Page 1942 - Sports
Guru lose in Swiss Open; Kashyap, Subhankar reach quarters in Austria
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt crashed out of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament after suffering a lop-sided loss in the quarterfinals of the men's singles competition here today. On a comeback trail after recovering from a major ankle injury, Gurusaidutt lost 8-21 15-21 to Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in a 35-minute contest. Gurusaidutt lagged 0-3 early on and though he grabbed a slender 4-3 lead, the Thai shuttler jumped to a 10-4 lead and then raced away with the opening game. In the second game, Gurusaidutt once again was 3-10 behind before gradually narrowing the gap to 14-16, but the Thailand shuttler changed gears to seal the contest without much ado. Last night, Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok defeated Germany's fourth seeded pair of Jones Ralfy Jansen and Josche Zurwonne 21-13 21-17 to reach the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, at Austrian Open, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and Subhankar Dey entered the quarterfinals in men's ...
Germans stun Canada, to face Russians in Olympic hockey final
Germany completed a shock run to their first men's Olympic hockey final Friday by dethroning two-time defending champion Canada 4-3, the fairytale squad advancing to a Sunday showdown for gold against the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The Russians, seeking their first hockey gold since 1992, blanked the Czech Republic 3-0 to reach Sunday's championship contest, but were overshadowed by an unlkikely German league all-star squad that collected their nation's greatest ever hockey victory. "It's amazing. I can't believe it. It's like a dream. For us it's like, I don't know, best thing ever," Germany goaltender Danny aus den Birken said. "We have to realize we're playing in the final. I have to come down first to realize it. "Who knows? If we keep fighting like this we have nothing to lose." The Germans, familiar with one another from world championship play, are assured of an Olympic-best result -- their only prior medals being bronze in 1932 and as West Germany in 1976. "We're just a ...
Cummins gets Australians in front against South Africa A
Pat Cummins led a spirited lower-order batting performance to earn the touring Australians a 109-run first-innings lead on the second day of a three-day match against South Africa A at Willowmoore Park on Friday. Cummins, batting at number eight, made an unbeaten 59 to carry the Australians to a total of 329 in reply to South Africa A's 220. The hosts were 55 for no wicket in their second innings when bad light ended play early. Head coach Darren Lehmann, who joined the tour on Thursday afternoon after overseeing Australia's Twenty20 team in a triangular series in New Zealand, watched a patchy batting performance in the only warm-up match before the first Test starting in Durban on Thursday. Opener Cameron Bancroft, who laboured for more than three hours to score 45, was the only one of the first seven batsmen to reach 30. Five top-order batsmen were dismissed in the twenties. Cummins, who took four for 32 in South Africa's first innings on Thursday, hit 11 fours in a 95-ball ...
Mary Kom in final; Vikas, Satish in semis of Strandja Memorial
M C Mary Kom (48kg) turned on the style as she advanced to the finals, while Vikas Krishan and two other male boxers entered the semifinals on a reasonably good day for India at the 69th Strandja Memorial Tournament here today. Five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist Mary Kom, targetting her third successive international gold medal, quite literally toyed with China's Ye Jiali to make the summit clash. In the men's draw, former Asian Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg), Asian Games bronze medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg) and the unheralded Gaurav Solanki (52kg) advanced to the semi-finals to assure themselves of medals. While Gaurav pummelled Kyrgyzstans Azat Usenaliev, Vikas edged past Kazakhstans Tursynbay Kulakhmet in a split verdict to make the last-four stage. It was a significant victory for Vikas, who is returning to action after recovering from a hand injury, which forced him out of the national championships as well as the India Open last month. In the .
Physical issues keep Bale on bench, says Zidane
Real Madrid's French chief coach Zinedine Zidane on Friday revealed that physical issues had been keeping Welsh forward Gareth Bale on the sidelines recently.
Milan vs Arsenal, highlight of Europa League's last 16 draw
The draw for the Europa League's last 16 round, held on Friday at the UEFA headquarters resulted in a tough match-up between AC Milan and Arsenal, as well as an easy match for favourites Atletico Madrid against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Shah, Mubashera clinch double titles
Dhanya Shah and Mubashera Anjum Shaik clinched the double titles in the boys and girls sections of the Sunfeast AITA Super Series Junior tennis tournament here today. Shah overcame a stiff resistance from Deep Munim to post a 6-0 5-7 6-2 win in the final of the boys U-16 singles. He also won the doubles title partnering Kartik Saxena, as the duo got the better of Manav Jain Kritanta Sarma 6-4 6-1. Mubashera won the U-16 girls singles title with a 6-1 6-4 win over Sanya Singh and later she also won the doubles partnering Mushrat. In the doubles they got past Sanya and Pari Singh 6-3 6-4.
India focused on finishing SA tour on a high: Raina
India batsman Suresh Raina said that the third and final Twenty International (T20I) on Saturday gives them a good chance of ending the tour of South Africa on a good note.
Munim fails in finals, Gohaad, Dhanya emerge winners in AITA tennis meet
Deep Munim of Madhya Pradesh failed to replicate his good showing in the finals of the boys singles U-14 and U-16 categories, losing to Arjun Gohaad and Dhanya K. Shah respectively in the Sunfeast AITA Super Series Junior tennis tournament here on Friday.
PSL: PCB enforces stringent security measures
In a bid to avoid a repeat of last year's spot-fixing scandal in the Pakistan Super League, the Pakistan Cricket Board has enforced several stringent anti-corruption measures in the ongoing tournament in the UAE. According to details, the PCBs anti-corruption, vigilance and security unit has involved a noted website to keep a close watch on any unusual betting trends in the third edition of the PSL. "The website based in London is keeping track of all bets placed on the PSL matches from all over the world and if they notice or pick up any unusual betting patterns on the tournament they will report it to the PCB's ACU with all details," a board official said. He added the website had been hired as it kept a close tab on all betting that takes place on cricket matches around the world and is a specialist in picking up unusual patterns. "In addition, the board has deputed extra security and vigilance officers with the six franchises at their hotels in Dubai," he said. He said players had
Rupesh Shah wins individual billiards crown
Rupesh Shah, representing ONGC, clinched the individual billiards crown at the 14th PSPB Inter Unit tournament organised by Bharat Petroleum here today. Shah got the better of Indian Oil cueist Dhvaj Haria 3-0 in a one-sided final at the PYC Hindu Gymkhana to be crowned the individual champion. Shah had got the better of another Indian Oil cueist, Brijesh Damani, also by 3-0 margin in the semi final. ONGC had claimed a memorable double crown last night by adding the snooker title to the billiards title. Helped by the presence of world champion Pankaj Advani, the ONCC team - which also had seasoned players Saurav Kothari and Alok Kumar to bank on - outclassed Indian Oil 4-2 to win the snooker team title. Results: Billiards Open (Set to 100 points, five games) Final: Rupesh Shah (ONGC) bt Dhvaj Haria(IOC) 3-0 (100-45, 100(76)-67, 101-92. 3rd and 4th place: Brijesh Damani (IOC) bt S Shrikrishna (BPCL) 3-0 (100-18, 100-27, 100-33) Snooker Open (Quarter-finals) : Brijesh Damani
Shubhankar and Chawrasia miss cut in Qatar
Shubhankar Sharma and SSP Chawrasia made an early exit from the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters as both missed the halfway cut here today. Shubhankar, the only multiple winner on the European Tour this season, followed up his first round 69 with a second round 72. Chawrasia had a 73 on first day and managed only 71 on the second to finish at one-under 143 and exited as the cut fell at 4-under 140. Shubhankar, starting the second day at 3-under, opened the second round with a bogey but quickly made up on the next hole. Seven aprs followed that before he bogeyed the Par-5 ninth. After four pars, he was still 2-under and seemingly out of the cut. But a birdie on 16th gave him a chance as he was back at 3-under. He needed a birdie on either 17th or 18th to get to 4-under, which was the cutline. But he failed with both managing only pars. It was his second successive missed cut after his superb win at Maybank Malaysian Championships early this month. Shubhankar flies to Mexico, where he ...
Batsmen have to play smart in Cape Town T20:Behardien
South Africa's Farhaan Behardien reckons that the batsmen will have to be smart with shot-selection since big hits won't be easy to execute at at the bigger Newlands in the series-deciding third Twenty20, here tomorrow. India have never played T20 cricket at Newlands and South Africa dont have a good record here either but they are familiar with the conditions. In the Highveld (Centurion) the ball flies and can go for six much more easily. Here we have to be slightly smarter as the ball does not travel that far. Maybe we need to target a flatter trajectory. Maybe the twos become important. The Newlands pitch hasnt changed much over the last two years. It is good. Some of the shots that go for six at Highveld can be caught at the boundary here, Behardien said. Last time we played here, we made 170 and Sri Lanka chased it. We had a few dropped catches and the wind was a bit swirling. I reckon between 160 and 180 will be the ideal score. The ball might swing a bit, as it is a 6pm ...
Shortest to shorter: Raina wants to use T20 for ODI comeback
On a comeback trail in T20 Internationals, Indian batsman Suresh Raina says he wants to use the opportunity to regain his place in ODIs ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Raina has returned to the side after one year and has looked to bat aggressively in both matches against South Africa. With a long T20 schedule ahead, he said that there was a chance for him to make further inroads and return to the ODI side as well. Raina said, "It is important to win a trophy first and important to go out there as a team mindset. If you see the top order, they are all batting well. When you come to the middle order, MS (Dhoni) is there and Manish (Pandey) is also doing a good job. "So we will see where I can fit in. There are a lot of matches coming up now. Winning games is more important than being which format I am playing or not. Every Indian game is very important for me right now." Before this, the 31-year-old last played for India in a T20 International against England on February 1, 2017. He had ..
Nine-member Indian cycling team for CWG
The Cycling Federation of India today announced a nine-member team, including five women, for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast. The five women members of the team are Deborah (Sprint, Kerin, Individual Time Trial, Team Pursuit), Aleena Reji (Sprint, Individual Time Trial, Kerin), M Sonali Chanu (Endurance Events, Team Pursuit), T Manorama Devi (Endurance Events, Team Pursuit) and Amritha Reghunath (Team Pursuit, Point Race). The male members are Ranjit Singh (Team Sprint, Individual Time Trial 1000m), Sahil Kumar (Team Sprint, Keirin), Sanuraj P (Team Sprint, Individual Sprint, Keirin) and Manjeet Singh (Endurance events). The team has been selected on the basis of the performance in the Asian Track Cycling Championship held at Nilai, Malaysia where the Indian team won four medals including three gold and a bronze. "We have announced our best team for Commonwealth Games 2018 where we are expecting a good show from our cyclists. "We dont have a good track ...
All-rounder Rashid admits 'heart's not in red-ball cricket'
England leg-spinner Adil Rashid admitted that he signed an only white-ball contract with Yorkshire because his heart is no more in the red-ball cricket.Rashid was the lead-wicket-taker for England Test side during Bangladesh and India tour in 2016-17, despite his form the right-arm bowler was excluded from this winter's Ashes squad.However, he said that the decision to switch to a white-ball cricket was not motivated by the omission."It's very much my decision. It's something that I've thought about and felt I had to do, and has been inside me for a little while," ESPNcricinfo quoted Rashid as saying.The 30-year-old added, "The enjoyment, the spark, the buzz. All that came into it. I couldn't go through another season doing this -- it could affect my performance, my bowling and that could easily rub off into other competitions and white-ball stuff."The bowling all-rounder was also surrounded by controversies when he made himself unavailable for the Yorkshire showdown with Middlesex at
Moeen Ali fears for Test cricket future
England batting all-rounder Mooen Ali has expressed his concerns over the future of Test cricket after he observed low crowd attendance in this winter's Ashes Test Series against Australia.Ali said that he was 'disappointed' by low turnout in the Ashes."I feared in the Ashes actually. The crowds were quite disappointing. There were a couple of big days, but even when they [Australia] won the Ashes there weren't that many celebrating. That's when I thought, 'Actually, we're struggling a bit," ESPNcricinfo quoted Ali as saying.However, as per figures given by the Australian media, the Ashes series was witnessed the second-most highest crowd in the country's history.A total of 866,732 fans attended the five matches, with only the 1936-37 Ashes, in which Don Bradman's Australia won the series 3-2, attracting a bigger audience."It is a worry. Test cricket is the pinnacle. It is, in my opinion, where the best players play. You can really see who is the best. It's been a worry for a while ...
Maharashtra gear up for tough Karnataka battle
Karnataka have fluffed their lines during key moments this season and Maharashtra will be eager to cash in on it during their semi-final clash of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here tomorrow. On paper, a batting line-up comprising Karun Nair (209 runs), Mayank Agarwal, (552 runs), Ravikumar Samarth (296 runs) and Stuart Binny can put any bowling line-up under pressure but Maharashtra's little-known bowling attack has performed like a well-oiled machine throughout the tournament. Maharashtra have been very impressive from the start of the tournament topping the group league phase with 18 points and outplayed domestic giants Mumbai in the quarter-final with minimum fuss. The current form of Maharashtra gives them hope that they can be the proverbial David with a good chance of slaying the Goliath. "Ours has been a combined team effort. If you see, our team does not have any clear match winner like a Mayank Agarwal or Karun Nair, yet everyone has performed to their potential," Maharashtra ...
India's cycling team announced for CWG
The Cycling Federation of India on Friday announced the team for Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia.
Gursimar wins women's golf meet
Gursimar Badwal produced a final-round of two-under 70 to win by a stroke in the fifth leg of the Hero Womens Pro Golf Tour at the Jaypee Greens here on Friday.