Page 1086 - Sports
No need to press panic button: Sarfraz Ahmed post Asia Cup debacle
After Pakistan's Asia Cup debacle, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed has assured of making required changes in the team while adding that there is no need to press the panic button.The 31-year-old further stated that their disappointing performance in the prestigious tournament has set off an alarm bell for his captaincy as well, but admitted that they need to retrospect, collectively."Changes will happen but I don't think we need to press the panic button. I accept the mistakes we've done as a team. We have to back these guys. Of course, we will have to look at which players are best suited to which positions and whether there are players outside the team who can play a role," the Express Tribune quoted Ahmed, as saying."This kind of performance set off alarm bells for me as a captain and for the team overall. We will have to sit down and see what went wrong and try to fix things," he added.Speaking about the team's overall performance, the wicketkeeper-batsman said that a lot of the star ...
VAR to be used in Champions League from next season and at Euro 2020
Video Assistant Referees will be used in the Champions League from the 2019-20 season and will also be introduced at the 2020 European Championship, UEFA said on Thursday. European football's governing body revealed a decision had been taken at a meeting of their executive committee to bring in the technology, which will be used from the playoff round preceding the group stage of the Champions League. It will also be used in next year's UEFA Super Cup and in the Europa League from the 2020-21 season. In addition, it will be used in the finals of the new Nations League competition, although only from 2021. UEFA's move follows the use of VAR at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, when it was deemed largely to be a success. "We're confident that introducing VAR in August 2019 will give us enough time to put in place a robust system and to train match officials to ensure an efficient, successful implementation of VAR in the UEFA Champions League, the world's flagship club competition," UEFA ...
Korea Open: Saina in women's singles quarters
Maintaing her winning spree, shuttler Saina Nehwal entered the quarter-finals of the Korea Open 2018 here on Thursday.
Madrid to host new-format Davis Cup in 2019 and 2020
Madrid has been chosen to host the first two new-format Davis Cup finals in 2019 and 2020, the organisers of the venerable men's team tennis event said Thursday. Under a format proposed by the Kosmos group, headed by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, and adopted by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in August, the competition will bring together 18 nations in one place for a week at the end of the tennis season. "We are delighted to be bringing the 2019 Davis Cup... finals to Madrid," ITF president David Haggerty said in a statement. "The city is a fitting location to stage the highest quality tennis and great entertainment for thousands of fans from all over the world," he added. The revamped finals are scheduled to take place at La Caja Magica, the current venue for the Madrid Open, in 2019. For 2020 organisers still must decide between holding the event either at the same location or at the WiZink Center. Kosmos, an investment group led by Pique with Japanese and Chinese ...
India to host first deaf ICC World T20 in November
India will host the Deaf ICC T20 World Cup in November this year. The tournament will be hosted by the Deaf Cricket Society (DCS), the apex governing body, it was announced on Thursday.
Wuhan Open: Barty beats Pavlyuchenkova, enters semis
Australia's Ashleigh Barty rallied late in the third set to eliminate Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from the Wuhan Open quarter-finals here on Thursday.
Saina sails into Korea Open quarterfinals
India ace Saina Nehwal progressed to the quarterfinals of the USD 600,000 Korea Open after seeing off Korea's Kim Ga Eun at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament here Thursday. Former world number one, who had won a bronze at the Asian Games and gold at Commonwealth Games this year, defeated Kim Ga Eun 21-18 21-18 in a 37-minute women's singles pre-quarterfinal. Fifth seed Saina will cross swords with 2017 world champion and third seed Japanese Nozomi Okuhara. Saina has a 6-3 head-to-head count against the Okuhara but she has lost to the Japanese in the last two meetings. The Indian made a rampaging start, jumping to a 10-2 lead but Kim narrowed the gap to 8-11 at the break. After the breather, Saina continued to move ahead, grabbing a 16-10 lead but the Korean reeled off six straight points to draw level at 18-18. However, Saina ensured there were no hiccups, grabbing the required three points to pocket the opening game. Kim came back strongly in the second game, surging to an 8-1 .
Roland-Garros tennis club to come to Wuhan in 2019
French Consulate General here has confirmed Roland-Garros Tennis Club will open in this city next year.
Mushfiqur credits Mithun for playing positively under pressure
Bangladesh's wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has credited his fellow teammate Mohammad Mithun for playing a 'positive' game under pressure against Pakistan in their virtual semi-final of the ongoing Asia Cup.The duo had built a brilliant 144-run partnership against Pakistan which had helped their side to put up a respectable total on the board."He (Mithun) is a very positive guy. So I can't tell him to play for the dot balls. I told him to back himself and make sure that in the first five-six overs, we just assess the situation, don't worry about the run rate. We have from the 11th till 40th overs with one fielder up, and you can easily target one bowler and you can easily have some boundaries over there," ESPNcricinfo.com quoted Rahim, as saying."I think the wicket was a pretty good one, so no need to take any undue risks. He complimented me very well and I really enjoyed the way I talked with him and batted with him both times," he added.After losing the early wickets in the ..
Queretaro eliminate Sinaloa from Copa MX with 2-1 home win
Queretaro has defeated Dorados de Sinaloa, coached by Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, in the Copa MX round of 16.
Korea Open: Nehwal breezes into quarter-final
Former world number one Saina Nehwal booked her spot in the quarter-final of the ongoing Korea Open by defeating Kim Ga Eun of South Korea in the pre-quarters of the women's singles event here on Thursday.The 28-year-old thrashed her South Korean opponent 21-18, 21-18 in a clash that lasted 36 minutes.Displaying a dominating performance in the match, the Indian shuttler did not break much sweat as she registered a convincing win in both the games.Making a strong start to the first game, Nehwal opened with a dominating 6-1 lead. As the scoreline reached 10-2 in India's favour, the South Korean earned four consecutive points to lessen the point gap to 10-6.Ga Eun continued with her attacking shots and made a spectacular comeback by leveling the game 16-16. Following the setback, Indian shuttler rose to the occasion and collected three back to back points to again shift the momentum to her side by clinching the game 21-18.The second game started on the same note as the first one but this
Spain beat Senegal in Women's Basketball World Cup
The Spanish women's basketball team defeated Senegal 63-48 and moved to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Women's Basketball World Cup.
Juventus still unstoppable; Roma ends losing streak
Leaders Juventus remain unstoppable, beating Bologna 2-0 to continue with full points from six Serie A First Division rounds, while Naples beat Parma 3-0 and Roma broke their losing streak with a win against Frosinone 4-0.
Sevilla dominate Real Madrid 3-0
Sevilla thrashed Real Madrid 3-0 as the Blancos suffered their first defeat of the 2018-19 La Liga season and lost a change to climb over archrival Barcelona into the top spot.
Shahid Afridi 'disappointed' over Pak's Asia Cup ouster
Former Pakistan T20I captain Shahid Afridi has expressed disappointment over the team's ouster from the ongoing Asian Cup following their defeat against Bangladesh in the virtual semi-final of the prestigious tournament.Taking to Twitter, Afridi congratulated the Bangladeshi side for making it to the finals and criticized Pakistan for lacking attacking mindset in the match. He further suggested the men in green to focus more on practice and make a stronger comeback."Congratulations Bangladesh. Disappointed by Pakistani team's overall performance. Lacked attacking play of cricket in all fields. It's a young side who performed well in the last tournaments and set r expectations high. More focus n practice is needed4a stronger comeback #HopeNotOut," Afridi wrote.Bangladesh had thrashed the Pakistani side by 37 runs in the match to set up a final clash against India for the trophy.India and Bangladesh are slated to face each other in the final of the Asia Cup on September 28.
Usain Bolt feels he is 'improving' in football
Former Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who recently joined A-League club Central Coast Mariners to pursue his dream of playing football, has said that his touch in the game is getting better and he feels like he is steadily improving in football.The 31-year-old, who is currently attempting to earn a contract with the Mariners, further stated that he is aiming to play as much as he could to hone his skills."I feel like I'm improving. My touch is getting better, I've got a while to go but with more training and more dedication to my craft I will be fine," Sport24 quoted Bolt, as saying."Getting more minutes in games is the aim. I think that's the aim for any football player, you want to play as much as you can," he added.Bolt had made his debut for the Mariners last month and had appeared again for the club on Tuesday during a friendly match against North Shore Mariners.Reflecting on his game, Mariners coach Mike Mulvey said that Bolt is showing progress and they are ready to give him ...
Angelo Matthews axed for England ODIs
Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews has been dropped from the limited-over format team for their upcoming five-match ODI series against England.The move came two days after Mathews was removed as the captain of the Sri Lankan ODI team following a widespread criticism over the team's disappointing performance in the ongoing Asia Cup.Lanka had made an early exit from the ongoing prestigious event after slumping to defeats against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Group B.While batsman Kusal Mendis and fast bowler Suranga Akmal failed to book their spot in the team following a poor run in the limited-over format, pacer Nuwan Pradeep and wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella got a call back to the squad, ESPNcricinfo.com reported.Sri Lanka are slated to play a five-match ODI series against England from October 10 to October 23.Following are the full Sri Lanka squad for the England ODI series:Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (c), Upul Tharanga, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya de ...
India to cross swords with top seed US at Chess Olympiad
It's going to be a big and crucial match on Thursday for the fifth-seeded Indian open chess team, led by former World Champion Vishwanathan Anand, as it crosses swords top seed and defending champions US at the 43rd World Chess Olympiad at Batumi in Georgia, a senior chess player and coach said.
Tiger ready for first-tee tension and big crowds at Ryder Cup
Tiger Woods expects some nervous excitement when he steps on the first tee for the trophy-holders United States against Europe in the Ryder Cup before 7,000 screaming spectators at Le Golf National. The 14-time major champion snapped a five-year win drought last weekend to cap a successful comeback season from spinal fusion surgery and will be the star attraction when the biennial team showdown tees off Friday morning. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be an awesome environment," Woods said. "There's a lot of nerves. It's excitement. It's something we don't get to experience in that regard because basically it's the final round of a tournament on the very first hole and every match you tee it up. "It's a different atmosphere and one that we absolutely love." The huge grandstand will create a crucible for Woods and his American teammates to start En Avant, the opening 419-yard par-4 hole known as Go Ahead in English. Tee shots will be critical to setting up approaches as water comes
Hazard's brilliance seals Chelsea win at Liverpool in cup
In a formidable display of skill and speed, Eden Hazard slalomed past Liverpool players before scoring the goal that sealed Chelsea's progress in the League Cup. The winger's sixth goal in seven appearances ended Liverpool's perfect start to the season with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday at Anfield. And the teams have a swift reunion, with Chelsea hosting unbeaten early front-runner Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League on Saturday. Emerson Palmieri leveled after Daniel Sturridge gave Liverpool the lead in the 58th minute before Hazard's mesmerizing winner in the 85th minute. The Belgium winger went past two Liverpool players around the halfway line before sending the ball through Robert Firmino's legs to Cesar Azpilicueta on the right flank. The Spaniard returned the ball to advancing Hazard, who went past three players, cut inside and sent a shot across goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and into the net. "For sure it's on top of the list (of goals) also because it's Liverpool," ...