Page 1387 - Sports
Asian Games: Indian men's handball team included in Asian Games draw
India's men's handball team has been included in the draw released by the Asian Games organizers even though it was not there in Indian Olympic Association (IOA)'s list of 534 athletes published on June 5. The draw for the handball has been released with 13 teams divided in four groups. The group comprising India has four teams will other groups have three teams each. India are in group D alongside Bahrain, Chinese Taipei, India and Iraq. India's women's team were however cleared by IOA and they are in five-team group comprising South Korea, Kazakhstan, China and North Korea. The handball teams have been under scanner as they have not fulfilled the IOA criteria of being among the top eight teams in Asia. Their performance has been consistently poor and yet they have been given a preference overlooking a more popular sport like football, where India have improved by leaps and bounds to be ranked 14 among Asian teams.
Serena powers into Wimbledon quarters, last top 10 seed falls
Serena Williams underlined her status as the Wimbledon title favourite with a 62-minute demolition of Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina, while Karolina Pliskova became the last top 10 seed to crash out on Monday. Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final as the seven-time champion thrashed Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in a Centre Court masterclass. Williams, who won the Wimbledon title on her last two visits in 2015 and 2016, is now on an 18-match winning streak at the All England Club. Having missed Wimbledon last year while she prepared to have her first child in September, Serena is in pole position to win her first Grand Slam crown since becoming a mother. On Tuesday, the 36-year-old faces Italian world number 52 Camila Giorgi, who beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-4 to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final. Asked if it was a flawless display, Serena admitted she is never satisfied. "I'm a perfectionist. I always find something wrong," she said. "It was a good win but it ..
First ever Grand Slam quarterfinal for Divij and Sitak
Divij Sharan has reached the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time in his career as he combined with Artem Sitak to stage yet another dramatic comeback after being by down by two sets to defeat Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski at the Wimbledon Championships, here today. Sharan and New Zealand's Sitak prevailed 1-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4 over the Isralei-Polish combination after a gruelling men's doubles third round which lasted three hours and fifty minutes. Reaching the third rounds at Australian Open this year and at French Open (2017) and US Open (2013) was the best performance for the left-hander till today's win. It is second consecutive win where Sharan and Sitak erased a two-set deficit to eke out a five-set thrilling win. "It was a mental battle out there. Even though we lost first two sets, we believed we could still win. We fought really hard and stayed strong mentally through the last three sets. There were many games where we were serving and were down but we played .
Buffon says thrilled, motivated by joining PSG
Italian veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon said on Monday that he felt thrilled to be in the French capital as the newest footballers of Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Identified our weaknesses and started rectifying them: Bibiano
The Indian national U-16 football team head coach Bibiano Fernandes said the Four-Nation Hua Shan Cup CFA International Youth Football Tournament in Wei Nan has helped the team to understand the areas where "we need to improve."The India U-16 team put up a heart-warming performance in China where they went down to their U-17 National Team by a solitary goal and conceded two goals in last three minutes to lose 1-3 to U-16 Thailand.However, the colts bounced back in style holding a strong DPR Korea U-16 to a 1-1 draw in the final match."As a coach, it's my responsibility to take out the positives from any tournament. Looking back, the amount of chances which we created in the game gives me the confidence that we are on the right track," Bibiano said in a statement."We could have won the tournament if we had converted the chances we created. Looking back, that's also the area where we need to improve and we will be working hard on it," Bibiano added.He said the team is now looking ...
Wimbledon 2018: Federer beats Mannarino in 4th round
Swiss tennis star Roger Federer on Monday entered the quarter-finals of Wimbledon after defeating France's Adrian Mannarino 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 in the fourth round of the men's singles event here on Centre Court.Mannarino was unable to find his rhythm in the first set, unsure of his ball striking, movement and positioning with Federer winning 25 of the 30 points in the 16-minute passage of play.Errors by Mannarino on two backhands and one forehand handed Federer a 5-0 lead, with the Swiss sealing the set when Mannarino hit a lob long.Though Mannarino's strong efforts helped him make a comeback in the game with 7-5 lead in the second set, his efforts soon went in vein in the third set (6-4).Federer will next face eighth-seeded South African Kevin Anderson or Gael Monfils of France.He leads Anderson 4-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but the pair has not met since August 2015 at the Western & Southern Open, while he is 9-4 lifetime against Monfils.
England wary of 'world class' Modric
England will be wary of the threat posed by Croatia veteran midfielder Luka Modric when the teams meet in their FIFA World Cup semi-final on Wednesday, according to players Eric Dier and Ashley Young.
Bertens stuns Pliskova in Wimbledon pre-quarters
World No 20 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands on Monday battled to a straight-set upset win over world No 8 Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 7-6 (7-1), reaching the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon tennis championships for first time in her career.
Midfielder Wilshere joins West Ham on 3-year deal
Former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere on Monday joined capital football club West Ham United on a three-year deal.
Uruguay was best of South American teams at World Cup: Suarez
Forward Luis Suarez gave a positive evaluation on Monday of Uruguay's performance at the World Cup in Russia, noting that the team finished in fifth place with the best results of any South American team.
18 in a row! Serena extends Wimbledon winning run to make quarters
Serena Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarter-final as the seven-time champion thrashed Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2, 6-2 in just 62 minutes on Monday. Williams, who won the Wimbledon title on her last two visits in 2015 and 2016, is now on an 18-match winning streak at the All England Club. Having missed Wimbledon last year while she prepared to have her first child in September, Serena is in pole position to win her first Grand Slam crown since becoming a mother. The 36-year-old faces Italian world number 52 Camila Giorgi on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals. Asked if it was a flawless display, Serena admitted she is never satisfied. "I'm a perfectionist. I always find something wrong," she said. "It was an interesting match. She was hitting the ball well. That's why she got this far. It was a good win but it was tougher than the scoreline to be honest." The 90th Wimbledon win of her career -- the most among active female players -- means Serena, currently ...
Coach Deschamps says France can get even better
France head coach Didier Deschamps views Tuesday's FIFA World Cup semi-final against Belgium as an opportunity for his footballers to take another step towards fulfilling their full potential.
England making amends at World Cup for Iceland flop, says Dier
Eric Dier says England are reaping the rewards at the World Cup for a change in approach following a humiliating exit to Iceland at Euro 2016 but are hungry to go beyond the semi-finals. Aside from success on the field, a young side playing attractive football and seemingly freed from the fear of past failures has re-engaged with fans. "After Iceland we knew things needed to change," said Dier, who struck the decisive penalty as England won a World Cup shootout for the first time ever against Colombia in the last 16. "There has been a lot of changes since that moment (defeat to Iceland in the last 16), a moment where we were honestly extremely disappointed and we knew we couldn't let that happen again. "We could only make amends for that moment here at this World Cup. Two years is a long period, it's been a long process since then. We've learned from our mistakes, we've made things right and we've seen the way the country has got behind us." After the tension of extra-time and ...
World Cup: Croatia's Vida, Vukojevic apologise for statements after win
Croatian footballer Domagoj Vida and national teams coaching staff assistant Ognjen Vukojevic have apologised for their statements after the victory over Russia in the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match in Sochi, the Croatian Football Federation (CFF) announced on Monday.
Sweet 16 for Federer at Wimbledon
Roger Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set in a 6-0, 7-5, 6-4 defeat of France's Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday. Eight-time champion Federer will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last-eight when he tackles either Gael Monfils of France or Kevin Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African. Top seed Federer, 36, has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his record set from the third round in 2005 to his title triumph in 2006. "It was crucial for him to stay in the match at the beginning of the second set and then it got tougher," said Federer after his sixth win in six meetings against French left-hander Mannarino. "You always tend to play better against better players and I am happy to be back in the second week of Wimbledon." Federer boasts a 4-0 career record against 2017 US Open runner-up Anderson and 9-4 over Monfils. Monfils and Anderson have yet to get to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, although the French
Former Barca coach Enrique tasked with reviving Spain
Former Barcelona coach Luis Enrique was appointed Spain's new coach on Monday after previous incumbent Julen Lopetegui was sacked on the eve of the World Cup in what turned out to be a disappointing campaign. "Luis Enrique's appointment as coach for the next two years was approved unanimously," Luis Rubiales, president of the Spanish football federation, told reporters. The 48-year-old faces a similar challenge to the one that he had when he took over at Barcelona in 2014. A team with a history of success, a talented squad and a distinctive style of playing, had just failed to win a trophy for the first time in six years. With Spain, Enrique must revive a side that won three consecutive major tournaments between 2008 and 2012 but are deflated after three failures, the latest their World Cup loss to hosts Russia -- ranked 70th in the world -- on penalties in the last 16. Before that, Spain were humiliated at the hands of the Netherlands in 2014 and beaten by Italy at Euro 2016 -- their
Mirabai likely to compete in 49kg in 2020 Olympics
World champion weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu may have to compete in the 49kg class in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics instead of her current 48kg category as the international federation recently decided to introduce new categories in the sport. The Executive Board of the International Weightlifting Federation, in its meeting in Tashkent on July 5, decided to introduce seven weight categories for both men and women in the Olympics and 10 new classes for both men and women in other international championships. The EB's decision was ratified a day later by the Congress of the IWF, which met just before the start of the World Junior Championships at the Uzbekistan capital. The weight categories to be competed in the 2020 Olympics are 49kg, 55kg, 59kg, 64kg, 76kg, 87kg and +87kg for women while the men's weight classes will be 61kg, 67kg, 73kg, 81kg, 96kg, 109kg and +109kg. In 2016 Rio Olympics, the women weightlifters competed in 48kg, 53kg, 58kg, 63kg, 69kg, 75kg and +75kg while the men ...
Spain appoint Luis Enique as head coach
Former Barcelona manager Luis Enique has been appointed as the head coach of the Spanish national football team.Announcing the decision, president of the Spanish federation Luis Rubiale said that the decision was unanimous as everyone was in favour of choosing a coach who has been successful in the past."A Head Coach has to have a strong personality to get his criteria across to the players. There's also an external aspect to this and that is for all of us to get along and respect each other," Sports24 quoted Rubiale, as saying."An example is Luis Aragones, who was a great head coach with whom Spain won, although he had a few issues with you. We look for the head coach to be a leader, who sets goals and guidelines everyone should follow," he added.Spain had sacked Julen Lopetegui as the national coach of Spain just two days before their opening FIFA World Cup match against Portugal in Sochi. Subsequently, Fernando Hierro was appointed as the temporary coach of Spain.Hierro stepped ...
South African cricketers Dane van Niekerk, Marizanne Kapp get hitched
South African women's cricket team skipper Dane van Niekerk got married to fellow teammate and all-rounder Marizanne Kapp here on Saturday.Making the news of their marriage public, Kapp took to her Instagram and posted two pictures from their wedding ceremony.Niekerk and Kapp became the second women's cricket pair to get married after New Zealand's Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu tied knot in March 2017.Kapp has scored 1618 runs in 93 one-day internationals (ODI) that she has played so far. She is also the sixth-highest run getter for the South African team.Niekerk, on the other hand, has played 95 ODIs and scored 1770 runs at an average of 33.39. She also has 125 ODI wickets to her name.Both the players have played just one Test match against India in 2014 which India won by an inning and 34 runs.
Tactics vs talent: Belgium, France battle for place in World Cup final (Preview)
Although the Tour de France cycle race would normally be the focus of French and Belgian sports fans at this time of year, it's a fair bet that Tuesday's World Cup semi-final here will beat the viewing figures of the annual cycle race in the two nations in question.