Page 1346 - Sports

Coleman eyes chance to shine in post-Bolt era

World indoor 60m champion Christian Coleman has a chance to establish his credentials as the leader of the sprint pack in the post-Usain Bolt era on the opening day of the London Diamond League meeting tomorrow. The 22-year-old US sprinter ended Bolt's four-year unbeaten 100m streak in the world championship semi-finals at the London Stadium in August last year, before finishing in between compatriot Justin Gatlin and the retiring Bolt as the silver medal winner in the final two hours later. After shattering Maurice Greene's 19-year-old world indoor 60m record in February and claiming the world indoor 60m crown in March, Coleman looked set to become the dominant force in the 100m in 2018. But he finished second to Ronnie Baker in Eugene and fourth behind his victorious fellow-American in Rome in an injury-hit start to the outdoor season in May. Having taken time out to cure a hamstring problem, Coleman returned to Diamond League action with a wafer-thin 100m win over Baker in Rabat, ..

Liverpool sign goalkeeper Alisson in record 72.5-million-euro deal

Liverpool signed Brazil goalkeeper Alisson from Roma in a world record deal valued at 72.5 million euros by the Italian club. "The 25-year-old signed a long-term contract with the Reds after undergoing a medical and completing the formalities of his switch at (training centre) Melwood today," said the Liverpool website. Roma confirmed the value of the transfer for Alisson who featured at the World Cup in Russia. "ASRoma can confirm that Alisson Becker has completed his move to Liverpool, in a deal that could be worth up to 72.5 million euros," the Serie A club said on Twitter yesterday. Alisson is a key signing for Jurgen Klopp who was desperate for a new goalkeeper to replace Loris Karius following his calamitous Champions League final performance against Real Madrid. Chelsea were also linked with Alisson who began his career with Internacional in Brazil before moving to Roma two years ago. "I'm really happy, it's a dream come true to wear such a prestigious shirt for a club of this .

Guardiola wants Man City stars rested and ready

Pep Guardiola fears his preparations for Manchester City's Premier League title defence have been affected by the World Cup. Guardiola has travelled to the United States for games against Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool and Bayern Munich with a squad made up mostly of young players as many of his regular stars are enjoying an extended break following their exploits in Russia. First team stars such as Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, Ederson, David Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker and John Stones have not made the journey to compete in the annual International Champions Cup pre-season tournament with most not expected back until a week before the start of the domestic season in England. Guardiola has also suffered a setback in the transfer market this summer with Napoli's Italian international midfielder Jorginho following manager Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea and although Leicester's Riyad Mahrez has signed for 60 million pounds ($79 million), the Spaniard ..

Neymar rules out transfer move, staying at PSG

Brazilian superstar Neymar sought to quash speculation about his future, insisting he planned to remain with French giants Paris Saint-Germain. "I'm staying, I'm staying in Paris, I have a contract," Neymar told reporters at an auction to raise money for his charitable foundation in Sao Paulo. Neymar, who became the world's most expensive footballer last year after moving to PSG from Barcelona in a record 222 million euro ($264 million) deal, has repeatedly been linked to a move to Real Madrid. The European champions have issued a series of statements in recent weeks denying they have an interest in signing the 26-year-old striker. Speculation of a Neymar move to the Bernabeu has intensified in the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo's shock move to Juventus, a development that has left a vacancy at Madrid for an elite, superstar player. "In the face of the constant reports linking PSG's Neymar Jr. to our club, Real Madrid C. F. wish to clarify that the club has no intention of making any offer

Wimbledon champion Kerber to defend Sydney title

Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber will defend her Sydney International title in January in preparation for next year's Australian Open, organisers said today. The German climbed to No.4 in the world rankings after her 6-3 6-3 win over Serena Williams to claim her first Wimbledon title at the All England Club last week. Kerber, who downed Australia's Ash Barty to win this year's Sydney International final, said the tournament will be a good tune-up for the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on January 14. "Playing the Sydney International is always a great opportunity to face some top quality opposition," Kerber said in a statement. "Every single match is really tough, so it's a great way to fine-tune my game after the off-season, and also get used to the weather conditions in Australia, which are quite different to Europe at that time of the year." The Sydney International will take place at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre from January 6-12.

FIFA joke controversy: Trevor Noah criticises French ambassador

South African comedian Trevor Noah, in his 'The Daily Show', criticised the French government after facing a backlash for his joke wherein he said Africa won the recently-concluded FIFA World Cup instead of France.According to Fox News, he happened to criticise a letter he had received from the ambassador of France in regard to the FIFA joke."I got into a little bit of trouble with the French government," he said of the letter, where the comedian received a scolding in the form of words."France won the World Cup. I had this joke where I said Africa won the World Cup. And I was shocked at how angry a lot of French people got," he added.He did not stop there and further went on to say, "Africa won the World Cup, Africa won the World Cup, Africa won the World Cup. look at those guys. You don't get that tan by hanging out in the south of France."France acquired a 4-2 victory over new-comer Croatia in Moscow.Noah, who got a hold of the criticism, explained that "black people all over the ..

BCCI to form committee on UPCA issue

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) acting president CK Khanna will constitute a committee within 48 hours, to investigate the matter related to corruption in selection of players in Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA).Mohammed Akram Saifi, Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajeev Shukla's close aide who has been accused of demanding bribes and favours for including a player in the Uttar Pradesh junior cricket team, will remain suspended till the enquiry is on.The committee will be led by a commissioner, who will investigate the corruption issue and submit reports in 15 days.For the unversed, a Hindi news channel on Wednesday ran a taped conversation between Saifi and a player, where the former was heard asking for bribes and favours to ensure the latter's selection in the state team.

Four international captains reported approaches to Anti Corruption Unit: ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed that four international captains reported approaches to the governing body's Anti Corruption Unit between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018. The ICC, in its annual report, mentioned that it conducted 18 investigations between June 2017 and May 2018, 17 of which were launched after the arrival of ACU General Manager Alex Marshall on September 1 last year. "There has been a pleasing increase in the number of players having the confidence to approach the ACU with reports of suspicious activity. Four international captains reported approaches during 2017-18 and every avenue was explored," said the ICC in the report. Out of 18 investigations, five have been concluded while charges were brought in four cases, claimed the governing body. "There were five disruptions -- where individuals who are not directly involved in cricket have their corrupt activities disrupted -- and 13 investigations remained ongoing as at May 31, 2018. Two of the ...

Indian women's compound team reaches final of Archery World Cup in Berlin

India's women compound team of Trisha Deb, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Muskan Kirar shocked top seed Turkey to storm into the final of the Archery World Cup Stage-4, here today. The trio showed nerves of steel after a tied opening set to beat the fancied Turkey 231-228 to set up a gold medal clash against France, on Saturday. Qualified as fifth seed, India pipped Great Britain by one point in the opening round, while in the second round they prevailed over higher-ranked USA 232-228 for their second final appearance in three months. Indian women's team had lost to Chinese Taipei to settle for a silver in the Antalya leg of the World Cup in May this year. India are also in the medal fray in the mixed pair events of both recurve and compound sections where they have advanced to the second round. Earlier compound archer Abhishek Verma sealed a berth in the World Cup Finals but made a third round exit, losing to 35th seed Akbarali Karabayev of Kazakhstan. Both were tied 138-all before he ...

Berdych to miss US Open

Czech tennis ace Tomas Berdych has been forced to skip next month's US Open and the warm up events that precede it due to persistent back problems.

Lahiri stumbles in opening round of British Open

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri got off to a disastrous start at The 147th British Open with a scorecard of five-over 76 here on Thursday.

Have responsibilities, Can't comment on everything people say: Rathore on AFI-Hima Das row

Sport Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore today refused to be dragged into a row over a tweet by the Athletics Federation of India on sprinter Hima Das' English- speaking skills, saying he had major responsibilities to shoulder and did not comment on everything that people said. During the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, when Rathore was responding to supplementaries, Congress' Gaurav Gogoi sought the minister's response to a comment made by the sports body on the English-speaking skills of Das, who won the 400 meters of World Under-20 Championship. On being pressed for a reply, Rathore said he had major responsibilities to shoulder and did not comment on everything that people say. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan also sought to support Rathore, saying the minister did not have to respond to everything. The AFI had last week put its foot in the mouth when it referred to Das' "not so fluent English" after her blazing run, attracting the ire of fans which forced the governing body to issue an ..

Here is the full list of ESPY awards 2018

Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award (ESPY) 2018 was held on Wednesday in Los Angeles.Aired on ABC, the ceremony was hosted by former professional racing driver Danica Patrick.The 26th ESPY award show honored Jim Kelly, the Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback who has been diagnosed with cancer three times in the past five years with Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.Below is the full list of winners, along with the nominations in the same categories.Best Male Athlete-Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (WINNER)Best Female AthleteChloe Kim, Snowboard (WINNER)Best Olympic MomentShaun White, Snowboard (WINNER)Best Championship PerformanceNick Foles, Philadelphia Eagles - Super Bowl LII (WINNER)Best Breakthrough AthleteDonovan Mitchell, Utah Jazz (WINNER)Best GameUSA Women's Hockey defeats Canada, 2018 Winter Olympics (WINNER)Best MomentMinnesota Vikings defeat the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship Game (WINNER)Best TeamHouston Astros, MLB (WINNER)Best College ...

Paes wins first match after returning to Tour; three other Indians also advance

Veteran Indian star Leander Paes, who missed the entire clay and the grass court season, made a winning return to competitive tennis with American partner Jamie Cerretani at the ATP Hall of Fame Open in Newport. Paes, playing his first match since creating the Davis Cup world record in February for most number of wins in doubles, and Cerretani, defeated Luke Bambridge and Jonny O'Mara 6-4 6-3 in their opening round of the USD 623,710 hard court event. Paes and his partner are now up against giant-killers Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Austin Crajicek, who toppled top seeds Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith 5-7 6-1 10-8. Jeevan has a good record playing against Paes, winning twice against the Indian legend this season -- at Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune and at Dallas Challenger. Also advancing to the quarterfinals was in-form Divij Sharan, who along with partner Jackson Withrow, seeded second, beat Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu 6-3 6-3. Third seeds Purav Raja and Ken Skupski also moved

Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy retain places in BWF rankings

India's star shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal retained their positions in women's singles in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.

Indian U-17 eves' football team lose to Russia

India lost 1-3 to Russia in the BRICS Under-17 women's football tournament here on Thursday.

East Bengal pip Mohun Bagan on penalties to clinch U-19 IFA Shield

East Bengal defeated crosstown rivals Mohun Bagan 4-2 on penalties to clinch the Under-19 IFA Shield football tournament here on Thursday.

New coach Luis Enrique open to adapting Spain's passing game

New Spanish national football team coach Luis Enrique said on Thursday that it was possible to evolve the current style of play.

Pension doubled for former sportspersons

Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Thursday said that the rate of pension for sportspersons who have won medals in international competitions and have retired from active sports, has been doubled from April 1.

East Bengal win 29th Shield title

East Bengal showed a lot of character in tough conditions and bounced back from a goal down to pip arch-rivals Mohun Bagan on penalties and annexe the U-19 IFA Shield here today. Sourav Das put Mohun Bagan ahead in the 47th minute while Dip Saha levelled in the 84th minute and the stalemate prevailed in the extra time before East Bengal sealed the issue 4-2 in the penalty shootout to annexe their 29th Shield. It was an unusual matrons weather with scorching heat and the 2.30pm kick-off at the Barasat Stadium artificial turf added to the misery, and the referee had to give four drinks breaks during the regulation time.