Page 1926 - Sports

Sreenath Aravind retires from first-class cricket

Karnataka left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind, who had played a Twenty20 International against South Africa in 2015, today announced his retirement from first-class cricket after his state team won the National One Day Championship, here. "I have decided to retire from all forms of domestic cricket. I wanted to end on a winning note and it can't be better than winning the Vijay Hazare final," the 33-year-old Aravind told reporters after Karnataka's 41-run win against Saurashtra in the final. In his 10 year career, he played 56 first-class games taking 186 wickets including two five-for. Often on slow tracks, he would bowl his slow left-arm spinners. He also had 103 T20 wickets from 84 games. The high point definitely was playing a T20 International against South Africa, where he ended with figures of 1 for 44. He also played a few seasons of IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Aravind said that with emergence of Prasidh Krishna and T Pradeep as potent fast bowlers, he felt it was better

ISL: FC Goa look to reach playoffs with win over ATK (Preview)

FC Goa will aim for a win to take them to the playoffs when they take on stragglers ATK in an Indian Super League (ISL) contest at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

Twenty20 cricket meet for visually impaired begins in Chandigarh

A two-day Twenty20 triangular cricket tournament for the visually impaired began here on Tuesday.

Shubhankar, Lahiri to take part in Hero Indian Open

Rising Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma will join the likes of Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur in a star-studded field for the Hero Indian Open starting here on March 8. Shubhankar, won the Joburg Open and the Malaysian Championships recently will have Indians like Gaganjeet Bhullar, Ajeetesh Sandhu and Siddikur Rahman for company. The field includes stars from 31 countries from across the world and has amongst them six from the Worlds Top-100 along with a plethora of Order of Merit winners, past champions, Ryder Cup captains and a Major champion. One of the biggest draws in the event is Emiliano Grillo of Argentina who is coming fresh off a Top-10 finish last week on the PGA Tour. Grillo, who was in Top-20 of three of the four Majors in 2016, is looking very strong once again in 2018. In the current wrap-around season, he already has two Top-10s on the PGA Tour, besides another T-12 in Mexico. The tournament will also see the participation of the men in form on the ...

Amit, Shekhar qualify for National finals (Lead, correcting second para)

Amit Luthra and Shekhar Aggarwal have qualified for the National finals of Mercedes Trophy golf meet, it was announced on Tuesday.

Selectors have done well with rest and rotation policy (Column: Just Sport)

For over a year now, the national cricket selectors have rested players in the shorter formats, mostly overworked bowlers and top-order batsmen.

Mayank, Gowtham power Karnataka to Hazare title

A day after being ignored by the selectors for the T20 tri-series in Sri Lanka, Mayank Agarwal let his bat do the talking with a stroke-filled 90 which guided Karnataka to their third Vijay Hazare title as they outplayed Saurashtra by 41 runs in the final, here today. Agarwal, who is enjoying a dream run, was a stand-out performer in Karnataka's 253 in 45.5 overs. In reply, Saurashtra could never force the pace as Cheteshwar Pujara's sedate 94 off 127 balls wasn't enough to take them beyond 212 in 46.3 overs. While Pujara got his runs, wickets fell at the other end and the skipper left a bit too much for the rear, which ended in disappointment. Off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 27 in 10 overs. The tournament belonged to Agarwal, who finished with 723 runs in the tournament and a staggering 2141 runs in the season with two tournaments still to go. He hit 11 fours and three sixes in his 79-ball innings. "It has been a dream run for me. A ...

ISL:FC Goa look for first-ever win against ATK

FC Goa will look to take one step closer to making it to the semi-finals of the Indian Super League (ISL) when they host ATK at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao on Wednesday.Sergio Lobera's charges rallied to take a point from the defending champions away in Kolkata after a series of unfortunate events in January, but their campaign took a disastrous turn following that.Irish marquee signing Robbie Keane scored the opener early on and it was cancelled out by Manuel Arana mid-way through the first 45 minutes.For the home side, a win will take them into the top four and give them an advantage going into the final league game of the season against Jamshedpur FC.Naveen Kumar has been a revelation since making his debut for the club. He kept the team's first clean sheet of the season in 16 games against an in- form FC Pune City and will definitely continue in goal for the side.Bruno Pinheiro has been struggling with injury in the last couple of weeks and looks unlikely to be fit in ..

Megasthenes wins Army Cup

Megasthenes, ridden by R Vaibhav, won the Army Cup, the prime event of the races here today. The winner, trained by R Karthik, is a property of M A M R Muthiah. Trainers Karthik and A Rahmathulla saddled two winners each while jockey C Umesh rode three winners. Six favourites obliged the punters in a card of eight events.

Karn Sharma excited to play at CSK under Dhoni

Leg-spinner Karn Sharma today said he was excited to get an opportunity to play at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and hoped to learn a lot under him. "I'm very excited and happy that Chennai Super Kings have given me the opportunity to play under Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni). He's a great captain and knows how to extract the best from his players. I hope to learn a lot under him," Sharma was quoted as saying by the CSK website. He further said that he was looking forward to playing for the team and learn from the great players in the line-up. "I'm looking forward to playing for the champion franchise. CSK have a lot of great players in their line-up.I see this as a great opportunity to learn from them and become a better player," added the Meerut-born cricketer. Wrist spinners are making an impact in the shorter formats of the game and Sharma was a consistent performer in domestic cricket and for India A in 2017-18 in what is seen as the revival of the ...

12 teams in Indian Bank trophy state-level hockey tournament

Twelve teams will take part in the second edition of the Indian Bank Trophy state-level hockey tournament to be held at Mayor Radhakrishnan stadium here from March 1 to 7. The participating teams include Indian Overseas Bank, Southern Railway, Income Tax, Tamil Nadu XI (state junior team), ICF, Central Excise and Chennai City Police among others apart from the host, said a release. Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO Kishor Karat said there is a need to nurture sportspersons in our country and the bank will support them. "We need to nurture sportspersons in our country.True to its (Indian Bank) traditions, we will support and develop sportspersons," he added. The tournament would be played on a knockout format and it carries a prize money of Rs one lakh.

Vijay Hazare Trophy:Karnataka thrash Saurashtra to clinch title

Riding on Mayank Agarwal's blistering 90-run knock, Karnataka thrashed Saurashtra by 41 runs to lift Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground here in the national capital on Tuesday.After being asked to bat first, Karnataka failed to make great start to their innings,losing both opener Karun Nair and first drop KL Rahul for duck.Thereafter, Mayank steadied his side's innings as he not only notched up 79-ball 90 runs, including four boundaries and three sixes, but also shared a 136-run stand with Ravikumar Samarth (48) for the third wicket.Pavan Deshpande (49) and Shreyas Gopal (31) also made notable contributions to help Karnataka post a respectable total of 253 runs against Saurashtra in the title clash.In reply, Karnataka's Prasidh Krishna struck twice to dismiss Saurashtra batsmen SB Vyas (10) and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (one) inside three overs.Subsequently, opener Avi Barot (30) and Saurashtra skipper Cheteshwar Pujara (94) tried to steady the innings, but loss of wickets

Chennai to host world junior squash tourney in July

Chennai will host the world junior squash championship for men and women and the WSF men's junior team championship at the Indian Squash Academy here in July. While the men's and women's world junior individual championship will be held from July 18 to 23, the team event will be held from July 24 to 29, said a release here. In all 23 nations, including hosts India, are expected to take part in this biennial event. India will be hosting the junior men's team championship for the second time, the last being in 2002 again in Chennai. In 2009 the country had also hosted the Women's world junior team championship also in Chennai, the release said. Also, Saudi Arabia is set to make its debut in the World Team Squash championship when a team from the Arab State takes part in the tournament. In the last championship held at Bielsko-Biala in Poland, Pakistan had edged Egypt 2-1 to take the crown. India had finished sixth overall. Commenting on the team's participation, the Saudi ...

FC Goa looking for first ever win against ATK

FC Goa will look to capitalise on an excellent opportunity and take a step closer to making it to the semi-finals of the Indian Super League when they host ATK at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here tomorrow. A win for the Gaurs will take them to fourth place, with a point's advantage over Jamshedpur FC. One of the most entertaining outfits in ISL history, Goa will be aiming for nothing less than three points to get their season back on track. As for ATK, the Kolkata outfit has not managed a win in the last seven matches - six of them being losses. The best ATK can do is finish eighth, if they win both their matches and the teams below them don't match their results. Although the team doesn't have injury concerns apart from Ryan Taylor, the confidence is certainly low. However, they have nothing to lose and their assistant coach Bastab Roy said that it would make for a good watching. "We don't have any psychological edge - in fact, the situation is not in our favour. But it will be a ...

Proteas Test series could be tougher than Ashes:Hazlewood

Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood believes the upcoming four-match Test series against South Africa will witness a lot tougher cricket than the Ashes series.Fresh from their 4-1 win over England in the five-match ODI series at home, the Steve Smith-led side will ride high on confident when they take on South Africa in the Test series, beginning in Durban on Thursday.Though playing and winning in Ashes series still remains the pinnacle for any Australian or England cricketer, Hazlewood said that the challenge of playing against second-ranked South Africa would be a level up in terms of intensity."I think it's going to match it if not even surpass it. The Ashes is obviously a different prospect, and at home the crowds were massive, the media hype was big and it was a great series to be a part of. But I think this series is going to be a lot tougher cricket,"cricket.com.au quoted Hazlewood, as saying.Hazlewood admitted that his side had failed to perform well overseas in the last couple ..

I-League title battle still open, says East Bengal coach Jamil

East Bengal head coach Khalid Jamil on Tuesday said the I-League title race is still open as they attempt to seize the opportunity in case the top two teams -- Minerva Punjab and Neroca FC -- stumble.

Arsenal must part ways with Wenger, says club great Wright

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright has called on struggling manager Arsene Wenger to step down as reports suggest succession planning at the club has already begun. The Frenchman, under contract at the Emirates until 2019, is under increasing pressure after his team's abject display in Sunday's 3-0 League Cup defeat against Manchester City -- their sixth loss in 12 games this year. Arsenal are 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham in the Premier League and look likely to miss out on Champions League football for the second consecutive season. "There are excuses (from Wenger) and he is mollycoddling a team," Wright told BBC radio. "Whether he stays at the end of this season, I could not make a case. I am not sure anyone can. This development of mediocrity has to be arrested." Wright also had harsh words for American owner Stan Kroenke. "The owner has to take a lot of blame for this," he said. "Kroenke does not care. If he cared, Wenger would not have got a two-year deal. "Everyone

British great Hoy tips Kennys to win world track medals

Husband and wife Olympic cycling champions Jason and Laura Kenny will make their return to international competition at the World Track Cycling Championships this week and former British cyclist Chris Hoy believes they can win medals. After winning five Olympic gold medals between them in Rio in 2016, the couple got married and took 2017 off to start a family. And Hoy, whose British record of six Olympic gold medals Jason Kenny matched with a triple victory in Brazil, told AFP that while they won't dominate as before, they are both capable of going home from Apeldoorn in the Netherlands with something tangible. "I think Jason will medal in the team sprint, although they (Britain) are not by any stretch of the imagination assured to medal, so if they get a bronze it will be a great result," Hoy told AFP from Monaco, where he was attending the Laureus Awards. "Jason has kept ticking it over and was still riding his bike but wasn't riding flat out. "He just seems to have come back with ..

Bolt to face Williams in Unicef charity football match

Multiple Olympic champion Usain Bolt will line up opposite British pop star Robbie Williams in a charity football match at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, the Jamaican revealed today. Now retired, Bolt had given a teaser of what was to come on Twitter yesterday, claiming that he had signed for a football club and would reveal all 24 hours later. Well, his new team is the Soccer Aid World XI -- a motley crew put together to help raise funds for the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef. Not only had football-mad Bolt, the fastest man alive, been recruited for the match, but he comes straight into the team as captain, with former Take That star Williams leading out an England side in opposition. Speaking on a publicity clip published by Bolt, 31, on his Twitter account on Tuesday, Williams, decked out in an England shirt, says the match will feature "celebrities, legends and a brand new captain for Soccer Aid World XI". Manchester United fan Bolt then appears and adds: ...

IPL:Rajasthan Royals rope in Sairaj Bahutule as spin bowling coach

Rajasthan Royals have further strengthened their coaching squad by appointing former Indian cricketer Sairaj Bahutule as their spin bowling coach for the upcoming 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).Bahutule is the new addition to Royals support staff that is being headed by Zubin Bharucha. A former India Test player and a domestic stalwart from Mumbai, Bahutule was an effective leg spinner and equally handy batsman.In 118 first-class matches, he has bagged 630 wickets at an average of 26 while also notching up 6,176 runs, including nine centuries, at a healthy average of 31.83.He has also held coaching responsibilities with different states and is currently the coach of Bengal for the last three seasons. During his tenure so far, the Bengal team had made it to the quarterfinals and semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy.Ecstatic to be a part of Rajasthan Royals' coaching staff, Bahutule said that he is looking forward to work with the players and be a part of the team that have .