Page 1287 - Sports
Serena withdraws from Montreal after lopsided loss
Former world number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from next week's WTA tournament in Montreal citing "personal reasons," organizers said Saturday. "Of course, we are disappointed that Serena will not be joining us," tournament director Eugene Lapierre said in a statement, noting that despite the 23-time Grand Slam winner's absence, all of the top 10 players in the world are in the draw for one of the key tuneups for the US Open. With Williams' withdrawal, Germany's Tatjana Maria gains direct entry into the draw. She'll face France's Alize Cornet in the first round. The winner of that match could face fourth-seeded Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber in the second round. Williams, 36, battled back from life-saving surgery after giving birth to daughter Olympia in September, reaching the final at Wimbledon, where she was beaten by Germany's Kerber. On Tuesday, Williams endured the most lopsided defeat of her WTA career when she fell 6-1, 6-0 to Briton Johanna Konta in San Jose, ...
Adam Peaty breaks own 100m breaststroke world record
Adam Peaty broke his own world record for the 100 metres breaststroke on Saturday with a time of 57.00 seconds in the final of the event at the European Championships in Glasgow. The 23-year-old shattered the mark of 57.13 he set at the Rio Olympics two years ago. Peaty remains the only man in history to go under 58 seconds over the distance. The Olympic gold medallist struggled to reach his own lofty standards at the Commonwealth Games, pipped to the 50-metre breaststroke title and failing to show his best form in the 100m.
Kohli says maiden century in England 'doesn't matter in larger picture'
India captain Virat Kohli today said his maiden century in England "doesn't matter in the larger picture" as his personal glory was overshadowed by the visitors' 31-run defeat in the opening Test. "When the focus is on the larger picture, these things don't matter," he told BBC Test Match Special when asked about his 149 in the first innings of the first Test. "Back in the day I used to think about playing in different conditions, different countries, but when you become captain it's about taking your team across the line. You are able to bat longer than you would have done otherwise and the ability you have inside just unleashes because you're not focused on your personal milestones," said the skipper, who went on to score 51 in the second innings. After scoring the memorable hundred, Kohi had rated his knock second to the 141 he recorded against Australia at Adelaide in December 2014. At the post-match presentation, the captain said that the batsmen must improve going into the ...
It has been pretty tough, says Curran on losing father as teenager
Today was about triumph but Sam Curran has known tragedy early in his life when he lost his father, an episode that moulded him into a cricketer of steely resolve. The youngster attributed his leading role in England's victory in the opening Test to the experience of losing his father as a teenager and playing cricket with his brothers. "It has been pretty tough," Curran told reporters when asked about the death of his father. "I was still young when it did happen, but I've got a very strong family -- both my brothers, we're all very close, and my mum's very supportive of all our cricket. I think it made us stronger as a family and me stronger as a person." His father Kevin played for Zimbabwe and appeared in 11 ODIs during the eighties. He passed away at a young age for the brothers, and Sam outlined how the tragedy only spurred him to do better in life. He was 12 then. "I do take that into my game. I just play naturally, and try to take as many chances as I can. I don't really think
BWF World C'ship: Sindhu defeats Yamaguchi, to face Marin in final
Ace Indian shuttler P. V. Sindhu on Saturday defeated world no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan 21-16, 24-22 in straight sets to book a berth in the final of the BWF World Championships against Spain's Carolina Marin.Despite losing out points early in both the sets, world no. 3 Sindhu held her nerve till last moment in the close semi-final encounter. This is her second consecutive entry into the final of the world championship.Yamaguchi started off well taking a lead over Sindhu, however, the Indian shuttler didn't let go of her previous games momentum and soon took away the lead from her Japanese opponent to win the first set 21-16.While Sindhu was trailing 12-19 in the second set, she soon managed to level the game and clinched the set 24-22.Sindhu earlier defeated Japan's Nozomi Okuhara in the quarter-final after outclassing her South Korean opponent Ji Hyun Sung 21-10, 21-18 in the pre-quarters clash.The third-seeded will not meet the reigning Olympic champion Marin in the final on ...
Ricardo scores twice as Jianye beat Quanjian
Portugal forward Ricardo Vaz Te scored twice as Henan Jianye inflicted the second Chinese Super League defeat on Tianjin Quanjian this month.
Kohli should take some responsibility for India's loss: Hussain
Former England captain Nasser Hussain said India skipper Virat Kohli was phenomenal with the bat in the first Test but questioned his captaincy, saying "he should too take some responsibility" for the 31-run loss. "Kohli was phenomenal in this game. He deserved to be on the winning side for the way he played with the tail. He singlehandedly brought India back into the Test match. I do think he should take some of the responsibility for the loss, though," Hussain told Sky Sports. "England were 87-7 with Curran and Adil Rashid at the crease and for some reason Ravichandran Ashwin went out of the game for an hour. India lost control then - he needs to look back on his captaincy and say 'when I've got a bloke who averages 19 against left-handers and a 20-year-old left-hander on strike, why did I take him off?," Hussain asked. Kohli waged a lone battle by scoring 149 and 51 in the game as the other batsmen let the team down. Talking about the enthralling battle over four days, Hussain said
Edgbaston game was fabulous advert for Test cricket: Root
England captain Joe Root today said the seesawing opening Test against India was a great advertisement for cricket's traditional format and urged the once calling it "dead" to watch the game on replay. The Edgbaston match was the England men's team's 1000th game. "Fabulous advert for the game of cricket, isn't it? Anyone that says it's dead can just come and watch this on repeat. What a game," Root said at the post-match press conference. England beat India by 31 runs after they successfully defended 194, claiming early lead in the five-match series. "This morning we spoke about showing the belief and desire that we had done in in the previous three days. If we stayed calm and trusted all the previous areas we'd been bowling then we'd get our rewards. "I think we did just that so I'm really proud of the group. It sets the series up nicely and looking forward to Lord's now," Root said. Like Ravichandran Ashwin in the opposite camp, the English skipper too defended his batsmen, saying ..
Looked to learn from how Virat batted with the tail: England's Sam Curran
Young left-arm pacer Sam Curran, who starred with an all-round show to help England beat India by 31 runs in the first Test here on Saturday, revealed he tried to replicate the way Virat Kohli batted with the tail in the first innings.
Del Potro, Fognini enter Los Cabos Open final
Top-seeded Argentine Juan Martin del Potro got a stern test from speedy Damir Dzumhur in the semi-finals of the Los Cabos Open but came away with a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory.
Dembele re-joins Barça after vacation
French forward Ousmane Dembele, who was part of the national team that recently won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, on Saturday re-joined Barcelona's last training session of the week held at its sporting city after cutting his vacation a few days short.
Gill, Amittrajit take lead in Indian National Rally Championship
Five-time winner Gaurav Gill cruised into a comfortable lead after Day 1 in the Rally of Coimbatore, Round 2 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here on Saturday.
Marcelo returns to Real Madrid training
Real Madrid's Brazilian defender Marcelo on Saturday started training for the next season at the club sporting city, in a session led by new assistant coach Albert Celades.
Kohli's heroics in vain as England clinch victory in Edgbaston
Indian skipper Virat Kohli's brilliant batting display went in vain as England defeated India by 31 runs in the opening Test of the ongoing five-match series at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Saturday.Chasing the target of 194 runs, the Indian team bundled out for 162 runs despite Kohli's useful contribution of 52 runs. Hardik Pandya (31) was another notable performer for the team.Ben Stokes was the star performer for the English side who scalped four important Indian wickets, including Kohli's, to put his side in a stronger position.Chasing the target, the Indian top order continued with their disappointing show in the second innings as well and failed to make any impact. By the end of the third day's play, India had lost five wickets at the score of 110.Resuming the chase on the fourth day, India lost an early wicket in the form of Dinesh Karthik following which Kohli and Pandya built a steady 29-run partnership to steer India forward.The turning moment of the match came when Ben ..
Neymar returns as PSG thrash Monaco in China
Brazilian superstar Neymar made his first club appearance since February as Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Monaco 4-0 in the Champions Trophy in China today. Angel Di Maria's double fired PSG to their first silverware under new coach Thomas Tuchel as Neymar, long sidelined by a metatarsal fracture, came on as a late substitute. Di Maria's thunderous free kick opened the scoring on 33 minutes and he grabbed PSG's fourth in injury time following strikes from Christopher Nkunku and Tim Weah. It was a comprehensive win for the reigning French champions in the season's curtain-raiser, even without Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani who are yet to return after the World Cup. PSG, with their names in Chinese characters on the back of their shirts, were the aggressors and they took the lead via Di Maria's sumptuous free kick on 33 minutes. The Argentina forward swept over the wall and into the top right corner from 25 metres, evading Diego Benaglio's despairing dive. As Tuchel watched while ...
Sensational Sindhu seals second successive World Championships final spot
Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu continued her incredible run of form in the World Championships, earning a second successive final spot after seeing off Japan's Akane Yamaguchi at the women's singles semifinals here today. World number three Sindhu, who had finished runners-up at the Glasgow edition last year after losing to another Japanese Nozomi Okuhara in an epic summit showdown, notched up a superb 21-16 24-22 win over world number two Yamaguchi in a 55-minute hard-fought match. "It was a good match overall. I hope this time it would be a better result then the last time. I have to prepare well for tomorrow, so its not yet over," Sindhu said after the match. Sindhu entered the match with a 6-4 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi, who had defeated the Indian in big-ticket events such as All England Championship this year and Dubai Superseries Final last year. The duo faced off twice this year with each registering a win. "We know each other's game, we play very often, we ...
Ashwin defends Indian batsmen after dismal outing
Premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today came to the defence of the struggling Indian batting unit, saying batsmen from both teams found it tough to score on a challenging surface at the Edgbaston. Despite the 31-run loss in the first Test, Ashwin said the visitors are upbeat about their performance and have taken a lot of positives ahead in the five-Test series "When you make runs and pick up wickets, you want to make sure that it is a killer blow (to the opposition) and you want to end up on the winning side. It gives you more pleasure out of the game and when it doesn't happen, you feel a little deflated about it. This game was like a see saw battle and there was enough in there for the pacers," said Ashwin in the post-match media interaction. "So they were always in the game and you do expect batsmen to get a ball that has their name on it. With that sort of a game hedging on the balance, I thought we competed really well throughout. There are a lot of things to be upbeat about, .
Gaurav Gill takes lead at Rally of Coimbatore
Five-time winner Gaurav Gill cruised to a comfortable lead after day one in the Rally of Coimbatore, the second round of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship here today. The Team Mahindra Adventure star, along with his co-driver Musa Sherif, won both the special stages of the day with his aggressive style and needed just 37:21.2 (18:48.3 and 18:32.9) to run through the two stages to set himself up for another victory. His teammate, Amittrajit Ghosh, was snapping at his heels though, taking only 37:42.8 to finish the day on a high. Ghosh, who has recently won the European Rally Championship round in Greece (ERC 3 class), seemed a lot more confident as he tackled the dust with great speed and control in his XUV 500. The final four stages of the rally will be held tomorrow in Ketanur, about 70 Kms from here. FMSCI president Akbar Ebrahim, rallying after nearly 25 years, was in 21st place after the first day. Former INRC champion Karna Kadur (with Nikhil V Pai) ..
Root lavishes praise on bowlers after England's thrilling win
An elated England captain Joe Root heaped praise on his bowlers for helping the team win first against India by 31 runs in a rip-roaring match here on Saturday.
Kapil Dev bats for golf league on IPL lines
Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev today batted for a golf league on the lines of Indian Premier League. "One day a golf league should come out at that level where you can own a team and start playing in the manner IPL is played. I think, at this point of time, there is a struggle to conduct one," he told reporters at USD 75,000 Louis Philippe Celebrity Pro-Am 2018, a PGTI and ADT co-sanctioned golf event. Kapil, Shaun Pollock , Mahela Jayawerdene and a host of other former cricketers competed in the tournament held at Prestige Golfshire Club. Former India hockey goalkeeper Ashish Balal also took part in the competition. Kapil expressed delight at many kids taking up the sport seriously and trying to build a career out of it. "We have had a lot of youngsters making us proud in the sport and I strongly feel it wouldn't be long before we see many more making greater strides in golf from India," he said. Delhi-based professional golfer Rashid Khan, a two-time winner on the Asian ...