Page 1084 - Sports
Mourinho's Pogba feud takes spotlight, Hazard set for Liverpool rematch
Jose Mourinho's astonishing feud with Paul Pogba will take another twist when Manchester United's warring duo head to West Ham, while Chelsea's Eden Hazard bids to inflict more misery on Liverpool. On any other weekend, the showdown between Premier League leaders Liverpool and title rivals Chelsea at Stamford Bridge would be the centre of attention. But United manager Mourinho is embroiled in a clash of egos with France midfielder Pogba that threatens to derail his side's season. Mourinho and Pogba were filmed in a heated discussion at United's training ground on Wednesday, just 24 hours after the World Cup winner was told he would no longer be the team's vice-captain. The volatile Pogba reportedly infuriated Mourinho by making it clear he wants to join Barcelona and poured fuel on the fire when he criticised the manager's cautious tactics in last weekend's draw with Wolves. With United players said to be taking sides on the row, Mourinho is facing a toxic situation that could divide .
Europe bid to quell Woods frenzy as Ryder Cup begins
Tiger Woods, playing in his first Ryder Cup since 2012, will be the star attraction in Friday's morning fourballs as holders the United States attempt to end a 25-year drought on European soil. Over 60,000 fans are expected to flock to Le Golf National, just outside Paris, for the first Ryder Cup held in France, where 14-time major champion Woods received a prolonged, rousing reception at the opening ceremony. He will partner the talented, yet brash Patrick Reed in the anchor match of the opening session, which begins with an intriguing matchup pitting Justin Rose and Jon Rahm against Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau. "It's going to be fun for both of us. We've been looking forward to teaming up and doing something like this together," said a reinvigorated Woods, coming off his first win in over five years at last week's Tour Championship. "We finally have our opportunity to go against two great competitors." An intimidating 6,900-capacity grandstand surrounds the first tee with scores ...
Mumbai: Mike Tyson gets heroic welcome on maiden India visit
Amid tight security, former American boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson landed in Mumbai in the wee hours of Friday on his maiden visit to India.Accompanied by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's personal bodyguard Shera, Tyson received a heroic welcome from his desi fans, who gathered at the Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport to welcome the boxing legend."I feel happy to see Mike Tyson in person. He is my idol," said one fan.Tyson has arrived in India to inaugurate the Kumite 1 League at the National Sports Club of India in Worli. The first global team Mixed Martial Arts league will start on Saturday with India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) match.
India look to clinch seventh Asia Cup title
India would be aiming to lift the Asia Cup trophy for the seventh time while taking on Bangladesh in the final of the prestigious tournament at Dubai International Stadium on Friday.Rohit Sharma-led side have been dominant in the tournament so far, having won all the matches except for their last Super Four clash against Afghanistan, which ended in a tie.Bangladesh, on the other hand, will also be riding high on confidence after producing a spectacular performance in their virtual semi-final against Pakistan on Wednesday.Mashrafe Mortaza-led side, however, suffered a major setback before the final clash as their all-rounder Shakib-Al-Hasan was ruled out of the contest following a finger injury.Earlier, they had lost their opening batsman Tamim Iqbal on the opening day of the tournament due to a wrist fracture.Indian batting line-up, which was looking incomplete in the absence of their full-time skipper Virat Kohli, has performed exceptionally well with openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit
National Jr wrestling meet to start on Friday
The Tata Motors Junior National Wrestling Championships (Under-23) will start here on Friday, it was announced on Thursday.
Chess Olympiad: Indian women win against Poland, men lose to US
The fifth seeded Indian womens team won the fourth round 3-1 against Poland in the 43rd World Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia.
Germany beat Turkey for right to host Euro 2024 By Ben Simon
Germany on Thursday won the race to host the 2024 European Championship as UEFA backed a bid seen as safer than a rival proposal from Turkey. Politics, national unity and respect for human rights in Turkey emerged as key themes in the campaign to host Europe's premier international football event. In the end the result was not close, with Germany winning the vote among UEFA's executive committee members by a margin of 12-4 with one abstention. UEFA considered that the German bid already had everything in place to host a successful event -- from stadiums to infrastructure and hotels. "We will do our utmost to live up to our expectations," German Football Association (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel said after the winner was announced at UEFA's lakeside Swiss headquarters. - 'Football can unify' - ======================== Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006, but has never staged the Euro as a unified country: West Germany hosted the competition in 1988. Thursday's win also offers a ...
India in AFC U-16 meet quarters for 1st time in 16 years
After 16 years, India progressed to the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 football championship as they played out a goalless draw against Indonesia in their final group stage match on Thursday.
Kontaveit tops Siniakova to reach Wuhan Open semi-finals
Anett Kontaveit of Estonia won 6-4, 6-4 over Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the quarter-final action on Thursday at the Wuhan Open, a WTA hard court event.
Vettel shrugs off mind games in Hamilton title pursuit
Sebastian Vettel has rejected the idea of using a sports psychologist to help him in his title fight with Lewis Hamilton and said on Thursday that he and Ferrari plan an unchanged approach. The four-time world champion German lies 40 points adrift of Mercedes' Hamilton ahead of this weekend's Russian Grand Prix after being swept aside by the dominant Briton in Italy and Singapore. But, he said, he and his team will not give up. "I think it's very simple from where we are," he told reporters Thursday. "We are some points behind and we need to catch up to make sure we stay there. That's our target and the best way to do that is to finish ahead, and ideally ahead of everybody. "So the plan doesn't really change. Obviously, at this point, we try to give it everything we have and I still believe that we have the chance. "I think we have a fair chance. We had races in the past that we should have won and we didn't. And we had others that we won -- (when) we shouldn't have. "You never know ..
Germany chosen over Turkey to host EURO 2024
The UEFA Executive Committee on Thursday chose Germany to host the EURO 2024 over Turkey, which failed for the fourth time to become a venue for the continental national teams' football tournament.
Sreeshankar shatters national record in long jump for season's world leading mark in U-20
Sreeshankar Murali of Kerala shattered the men's long jump national record with a big jump of 8.20m on way to winning the gold at the National Open Athletics Championships here on Thursday. The 19-year-old bettered the earlier national record of 8.19m which was in the name of Ankit Sharma made in Almaty in 2016. He came up with 8.20m in his fifth and penultimate jump. He also had a jump of 8.11m in his third attempt, which was also better than his previous personal best of 7.99m. His 8.20m jump is the world leading jump of the season among Under-20 athletes, bettering Cuban Maikel Yorges Vidal's 8.12m effort in June. Sreeshankar was selected in the Indian team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but just days before the big event he underwent an appendix surgery. In the recent Asian Games in Indonesia, he had finished sixth with a best jump of 7.95m in the final. Sreeshankar begun the competition strongly, clearing a distance of 7.95m in his very first jump. After fouling his second
Chittorgarh set to host National Junior Wrestling Championship
Big-time wrestling is coming to the fort city for the first time as the Tata Motors Junior National Wrestling Championships (U-23) gets underway here from Friday. The Under-23 championship, which will see participation of 633 wrestlers from 24 states, is also the first of its kind added to the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) calendar with a view to scout more talent and encourage young wrestlers to the sport. WFI, which allotted the tournament to Chittorgarh, said it will help Rajasthan unearth new talent from the state. Rajasthan, which hosted the Senior Nationals way back in 2008, also played hosts to Junior National earlier this year in February at Jaipur. Talking on the choice of Chittorgarh, Brij Bhushan Saran, President of the Wrestling Federation of India said that Rajasthan has the potential to present more wrestlers to the country. "Our interiors, especially bordering Haryana, has immense talent. We need to tap and bring them to the fore. Besides, in smaller cities ...
India enter quarterfinals of AFC U-16 Championship, first time in 16 years
India entered the quarterfinals of the AFC U-16 Championship for the first time in 16 years after playing out a goalless draw with Indonesia here Thursday, continuing the string of encouraging results in recent times. India ended their Group C engagements with five points from three matches. Their previous best performance came way back in 2002, when they finished the group stage with four points. With the draw, India finished runners-up in the group, and are likely to face Korea Republic in the next stage. Head coach Bibiano Fernandes termed the moment "special for Indian football fans". "We have worked really hard to get where we are and we are very happy with our performance in the group stages. The boys gave their cent percent on the field and we played according to our plan." Referring to the qualification to the quarters, Bibiano said, "This is a special moment for each and every one back home. The credit goes to all my staff, the grassroots coaches who tutored these kids at a ..
Ocon in talks with 'last option' William
Highly-rated French driver Esteban Ocon conceded on Thursday that Williams are his only realistic option for staying in Formula One next year. Ocon, who has impressed at Force India where he is expected to be replaced by Canadian Lance Stroll, had hoped to move to Renault, but that plan was wrecked when the French team signed Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull. Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend's Russian Grand Prix, Ocon rejected the suggestion that a move to struggling Williams would be a backward step. " I can't say it is a downgrade," he said, having confirmed that he is in talks with the British team. "Williams is a great team, they have been world champions in the past and they have been fighting with us hard last year. Sure, they have tough times, but all teams have tough times." When he was asked if he felt Williams were his last remaining option for remaining in Formula One, he said: "Sure, I think so." Ocon also rejected any thought of leaving Europe for ...
Pakistan drop struggling Amir from Australia Tests
Pakistan on Thursday left out struggling pace spearhead Mohammad Amir from the 17-member squad for the two-match Test series against Australia starting in United Arab Emirates next month. T he 26-year-old fast bowler, who returned from a five-year ban for match-fixing in January 2016, had a wicketless Asia Cup in which he was dropped for two matches. Pakistan crashed out of the Asia Cup after losing to Bangladesh, who meet India in the final in Dubai on Friday. Pakistan will heavily rely on its ace leg-spinner Yasir Shah who played a key role in the 2-0 win over Australia in UAE in 2014, when he took 12 wickets. Besides Yasir the squad has 19-year-old leg-spinner Shadab Khan and 33-year-old off-spinner Bilal Asif, who has yet to play a Test match but played three one-day internationals in 2015. Shadab has eight wickets in four Tests. Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said the team was selected keeping in mind the conditions in the UAE, where Pakistan had been forced to play its home ...
Sarfraz loses sleep after Pakistan's abject Asia Cup showing
Disappointed Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has revealed he lost sleep for six days during his team's flop at the Asia Cup. Pakistan lost their must-win game against Bangladesh by 37 runs in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, meaning they failed to qualify for Friday's final in Dubai. Bangladesh will face defending champions India in the final. Pakistan lost both their games against arch rivals India -- by eight and nine wickets -- while narrowly beating Afghanistan by three wickets. Sarfraz said the pressure of captaincy and not scoring runs led to some disturbed nights. "Look, the pressures of captaincy are always there," said Sarfraz. "Pakistani captains, whoever they are, always have pressure. "Obviously when you aren't performing and the team is losing then there is more pressure. The truth is that if I say I haven't slept for the last six nights nobody will believe me, but... this is part of life and it will go on." Sarfraz, who was appointed captain for all three formats last year, urged .
Germany wins bid to host Euro 2024
Germany has been named as the hosts for Euro 2024, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) confirmed on Thursday.Hosting a major international football tournament since the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Germany's bid prevailed over a bid from Turkey, thus prolonging the latter's wait to host a first major international football tournament.The Euro 2024 will also mark the first instance of the tournament being hosted in a united Germany. West Germany hosted the 1988 Euros.Under the supervision of an independent notary, the UEFA Executive Committee - comprising UEFA president Alexander Ceferin and 16 other members - cast their votes for the hosting rights.The winning bid was announced by Ceferin. Prior to the announcement, he said, "We had two very strong bids. Two big footballing countries fighting for the Euro, but unfortunately only one can host the Euro 2024."Former Germany and Bayern Munich captain Phillip Lahm was the German ambassador for the bid.As many as 10 German cities ...
My Asia Cup was won when Tamim batted with broken finger: Mashrafe
Bangladesh skipper Mahsrafe Mortaza Thursday had no hesitation in terming India a far better team but said "my Asia Cup was won" when Tamim Iqbal batted with one hand in their tournament opener. Dashing opener Tamim is one of the few key players Bangladesh will be missing in the final against India on Friday. Besides Tamim, Bangladesh will also miss the services of the seasoned all-rounder Shakib-al Hasan in the title clash here. To make matters worse for them, Mortaza, who has a broken finger, and Mushfiqur Rahim will be playing injuries. "Let me be honest, the moment Tamim entered the field against Sri Lanka as the last man to help Mushfiqur score those runs, my Asia Cup was won," Mortaza said at the pre-match press conference. Bangladesh lost to India in the final of the tournament in 2016, four years before that they were defeated by Pakistan in the summit showdown of the continental event. Asked if they have learnt from past mistakes during crucial games against India, he said, ..
PKL: Defender Joginder to lead Dabang Delhi in sixth season
Pro Kabaddi League franchise Dabang Delhi KC on Thursday announced Joginder Narwal as the captain for the upcoming sixth season.