Page 1925 - Sports
50-over lifeline: Ashwin named India A captain in Deodhar
Out of favour in Indian team's limited overs set-up, senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today got a lifeline as national selection committee named him captain of the India 'A' team for the Deodhar Trophy, scheduled to be held in Dharamsala from March 4-8. Shreyas Iyer is the captain of the India 'B' team while the third team in the tournament are Vijay Hazare Champions Karnataka led by Karun Nair. Ashwin is one of the prominent selection in Deodhar Trophy as most of the others are performers in the just-concluded National One Day Championships. Among the victorious U-19 World Cup team, Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw have been included in the India A side. With finger spinners not in priority at the moment, Ashwin's performance in the Deodhar Trophy will be keenly monitored even though chances of an ODI comeback at the moment is pretty remote. The selectors also included speedsters Umesh Yadav, who didn't get a single game during India's tour of South Africa. Having dropped in the ..
UEFA bans Ex-Man U star Nasri for 6 months over doping
Former Manchester United and Arsenal midlfielder Samir Nasri has been handed a six-month suspension by the UEFA, European football's governing body, for breaking its anti-doping regulations.The 30-year-old's ban came in the wake of an investigation into an intravenous drip treatment, which he had received from a private clinic while he was on holiday in Los Angeles back in December 2016.While announcing Nasri's suspension, the UEFA, which opened disciplinary proceedings against the Frenchman onMarch 6 last year, said, "The player Samir Nasri has been found guilty for using a prohibited method in accordance with sub-section M2, par. 2 of the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) prohibited list."The statement from the UEFA added: "In this context, the CEDB (control, ethics and disciplinary body) has decided to suspend Samir Nasri for six months for violation of the World Anti-doping Code and the UEFA anti-doping regulations."According to the WADA rule, there is a 50-millilitre infusion limit
Zadran takes hat-trick in Afghanistan's stunning win over Windies in warm up game
Fast bowler Dawlat Zadran rejoiced a hat-trick as Afghanistan shocked former world champions West Iindies by 29 runs in an ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier warm-up match, here today. Zadran accounted for Shimron Hetmyer , Rovman Powell and Carlos Brathwaite on successive deliveries of his fifth over as the Windies, chasing a revised target of 140 in 35 overs by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method, slipped from 99 for five in the 20th over. The team from a strife-torn nation then bowled the fancied opponents out for 110 in 26.4 overs for a morale-boosting win ahead of the main tournament. Zadran, who had earlier accounted for Shai Hope, finished with outstanding figures of 7-1-26-4. Left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf and wrist-spinner Rashid Khan picked up two wickets apiece, while Mohammad Nabi and Shahpoor Zadran bagged a wicket each. For the Windies, Evin Lewis was the top scorer with 36, while Marlon Samuels scored 34. Chris Gayle (9), Shai Hope (1), Jason Mohammed (0), Hetmyer (1) ...
Sardar confident of good show at Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
India's hockey captain Sardar Singh says his side has enough fire power to tackle strong opponents such as world number one Australia and reigning Olympic champions Argentina at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, beginning Saturday. India will open their campaign against world number two Argentina on Saturday. The experienced mid-fielder exuded confidence that India can come up with a solid show in the season-opening event which also features England, Ireland and hosts Malaysia. "It is extremely important to start the tournament well. A good match against Argentina will give the team the confidence for the rest of the matches to follow. Every match in the Pool Stage will be important to ensure a place in the final. We have beaten teams like Australia and England in the past and have done well against Argentina too. We just need to ensure we play in a structured manner and execute the team's plans perfectly," Sardar said ahead of team's departure. "It will be a good competition and Sultan ...
Barasat Stadium to be refurbished, AIFF happy
The Barasat Stadium, which hosted several I-League matches this season, should be upgraded into a sports complex-cum-stadium, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the sports department on Tuesday.
Indian hockey squad leaves for Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
An 18-member Indian team led by experienced midfielder Sardar Singh left for the 27th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup on Tuesday night, Hockey India announced.
Mathews ruled out of tri-nation series in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka limited-overs captain Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of next month's tri-nation Twenty20 tournament after failing to recover from a hamstring injury, the country's cricket board said today. The hosts will be led by Dinesh Chandimal in the series starting March 6 at Colombo's R Premadasa Stadium. India and Bangladesh are the other two teams. Sri Lanka Cricket announced a 20-man preliminary squad that will be cropped to 15 on Wednesday. "Angelo Mathews was not considered for selection as he is still recovering from the injury he suffered during the concluded Tri-Nation Series in Bangladesh," the board said in a release. Mathews, 30, was in January named as Sri Lanka's captain in the shorter format until the 2019 World Cup. But the all-rounder has been beset by injuries and has led the side in just a single one-day international, against Zimbabwe in Dhaka last month. Sri Lanka recently swept their Bangladesh tour, winning both the Test and T20 series, after a ...
Walsh seeks consistency from Bangladesh in Sri Lanka tri-series
Bangladesh interim coach Courtney Walsh said today he would be pushing his side for consistency in next month's tri-nations series in Sri Lanka after a string of poor finishes. The former Caribbean fast bowling great, usually a pace instructor for Bangladesh, is stepping up in the absence of a coach for the Twenty20 tournament. Bangladesh lost a tri-nation tournament at home last month despite a strong start, before losing a series-deciding Test match against Sri Lanka inside three days. Walsh, who has been working with Bangladesh's bowlers since 2016, said the side lacked consistency, not talent. "If we can get consistent, we will be happy. It is going to be the biggest challenge and it is something that I will be stressing on a lot," he told reporters. Bangladesh have been without a head coach since October when Chandika Hathurusingha, a former Sri Lankan batsman, quit after three years to join his struggling home team. Former skipper Mahmud filled the void as team director ...
Australia's fearsome attack creates dilemma for South Africa
Some of the world's best fast bowlers will square up when the first Test between South Africa and Australia starts at Kingsmead on Thursday. They may find, however, that some of their sting drawn by pitch conditions. Kingsmead has lost the reputation it once had as a fast bowler's paradise. It has been many years since wicketkeepers had to leap around as balls soared and sped off the playing surface. Indications are that the pitch will offer encouragement but not excessive help to the fast men, with enough grass on the surface to assist movement off the seam. The South African team, it seems, has given up on trying to influence conditions after their "requests" to groundsmen resulted in pitches that were less than ideal for a recent three-Test series against India. The surface for the third Test at the Wanderers was condemned as poor by International Cricket Council match referee Andy Pycroft. "Everybody knows what happened at the Wanderers, so we've left the groundsmen to prepare the
Proteas,India make combined donation for Cape Town water crisis
Indian skipper Virat Kohli and his South African counterpart Faf du Plessis have donated Rs 5.5 lakhs (100,000 Rand) to the Cape Town Water Crisis on behalf of both teams.The cheque was handed over to the Gift of the Givers during the third and last T20I of the three-match series between the two sides at Newlands on Sunday.Gift of the Givers will use the donation to drill boreholes as well as supply bottled water to organizations in desperate need.Kohli stressed on the importance of getting involved in this campaign."Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and whenever we visit and play at Newlands, we are treated extremely well by the local people. By creating awareness of the drought, we are playing our part in highlighting the drought so people can see the seriousness of what's taking place in the Mother City," commented Kohli.Du Plessis, on the other hand, said, "Both teams had first-hand experience of the Water Crisis in Cape Town and, having chatted to Virat, .
UEFA hit France's Nasri with six-month doping ban
Former Manchester City midfielder and France international Samir Nasri was handed a six-month doping ban "for using a prohibited method" by European football governing body UEFA today. Nasri, 30, had appealed to UEFA for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) following a multi-vitamin intravenous booster he received at a Los Angeles clinic in 2016. That was rejected last March, as was an appeal in December to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, he still has the right to appeal against his ban, UEFA said. The method is on the World Anti-doping Agency's prohibited list and carries a maximum ban of four years. Nasri is currently without a club having left Turkish side Antalyaspor by mutual consent last month. The doping affair started when a Los Angeles clinic called Drip Doctors tweeted the fact they had treated Nasri with an intravenous vitamin booster whilst the player was on holiday there. Nasri was at that time on loan from City at Sevilla, who expressed surprise when the story .
World Cup coaches gather in Sochi ahead of VAR decision
Football World Cup team coaches gathered today in Russia ahead of a crunch decision on wether to introduce the VAR video replay system at this summer's tournament. The last meeting of the 32 participating nations before the June 14-July 15 global extravaganza comes with debate still raging about the controversial Video Assistant Referee technology. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said on Monday that European football's governing body would not use it in next season's Champions League because "nobody knows exactly how it works yet". But global body FIFA has been pushing hard for VAR use in game-changing situations such as goals and penalty decision. "I used to be sceptical about VAR but statistics now show 99 percent perfection," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said earlier this month. The ruling on whether to use VAR for the first time at a World Cup will be issued on Saturday in Zurich by the International Football Association Board (IFAB). This means the two-day gathering in the ..
DY Patil T20: Contrasting wins order of day in Quarter Finals
DY Patil Sports 'B', BPCL, Reliance 1 and CAG made it to the semi-finals of the 14th DY Patil T20 Cup with contrasting wins in their quarter-final encounters today. India's U19 World Cup star Kamlesh Nagarkoti and his captain Saurabh Tiwary (83) starred in Reliance 1's 34-run win over Western Railway at the University Ground. Reliance 1 posted a modest 149-8 in their 20 overs, thanks largely to their captain Tiwary (83: 51b, 1x4, 8x6). Later, when Western Railway began batting, Nagarkoti's 3-16 supplemented by MD Nidheesh's spell of 3-20 scripted a fine win for Reliance 1. Another U19 World Cup star Abhishek Sharma (2-14) contributed to the win as well. At the DY Patil Stadium, DY Patil Sports 'B' was led by skipper Pravin Tambe's fine spell of 4-22 as they defended a total of 170-9 against Collage Group. The DY Patil innings was fashioned by openers Shashank Singh (55: 44b, 2x4, 3x6) and Kevin D'Almeida (45). In their response Collage never got going as they lost ...
Barasat stadium to be modernised: Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today directed the sports department to develop the Barasat Stadium and upgrade it into a sports complex-cum-stadium. The sports department would bear the cost of development of the stadium, the chief minister said. "The Barasat Stadium is close by Kolkata and it must be developed. It must be done in a great way. Develop it into a sports complex-cum-stadium," Banerjee said during an administrative review meeting held here at the Rabindra Bhavan today. The chief minister intervened after actor-cum-politician Chiranjeet Chakraborty, a local MLA, drew her attention to the bad shape of the stadium at present. Chakraborty alleged that the Indian Football Association (IFA) was only taking care of the pitch where, apart from the I-League matches, several other tournaments such as the Indian Super League are also played. "The IFA was only taking care of the ground. But the other portions of the stadium are almost in shambles. I request
Karnataka outplay Saurashtra in Vijay Hazare Trophy final
Sensible batting from opener Mayank Agarwal (90) helped Karnataka outplay Saurashtra by 41 runs in the final match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 50-overs cricket tournament here on Tuesday.
Neeraj Chopra makes winning return at Indian Grand Prix
Making a strong return to the domestic competition circuit, javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra outclassed the field to claim gold medal at the Run Adam Indian Grand Prix-1, here today. Chopra threw the spear a distance of 82.88m at the National Institute of Sports to finish well ahead of Vipin Kasana's 80.04m that bagged him a silver while Amit Kumar took the bronze with a 77.33m throw. It was a much anticipated result for Chopra, who was taking part in his first competition since his return from Offenburg in Germany, where the 20-year-old had been training with Werner Daniels. After a three month stint, Chopra has since returned to the national camp where he has resumed training with former world record holder Uwe Hohn. Chopra was not the only athlete to impress though as shot putter Tajinder Pal Toor claimed gold in the mens shot put with a best throw of 19.95m. Toor finished ahead of Naveen Chikkara who threw the put 19.08m while the bronze went to Paramjeet Singh who only managed ...
Underdogs making I-League title race exciting: Ex-footballer Vijayan
When Aizawl FC won the I-League trophy last season, there was a certain shift of power in the national domestic league from the usual contenders to the underdogs.Little did anyone expect that the underdog story might be re-written again when the 2017-18 I-League, which was kicked-off in late November.But as the I-League is comes to its end with less than ten matches to go, the 'underdogs' might very well once again triumph over the 'usual contenders'.The emergence of Minerva Punjab FC and NEROCA in the top tier of the I-League table has not only shook the structure in the domestic league for this season but captured the essence of sports - the underdog story.And former Indian footballer IM Vijayan also believes the emergence of underdogs like Minerva FC and Neroca as title-contenders has made the I-League much more exciting than before."The I-League is very unpredictable and that is what the last season taught us. This season, it is even more unpredictable and volatile than before as .
Europe's Ryder Cup captain Bjorn to compete at Indian Open
Europe captain Thomas Bjorn will become the first-ever current Ryder Cup captain to make an appearance at the Hero Indian Open, when he tees off here next week, it was announced on Tuesday.
I-League: Indian Arrows lose to Mohun Bagan
Indian Arrows went down to Mohun Bagan 0-2 in their final engagement of the I-League football encounter here at the Tilak Maidan on Tuesday.
Bagan blank Arrows, keep title hopes alive
Mohun Bagan kept their title hopes alive with a 2-0 victory over Indian Arrows in the Hero I-League match here today. Bagan who had the lion's share of exchanges and ball possession scored through Aser Pierrick Dipanda Dicka (26th) and Akram Koghrabi (41st) to take their tally to 27 points from 16 matches. They are now placed fourth in the table while the young Arrows who finished their league engagement with 15 points from 18 matches are at the bottom. Arrows coach Luis Norton de Matos made five changes from their loss against Aizawl FC in their previous game. Bagan made only one change from their win against NEROCA in the last match. Bagan controlled the proceeding and probed into the rival half with steady flow of passes and mostly played the long ball to unsettle the rival defence. But in the 26th minute Jitendra Singh failed to clear a long ball inside the box, Dicka who was close to Jitendra found the net with a back volley to take his tally to 12 goals. Bagan coach Sankarlal ...