and the highest percentage in club history.

Sporting KC, which began the year without a win in its first 10 matches, finished the season 12-8-14. They’re led by Mexican forward Alan Pulido, who has a career-high 14 goals in 28 games.

The game can be streamed globally on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV or be heard on local radio via 810 AM (English) and 1370 KZSF (Spanish).

The Quakes will also be hosting a watch party at Old Wagon Saloon in San Pedro Square.

The 55-year-old Retton is now in “recovery mode,” according to Schrepfer.

“We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us,” Schrepfer wrote. “But baby steps.”

The family disclosed earlier this month that Retton — who became the first American female gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Los Angeles Games — was “fighting for her life” and unable to breathe on her own.

Donations have poured into a fundraiser the family set up to help offset Retton’s medical expenses after the family said she didn’t have medical insurance. There’s been more than 8,300 donations totaling nearly $460,000 by Monday afternoon.

Retton was 16 when she became an icon of the U.S. Olympic movement during her gold medal-winning performance at the 1984 Summer Games. The native of Fairmont, West Virginia, also won two silver and two bronze medals at those Olympics to help bring gymnastics — a sport long dominated by eastern European powers like Romania and the Soviet Union — into the mainstream in the U.S.

The death of Bedi, who underwent multiple surgeries over the last two years that included a knee operation a month ago, was confirmed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India on Monday.

“The BCCI mourns the sad demise of former India Test Captain and legendary spinner, Bishan Singh Bedi,” the BCCI wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and fans in these tough times. May his soul rest in peace.”

Born in Amritsar on Sept. 25, 1946, Bedi was part of the famous Indian spin quartet with Bhagwath Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan in the 1970s.

Bedi earned his 266 wickets in 67 test matches, at an average of 28.71, with best innings figures of 7-98 and best match figures of 10-194. His last test match was against England at the Oval in 1979. At the time of his retirement, he was India’s leading wicket-taker before being overtaken by Kapil Dev a few years later. He averaged under nine runs in tests as a right-handed batter but had a highest score of 50 not out.

He played only 10 ODIs between 1974-79, picking up seven wickets.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes, saying on X: “His passion for the sport was unwavering and his exemplary bowling performances led India to numerous memorable victories.

“He will continue to inspire future generations of cricketers. Condolences to his family and admirers.”

Bedi made his test debut against West Indies on the last day of 1966, and took 21 wickets in a home test series against Australia at the end of 1969. He kept on troubling major test playing nations before eventually succeeding Mansoor Ali Khan as India skipper in 1976. His first win as test captain came at Port-of-Spain when India reached 406-4 in a historic chase. He led India 22 times in total, winning six of them.

Geoff Allardice, chief executive of the International Cricket Council, said Bedi was one of the masters of flight and turn.

“I would like to extend heartfelt condolences from everyone at the ICC to the family of one of the greats of the game and one whose exploits in test cricket will be remembered for a long time,” Allardice said. “He was the kind of spinner who could excel in different conditions and would have been one of the greats in any era.”

Known for wearing colorful patkas and a graceful delivery hiding devastating variety, Bedi was outspoken on the field and often got embroiled in controversies.

In 1976 he declared India’s second innings early at Kingston to protest hostile bowling by Caribbean fast bowlers. With three Indian batters already out of the game after being hit by West Indies pacers, Bedi claimed there weren’t enough fit players available to come out and bat. West Indies eventually won the test match by 10 wickets.

Bedi also criticized Sri Lanka spin great Muttiah Muralitharan for his bowling action. He refused to compete in Kerry Packer’s lucrative World Series Cricket in 1978 and claimed that he was approached by the rebel cricket league.

But his love for the game was clear, even when on the receiving end. Cricinfo.com website said Bedi “often applauded batters when they hit him for six.”

Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, was attacked late Wednesday in a music club in Gdansk, a city in northern Poland, according to the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries.

Gdansk is a neighboring city to Gdynia on the Baltic coast.

“I am outraged that such a shameful situation has occurred. Violence and aggression are unacceptable and must be opposed,” Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek said Sunday on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Fortunately, the police quickly caught the attacker. We wish the player good health!”

The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match where the Gdynia team defeated rivals from Switzerland, BCF Elfic Fribourg, 77-47.

The president of the Gdynia club, Boguslaw Witkowski, said in an interview with the Polish state news agency PAP that the player was attacked near the women’s restroom by a security guard.

PAP also quoted a police spokesperson who said the attacker, a 48-year-old man, was arrested on Friday.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports