Page 1979 - Sports
Finch, Maxwell to miss start of IPL 2018
Australia's top-order batsman Aaron Finch is all set to miss the opening match for his new franchise Kings XI Punjab in the upcoming 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he is due to get hitched with partner Amy Griffiths on April 7.The 31-year-old was brought by Kings XI for whooping Rs 6.2 crore in the IPL 2018 auction at the ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru last month.As Finch has appointed close friend Glenn Maxwell to MC (Master of Ceremonies) his wedding, the all-rounder would also be unavailable for the opening matches of the lucrative T20 league, which is also scheduled to commence from April 7.Finch, who played for Punjab for four years, will now feature for Delhi Daredevils after being purchased by the franchise for an enormous Rs. 9 crore during IPL auction.Earlier this week, Maxwell explained that Finch was originally told the IPL was likely to start on April 15 and, therefore, he picked April 7 as the date to tie the knot.Reflecting on the same, Finch said that ...
Russian fans proudly flying flag at Olympics despite ban
Russian fans are proudly waving their country's flag at the Pyeongchang Olympics, where Team Russia is technically banned and Russian athletes must compete under the Olympic flag. Many fans say the ban makes them more determined to represent their country. Hockey star Ilya Kovalchuk has one rule for such fans: Put down the flag if they want to take a photo with him. The athletes from Russia are banned from using the flag or national symbols. The fans say that makes them even more patriotic and committed to make sure the athletes know that Russians are at these Olympics. At hockey and figure skating, the Russians have been among the loudest fan bases.
Worlds weirdest sport - but doubles luge no laughing matter
It is a niche sport in which two men lie, one on top of the other, in skin-tight uniforms and hurtle feet-first down an ice chute on a tiny sled. No wonder the doubles luge turned heads at the Pyeongchang Winter Games. Twitter was inundated with comments when the competition took place late on Wednesday at the Pyeongchang Games, with many wondering why anyone would want to do it. Matthew Pinsent, the retired British rower who won four Olympic golds, was amazed by what he was seeing -- even though the luge is one of the oldest winter sports. "Even as man who has spent most of my Olympic career stuffed into a small vehicle getting sweaty with big blokes in lycra -- mens double luge is still a thing of wonder," he tweeted. Many appeared to agree. "My brain is trying so hard to process this," said one typical post on Twitter. "Worlds weirdest sport," chimed another, and one person tweeted: "Luge is if you want to kill yourself while lying on your best friend." "Saw a couple laying on one .
Mane scores hat-trick as Liverpool routs Porto 5-0
Liverpool put one foot in the Champions League quarterfinals with a 5-0 away rout of Porto in the first leg of their last-16 match today. Sadio Mane scored a hat trick and Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino provided the other two goals to give the Premier League side a huge advantage ahead of the second leg at Anfield on March 6. "It was hard work, but in the end the boys enjoyed it," Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp said after the clubs first appearance in the knockout stage of the Champions League for almost nine years. "I saw a lot of fantastic performances tonight and a result like this is only possible if everyone is really at the top of their game," Klopp said. "They did it well and that is the only way to be successful." Liverpool is the top-scoring side in the competition with 28 goals. "We knew we were facing a great team but we werent expecting this," said Porto defender Alex Telles, whose team was without injured midfielders Danilo Pereira and Andre Andre. Striker Vincent ...
Record-setters Savchenko and Massot win pairs skating gold
Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot conjured up a magical world-record free dance to win Olympic pairs figure skating gold today -- and promptly burst into floods of tears. The German duos sensational four-and-a-half-minute routine just denied Chinas world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, the hot favourites who were pipped to the title by less than a point after Sui took a tumble. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada took bronze. Savchenkos dream of an elusive first gold at her fifth Winter Games had looked dashed after an unfortunate error by her French-born partner Massot in yesterday's short programme. His double instead of a triple salchow left him distraught and them trailing their Chinese rivals in fourth. But 24 hours later Massot righted that wrong, matching his decorated ice companion step for step, their dance to "La Terre vue du ciel" by Armand Amar holding the crowd at the Gangneung Arena in thrall. At the end of their performance they lay in each others arms on the .
Odisha to sponsor national hockey teams for 5 years
Odisha will sponsor the national men's and women's hockey teams for the next five years, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced on Thursday.
Six teams for T20 Mumbai League
The inaugural T20 Mumbai League would be held from March 11 to 21 in which six teams will take part, it was announced today. The T20 league is to be organised by Probability Sports India Pvt Ltd, a consortium of IIFL Group as lead member and Wizcraft, with the approval and sanction of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) and under its aegis, a media release said. Bids have been invited from prospective team owners in respect of the following teams Mumbai North (Malad, Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar), Mumbai North-West (Andheri, Versova, Jogeshwari and Goregaon), Mumbai North East (Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Bhandup and Mulund), Mumbai North-Central (Kurla, Bandra, Santacruz and Vile Parle), Mumbai South-Central (Wadala, Dadar, Mahim, Sion and Chembur) and Mumbai-South (Colaba, Byculla, Malabar Hill and Worli). According to the release, team owners may bid for the right to operate up to three different teams and the highest successful bid, if any, will be accepted, ...
ITF introduces Continental Qualification spots for Tokyo Olympics
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced the introduction of six Continental Qualification places for both the men's and women's singles events at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Spaniards have been key to Mexican ATP event success: Official
The director of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, an ATP event played in late February and early March here, said Spanish players had been the key to the tournament's success over its first 24 years.
Konta beats Spain's Suarez Navarro at Qatar Open
Britain's Johanna Konta beat Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the Qatar Open.
Is captaincy reason for Markram's batting woes?
South Africa coach Ottis Gibson has insinuated that stand-in-skipper Aiden Markram's batting form might have suffered due to the responsibility around captaincy.Markram was named the Proteas captain in the absence of regular skipper Faf du Plessis, who was ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against Indian and the T20I series following it.Unfortunately, in the role of captain, the right-handed opener has scored only 103 runs in the five innings, with scores of 9, 8, 32, 22 and 32.Speaking about Markram's form, Gibson said that that the 23-year-old has earlier shown what he is capable of but is currently batting out of his style."I don't know if the whole responsibility around captaining has been too much for him but it seems he is trying to bat in a way that is not the Aiden Markram I saw in September. I've spoken to him about that," the Sport24 quoted Gibson as saying.However, he added that the decision to put Markram in the role of captain was right."This was a decision for the ...
Liverpool thrash Porto in Champions League
Sadio Mane's hat-trick powered Liverpool to a 5-0 win over Porto in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie, leaving the home side with no option but to hope for a miracle when they travel to England for the return fixture.
Relentless India eye 5-1, South Africa aim consolation
A historic series triumph sealed, India are expected to put their bench strength to test while a vanquished South Africa would aim for a consolatory win when the two sides square off in the sixth and final ODI, here tomorrow. The Men in Blue have already won the six-match series with a 4-1 margin, after victories in Durban, Centurion, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Their only loss came at the rain-affected fourth ODI in Johannesburg. With victory in the last game, India also confirmed their No.1 spot in the ICC ODI Rankings, taking over from South Africa who were sitting atop at the start of this series. Having won the series, India would like to carry on momentum, especially with the three-match T20I series to follow soon after. Yet, the visitors would also like to find a balance between going all out in a dead rubber and resting a few players keeping in mind a long overseas schedule later this year. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has nearly played non-stop since the limited-overs leg of the tour .
Kallis knows why Proteas floundering against Indian wrist spin magic
South Africa's greatest all-rounder Jacques Kallis has figured out why his country's batsmen are struggling against Indian wrist-spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav -- the Proteas are not facing bowlers like those in the domestic circuit at all. India have taken an unassailable 4-1 lead in the six-match series with Chahal (14) and Yadav (16) accounting for 30 wickets between them. "It takes time to read good leg-break bowlers. We have to accept we don't have enough world class leg-spinners in our country. So, this is a learning curve for the youngsters in our team," Kallis told PTI in an interview. "Even we went through the same phase and we learnt with time," said the man who scored more than 25,000 runs in international cricket. For someone, who faced Shane Warne and Anil Kumble at their prime with fair degree of success during, Kallis feels there is no one perfect technique to counter leggies. "Experience is the key. There are basically two ways to read leg-break bowling.
India women look to continue dominance over SA in 2nd T20
A perfect start achieved, the Indian women's cricket team would look to continue its supremacy over South Africa when the two sides clash in the second Twenty20 International, here tomorrow. After a 2-1 win in the ODI series, the Indian women started the T20 series on a confident note, drubbing the hosts by seven wickets here in the first game on Monday. And the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side would look to carry on the momentum in the remainder of the five-match series. The way the Indians came out all guns blazing in the first T20, it seemed the loss in the inconsequential third ODI prior to the series was just a rare bad day in office and their confidence hardly took a beating. Opting to bowl, the Indian women first restricted South Africa to 164 for four and then overhauled the target with consummate ease in 18.5 overs. While chasing, opener Mithali Raj (54 not out) held the Indian innings together and shared two crucial stands -- a 69-run partnership for the third wicket with debutant .
Federer two wins away from claiming No 1 spot
Tennis ace Roger Federer is just two wins away from becoming the oldest world number one.The Swiss began his quest to return to the top spot in the ATP Rankings for the first time in over five years with a 6-1, 6-2 trimuph over Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.Federer, a two-time champion at the Dutch indoor event, will overtake Rafael Nadal at the top of the ATP Rankings if he reaches the semi-finals of the tournament."I think the key was to start off well and put Ruben (Bemelmans) under pressure right away and make him feel like he had to do something special," Federer said after his win here.The 20-time Grand Slam champion will lock horns with Philipp Kohlschreiber. Federer has a 12-0 winning record against the German."The beginning will be crucial tomorrow, you don't want to fall behind, you want to stay focused all the way. Any lapses could mean that you get in trouble. But, I enjoy playing against Philipp (Kohlschreiber), I played ..
Nepal through to World Cup Qualifiers after 'thrilling' finish
Nepal qualified for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 in Zimbabwe after a thrilling finish at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2.Nepal beat Canada in the last ball by one wicket in the closest of matches at Wanderers, as they scored the winning one run in the last ball with only one wicket remaining.Canada, who looked to be in pole position with Nepal on 144 for nine, were heartbroken as the 51-run partnership between number ten Karan KC (42, 31b, 3x4, 4x6) and Sandeep Lamichhane led Nepal to the most unlikely victory. Dilip Nath (41) and Rohit Paudel (27) had chipped in with valuable runs earlier in the innings, as the stand out Canadian bowler Cecil Pervez took three wickets 41 runs.Meanwhile, the UAE secured their spot in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, by defeating Namibia by 19 runs.Batting first and losing a couple of early wickets the middle order restored the innings, scoring 247 runs for six wickets in their 50 overs. Shaiman Anwar (77, 59b, 5x4, 3x6), ...
Shiffrin lurks as Olympic quest begins in giant slalom
Mikaela Shiffrins bid to win multiple gold medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics finally began today as the American clocked the second-quickest time in the first run of the women's giant slalom. The 22-year-old timed 1min 10.82sec -- two tenths behind Italy's Manuela Moelgg in bright sunshine after weather had caused havoc with the schedule earlier this week. "The toughest thing is mentally to tide yourself over until it is time to go," said race favourite Shiffrin, who won slalom gold in Sochi at just 18. "Weve been race ready for the past five days and finally were racing today. "I skied well, I was loose. But I also feel like I can go a little bit harder and theres nothing to hold back for on the second run." Shiffrin, who has racked up 41 World Cup wins, was supposed to have completed her best two disciplines -- the slalom and giant slalom -- already. But gusting winds that forced the postponements of the alpine skiing could have complicated her quest to medal in potentially five ...
Ronaldo scores twice as Real Madrid take control against PSG
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as Real Madrid came from behind to stun Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in the first leg of their heavyweight Champions League last-16 tie. Ronaldo scored his 100th Champions League goal for title-holders Real from the penalty spot late in the first half yesterday to cancel out Adrien Rabiots opener for the French side at the Santiago Bernabeu, set up by Neymar. The Portuguese star then turned the ball home from close range with seven minutes left before Marcelo secured what could turn out to be a decisive first-leg lead ahead of the return in Paris on March 6 and sent nearly 80,000 home fans into raptures. "These days are to be remembered, and what better way to do it than with the character we showed," Real skipper Sergio Ramos told Spanish television. "We need to keep playing like that, with the desire to defend the Champions League. You can never consider Real Madrid to be dead and buried." Rabiot said PSG were plagued by familiar problems. "We always say ...
Hyderabad: Cricket betting racket busted, 4 held
The Hyderabad Police on Wednesday busted a cricket betting racket and apprehended four people in connection with the same.The police also seized Rs 62,190, five mobile phones and two betting notebooks from their possession.The main accused was identified as K. Srinivas of Satyanagar Colony. Srinivas has been arrested on charges of organising cricket betting in the ongoing T-20 matches in New Zealand and collecting money through Paytm.Srinivas was involved in organising betting from past six months.Other three people apprehended were K Sridhar, P Sai Kumar, and R Sai Kumar.The police acted after receiving information about the same from their sources and raided the premises.