Page 1784 - Sports
Record-breaking Aussies rebound from Pearson pull-out
Australia smashed world records in swimming and cycling on day one of the Commonwealth Games as they rebounded quickly from hurdler Sally Pearson's shock pull-out on Thursday. Poster-girl Pearson's withdrawal with an Achilles problem made for a gloomy start to competition but it gave way to a triumphant evening for the hosts. Australia's three gold medals at the Anna Meares Velodrome included a world record in the men's 4,000m team pursuit as they stamped their authority on the cycling competition. It was only a slightly less fruitful night for the Aussies in the pool, where they won two golds including a new world mark in the 4x100m women's freestyle relay. Olympic champion Mack Horton won the men's 400m freestyle although Canada's Taylor Ruck pipped two Aussies -- fellow 17-year-old Ariarne Titmus, and Emma McKeon -- in the women's 200m free. Australia's Pearson, the 100m hurdles world champion and a Gold Coast resident, earlier said she was in tears when she realised she had to ...
Bengaluru beat Aizawl 3-1 in AFC Cup group match
Indian Super League runners-up side Bengaluru FC bounced back from a goal down to outwit former I-League champions Aizawl FC 3-1 in an AFC Cup Group E clash at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here today. Leonce Dodoz Zikahi (5th minute) drew first blood to put Aizawl ahead but Bengaluru pumped in three goals with Daniel Lucas Segovia (45+1), Rahul Bheke (63rd) and Daniel Lalhlimpuia (77th) emerging as the scorers. It was the second win for Benguluru after a perfect start to the AFC Cup when they had beaten Abahani Dhaka FC 1-0 through a second half strike from Daniel Lalhlimpuia. Both the sides were playing in the continental competition in the midst of their campaign in the inaugural Super Cup tournament in Bhubaneswar, where they made it to the quarterfinals. Aizawl, who had lost 1-3 to New Radiant SC in Maldives, made early breakthrough in the fifth minute when the ball ricocheted in off the shin of Ivorian striker Leonce Dodoz after a clearance from Bengaluru goalkeeper ...
Indian gymnast Patra reaches final of rings event
India's Rakesh Patra has qualified for the rings apparatus final in the men's artistic gymnastics event of the Commonwealth Games here. Patra only took part in the rings and parallel bars scoring 13.950 and 13.350 respectively. He made the final in fifth spot behind Courtney Tulloch (15.200), Niles Wilson (14.750), Renee Cournoyer (14.200) and Scott Morgan (14.200). The final will be held on Sunday. In the team event, India finished ninth and last after aggregating 174 points, the lowest score in the field. Ashish Kumar, Patra and Yogeshwar Singh were the other members of the team. Singapore finished eighth but their overall score was 206, 32 points more than what India managed. England won the gold with 258 points, ahead of Canada and Scotland, who aggregated 248 and 240 points respectively.
Amsterdam Arena officially becomes Johan Cruijff Arena
The Amsterdam Arena will officially change its name to the Johan Cruijff Arena at the start of the 2018-2019 season, the Dutch football club AFC Ajax announced on Thursday.
CWG: Lifters Mirabai Chanu, Gururaja strike medals; gymnasts delight, women's hockey team shocked (Roundup)
Weightlifters S. Mirabai Chanu and Gururaja sparkled to deliver a gold and a silver, respectively, for India, while the table tennis teams and the badminton teams advanced to the knockouts but women's hockey team shocking loss was a wake-up call on the opening day of the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.
AFC Cup: Bengaluru FC get past Aizawl 3-1 to maintain perfect record
Goals from Daniel Segovia, Rahul Bheke and Daniel Lalhlimpuia ensured Bengaluru FC maintained a perfect start to their Group E campaign of the AFC Cup with a 3-1 win over Aizawl FC at the Indira Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
Star India gets BCCI Media Rights for Rs 6,138.1 crore for 5 years
Star India on Thursday bagged the Indian cricket board's international and domestic media rights for the period April 15, 2018-March 31, 2023 for Rs 6138.1 crore.
Artistic gymnastics: Yogeshwar, Rakesh in finals
Yogeshwar Singh qualified for the men's artistic gymnastics individual all-round final, while Rakesh Patra topped the rings apparatus qualifying competition in the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.
South Africa coach Gibson chases top Test spot
South Africa coach Ottis Gibson said today his goal is to take the team to the number one spot in Test cricket. "The same way that players set goals, coaches also set goals. The goal for the Test team is to try to get to number one," he said in a Cricket South Africa interview. The former West Indies player, who has had coaching stints with West Indies and England, said series victories over India and Australia were satisfying -- but just part of his overall goal. Gibson was appointed South Africa head coach after helping England beat the 'Proteas' in a series in England last year in his role as bowling coach. His stint started with easy wins over Bangladesh and Zimbabwe before South Africa, second in the International Cricket Council rankings, took on top side India and third-ranked Australia in successive home series. "To win these two series, especially this one with all the other noise that has been going on, is quite rewarding," he said, referring to the controversies that ...
11-year-old prodigy opens with table tennis win
Eleven-year-old table tennis prodigy Anna Hursey made her mark at the Commonwealth Games as she helped pull off a hard-fought doubles win for Wales today. The schoolgirl, the youngest athlete at these Games and thought to be the youngest in the competition's history, partnered with Charlotte Carey in the women's team event. Carey and Hursey were 2-0 up against India's Madhurika Patkar and Mouma Das before being pegged back to 2-2, but they grittily won the last game 13-11 to seal the match. Although it was Wales's lone success, as India won the three singles matches to take the tie 3-1, it was an important step forward for Hursey. Standing just 1.60 metres (5ft 3in) tall, the Cardiff schoolgirl is known as a tenacious competitor, having already broken records by appearing at last year's European championships. "She's taking it in her stride really," Welsh coach Stephen Jenkins told AFP earlier. "She is actually really mature for her age. It's just inside her -- she's mentally strong.
It is time for Tigermania 2.0, says Pawan Munjal
It takes a Tiger Woods to be tipped as the favorite to win the Masters even after a title drought of five years. It has been exactly a decade since Tiger won a Major - it was US Open in 2008, when he famously beat Rocco Mediate in a sudden death play-off on the 19th hole.He has played many Majors since, and a lot of personal and physical factors may have come in the way of Tiger adding any more Majors to his total of 14, but this time around he looks good for the Green Jacket.Tiger's presence at the Masters, at the Augusta National Golf Club this week, has generated a huge frenzy for the first Major of the year. The practice round passes are supposed to be going for an unprecedented USD 10,000 and even the guys in Vegas are betting on a Tiger triumph at Augusta, with good reason. With the results of T-12, T-2 and T-5 in his previous three starts, Tiger is looking better with each event, and the big stage of Augusta will be the perfect setting for the star golfer to reclaim his ...
Ball tampering scandal has given a chance to others to slam boot into Australians: Warne
The ball tampering scandal has given a chance to the cricketing world to "slam boot" into Australians, said spin legend Shane Warne, who feels every country should take this opportunity to look into their own back yards and decide how they want to play the game. Warne, who has taken over the role of a Mentor for Rajasthan Royals, said he was disappointed and embarrassed by what happened during the third Test between Australia and South Africa in Cape Town. It is very disappointing but I feel that this given an opportunity to others to slam boot into Australians without any reason," Warner told PTI. "I am not defending what Smith has done and I am also embarrassed as any other Australians with the happenings. "Anyone who has been beaten by Australia, who don't like the way the Australians play the game or they don't like any individual in any country have taken the opportunity to take boots into the Australians. Warne, who had also led Rajasthan Royals to the title in the inaugural ...
Indian team finishes last in men's team gymnastics
India, led by Ashish Kumar, finished ninth and last in the gymnastics team event of the Commonwealth Games here today. India aggregated 174 points, the lowest score in the field to end their campaign on a dismal note. Rakesh Patra and Yogeshwar Singh were the other members of the team. Singapore finished eighth but their overall score was 206, 32 points more than what India managed. England won the gold with 258 points, ahead of Canada and Scotland, who aggregated 248 and 240 points respectively.
Star Sports retains BCCI media rights for Rs 6,138.1 crores
Star Sports India on Thursday retained the Board for Cricket Control in India's (BCCI) exclusive media rights for the broadcast of the Indian cricket team's home matches for the 2018-2022 cycle, BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary confirmed.Edging Sony and Reliance Jio in the bidding wars, which lasted for three days, The 21st Century Fox owned-Star claimed the rights for a record INR 6,138.1 crores for the coverage of 102 matches scheduled to be played in Indian soil in the next five years, paying the BCCI an approximate INR 60 crores per match.Shattering the previous record of INR 3851 crores the channel had paid for the BCCI broadcasting rights between 2012 and 2018, the bid still stands some distance away from the INR 16, 347.5 crores (2.55 billion) Star paid to coup the global media and digital rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) from Sony Pictures Network for the period between 2018 and 2022.But with the BCCI rights also in the bag, Star has essentially established a ..
World record beckons Paes in Davis Cup tie against China
Veteran Leander Paes will make yet another attempt to create the Davis Cup record for the most doubles win as India clash with China in their den in "brutal" cold conditions for a place in the World Group Play-offs, starting here tomorrow. The 44-year-old Paes is tied on 42 wins with Italian great Nicola Pietrangeli and one more win will make him the most successful doubles player in the history of Davis Cup. Paes had a chance to the make the record when India hosted New Zealand in Pune in February 2017 but doubles was the only match India lost in that tie. What followed in Bengaluru against Uzbekistan was an avoidable controversy as captain Mahesh Bhupathi chose to put Paes on bench, fielding Sriram Balaji with Bopanna. Those were two chances when Paes could have got that coveted record in front of his home fans but now after reclaiming his place in the team on the back of some stellar show in the last few months, he has to do it thousands of miles away from home in alien ...
Sunrisers have enough depth to replace Warner: Moody
Banned Australian opener David Warner's ouster from Sunrisers Hyderabad had "very little" impact on the team, said head coach Tom Moody, who believes they have a well balanced squad with enough depth to replace the former captain. Sunrisers Hyderabad had to replace their regular skipper Warner with New Zealand captain Kane Williamson after BCCI barred the former Australian vice-captain from IPL 11, following the one-year ban imposed by Cricket Australia for his role in the ball tampering scandal in South Africa. Very little, to be honest with you," Moody told reporters when asked about the impact of change in captaincy in a short notice on the team. "We have a very well balanced squad where we have a number of different people that can fill different roles within the team. We are replacing a good captain in David Warner, who was vice captain of the Australian team, with another international captain (Kane Williamson), he said. Moody said the team managed to get the depth and balance ..
Star bags India's home series rights for nearly one billion dollar
Broadcasting giant Star India today completed its virtual monopoly over Indian cricket by bagging the media rights of the national team's home series as well as domestic cricket for the next five years by shelling out a staggering Rs 6138.1 crore (USD 944 million approx). After an intense bidding war spread over three days, Star pipped Sony and Reliance Jio for the Global Consolidated Rights (GCR) starting from April 2018 to March 2023. It was for the first time that BCCI staged an e-auction to sell the home media rights. Star had also won the IPL rights for a record Rs 16,347 crore (USD 2.55 billion) last year. They also own the rights for all ICC tournaments (men's and women's 50-over World Cup, World T20). The GCR comprise TV broadcast rights as well as digital rights for the Indian sub continent as well as the Rest of the World (RoW). On the first day, the bidding ended at Rs 4442 crore while yesterday, it breached the Rs 6000 crore mark. "The final consolidated bid was (Rs) ...
KKR will start as underdogs against RCB: Katich
Kolkata Knight Riders batting coach Simon Katich today termed the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore as the favourites in the opening IPL encounter between the two sides on Sunday. Former Australian left-handed batsman feels that RCB are one of the title contenders. "No doubt, we go in as underdogs as RCB are one of the joint favourites to win the title. We look forward to the challenge in proving people wrong," Katich said about their IPL opener. "Quick outfield, beautiful conditions, and a full house on Sunday. We are looking forward to a fantastic start to the IPL for us. We just can't wait to get out there. Hopefully, we will get him (Kohli) caught at the slips like last year," Katich said recalling the Indian captain's duck here in 2017. Things however would not be easy for a new-look KKR side under Dinesh Karthik and the Kolkata franchise is banking on the wealth of experience they have. A surprise choice as skipper to lead the high profile KKR, Karthik's stocks have ...
Karthik at the right stage in his career to lead a side, feels Katich
Kolkata Knight Riders' batting coach Simon Katich feels newly appointed skipper Dinesh Karthik is at the right stage in his career to lead the side which was so successfully shepherded by Gautam Gambhir till the last season.
Katich lauds Aussie trio's decision to not appeal CA ban
Lauding the infamous trio's decision to accept the sanctions imposed on them in the wake of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, former Australia opener Simon Katich on Thursday said Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are "good young lads" and they will come back better players after a year.