Page 1728 - Sports
La Liga: Real Madrid back in 3rd place after 2-1 win over Malaga
Real Madrid clawed their way back into the third place in the La Liga standings after downing Malaga 2-1 in an away match in which attacking midfielder Isco Alarcon, a Malaga native, scored for the visitors.
Mohun Bagan have shown lot of character: BFC coach Roca
Bengaluru FC will start as favourites against Mohun Bagan in the Super Cup semi-final here tomorrow but their coach Alberto Roca termed the Kolkata giants as a team that has a "lot of character". With India captain Sunil Chhetri in prolific form, on paper the 'Blues' are way ahead of the green and maroon brigade but Shankarlal Chakraborty coached Mohun Bagan on their day can be a handful for any opposition. Coach Roca wants to guard his men against complacency and is not exactly fond of the "favourites tag". We are not the favourites in this match. All the favourites have bowed out so far. So I don't want to be labelled as the favourite, Roca said at the pre-match press conference. Mohun Bagan are a more difficult team than what we have faced so far in this tournament. They did well in both the matches and are one of the most historical teams in Indian Football with a lot of history on their side, he added. While BFC played in the top-tier ISL, Mohun Bagan continued to play in the ...
TN Govt announces incentives for medal winners at CWG
The Tamil Nadu government today lauded sportspersons from the state who had won medals at the just concluded 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia, and announced rich cash incentives for their feats. Chief Minister K Palaniswami wrote to squash players Joshna Chinnappa, Deepika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal, besides A Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan (Table Tennis), lauding them for winning medals in their respective fixtures. According to the Chief Minister, Pallikal will receive a government 'high cash incentive' of Rs 60 lakh for winning two silver medals, while Chinnappa and Ghosal will get Rs 30 lakh each for their respective single silver medals. Kamal, who won a silver in the men's doubles and a bronze in the singles event was "eligible" to get Rs 50 lakh for his feat, Palaniswami said. This was in addition to the Rs 50 lakh announced by the Chief Minister earlier to Kamal for winning gold in the men's team event, Palaniswami said. He also announced Rs 50 lakh for Kamal's .
Retired cricketers pledge to revamp game in Kenya
Retired Kenyan international cricketers have pledged to spearhead the restoration of the game in the East African nation.
Don't need to use my back as my arms can do the job: Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni's powerful forearms won many a matches for India and no wonder the former India captain has confidence to clear the boundary even when he is suffering from excruciating back pain. For lofted shots, a batsman needs to maintain shape while transfering body weight into the shot. However against Kings XI Punjab last night, the Chennai Super Kings captain was in real pain but kept clearing the ropes with consummate ease. Dhoni's unbeaten 79 off 44 balls got CSK agonisingly close to the target before the visitors fell short by four runs. When asked how he could hit those lofted shots with a painful back, Dhoni replied: "The back is pretty bad but God has given me lot of power and I don't need to use my back a lot. My arms can do the job." However Dhoni maintained that it was not a very serious injury. "It shouldn't be too bad because I know what happened. And when you know the extent of your injury, you know how bad it really is," he said.
Yuki back in top-100 after more than 2 years
Yuki Bhambri today broke back into the top-100 for the first time since February 2016 following his-title winning performance at the Taipei Challenger as he leapfrogged 22 places to a career-best rank of 83. This is the best rank an Indian has achieved in ATP singles chart since Somdev Devvarman touched a career-high 62 in July 2011. Yuki had first broken into top-100 late in 2015 but injuries did not allow him to climb further. However, the resilient 25-year-old has worked his way back to top-100 which, if maintained, will allow him direct entry into the Grand Slams and the ATP 1000 series Masters event. "It's only the beginning, I have to move up a lot more and I am looking forward to the challenge," Yuki told PTI. Asked if top-50 was a realistic target for him, Yuki said, "Not at the moment. Too far." Yuki has always maintained that he has the game to challenge the best players and has proved with his recent big wins over world number 12 Lucas Puillee (Indian Wells, March 2018) and
Nadal mocks Federer for missing clay-court season
Taking a sly dig at his oldrival Roger Federer, world number one Rafael Nadal said the former avoids facing him on clay after the Swiss star decided to skip the clay court season for a second-straight year.The 31-year-old's statement comes ahead of his return to the ATP tour at the Monte Conte Masters this week. Federer, who guided Spain to a Davis Cup quarter-final victory over Germany earlier this month, will head into the event as a 10-time champion.Nadal, who certainly enjoys playing on clay and has amassed an incredible 53 clay court titles in his career, teased Roger Federer for being 'contradictory' over his decision to not contest a single clay-court event for the second straight season, the Telegraph.co.uk reported.He said, "He says he will love to play against me again in best-of-five sets on clay. He said that a couple of days ago - and I thought he would play Roland Garros. Then a few days later he says he will not play in one event, so there's a little bit of controversy
Schalke overpower rivals Dortmund 2-0 in Bundesliga
Schalke tightened their grip on the second place of the Bundesliga football championship beating local rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on second-half goals from Yevhen Konoplyanka and Naldo.
CWG organisers apologise for 'shameful' closing ceremony
The organizers of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games have apologised for Sunday's closing ceremony on Sunday night which has been roundly criticised for not including athletes.
Neymar likely to be fit in time for World Cup
Brazilian star striker Neymar has hinted he is on track to recover fully after his foot operation, meaning that the player would be fit in time to feature in the World Cup.The former Barcelona and Santos man landed awkwardly during a clash with Marseille forward Bouna Sarr in their Ligue 1 encounter in February and sustained injuries in the process. He was later stretchered off the pitch and was subsequently required a surgery to treat the same.Talking about his return, Neymar revealed that he now needs a month's time to recover fully from his injury as the Paris Saint-Germain striker targets return during Brazil's opening World Cup match against Switzerland in Russia on June 17."There's a month yet.I'm progressing well. Everything is as good as possible,"goal.com quoted Neymar, as saying.Recently, PSG had said that Neymar's recovery has been going pretty well, while coach Unai Emery said that he hopes to see the Brazilian making a return before the end of the season.Earlier, Neymar ..
Street side: Indonesia slum kids eye youth 'World Cup'
Somad rarely ventures beyond his impoverished Jakarta neighbourhood, but the 14-year-old is now gearing for a trip to Russia next month as a player in the 2018 Street Child World Cup. It's the journey of a lifetime for the aspiring striker and eight other Indonesian kids set to compete against teams of other disadvantaged children from two dozen nations. The event's third edition in Moscow is a long way from Bekasi on the outskirts of Indonesia's teeming capital where Somad's father sorts through foul trash heaps to find and sell usable goods. Along with his food-seller mother, the teen lives in a 45-metre (485 square foot) makeshift home shared with four other families. "Not many kids can be as lucky as I am," says Somad, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. "I want to make my parents and friends proud so we can have better lives and have no need to be scavengers anymore." The slum is mostly populated by trash pickers who live in its hundreds of shacks. A potent smell of ...
Winless MI take on formidable RCB in high-octane clash
Winless Mumbai Indians will pit their might against formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore in an adrenaline-charged Indian Premier League match here tomorrow. Both teams, with a plethora of explosive batsmen, are yet to find their feet in the T20 league and would be keen to gather some momentum with a victory here at the Wankhede Stadium. If MI have their problems to sort out, having lost at the death in all three games so far, RCB too have their own shortcomings to address with only one win in three games under their belt. Both the games held here so far have gone down to the wire and on both occasions MI have had their chances to go across the line and fumbled on the doorstep against Chennai Super Kings in the season opener and then Delhi Daredevils. In between they had also lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first away game of the season, so that the three-time champions led by Rohit Sharma are placed at the bottom of the eight-team table. MI had been in worse situations before .
Hamilton labels his Chinese GP performance 'a disaster'
Four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has termed his performance at the Chinese Grand Prix as 'disaster' while admitting that he needs to rectify his shortcoming before it is too late.The British driver, who was bidding to claim his fifth pole position in Chinese GP, struggled for pace in qualifying as he finished at a disappointing fourth spot in Shanghai on Saturday.Subsequently, Hamilton lacked the pace, needed to even challenge for a podium position as he made a fourth-place finish in an action-packed Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday.Reflecting on his performance, the Mercedes driver admitted that it was a case of underperforming on his side and that a solution needs to be found quickly before he loses more points in driver's standings."I was in no-one man's land today, I had no pace.I was just trying to hold on for whatever I had.Obviously, we've got a tough battle ahead of us, particularly on my side. I'll say my side, but also us as a ...
Gayle is back and it is bad news for other teams, says Rahul
Kings XI Punjab opener Lokesh Rahul has shot a warning to rival teams in the Indian Premier League: beware of Chris Gayle as he is back to his brutal best. Gayle, playing his first game of the season, smashed his second fastest IPL fifty, off 22 balls, to lay the foundation for KXIP's thrilling four-run win over Chennai Super Kings last night. "It is amazing news for our team and bad news for the other teams that Chris Gayle is hitting the ball well. We all know he is a player who can win games single handedly and demolish attacks on his day and that's what he did today. We want him and we expect him to continue this form forward," said Rahul, who himself has been in top form, at the post-match media interaction. Not so long ago, Gayle went unsold in the auction twice before KXIP picked him up for a base price of Rs 2 crore, the same amount they paid for Yuvraj Singh. KXIP play their next home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Asked about the plans against Sunrisers, Rahul said, ...
Inzamam's nephew Imam-ul-Haq receives maiden call-up for Ireland, England Tests
Imam-ul-Haq, former captain and current chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq, is among the five uncapped players named in the 16-man Pakistan squad for the upcoming Test series against England and Ireland.Besides Imam, opener Fakhar Zaman, batsmen Usman Salahuddin and Saad Ali, and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf are the other four uncapped members to have received maiden Test call-ups.While Imam has been given a chance in the longest format of the game after his blistering century on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka late last year, Ashraf has been included in Test squad on the back of some impressive performances in the shorter formats of the game.Ali, on the other hand, received the call-up on the back of his impressive form in Pakistan's first-class circuit, having amassed 3,473 runs in 50 games he played at an average of 46.93.Pakistan Super League's (PSL) top performer Wahab Riaz has been excluded from the national squad, while the South Asian team will also miss the services of prolific ...
Life after Bolt: new-look Jamaica fail Commonwealth test
As sprint legend Usain Bolt partied into the early hours and hung out with movie stars at the Commonwealth Games, it wasn't so much fun for the Jamaica track team he left behind. At their first major competition since Bolt retired after a decade of dominance, the Jamaican juggernaut caught a flat on the Gold Coast, failing to win a single sprinting gold medal. Yohan Blake's flop in the men's 100 metres set the tone as Jamaica's confidence was immediately dented by South African Akani Simbine. Blake, who picked up a world title in 2011 after Bolt false-started, could only finish third behind Simbine's countryman Henricho Bruintjies after a calamitous start. To add insult to injury, double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson failed to win a medal in the women's 200m as Shaunae Miller-Uibo romped to victory for the Bahamas. And with Trinidad and Tobago's Jereem Richards capturing gold in the men's 200m and countrywoman Michelle-Lee Ahye an upset winner of the women's 100m, Jamaica's ...
Isco leads Real to Malaga win as Zidane rests Ronaldo and Bale
Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were both rested and Real Madrid hardly broke sweat as they beat Malaga 2-1 on Sunday to climb to third in La Liga. Isco scored one and set up another at La Rosaleda in a comfortable victory for a much-changed Real side, following Wednesday's last-gasp Champions League win over Juventus. Diego Rolan grabbed a consolation for Malaga with the last kick of the game but the result was never in doubt. As well as Bale and Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Raphael Varane were left out by Zinedine Zidane, with the all-important Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich looming next week. But Isco did his chances of a start in Germany no harm at all by bending in a free-kick that both Ronaldo and Bale would have been proud of, and then generously teeing up Casemiro when he might easily have finished himself. After scoring his first Real goal in nine appearances against his former club, Isco held his hands up apologetically, and he enjoyed a warm reception from .
Juventus beats Sampdoria 3-0 to go 6 points clear of Napoli
Juventus took a major step toward a seventh straight Serie A title on Sunday as it beat Sampdoria 3-0 after Napoli was held to a 0-0 draw at AC Milan. Douglas Costa changed the match when he came on for the injured Miralem Pjanic, providing three assists for Mario Mandzukic, Benedikt Hoewedes and Sami Khedira. Juventus moved six points clear of Napoli with six matches remaining - including the two sides playing each other. "We have to thank Pjanic for getting injured because maybe at that moment I wouldn't have changed things," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri joked. "Douglas and (Gonzaolo) Higuain are two players who I wanted to use to change the match. I chose the Brazilian to stretch Samp." Juventus was looking to bounce back from the disappointment of Wednesday's Champions League exit to Real Madrid, decided by a stoppage-time penalty in the second leg when seconds away from forcing extra time at 3-0. Allegri had mixed feelings about Sunday's win. "Is it a decisive step toward .
PSG wins title after crushing defending champion Monaco 7-1
Paris Saint-Germain won the French league title after beating defending champion Monaco 7-1 on Sunday, with the crushing victory highlighting the obvious gulf between the two teams this season. Monaco meekly surrendered the title that it had won so impressively last season, doing little to prolong the suspense. It was losing 4-0 after 28 minutes as PSG easily did enough for a fifth title in six seasons and a seventh overall. PSG leads second-place Monaco by 17 points with five rounds remaining. Midfielder Giovani Lo Celso and winger Angel Di Maria scored two goals each, while league top scorer Edinson Cavani grabbed his 25th of the season. PSG captain Thiago Silva's header went in off Radamel Falcao - Monaco's top scorer - for PSG's sixth goal before Germany winger Julian Draxler netted the seventh. Monaco later tweeted that it will reimburse fans who traveled to the game for the cost of their tickets. Monaco thrilled Europe last season with a scintillating brand of attacking soccer .
Man City eye record books after clinching title
Champions Manchester City have set their sights on rewriting the record books after clinching the Premier League title. Pep Guardiola's side were crowned kings of English football on Sunday as their arch rivals Manchester United slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat against struggling West Bromwich Albion. City are 16 points clear of second placed United, who can only take a maximum of 15 points from their remaining matches. Given the way they have demolished all challengers in the league, it was apparent months ago that it was only a matter of when rather than if City would take the title. But sealing the silverware thanks to a slip from old enemies United and their boss Jose Mourinho -- a long-time rival of Guardiola -- was a sweet moment, especially after they lost to their neighbours in the Manchester derby last weekend. Winning the title with five matches to go makes City the joint earliest champions in the Premier League era -- matching the achievement of the 2000-01 Manchester United ..