Page 1605 - Sports
Chawrasia misses cut in Belgium
India's SSP Chawrasia missed the cut with rounds of 77-71 on the second day of the inaugural Belgian Knockout golf tournament here. Chawrasia, who had two double bogeys in his first round 77 was much better on second, but it was not enough to carry him through to the knockout stage. The top 64 players, after two rounds, entered the knockout stage, where they will play nine-hole matches and the winner will proceed to the subsequent round. Home heroes Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters all cruised into the weekend after making the cut. Day Two came to a dramatic conclusion as an 11-man play-off took place to decide the final eight players to progress. Jorge Campillo, one of the most in-form players on the European Tour with four top five finishes this season, emerged as the top seed as the Spaniard boasted the 36-hole lead on eight under par following two 67s.
Intercontinental Cup important for India's development: Constantine
Indian football team head coach Stephen Constantine today described next month's four-nation Intercontinental Cup here as an important tournament for the country's progression and development in the game. "It (the Intercontinental Cup) is a very important tournament for our progression and development. It is good that New Zealand are coming, they have a strong team. Chinese Taipei have improved in the last four-five months. And Kenyans will be strong and physical and any team from Africa will be challenge for us," Constantine told reporters here. "Contrary to popular belief we try to get friendly games with bigger teams and we learn more from playing against better teams," he said. The All India Football Federation will be hosting the Intercontinental Cup at the Mumbai Football Arena here with New Zealand, Chinese Taipei and Kenya in the fray apart from India. The coach also indicated that India could be playing two teams from the Gulf region after this tournament, but said nothing ...
Heena Sidhu tests her ammunitions ahead of ISSF cup
Ahead of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Munich, Ace shooter Heena Sidhu had tested her ammunition in Germany's Fellbach on Saturday.The ISSF world cup will take place from May 22 to 29.Shooting being a precision sport, the minutest of errors decide a winner from the rest.Heena took four hours to test her ammunitions today."We underwent testing of 19 different batches with different velocities that were available as pistol ammunition at the Eley Tenex (.22 Long Rifle ammunition) ammunition testing facility in Fellbach and found that something that consistently offered high accuracy from the barrel of Heena's 25m pistol," said shooting coach Ronak Pandit.A total of 520 shots were fired in all to find the best batch of bullets for Heena to use in the upcoming world cup.The batch number has been reserved for Heena and she will now be coordinating with the Eley Company in the UK to import it under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme and will also ...
IPL: Royals alive after ending RCB's campaign
Rajasthan Royals rode on a fine half century from Rahul Tripathi, combined with leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal's four-for to outclass Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 30 runs and more importantly keep themselves in the hunt for a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Play-offs.
Baisoya lies 26th at Asia-Pacific Classic in China
Honey Baisoya was unable to cash in on a fine start in the third round of the USD 300,000 Asia-Pacific Classic and was lying 26th here today. The young Indian carded an even par 72 and is now 4-under 212 and tied-26th, three places below where he was a round earlier. The other Indian, S Chikkarangappa (73), who made the cut, was lying T-50 at even par 216. John Catlin of the US stayed on course to win his maiden Asian Tour title after carding a three-under-par 69. He had six birdies against three bogeys to lead with a 13-under-par 203 total at the St Andrews Golf Club. Adam Blyth of Australia was just a shot behind the leader after signing a 68. Baisoya had three birdies in his first five holes and seemed to make good headway. A bogey on seventh followed by five pars and a birdie saw him at 3-under through 13 holes. But he then bogeyed 14th, 17th and 18th and disappointingly dropped down. Chikka had two birdies against three bogeys. Japan's Shohei Hasegawa finished the day in lone ...
Gopal spins Royals to victory, sends Kohli's RCB out of play-offs equation
Young Shreyas Gopal spun a web around a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up with a brilliant four for 16, helping Rajasthan Royals to a 30-run victory to keep his side in the reckoning for a play-offs berth in the IPL, here today. The 24-year-old leg-spinner led a fine bowling display by the home side as it shot RCB out for just 134 in 19.2 overs after opening batsman Rahul Tripathi had helped the Royals post a competitive 164/5 with a solid unbeaten 80 off 58 balls. The Royals opted to bat in their final league game. South African superstar AB de Villiers briefly threatened to take the game away in RCB's favour with a 35-ball 53 but Gopal and his bowling colleagues ensured Royals' victory. Pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laughlin chipped in with two wickets apiece while off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham took one wicket as RCB's hopes for a play-offs berth went up in smokes. RCB ended the tournament with 12 points from 14 matches. They are now sixth in the ...
Loew regrets telling Goetze 'show you're better than Messi'
Germany coach Joachim Loew has said he regrets telling Mario Goetze to 'show the world you're better than (Lionel) Messi' during the Brazil 2014 final as the midfielder has since struggled to live up to his billing as a World Cup winner. Goetze, 25, has been left out of the squad for 2018 World Cup, which kicks off on June 14 in Russia, after an erratic season with Borussia Dortmund. Loew says he feels partly responsible for the pressure the struggling Goetze has been under to prove he is still the player who won the World Cup for Germany nearly four years ago. "That sentence was a spontaneous idea," said Loew at an event in Berlin on Friday. "Whether this was good in hindsight, I do not know. "In that moment, you don't think about things that could happen afterwards. "I made the mistake of making the sentence public afterwards." Loew uttered the immortal words to Goetze shortly before the midfielder ran on in the 88th minute of the final against Argentina at Rio de Janeiro's Maracana
IPL-2018: Sunrisers win toss, elect to bat first
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crunch Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.
Our middle-order hasn't fired as expected, admits KXIP coach
Kings XI Punjab need a huge win to make it to the play-offs and their head coach Brad Hodge today admitted that the team's middle order hasn't fired as expected and relied on only a couple of bowlers. Kings XI Punjab, led by Ravichandran Ashwin, had a great start to the tournament but slumped after that. They narrowly lost to Mumbai Indians by three runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night. They need a thumping win against the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings to make it to the last four and they are also dependent on other results. "I think this competition is extremely tough to win consistently over a long period of time. We are a new team with a new captain and we have learnt a lot from lessons of success and failure. "I think realistically, our middle order hasn't fired as much we would have expected and we are too reliant on a couple of bowlers who have kept us in the game," Hodge told reporters on the eve of the team's crucial clash against the Chennai Super ...
Rajastan beat Bangalore in IPL tie
Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 30 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Saturday.
Chelsea-Man Utd battle to be Cup kings in England's other showpiece
The eyes of the world may be on a Royal wedding at Windsor, but 18 miles to the east English football's own showpiece event sees Chelsea and Manchester United face off in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Both sides are in need of silverware to salvage underwhelming seasons. Chelsea's need is the greater, though, as having missed out on Champions League football for next season by finishing fifth in the Premier League, many expect Antonio Conte to take charge of the Blues for the last time, regardless of the outcome. Conte led Chelsea to the Premier League and the FA Cup final in his debut season in England last year. And he launched a fierce defence of his record at Stamford Bridge on the eve of what could he his last clash with old foe Jose Mourinho in England. "I like to win. I like to win trophies. I like to be a winner. For sure, I like this. But, at the same time, I think that when you work very hard, when you try to give every day 120 percent, you must be satisfied," said Conte on ..
Can't commit to PSG for five years: Mbappe
Frenchman Kylian Mbappe as on Saturday revealed that he wants to stay at Paris Saint-Germain next football season but might not see out his five-year contract at Parc des Princes.
PSG goalkeeper Areola keen to stay amid Buffon rumours
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Alphonse Areola says he intends to stay and fight for the number one shirt despite talk of Italy great Gianluigi Buffon joining the French champions. "I think I've shown this season I have exactly the level it takes to be the number one goalkeeper," Areola said in an interview with French daily Le Parisien published on Saturday. "If I don't remain the first choice that would mean the season I've just had will be for nothing," added the 25-year-old who is part of France's squad for the World Cup. "What happens next in my PSG career will be sorted out after the World Cup." After splitting time with Kevin Trapp last season, Areola played every minute of PSG's Champions League campaign this term while keeping 16 clean sheets in 33 Ligue 1 appearances. "For the moment, I haven't been in touch with management," Areola said. "I don't know what they want to do. One thing is certain: if they give me the chance to stay at PSG, I will accept it without ...
Svitolina sinks Kontaveit to return to Rome final
Holder Elina Svitolina dominated Anett Kontaveit 6-4, 6-3 in 74 minutes today to reach a second straight final at the Italian Open. The Ukrainian will play for the trophy in Sunday against the winner of the high-profile semi-final between Maria Sharapova and top seed Simona Halep. The first meeting between Svitolina and Kontaveit featured four breaks of serve in the first eight games, with the fourth-seeded defending champion snatching the early lead after 39 minutes. Svitolina moved to 3-1 in the second set, reached 5-3 with an ace and served out victory a game later on her second match point. "I'm very proud of myself already that I reached the final. You know, it was really tough, from the beginning, from the first match," world number four Svitolina said. "I work for these kind of matches, I work on it every day. When my opponent tries to hit everything, I have an answer. "And when my opponent tries to play maybe a little bit more into court I can attack, so that's an ...
Heena undertakes ammunition testing ahead of WC
Ace Indian shooter Heena Sidhu today underwent an ammunition test in a bid to finetune her preparations ahead of the upcoming ISSF World Cup here. "We underwent testing of 19 different batches with different velocities that were available as pistol ammunition at the Eley ammunition testing facility in Fellbach and found something that consistently offered high accuracy from the barrel of Heena's 25m pistol, shooting coach Ronak Pandit said. A total of 520 shots were fired over a period of four hours to find the best batch for Heena. The batch number has been reserved for and Heena will now be coordinating with the Eley company in the United Kingdom to import it with the financial support for the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme and administrative support from the National Rifle Association of India. "We use the best ammunition, Eley Tenex, which is also the most successful ammunition brand in the world. But even in the brand there are different batch numbers which give varying ...
Windies may scrap one Lanka Test in favour of ODIs
Cricket West Indies (CWI) is mulling to scrap one Test of three-match series against Sri Lanka next month, in favour of couple of one-day internationals.The Caribbean side are due to play only three Tests against Sri Lanka, including West Indies' first-ever day-night match.With just a week left to the departure of Sri Lankan team to West Indies, the CWI said that they are considering tweaking the schedule due to financial crisis.Confirming the news, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Ashley de Silva that the Test matches are most likely to reduce to two in favour of limited-overs games, which are more attractive to broadcasters and are less expensive to host."Most probably the boards will reduce the number of Test matches to two, and play a couple of one-dayers.CWI are going through a bit of a crisis. They have been talking to us. They haven't given us any indication that the tour might get postponed altogether," ESPNcricinfo quoted de Silva, as saying.Sri Lanka's tour to West Indies is most
Rajput hoping for a result-oriented stint with Zimbabwe
A day after taking over the mantle of the beleaguered Zimbabwe side, newly-appointed interim head coach Lalchand Rajput has set himself a goal to guide the team to the final of the upcoming T20 International tri-series in July.
Aaron hopeful of national call up
Out-of-favour seamer Varun Aaron is confident of a national call-up, saying he is bowling at his best for Leicestershire in the English County circuit. Aaron has played 9 Test matches and nine ODIs for India. He played his last Test against South Africa in 2015 at Bengaluru and last ODI against Sri Lanka at Cuttack in 2014. Since then he is out of the national reckoning. "I am definitely hopeful for a national call up, I am just trying to perform as well as I can here (in County) and the decision is up to the selectors, if they deem me fit to play for India again, but I feel I am in great space and I am bowling at my best," the 28-year-old told PTI. The right-arm pacer says he was forced out of his comfort zone as the opposition teams in County Cricket have prepared flat tracks. "Playing in these conditions has helped me. When I got here, I thought there is going to be a lot in the wickets for fast-bowlers, but turns out its not that way. Now there is a toss rule in ...
Hockey India names Rajinder Singh as president
The Hockey India on Saturday announced Rajinder Singh as its new president after Mariamma Koshy stepped down from the post.Mariamma Koshy, a former state-level centre forward player, was appointed as the President of Hockey India in November 2016 after Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra had resigned from the position due to him being elected as the President of International Hockey Federation (FIH).Koshy had in various capacities been involved in hockey administration for over two decades."Mariamma Koshy has contributed to Indian Hockey over the last two decades and we are grateful for her services. She has been a guiding light for the Federation and also a big source of inspiration to many players and administrators alike. We wish her the best in her future endeavors." stated Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad, Secretary General, Hockey India.Meanwhile, Rajinder Singh will take charge as President of Hockey India from May 19. He was earlier the Treasurer of Hockey India and is currently the Treasurer of ...
Barcelona honours Andres Iniesta
FC Barcelona bid their official farewell to long-time captain Andres Iniesta with an event at Camp Nou that highlighted the legendary midfielder's role in the team's tremendous success over the past decade.