Page 1433 - Sports
Belgian PM surprises UK's May with World Cup shirt
Brexit may have caused tensions between Britain and the EU, but Belgian premier Charles Michel broke the ice at a summit on today by giving his British counterpart Theresa May a World Cup football shirt. The gift of the red and yellow Belgian shirt featured the number 10 -- most likely a reference to May's 10 Downing Street residence -- and the name of Belgium and Chelsea star Eden Hazard. One of the most tense Brussels summits in years coincides with a Belgium-England match that will decide which team goes top of their group at the tournament in Russia. The young Belgian prime minister seized the opportunity to lighten the mood as leaders mingled just before the real EU business started. He fumbled with a black box with red lining, the colours of Belgium, before unveiling the shirt which he then handed to a clearly surprised May. Britain's usually reserved premier laughed wholeheartedly at the unexpected gift and then held it up for all to see. French President Emmanuel Macron and ...
As team wanes, DC United welcomes Wayne
After weeks of speculation, former England captain Wayne Rooney swapped football for soccer today, arriving in Washington to join beleaguered Major League Soccer side DC United. While the club remained tight-lipped, it was a not-so-cryptic tweet that confirmed the rumors: the 32-year-old on a flight, grinning with thumbs up, his photo captioned by an American flag emoji. Everton and United later officially confirmed the transfer news. "Everton and Wayne Rooney have reached an agreement for the player to join MLS (Major League Soccer) side DC United on a permanent transfer," said a statement from the English club. "Rooney will complete the formalities of his move when the MLS transfer window opens on July 10. "From everyone at Everton, we thank Wayne for his service to the club and wish him every success in the next 3 1/2 years with DC United." The former England captain and Manchester United star was expected in the US capital to tie up the details of a contract that reports have said
Germany need big changes, says Loew after World Cup crash
Germany's coach Joachim Loew today acknowledged that far-reaching changes were needed after the Mannschaft's shock exit from the World Cup, adding that he needs some time to consider his future with the team. "The Mannschaft did not demonstrate what it can usually do," he said at Frankfurt airport as the humiliated team arrived home after finishing at the bottom of the table in the group stages. "As coach, I bear the responsibility and must of course ask myself why we didn't succeed. That will require a bit of time, and we will hold talks about it," he added. But the coach stressed that "with the elimination, with the deep disappointment that we have experienced, we now need to think about which are the correct measures to take". "We need far-reaching measures, we need clear changes. We'll need to talk about how we'll do that," he added. After 12 golden years in charge crowned by the 2014 World Cup win in Brazil, Loew is under fire as a dismayed Germany question if he has placed his ..
Angry Maradona offers reward over 'death' report
Diego Maradona has offered a USD 10,000 reward to identify the source of reports he had died after Argentina's World Cup match against Nigeria, his lawyer said today. The reports, circulated via WhatsApp voice messages from a man with an Argentine accent, said the 57-year-old star had been hospitalized and had died of cardiac arrest. "I gave instructions to make public the decision to offer a reward of 300,000 pesos (around $10,000) to anyone who can provide true and accurate information about the author of the audios," lawyer Matias Morla told Argentina's Clarin daily from Russia. The Argentine star took ill at the end of the match and had to be helped from his seat. But he denied rumors of ill health the day after, telling reporters: "I'm perfect. I've never been better." Morla said Maradona had suffered "a spike" in blood pressure. "It's a subject that at one time alarmed him. It's no secret how he lives through a game. How he lived them as a player is how he lives them as a ...
Meghna stuns Kunte, seven share lead at Commonwealth Chess
Meghna CH notched up a stunning victory over former national champion Abhijit Kunte to share the lead with six others after the third round of the Commonwealth Chess Championship here today. Playing white side of Kann variation of Sicilian defence game, Meghna used her minor pieces to good effect in the middle game to register a memorable win in 38 moves. Top three boards in the third round ended without decisive results. Playing with black pieces in Ruy Lopez game, Deep Sengupta settled with half point against former national champion International Master G Akash, while Grandmaster deepen Chakkravarthy and national champion Grandmaster Lalith Babu were forced to split the point against Sammed Shete and International Master Ratnakaran respectively. Debashis Das maintained his clean sheet after beating Koustav Chatterjee while Vishnu Prasanna outwitted Niranjan Navalgund. In other important encounters, newly crowned national under-13 champion Aaryan Varshney held Grandmaster Swapnil ...
France seek solution to Griezmann puzzle at World Cup
Antoine Griezmann lit up Euro 2016 as France reached the final on home soil, but a series of stuttering performances at the World Cup have set alarm bells ringing ahead of a last-16 meeting with Argentina's Lionel Messi. The Atletico Madrid striker looked far short of his best during the group stage, failing to complete a full 90 minutes in any of France's first three games. Olivier Giroud suggested Griezmann was not at his physical peak after a long season in which he made a combined 60 appearances for club and country, culminating with victory in the Europa League final. His teammates have rallied around him, led by Paul Pogba, a player subjected to his own fair share of criticism in recent months. "Don't touch my Grizou," Pogba said with a smile last week. "You've forgotten the Euro." A tired Griezmann also made a sluggish start at the European Championship, toiling initially before making his mark with a late goal in the 2-0 group win over Albania. He led the French charge from ...
India finish on top of medals tally at Junior Shooting World Cup
Indian shooters picked up eight more medals, including five gold, on the concluding day of the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany today. Their successful campaign saw them finish on top of the medal standings among 61 participating countries, collecting 26 medals in all including 15 gold, two silver and nine bronze medals. India's gold medals came in the 10m air pistol mixed team, 25m standard pistol men junior individual and team and 25m standard pistol women junior individual and team events respectively. Besides, they also won the silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event, a bronze in the 25m standard pistol junior men as well as a welcome bronze medal in the junior women's skeet team event. The highlight of the day for India was their 1-2 finish in the 10m air pistol mixed team event, where the pair of Devanshi Rana and Saurabh Chaudhary piped compatriots Manu Bhaker and Anmol Jain in the five team final to clinch gold. Devanshi and Saurabh shot a total of 478.9 to ...
Bhullar shoots 68, lies 25th in Queens Cup in Pattaya
Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar dropped a late bogey on 16th, but still finished at three-under 68 to be placed tied 25th at the Queen's Cup, here today. Bhullar's card today was the best among the Indians here. Viraj Madappa (69) was tied 45th, the same as Khalin Joshi, who had three birdies in his last four holes, while Jeev Milkha Singh, Himmat Rai and S Chikkarangappa shot one-under 70 each to be tied 62nd. Chiragh Kumar (72) was tied 103rd and Honey Baisoya (73) was tied 123rd. Bhullar birdied the first two holes and then added a third on sixth and followed that up with a fourth one at 12th. A birdie on par-3 16th saw him finish at 68. Thai Poom Saksansin took advantage of his solid iron-play to score an opening eight-under-par 63, grabbing a one-shot lead over countryman Jazz Janewattananond. Poom, a two-time Asian Tour winner, nailed eight birdies before dropping a shot on 17 for his only blemish of the day. The 25-year-old Thai, however, recovered swiftly with a birdie on the .
Mexico starters hit gym, substitutes train on grass
Mexican footballers who participated in the 0-3 defeat against Sweden in a FIFA World Cup match, took part on Thursday in a work out session in the gym of FC Dynamo Moscow.
England, Belgium fans share pre-game beer, bask in sunshine
England's self-styled Barmy Army of fans invaded the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, where they promptly hoisted national flags on the local bars and sat down for a beer with some Belgians ahead of the last Group G match of the ongoing FIFA World Cup here on Thursday.
British parliament to fly the flag for England's World Cup hopes
Britain's House of Commons is to fly the St George's flag in support of Gareth Southgate's England team as World Cup fever sweeps the nation following a bright start in Russia. The decision followed an announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May that the flag would fly over her official residence at 10 Downing Street on the days the team were playing. The Commons will start flying the flag on the day England play their last-16 match next week. "I am keen that the House shows its support for the team in the World Cup, as I would be if any of the other home nations were competing -- as I hope they will be in 2022," Bercow told MPs. "I've therefore decided that the House of Commons will indeed fly the St George's flag for the next England game, which will be on Monday, July 2 or Tuesday, July 3 -- dependent on the outcome of today's match against Belgium. "I know I speak for the whole House in wishing the Three Lions the best of luck tonight." England beat Tunisia 2-1 and hammered Panama .
Lebanese fan 'stabbed to death over World Cup celebrations'
A football fan was stabbed to death in Lebanon in a row over his celebration of Brazil's win and Germany's loss in the World Cup, the army and media said today. Mohammad Zaher was allegedly killed by two of his neighbours late yesterday in the Beirut suburb of Hay Al-Sellum, Lebanese news outlets reported. The army said in a statement that it had arrested a suspect who was interrogated and transferred to the courts. The rivalry between Germany and Brazil is behind one of the largest rifts among football fans in Lebanon, which has never qualified for the World Cup itself. Germany was knocked out of the World Cup yesterday with a 2-0 loss to South Korea, while its arch rival Brazil scored twice against Costa Rica.
Former Premier League referee reveals role in deliberate booking scam
A former referee in English football's elite Premier League has admitted to going along with a request to deliberately book a player back in 2011. Mark Halsey, who retired at the end of the 2012/13 season, told CNN Sport on Thursday: "(The player) just said 'listen, look, we've got a game Tuesday. "If I don't get cautioned now and get one Tuesday, I'll miss the big derby on the Saturday," he added. "So he just asked me if I could show a yellow. And I did actually. "I said to him, 'Alright, we've got 10 minutes to go, when I give a free-kick against you' -- and I knew I would because he's that sort of player -- 'just leather the ball 50 yards away and I can caution you for dissent'. "If you've got big games coming up and you're on four yellow cards, one more means you get suspended. I just said to him, 'Don't do nothing stupid.' "He came up to me at the end of the game and said, 'Thanks for that Mark.
Srikanth, Sindhu win; Saina crashes out of Malaysia Open
Star shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up straight-game wins to progress to the quarterfinals but it was curtains for Saina Nehwal in the USD 700,000 Malaysia Open world tour super 750 tournament here today. Olympic and world championship silver medallist Sindhu brushed aside the challenge of Malaysia's Ying Ying Lee 21-8 21-14 to set up a clash with Olympic champion and former world no 1 Carolina Marin. The 22-year-old Indian has a 5-6 head-to-head record against the Spaniard. In men's singles, fourth seed Srikanth saw off Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei 22-20 21-12 in 36 minutes to take his head-to-head count to 3-0. The 25-year-old from Guntur, who had briefly become world no 1 in April, will clash with France's Brice Leverdez tomorrow. The Indian had beaten the world no 22 French in three games at All England Championship this year. Earlier, Saina's run at the Malaysia Open ended with a straight-game loss to Japan's Akane Yamaguchi. Saina, a two-time Commonwealth ...
'Sorry': Germany arrive home after World Cup agony
Germany's chastened national team arrived home today after their shock World Cup exit plunged the football-mad nation into mourning and left the future of coach Joachim Loew in the balance. The four-time champions landed at Frankfurt airport shortly after 3pm (1300 GMT), a day after their humiliating 2-0 defeat against South Korea at Russia's Kazan Arena sent them packing in the first round. In a mea culpa on their official Twitter account, the German Mannschaft apologised to a country in agony. "Dear fans, we're just as disappointed as you," the tweet read. "We're sorry we didn't play like world champions. That's why we deserved to be eliminated, as bitter as it is." Defender Mats Hummels had earlier also tweeted out his regrets with a succinct "sorry..." and a crying-face emoji. German media have given a damning verdict of the titleholders' World Cup campaign, which will be remembered as the first time since 1938 that the country has failed to make it past the first round. "No ...
Argentina's Lo Celso warns France
Argentina's midfielder Giovani Lo Celso on Thursday said that his team has what it takes to hurt France during their upcoming Round-of-16 clash at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Koreas to field joint teams in 3 sports at Asian Games
South and North Korea have agreed to field joint teams in three sports and six events at this year's Asian Games in Indonesia, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said on Thursday.
Top four finish in Asiad will be great: Madhurika Patkar
Boosted by the Indian women's team's gold medal-winning display in the Commonwealth Games, paddler Madhurika Patkar is optimistic of a top-four finish in the upcoming Asian Games. "Till now we have reached upto the quarter finals (in the Asian Games). If we could make it in the top four, it will be great. Why not, the team is in good form, they are confident. I feel we should capitalise on this," Madhurika told PTI today. Madhurika was part of the women's team that created history in the Gold Coast CWG. The Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta and Palembang. "(In table tennis) Asian Games is equivalent to World Championship or Olympic Games. Because in Asian Games countries -- China, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Singapore -- come and these are the top countries in the world. It will be a very good tournament and the level of competition will be highest. "It will be difficult but it is not impossible because we have .
ELMS planning to establish Centre of Excellence for Table Tennis
The Excellence in Learning and Management of Sports (ELMS) Foundation is planning to establish a Centre of Excellence for Table Tennis in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Campus in Kandivali, it announced here on Thursday.
Carvajal slams criticism of Spain's World Cup campaign
Defender Dani Carvajal on Thursday said Spain have been excessively criticised throughout their round-robin run at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.