Page 116 - Sports
CWC'19: Kane Williamson steers New Zealand to four-wicket victory over South Africa
Kane Williamson played a knock of 106 runs as New Zealand defeated South Africa by four wickets in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match in Edgbaston on Wednesday.Chasing 242, New Zealand lost its opener Colin Munro (9) pretty early in the chase. The left-hander was dismissed in the third over by Kagiso Rabada. Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson retrieved the innings for Kiwis as the duo put on 60 runs for the third wicket.Guptill was dismissed in the most bizarre fashion in the 15th over. Guptill (35) tried to play a pull shot off Andile Phehlukwayo, but the right-hander completely lost his balance and he ended up being hit-wicket. Ross Taylor (1) and Tom Latham failed to leave a mark and their departure left New Zealand in a spot of bother as the team was reduced to 80/4, still needing 162 more runs for the win. Chris Morris was the chief destructor with the ball as he dismissed both the Kiwi batsmen.Jimmy Nesham and Williamson steadied the innings for New Zealand as the duo ...
Giampaolo appointed AC Milan coach
Former Sampdoria boss Marco Giampaolo has been appointed new coach of AC Milan on a two-year deal, the Serie A side announced on Wednesday. The 51-year-old, who will take over on July 1, also has an option of a third year as part of a deal reported to be worth two million euros annually. "Giampaolo will now coach AC Milan's first team on the first day of the new season's training at Milanello on July 9th," Milan said in a statement. Giampaolo replaces former player Gennaro Gattuso who quit last month amid reports of financial cutbacks after leading the club to a fifth-placed finish in Serie A. Sporting director Leonardo also left the club with former players Zvonimir Boban and Paolo Maldini brought in as part of an overhaul at the seven-time European champions. Giampaolo led Sampdoria to ninth-place last season having previously coached Empoli, Brescia and Cagliari. Milan will have a tight transfer budget due to Financial Fair Play restriction and are also in a legal battle with UEFA .
Boost for women in IOC's Tokyo boxing plan
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday unveiled its plan for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics' boxing tournament which it is organising in place of amateur boxing's troubled governing body the AIBA. The IOC stripped the AIBA of the right to run the sport at next year's Games in May after an investigation into alleged serious mismanagement at boxing's crisis-ridden ruling authority. The IOC's blueprint sees a significant boost in the number of women boxers to 100 out of 286, almost treble the 36 that took part at the Rio 2016 Olympics. The Tokyo Games will feature eight men's and five, up from three, women's categories. The plan is due to be ratified by the IOC this week. Qualification, split between four continents - Africa, Europe, Asia/Oceania and Americas, will be held between January and May, the IOC's director of sport Kit McConnell said, with a final chance to secure a ticket to Tokyo at a world championships. In contrast, the upcoming AIBA-run world championships in ...
Williamson's ton virtually knocks South Africa out of World Cup
Skipper Kane Williamson struck a composed unbeaten century as New Zealand virtually knocked South Africa out of the World Cup with a four-wicket victory in a last over finish here Wednesday. Chasing a target of 242 in 49 overs in rain-truncated match, New Zealand recovered from a mini slump at 137 for five riding on a 91-run stand between Williamson (103 not out off 138 balls) and Collin de Grandhomme (60 off 47 balls) to reach home with three balls to spare. Needing 12 off last seven balls, Williamson steered a Lungi Ngidi slower delivery to third man boundary to bring down the equation to 8 off the last over. With Ngidi (1/47), Kagiso Rabada (1/42) and Chris Morris (3/49) all bowling their full quota, Faf Du Plessis had no option but to use their weakest link Andile Phehlykwayo. Williamson promptly hit the second delivery for his first six of the match to close the encounter. With this win, New Zealand for a day went on top of points table with nine points from five games while ...
Who has the best haircut? BCCI asks fans
BCCI has a question for cricket fans. It wants to know who the cricketer with the coolest haircut is in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.The cricketing body, in a tweet, gave four options to the fans to choose from. The names include all-rounder Hardik Pandya, skipper Virat Kohli, wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal."Who's haircut is the coolest? #TeamIndia," BCCI tweeted.The fans made their opinion known to the world as most of them favoured Dhoni for having the best haircut.IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings came in support of their skipper Dhoni, saying, "#Thala Pola varuma?"\One user tweeted the pictures of Dhoni's hairstyle evolution over the years and replied, "What new hairstyle dhoni sir is going to take after winning this world cup?"Another user said: "One and Only @msdhoni."India has so far won three matches in the World Cup. They have defeated South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan whereas their match against New Zealand had gotten abandoned
CWC'19: ICC approves Pant as Dhawan's replacement
ICC on Wednesday approved wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant as a replacement for injured batsman Shikhar Dhawan in India's squad for the remainder of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.BCCI in a statement said that the Event Technical Committee of the World Cup approved the replacement.The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.The Event Technical Committee of the tournament consists of Geoff Allardice (ICC, ETC chairman), Campbell Jamieson (ICC representative), Steve Elworthy (CWC representative), Alan Fordham (host representative), Harsha Bhogle and Kumar Sangakkara (both independent representatives).Earlier in the day, Dhawan expressed his gratitude to Indian cricket fans, saying it is time for him to go back and recover after getting ruled out of the remainder of the 50-over tournament.In a video shared by Dhawan on Twitter, the left-hander batsman said: "Unfortunately, my ...
Prabhat Maurya replaces banned Rasikh Salam in India U19 squad
The BCCI on Wednesday withdrew Jammu & Kashmir pacer Rasikh Salam from the India Under-19 squad and banned him for two years for submitting a faulty birth certificate. The BCCI named Prabhat Maurya as his replacement in the squad for an ODI tri-series, to be held in England from July 21. "Rasikh Salam has been banned by the BCCI for two years following a discrepancy submission of faulty birth certificate to BCCI," BCCI said in a release. Salam had made his first class debut for Jammu and Kashmir against Guwahati in December 2018 and also played Mumbai Indians in the 2019 IPL season. Salam has taken seven wickets and scored 45 runs in two first class games he has played. He became only second cricketer from J&K to play in IPL when he featured in a match against Delhi Capitals, becoming youngest cricketer, aged 17, to play for MI. Parvez Rasool was the first cricketer to play in IPL. He had played for Pune Warriors and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The revised U19 squad: Priyam Garg ...
Ganguly's ailing mother discharged from hospital
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly's septuagenarian mother Nirupa Ganguly, who was hospitalised a couple of days back because of a heart ailment, has been discharged Wednesday. "She is doing fine now and has been discharged from hospital today," Ganguly's elder brother Snehasish Ganguly said. Earlier in the day at function here, Ganguly confirmed that his mother was hospitalised with a heart ailment. "She's under observation," Ganguly, who has returned from his World Cup commentary assignment, said on Wednesday. The iconic Bengal cricketer is scheduled to return to England on Tuesday, ahead of India's match against West Indies.
Sports minister Kiren Rijiju felicitates Indian archers
The Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday felicitated the Indian archery contingent for their performance at the World Archery Championships held in Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.The Minister congratulated the archers for winning an Olympic quota for Tokyo 2020 and bagging three medals in the Championship."Our men's and women's archery teams have just come back from the World Championships and I am very happy that the men's team has already won an Olympic quota, and even the women archers are very confident. India has traditionally been very strong in archery and if we can win Olympic gold in the sport then we will be able to prove that," Kiren Rijiju said."The government is going to extend all assistance to these players, and also to those who have performed well in other sports and have the potential to win an Olympic medal. We will provide whatever support the athletes ask for - be it in coaching or technical facilities," the minister added.Besides ...
Hashim Amla becomes second-fastest batsman to register 8000 ODI runs
South Africa opener Hashim Amla on Wednesday became the second-fastest batsman to register 8000 One-Day International (ODI) runs.The 36-year-old added the new feather to his already illustrious cap during the World Cup match against the New Zealand at Edgbaston.In the 12th over, Amla, on 23, ran double and reached the milestone in his 176th innings in the format.The right-hander now sits behind India captain Virat Kohli, who achieved the feat in his 175th innings.The top five include South Africa's AB de Villiers (182), Sourav Ganguly (200) and Rohit Sharma (200).Cricket South Africa (CSA) took Twitter to laud their "very own" Amla, saying, "The Proteas very own @amlahash is in amongst some distinguished names in the game."Amla went onto smash his fifty before Mitchell Santner bowled him for 55. The South African's innings saw four boundaries.
8 member team to represent India in Asian Artistic Gymnastics
An eight-member team will represent India at the eighth Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships which started in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Wednesday. The team comprises of four men and as many women gymnasts. Rakesdh Kumar Patra, Yogeshwar Singh, Debang De and Arik Dey will represent India in the men's competition while Pranati Nayak, Shraddha Talekar, Pranati Das and Papiya Das will figure in the women's section. According to a release from the Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI), all the gymnasts in the men's and women's section will perform on all the apparatus (6 apparatus in men's section and 4 in women's categories). Only the best three scores on each apparatus will be considered for team score. The tournament starts Wednesday with two days of qualification-cum-team finals followed by two days of apparatus finals. A total of 19 nations are participating in the Championships -- 15 in men's section and nine in women's.
Time to go back and recover, says Shikhar Dhawan after getting ruled out of CWC'19
Shikhar Dhawan on Wednesday expressed his gratitude to Indian cricket fans, saying it is time for him to go back and recover after getting ruled out of the remainder of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup due to a left thumb injury.In a video shared by Dhawan on Twitter, the left-hander batsman said: "Unfortunately, my thumb won't be recovering on time. I really wanted to play the World Cup and represent my country. Now it's time for me to go back and recover well and be ready for the next selection."The opening batsman further said that he is sure India will do good and win the World Cup trophy. Dhawan also asked fans to continue their support and signed off, saying, "Love you all, take care.""I'm sure boys (are) doing a great job at the moment and going to do really great and win the World Cup. Keep praying for us and keep supporting us. Your support and prayers are very very important and very dear to us. Thank you all again for all your support and love. Love you all, take care," he ..
PCB denies rift between players and coach
The PCB on Wednesday denied speculated rift between some players and coach Mickey Arthur, a day after a Pakistani news channel claimed that chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq was sent to England to act as a peacemaker between the two 'warring parties'. The news channel also claimed that some players have lodged a complaint with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) about the behaviour of Arthur and made it clear they were not going to accept the coach's domination. It further claimed that some players are not even on talking terms with the coach. The Board, however, has strongly denied the claims, saying Inzamam's departure for England was delayed due to office procedures but it had been decided beforehand that he would travel to the UK and be involved in the selection process. Interestingly, in Pakistan cricket, the norm has been that the selection committee picks up the touring squad and then a tour selection committee, including the captain, coach and at times the manager, finalises the ...
After losing arm, Zimbabwean footballer returns to pitch
At first glance, Zimbabwean footballer Hardlife Zvirekwi looks like any other member of his football team as he dribbles fast down the wing, but just last year he lost an arm in a car crash. Once a regular in the national side, Zvirekwi's playing days looked over when his left arm was badly crushed as his car smashed into trees while he tried to avoid a speeding vehicle that cut across him. But he has fought his way back to full health -- and back into Zimbabwe's domestic top-flight CAPS United team. "It put me on the sidelines when I least expected it. It really had an impact on my career at a time I was looking forward to another great season," he told AFP on the sidelines of a strenuous training session. "Many people thought that was the end of my career." Zvirekwi, who will be closely following his former teammates in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt, said he had to learn new ways to play the game after losing the limb. "Football is a contact sport and there are times
Clinical New Zealand restrict SA to 241 for 6
New Zealand bowling unit fired in unison as they restricted South Africa to 241 for six in a rain-truncated a World Cup encounter here Wednesday. The match was reduced to 49-a-side affair after wet ground outfield delayed the start. Despite half centuries from Hashim Amla (55 off 83 balls, 4x4s) and Rassie van der Dussen (67 not out off 64 balls, 2x4s, 34x6s), the Black Caps managed to keep the South African batsmen under tight leash. Lockie Ferguson (3 for 59 in 10 overs) was the most successful bowler for New Zealand, while Colin de Grandhomme (1/33 in 10 overs) turned out to be the most economical. De Grandhomme and left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner (1/45 in 9 overs) maintained tight discipline during the middle overs and did not allow any opposition batsmen to get away. Van der Dussen and David Miller (36 off 37 balls) added 72 runs for the fifth wicket in 12.2 overs but facing a must-win situation, South Africa could never really up the ante. Van der Dussen hit two fours and ...
Australia planning to nullify Shakib threat, says Carey
Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey says the defending champions will target Bangladesh dangerman Shakib Al Hasan when the two sides meet at Trent Bridge on Thursday. Shakib's brilliant century helped the Tigers complete the second-highest World Cup chase in a seven-wicket win over the West Indies in Taunton on Monday. The 32-year-old allrounder, who is the tournament's leading run-scorer with 384 runs, also hit a century against England earlier in the tournament and has been among the wickets. When Bangladesh beat Australia in a 2005 one-day international in Cardiff, it was widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in cricket history. But they are now an established force and, having beaten both South Africa and the West Indies already at this tournament, they are pushing for a semi-final berth. "We've obviously put our time into Shakib and all the players at the top of the order as well as their bowling," Carey said on Wednesday. "He's in probably career-best form with the white ..
Robert Moreno appointed as Spain's football coach
Luis Enrique stepped down as Spain's football coach on Wednesday and in his place, Robert Moreno has been appointed as the coach of the national team.Enrique stepped down from the post of the coach due to personal reasons, and he previously missed the most recent international fixtures, Goal.com reported."Luis Enrique has informed us that he will not continue as coach. I have to thank him, he has behaved with the RFEF in a '10' manner, we do not have the slightest rebuke. Our doors will always be open to him," Goal.com quoted Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales as saying."The decision of the RFEF is to trust Robert Moreno as the coach. He will continue on the same duration of the contract that was already signed. He will be in charge of taking us to Euro 2020 and of doing a good job if we qualify," he added.Enrique held the reins of Spain for 11 months. Moreno was a long term assistant to Enrique.Spain has changed managers quite often recently and they terminated Julen
World C'ship Archery: Praveen Jadhav bags silver for India
Archer Praveen Jadhav along with Tarundeep Rai and Atanu Das bagged silver medal for India in the recently concluded World Championship Archery, held in the Netherlands.The tournament, which takes place every two years, ran from June 10 to 16. Jadhav, who returned on Tuesday in the evening, said that Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju not only congratulated his team but also asked what all support he needs for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics."In this world championship, there was an Olympic qualification. India won the silver medal as we lost to China. He (Rijuju) congratulated us and asked what all the support we need going forward. He also wished for our good practice," Jadhav told ANI.In a tournament consisting of 12 participants, Jadhav, Rai, and Das beat the hosts of the event, Netherlands, before going down against China, eventual champions. The Netherlands settled at the fourth position as they were defeated by Korea.Maharashtra-born Jadhav started playing archery in 2012 but stepped on the .
Minerva dent Chennaiyin's knock-out round chances; goalkeeper suffers injury
Mohammed Rafi struck a last minute goal to snatch a 1-1 draw for Chennaiyin FC against Minerva Punjab in their penultimate group match of the AFC Cup here Wednesday but the result dented the team's chances of qualifying for the knockout stage. Samuel Lalmuanpuia gave the 'hosts' Minerva the lead in the 62nd minute and the former I-League champions were on the verge of posting their maiden win in the AFC Cup, but Rafi shattered the Punjab side's hopes by scoring the equaliser in 90th minute here at the India Gandhi Athletics Stadium here. With Abahani Dhaka beating Manang Marshyangdi of Nepal 5-0 in another Group E match in the Bangladesh capital, Chennaiyin dropped down to second place with eight points from five matches. Abahani jumped to top spot with 10 points from five matches while Minerva, who have so far drawn all their five matches, are out of the tournament. If Chennaiyin have to qualify for the Inter-Zone play-off semifinals, they need to beat Manang Marshyangdi in their ...
PCB chief Mani assures Pakistan team of full support
Even as fans, critics and former players continue to lash out at the national team's performances in the ongoing World Cup, the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ehsan Mani has assured captain Sarfaraz Ahmed of the board's full support. A PCB spokesman confirmed that Mani had called up Sarfaraz on Tuesday and spoken to him about the team and remaining matches of the World Cup. "The Chairman assured Sarfaraz that the board and nation is behind the team and they should try to focus on the matches ahead and give their best," said the spokesperson. Mani apparently told Sarfaraz that the nation has faith in the team despite the defeats and wanted the players to bounce back strongly in remaining matches. Pakistan has won just one match in five outings in the World Cup so far. Mani will be going to England soon as a guest of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as he was the former chairman of the world body. A reliable source in the government said that Prime Minister Imran ...