Page 1307 - Sports

South Africa A feast on Board President's inexperienced attack

South Africa A feasted on Board President's inexperienced bowling attack to amass 389 for two on the first day of their two-day warm-up match here today. Opting to bat, the visitors rode centuries by Sarel Erwee (117 retired hurt) and Zubayr Hamza (104 batting), to pile up a formidable score against what can be called a fourth-string bowling attack. At stumps at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rassie van der Dussen (35) was giving Hamza company. Skipper Khaya Zondo contributed 67 while opener Pieter Malan made 51 in the run feast. Preparing to face India A, the visiting South Africans started on a strong note, putting on 161 runs for the first wicket. Malan was dismissed by Jalaj Saxena after the batsman struck seven boundaries in an 84-ball knock. Another big partnership followed as Erwee and Hamza added 155 runs for the second wicket, even as the Board President's players toiled through the day. Erwee hit 17 boundaries and a six in his 137-ball innings, while Hamza found the fence 13 times

Amateurs Aadil, Hari to compete at Louis Philippe Cup to prepare for Asian Games

Amateur golfers Aadil Bedi and Hari Mohan are looking to sharpen their skills ahead of the prestigious Asian Games by participating at the Louis Philippe Cup starting here tomorrow. Around 132 golfers from 20 nations, including former Asian Tour winners Rahil Gangjee and Marcus Both of Australia, will battle it out for top honours at the picturesque Prestige Golfshire Club golf course. Chandigarh-based Aadil, who is playing only his third pro event, said the pressure of competing in a strong field will hold them in good stead when they fight for medals at the Asian Games to be held from August 18 to September 2. "This will be a high pressure match and the pressure will be the same as we will have in the Asian Games. The course itself is very challenging and similar to what we experience outside India," Aadil said. "Tournaments like these where every shot counts is what we require in the Asian Games where we will be proving ourselves to get a medal for the country." Harimohan, who is .

It could be my last Asian Games: Sharath Kamal

Indian table tennis player Achantha Sharath Kamal on Monday said that this year's appearance could be his last in the Asian Games and he would like to fulfil his desire of winning a medal in the tournament."This could probably be my last Asian Game also; this could be the one or the next one. So, I would like to win a medal in Asian games. That is one desire which I have been having for a long time," Kamal said."I don't know...you never know maybe the next Asian games... Its four years down the line. Injuries are a major part of a sportsman's career these days and there are lots of other things which can happen. So, four years is a too long a period for you to guess," he added.The 36-year-old hoped that Indian team would perform better this year as the table tennis contingent is pretty strong.Kamal asserted that the team have prepared really well and their confidence level is high after performing well in the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He hoped that out of this confidence, they would be

Lakshaya Sen eyes Youth Olympics

Indian badminton player Lakshaya Sen, who recently clinched gold in the Badminton Asia Junior Championship, said that his next target would be 2018 Youth Olympics."I will try to win the Youth Olympics and World Junior Badminton Championship," Lakshaya said.Reflecting on his win at the Asia Junior Championship, the 16-year-old said that he is really happy winning the tournament as he had worked really hard for the same.Talking about his role model, Lakshaya said that it has to be former All England Champion Prakash Champion as he has learnt a lot from the legendary badminton.Meanwhile, Lakshaya's father credited the entire team, including physios and trainers, for Lakshaya's success in the tournament.Throwing light on Lakshaya's future schedule, his father said that he would be participating in two events which would be held in Spain and Vietnam before heading to Buenos Aires for the Youth Olympics.Recently, Lakshaya had created history by beating top-seed Kunlavut Vitidsaran of ...

Gangjee spearheads Indian challenge at Louis Philippe Cup

Seasoned Pro Rahil Gangjee will lead the Indian challenge at the USD 75000 Louis Philippe Cup which tees off at the picturesque Prestige Golfshire Club golf course here tomorrow. Around 132 golfers from 20 nations will battle it out for top honours at the tournament, an Asian Development Tour (ADT) and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) co-sanctioned event. Two-time Asian tour winner Gangjee will hope the Louis Philippe Cup stays at home but it won't be easy as this is the first time a pro event is being held at the course in five years and the layout has undergone considerable changes. Gangjee, who won his second Asian Tour event this year, winning the Panasonic Open in Japan in April, said: "The course is in fine condition and it is going to play very fast. This time of the year, the Prestige Golfshire course is at its challenging best with heavy winds which will only lead to a very interesting competition." "The field consists of the best from India and a few seasoned ...

Shubhankar sets dual mission at maiden WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tournament

Shubhankar Sharma has two simple goals to achieve at this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and one of them is to gather enough courage and introduce himself to Tiger Woods. The second goal is of course to keep his PGA TOUR dream alive with a strong showing at the iconic Firestone Country Club here. The 22-year-old Indian will make his debut on Thursday in the USD 10 million showpiece headlined by title holder Hideki Matsuyama, World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, newly-crowned Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari, 29 golfers from the top-30 of the FedExCup standings and 14-time major winner Woods, who will be playing in his first WGC event in four years. "I'm really looking forward to the event as I've watched it on TV over the years," said Sharma. "It's a tough set up but it is a great tournament which has celebrated great champions. Tiger has won it so many times, and then guys like Adam (Scott), Hideki and other great players have won it too, so just to be a ..

Indian juniors bag six medals at Jordan TT meet

Indian junior paddlers collected six medals, including a gold in the team events, following their rich run in the individual events at the Jordan Junior and Cadet Open. India won a gold, three silver and two bronze medals late on Sunday night. In an all-India final of the junior girls' category, India 2 comprising of Prapti Sen, Swastika Ghosh and Surbhi Patwari prevailed over the India 1 team of Selena Selvakumar and Yashini Sivasankar 3-1 to annexe the gold. Surbhi started the proceedings for India 2 beating the talented Selena 3-1 before Prapti made it 2-0 in her team's favour with an identical 3-1 win over Yashini. India 1 pulled one back in the next match after the combination of Yashini and Selena beat the duo of Surbhi and Prapti 3-1. However, Prapti dashed India 1's hope with a 3-1 win over Selena in the third singles encounter to seal the tie. In the junior boys' category, India 1 team consisting of Jeet Chandra, Manush Shah and Snehit Suravajjula went down fighting to the ...

'LA Romance' wins the main race

: Three-yrs-old,'LA Romance' abbly ridden by ArshadAlam won the Sri S Ramakrishnam Raju Memorial Cup (div-I), the chief event of Hyderabad Monsoon Races held here today Winner was trained by C V G K Kishore. Trainer R H Sequeira a scored treble while Jockey Akshay Kumar scored a Penta. Four first favourites obliged in a card of eight events.

Karman cracks top-200, only 6th Indian woman tennis player to do so

Karman Kaur Thandi today became only the sixth Indian woman tennis player to crack the top-200 rankings in singles as she jumped 32 places to reach a career-best 200 in the WTA chart. The 20-year-old Delhi girl, backed by Mahesh Bhupathi, has been in good form in the past few weeks, winning her maiden ITF singles title in Hong Kong and making the semifinals in two others in China. In April, the country's top singles player Ankita had broken into the top-200 and is now ranked 195 (-4). Before these two girls, Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Shikha Uberoi and Sunitha Rao had made it to top-200. While Sania, winner of six Grand Slam titles in doubles, touched a career-high of 27 in singles in 2007, Nirupama's best rank was 134 in 1997. Shikha's highest ranking was 122 and Sunita reached 144. Both these players lived in the US and had US passport although on Tour they represented India. Rutuja Bhosale was the next best Indian at number 388, a gain of 11 places. In the men's singles, ..

Prannoy, Sameer enter second round of World Championships

HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma geared up for bigger battles with straight-game victories as India made a resounding start at the BWF World Championships here today. World no 11 Prannoy started his campaign in style beating New Zealand's Abhinav Manota 21-12 21-11, while Sameer dumped France's Lucas Corvee 21-13 21-10 to progress to the second round. Prannoy, who had clinched a bronze medal at the Asia Badminton Championship this year, will face Brazil's Ygor Coelho, while Swiss Open champion Sameer will have an uphill task of taming the legendary Lin Dan of China, a two-time Olympic gold medallist. Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa, who had been in good form at the Commonwealth Games, prevailed 21-9 22-20 over Denmark's Niclas Nohr and Sara Thygesen. The world no 39 Indian combine will next face the German pairing of Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich, seeded 15th. India's top mixed doubles duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, ranked ...

Golfer Shubhankar aims to make it count at WGC-Bridgestone meet

Indias rising star golfer Shubhankar Sharma aims to keep his PGA Tour dream alive with a strong showing at the World Golf Championships (WGC)-Bridgestone Invitational, starting on Thursday at the Firestone Country Club.

Keenan Almeida signs with FC Pune City for ISL 2018-19

Indian Super League (ISL) club FC Pune City announced today signing of Keenan Almeida to solidify their squad's defensive line-up for the 2018-19 season. Almeida's induction would boost the team's defence, a media release quoted FC Pune City CEO Gaurav Modwel as saying. "Keenan is a very good player and will bring much needed versatility to our back line. "He has a title-winning run under his belt with his previous club, which means he comes with the right mentality which matters a lot too," Modwel said. Almeida began his professional career in Goa, playing for state-based outfits Salgaocar and Sporting Clube De Goa before joining FC Goa in 2015 for the ISL. After spending two seasons with the Gaurs, Almeida was picked by Chennaiyin FC in the 2017-18 ISL draft. Excited to join FC Pune City, Almeida said, "The club approached with a definite plan for me, something that I could immediately connect with. "Getting good playing time is crucial for any player and that's what I .

ICC wishes England on their 1000th Test

International Cricket Council (ICC) has sent its wishes to the English cricket team as they are preparing for their 1000th Test match, to be played against India at Edgbaston from August 1."On behalf of the cricket family, I want to congratulate England on their 1000th men's Test match, the first country to reach this milestone," ICC president Shashank Manohar said."I wish England all the best in this historic match and may it continue to produce players and performances that inspire the following of Test cricket, the oldest and most demanding format of the game," he added.To commemorate the occasion, former New Zealand captain, Jeff Crowe, and member of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees will present a silver plaque to England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman Colin Graves before the start of the Test.England made their Test cricket debut against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground in March 1877. Since then, they have won 357 matches and lost 297, with 345 ending in ...

Women's Hockey WC: India hold upper hand vs Italy for quarters berth (Preview)

A confident India will fancy their chances against lower-ranked Italy when they meet in a quarter-final playoff of the Women's Hockey World Cup here on Tuesday.

Neymar blames 'brattish' behaviour on his inner child

- Neymar has tackled critics who derided his play-acting at the World Cup, admitting he "overreacts" and blaming his "brat" like behaviour on his inner child. The Brazilian superstar was widely lambasted in Russia for his theatrical reactions to challenges which often left the world's most expensive footballer wincing and rolling on the ground. "Boot studs on the shins, kick in the spine, stomp on the foot, you may think I overreact, and sometimes I do, but for real? I suffer on the pitch, but you have no idea what I go through outside of it," he said in comments on a television commercial for a razor blade. The Paris Saint-Germain forward, speaking in Portuguese with English subtitles, continued "You may all think I've fallen too much, but the reality is I did not fall, I crumbled." "And that hurts more than anyone stepping on your post op ankle," he added, alluding to the surgery on the injury he suffered back in February. "When I act like a brat, it isn't because I'm a spoiled ...

Successful day for Indians at Badminton Worlds

Indian shuttlers enjoyed a comfortable outing on the opening day of the Badminton World Championship on Monday with H.S.Prannoy and Sameer Verma sailing into the second round of the men's singles while the doubles shuttlers also marched to the next round with ease.

Pumped up India face Italy in women's hockey WC knock-outs

Bolstered by the campaign-saving draw against a mighty USA, the Indian women's hockey team will fancy its chances against lower-ranked Italy in the cross-over World Cup match, here tomorrow. Ranked 10th, India will start as overwhelming favourites against 17th ranked Italy in the crucial knock-out match, where a win will pit them against Ireland in the quarterfinals on Thursday. While India had to fight their way into the knock-out round from Pool B after registering two draws against England and USA and a loss to Ireland, Italy easily scrapped past China (3-0) and Korea (1-0) before slumping to a heavy 1-12 loss to Netherlands in their last match to finish second in Pool A. But going into tomorrow' game the momentum surely would be on India's side and it would also be difficult for Italy to bounce back from the morale-shattering loss against the Dutch. Under pressure, the Indians, on the other hand, produced a spirited performance against USA to come out of a difficult situation and .

PKL Season 6 to start on October 5

The sixth season of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will begin on October 5and the finals would be held on January 5 next year. Theleague will continue its existing format and will go on for a duration of 13 weeks. In the fifth season, there were 138 matches conducted over a duration of 13 weeks, the event organiser Mashal Sports Pvt. Ltd. stated in a release. AnupamGoswami, League Commissioner, Pro Kabaddi said,"The change of window for the League from the usual July-October cycle has been actioned to ensure full availability of top players from India and overseas, given the 2018 Asian Games". "This window also allows the teams and fans to capitalise on the opportunities afforded by the festive season. The whole League ecosystem is geared to provide the highest standard Kabaddi experience for fans in Season VI," Goswami added. The matches will telecast onthe Star Sports Network, the release added.

Brazilian centre-back Gerson Vieria joins ISL side ATK

Brazilian defender Gerson Vieria, who impressed during his two-year stint with Mumbai City, will now be seen in ATK colours in the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL). The 25-year-old had a splendid debut season for Mumbai in 2016 when he made 14 appearances and helped them finish top of the table en route the playoffs. He also captained the likes of Neymar, Philippe Coutinho, Casemiro, Alisson among others at the 2009 FIFA U17 World Cup. "Vieira is a very versatile and exciting player. His talent and his leadership skills will impact the team in a very positive way. I welcome him to the ATK family," Steve Coppell, ATK head coach, said.

India U-19s trounce Sri Lanka U-19s by six wickets

The India U-19 team produced a disciplined all-round performance to make a rampaging start to the five-match limited over series against Sri Lanka, thrashing the hosts by six wickets in a lop-sided first Youth ODI here today. Skipper Nipun Dananjaya's decision to bat backfired as the hosts failed to put up a fight against quality bowling by India, folding for a paltry 143 in 38.4 overs at the P Sara Oval. Ajay Dev Goud picked up three wickets, while Mohit Jangra (2/14), Yatin Mangwani (2/35) and Ayush Badoni (2/37) snapped two each. Siddharth Desai (1/25) accounted for one wicket. India then rode on a patient fifty by opener Anuj Rawat and some useful contributions from Aryan Juyal (20) and Sameer Choudhary (31 not out) to overhaul the target in 37.1 overs. Juyal blasted five hits to the fence in his 85-ball 50. For Sri Lanka U-19s, Lakshitha Manasinghe (2/32) took two wickets, while Avishka Lakshan (1/40) and Sandun Mendis (1/15) scalped one each. Electing to bat, Sri Lanka failed to