Page 1780 - Sports

Winter Olympics' most successful athlete Bjorgen retires

Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjorgen, the most successful athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics, announced her retirement at age of 38 on Friday.

SGFI to launch talent hunt for cricket league

School Games Federation of India (SGFI) will launch an ambitious talent hunt in its endeavour to unearth talented young cricketers later this year across India.The initiative which has been christened as the National School Cricket League (NSCL) has been conceptualized with a vision of becoming India's ultimate platform for school cricket.SGFI will scout for talented youngsters across India in the age bracket of 12-18 years and then conduct a School Cricket League which will be held at premier venues and will follow a T-20 format to select the Champion team of India.An esteemed panel of coaches from SGFI and mentors will form the selection panel and will conduct a thorough selection trial to choose the talented cricketers. The selected cricketers would then go on to represent their respective city or state team in the League.A total of 16 talented cricketers from the league will be provided five-year scholarships and will be provided advanced training and prepare them for future ...

CWG 2018: Indian men's hockey team look for winning start against Pak

The Indian men's hockey team face arch-rivals Pakistan in their first Pool B match on Saturday as they look to begin their quest on a promising note at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.It is an important year for this Manpreet Singh-led Indian team, who are vying to climb the success ladder and stamp their authority in World Hockey. But achieving the year's first target at the Gold Coast quadrennial event will be the only thing on their minds for now."Currently, we are not thinking about how important this year is especially with the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018 being held in front of home crowd. The only thing we have on our minds right now is our first match against Pakistan on Saturday," asserted 25-year-old skipper Manpreet Singh.Over the past two years, the tie between India and Pakistan has lost steam from being a blockbuster encounter that it once was with India dominating in all the six encounters winning by convincing margins.The opener ..

We have plans for all but just Kohli, says Kallis

Star batsman Virat Kohli might be returning to action in IPL after a long break but Kolkata Knight Riders coach Jacques Kallis is not too bothered about the India skipper and said his team has plans in place for the entire Royal Challengers Bangalore side. Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will open their campaign against Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 11th edition of IPL on Sunday. "We have got plans for all the batters. One batter (Kohli) doesn't make a team. When you fall into the trap of one batter then you are focussing on wrong things, you need to focus on all the batters," Kallis said when asked about their plans to combat Kohli. The tournament will pit India teammates Kuldeep Yadav against Yuzvendra Chahal and Kallis said he is looking forward to an exciting battle. "Wrist spinners play a big role in this format. A mystery bowl is slightly difficult to pick than the conventional players. We have got a couple (Kuldeep and Piyush Chawla), we are looking ...

Sehwag bats for a bowler as India captain after Virat

Former India opener and current Kings XI Punjab mentor Virender Sehwag today said that he would want a bowler to become national team captain after Virat Kohli. Sehwag made this point while responding to a question during a press conference ahead of KXIP's opening IPL match against Delhi Daredevils here on Sunday. Asked what he expects of Ravichandran Ashwin's captaincy of KXIP this season, Sehwag said, "I have played with him and I know the kind of mindset he has. He is the right choice to be captain of Punjab team. "I am a great fan of a bowling captain. I watched Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram as captains. In India generally you don't give captaincy to bowlers, but hopefully after Virat (Kohli) some bowler will become the captain (of national team)," he added. Talking about the KXIP team, Sehwag said, "We have the best team, if I compare last ten years. The team is a balanced one with right mix of Indian and foreign players. "We have a set of players who believe in dealing in ..

Varane rejoins Real Madrid group training ahead of derby

Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane rejoined the team's group training on Friday before the derby against Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu here.

We have not picked spent players, says CSK coach Fleming

Chennai Super Kings chief coach Stephen Fleming categorically dismissed perception that they have picked a bunch of "spent" players, saying it's the experience which he counts the most. CSK, returning to the IPL after serving a two-year suspension period, have players in their mid-30s such as captain MS Dhoni, Shane Watson and Dwayne Bravo. I'm not sure when a young player came out and was the top run-scorer. You get some exceptions, like Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) and Washington Sundar. But there's only a handful, whereas experienced players play major parts in the whole tournament, so that's why I value experience," Fleming said on the eve of their match against Mumbai Indian There's also about the quality of player, like (Dwayne) Bravo is still competing well, (Shane) Watson's competing well, Harbhajan (Singh) has great skill sets and Dhoni is a fine leader. So the players we've picked, I don't think they're spent by any means. It's a year-by year proposition and this year I think ..

Artistic gymnastics: Pranati Das, Pranati Nayak in finals

India's artistic gymnasts Pranati Das and Pranati Nayak qualified for the individual women's all-round and vault finals respectively on a disappointing day for World Cup medallist Aruna Budda Reddy at the XXI Commonwealth Games here on Friday.

IPL: Hoping for Curran to play big role: KKR coach Kallis

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach and legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis on Friday hoped Mitchell Starc's replacement, England's Tom Curran, will "play a big role" for them as they get ready to take on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday.

Para swimmer Kiran finishes 7th at CWG

Para-swimmer Kiran Tak finished seventh and last in the women's S9 100m backstroke event in the 21st Commonwealth Games here today. In a seven-woman field, Kiran finished last in the qualifying heat with a time of 1 minute 46.29 seconds. All the seven qualified for the finals where Kiran again finished last, this time with a worse time of 1:47.95.

India's CWG Schedule for Saturday

Following is India's schedule on Day 3 of competitions at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Saturday. BOXING: Men's Preliminary Round of 16 Manoj Kumar vs Kassim Mbundwike (Tanzania) (15:47 IST) Mohammed Hussamuddin vs Boe Warawara (Vanuatu) (15:17 IST) Women's Preliminary Round of 16 Sarita Devi vs Kimberly Gittens (Barbados) (14:02 IST) HOCKEY: Men's Pool B India vs Pakistan (10:00am IST) TABLE TENNIS: Women's Team quarterfinal India vs Malaysia (5:00 IST) BADMINTON: Mixed Team Quarterfinal India vs Mauritius (06:31 IST) SQUASH: Women's Singles Quarterfinal: Joshna Chinnappa vs Joelle King (New Zealand) (15:00 IST) Women's Singles Classic Plate Quarterfinal Dipika Pallikal vs Samantha Cornett (Canada) (9:00am IST) SWIMMING: Men's 200m Butterfly Heat 2 Sajan Prakash (6:04 IST) Men's 50m Backstroke Heat 1 Srihari Nataraj (6:45 IST) CYCLING: Women's 25km Points Race Finals (14:46 IST) Monorama Devi Tongbram Sonali Mayanglambam Women's 500m Time Trial Final (15:29 IST) Aleena Reji Deborah

Hampshire sign Dale Steyn for 2018 county season

Veteran South African fast bowler Dale Steyn has been roped in by Hampshire for the 2018 English county season.Having missed most of South Africa's home season due to injury, the 34-year-old will hope to be available for Hampshire in two windows - firstly for a 50-over match and a County Championship fixture in June before at the back-end of the season after the conclusion of his country's tour to Sri Lanka in July.Reflecting on Steyn's appointment, Giles White, Hampshire's director of cricket, said that the South African is one of the best bowlers in the world and that the club is looking forward to help him in his bid to return to full fitness."Dale is one of the best bowlers in the world and is extremely motivated to get going after a frustrating period on the sidelines.It seems a great fit for both parties - we hope that we can help him get back to his best and we look forward to welcoming him to Hampshire," ESPNcricinfo quoted White as saying.Steyn, during his time at Hampshire, .

Women's League: Gokulam Kerala held to draw by India Rush

India Rush SC played out a goalless draw with Gokulam Kerala FC in a group stage match of the second edition of the Indian Womens League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday.

First ODI: India eves beat England by one wicket

A combined effort helped Indian eves edged past England by one wicket in the first One-Day International match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here on Friday.

Mandhana guides Indian women to a one-wicket win over England

Opener Smriti Mandhana conjured up a crucial 86-run knock as Indian women pulled off a thrilling one-wicket win over England women in the opening One-Day International of the three-match series, here today. Mandhana cracked five fours and four sixes in her strokeful inning to anchor India's run chase after England set the hosts a modest 208-run for a 1 -0 lead at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha. Mandhana starred in crucial partnerships with Harmanpreet Kaur (21) and Deepti Sharma (24) as India overhauled the target with five balls to spare. Poonam Yadav (4/30) and Ekta Bisht (3/49) shared seven wickets between them, while DB Sharma struck twice as England failed to weave partnerships and were bowled out for 207 in 49.3 overs. After opening pair of Danielle Wyatt (27) and Tammy Beaumont (37) shared a 71-run stand, FC Wilson scored 45 to help them cross the 200-mark. Chasing the total, Devika Vaidya (15) and Mandhana (86) gave India a good start but Danielle Hazell ..

Pacer Munaf Patel rubbishes match-fixing claims

Indian fast bowler Munaf Patel has shrugged off the reports that were doing the rounds in regard to his link with a match-fixing scandal.Lately, Patel, a member of India's 2011 World Cup-winning squad, was linked to match-fixing syndicate that organised a domestic T20 tournament named Rajputana Premier League in Jaipur last July."I don't know why this kind of news is surfacing now after a year. I have never been questioned relating to the league earlier. I have no idea what is going on," Patel told ANI in a telephonic interview."I did go in the opening ceremony of the event along with two other people. I was there on the field for over four hours. I also answered a few questions related to promotion of cricket."Patel added that he was invited by Mohammad Aslam, a former Ranji player from Rajasthan, and the organiser of the Rajputana Premier League.The league came under the scanner of the Board of Control for Cricket in India 's Anti-Corruption Security Unit (ACSU) last year. Patel's ..

Reddy fails but two others qualify for final round in women's gymnastics

Putting up a dismal show, world cup medallist gymnast Aruna Reddy failed to qualify for the final round but a 'lucky' Pranati Nayak made the cut in vault event of the women's artistic gymnastics in the Commonwealth Games here today. Pranati Das also qualified for final of all round events. Nayak finished eighth in the vault qualification round while Das was 18th in the all round qualifying event. At the end of the four sub division competitions in vault, Nayak actually finished ninth but she made it to the final round of eight gymnasts as the top-three spots were occupied by Canadians. Under rules, only two from a country can qualify for the final round. Reddy, who had scripted history by winning a bronze at the Gymnastics World Cup in February, finished 11th in the qualification and has been placed as second reserve for the final round. A reserve player gets a chance to play if a competitor pulls out. Reddy has also been placed as the first reserve for the all round event ...

Mercedes Trophy: Golfers Bhavkaran, Aman, Rajesh to represent India in World Finals

Golfers Bhavkaran Singh of Chandigarh, Aman Sawhney of Gurugram and Rajesh Natarajan of Mumbai have booked their spots to represent India in the World Finals of the Mercedes Trophy golf meet, it was announced on Friday.

CWG 2018 Squash: Joshna Chinappa reaches quarters, Dipika Pallikal exits

Multiple-time national champion Joshna Chinappa booked her place in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Commonwealth Games squash tournament after clinching straight-games win over Tamika Saxby of Australia in the women's singles event here in Gold Coast, Australia on Friday.The World No. 14, who picked the women's doubles gold with Dipika Pallikal-Karthik in the last edition of the quadrennial sporting event, made everything looked so easy as she swept aside her Australian opponent Saxby 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 in a last-16 clash that lasted just 25 minutes.Chinappa will now lock horns with the winner of another round-of-16 clash between New Zealand's Joelle King and Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam.Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak for Dipika Pallikal as she bowed out of the tournament after slumping to straight-games defeat at the hands of England's Alison Waters.Pallikal endured a crushing 3-11, 6-11 and 2-11 defeat against her England opponent in their women's singles ...

CWG: India thrash Samoa in lawn bowls

India outplayed Samoa 26-4 in the men's Pairs Sectional Play Round 4 at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Friday.