Page 1996 - Sports
Portugal defeat Spain in Futsal Euro final
With two goals by Bruno Coelho, the first to force an overtime and the second, a penalty kick to end the game, Portugal defeated Spain to win the Futsal Euro final for the first time.
Russia downs Kazakhstan in Futsal Euro third-place match
Russia came away with the bronze from the Futsal Euro third-place match thanks to the one-and-only goal of the game by Eder Lima at minute 29, which eased some of the pain of not making it into the final after taking second place three straight times - in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
Man City's Aguero routs Leicester with 4 goals
Argentine striker Sergio Aguero scored four second-half goals for Manchester City against Leicester, while Kevin De Bruyne contributed three key assists to lead their team to a 5-1 win that left Pep Guardiola's squad with an even stronger lead in the English Premier League (EPL).
Pak bowling coach urges team to learn from mistakes
Former cricketer and Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood believes that it is important for the national team, which recently lost the ODI series to New Zealand 0-5, to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them again.In his latest exclusive blog for PakPassion.net, Mahmood writes about the positives from the tour of New Zealand despite the disappointment of losing the ODI series, the reasons for limiting league participation for Pakistan players, and hopes for a better show for the Karachi Kings this year in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 3."It goes without saying that a 5-0 defeat is a disappointment regardless of whichever format it happens in or who the opposition is. Whilst we lost 6 matches in a row, I was really impressed by the way we fought back in the T20I series. The victory in the T20I series shows the character and mindset of our side which is a huge positive and a very encouraging sign for us. Having said that, it is also important that we must recognize that our batting
'Psyched' teen snowboarder Gerard takes first USA Olympic gold
Teenage snowboarding sensation Red Gerard nailed his last run to win the first gold for the United States at the Pyeongchang Olympics today and declared: "I'm super-psyched!" The 17-year-old landed an 87.16 point final effort in the slopestyle to snatch victory from Canadians Max Parrot, who took silver, and Mark McMorris, who picked up a second bronze after Sochi four years ago. "I was really happy when I saw I came in as first," said Gerard. "I don't know, silver (Parrot) had a pretty good run, I was questioning it. "But you know, judges have their own minds and I'm super-psyched!" Gerard was off the pace after the first and second runs, scoring 43.33 and 46.40, before somehow summoning up an enormous last effort. "It feels incredible. I'm just really happy that I got to land a run and I'm just really excited right now," said the Colorado native, who came fourth in the X-Games last month. Gerard tried the sport as a toddler then took it up with a passion aged eight ...
Winter Olympics: Nita Ambani wishes Indian contingent
International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Nita Ambani on Sunday met Shiva Keshavan and Jagdish Singh, who are representing India at the ongoing Winter Olympics here.
Russian medallist's drug suspension 'special issue' says IOC
Russian athletes are a "major focus" for anti-doping tests, a senior Olympic official said today, as it emerged that the first Russian medallist in Pyeongchang served a drugs suspension. Semen Elistratov, who took bronze in the men's 1,500m short track speed skating ysterday, was briefly suspended in 2016 after testing positive for meldonium -- the same substance that saw Maria Sharapova banned. The 27-year-old Elistratov is one of 168 athletes competing as a neutral "Olympic Athlete from Russia", after Russia's team was suspended as punishment for systemic doping. Richard Budgett, medical director for the International Olympic Committee, said meldonium was a "special issue" and it seemed that Elistratov took the drug before it was banned at the start of 2016. Russian tennis star Sharapova, a former world number one, served a 15-month ban after testing positive for meldonium in early 2016. "Because of the way it's metabolised, it can stay in the system for many, many ...
Surprised by India's decision to ignore Bhuvi, Bumrah: Klaasen
India did not bowl Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah at the death in the fourth ODI and instead opted for the wrist-spinners, a move that backfired and South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen said he was surprised by the decision. India skipper Virat Kohli did not bowl Kumar and Bumrah at the death even as the wrist-spinners were leaking runs. "I was very surprised," Klaasen said about Kohli's strategic call to keep Kumar and Bumrah away from the action at the death after South Africa's target was revised. "David (Miller) and I thought they would have kept them (the pacers) at back for two overs each. But I think how this series went that led them to bowl their spinners for the remaining of the overs. But I was very surprised about it." Kohli's decision didn't work as the spin duo failed to contain the Proteas for once, leaking 119 runs in 11.3 overs for just 3 wickets between them. The 26-year-old wicket-keeper batsman, who replaced injured Quinton de Kock, said that it was ..
Rain breaks and chances to Miller cost us the game: Dhawan
Opener Shikhar Dhawan said twin rain breaks coupled with reprieves to David Miller cost India dearly as South Africa brought an halt to the visitor's rampaging ODI run with a five-wicket win in the fourth ODI. The stunning turnaround in the rain and lightning-struck ODI here, meant South Africa maintained their unbeaten record in pink and keep alive the six-match series by reducing the margin to 3-1. Miller was given two lives -- a dropped catch in the deep and then was bowled off a no ball off Yuzvendra Chahal. He was on 6 and 7 not out respectively, and then went on to make 39 off 28 balls. "The main reason was, of course, the dropped catch and then a wicket off no-ball. From there the momentum changed. Otherwise we were in very good position," Dhawan said at the post match press conference late last night. "Of course rain had an impact too. Our spinners couldn't turn the ball or grip the ball the way they did in the last three matches. It makes a difference when the ..
Guardiola hails 'legend' Aguero after four-goal show
Pep Guardiola hailed Sergio Aguero as an "authentic legend" of Manchester City after his four second-half goals continued the club's emphatic march towards the Premier League title with a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester. Raheem Sterling had given City an early lead on Saturday but Leicester went into the break on level terms thanks to Jamie Vardy's equaliser. However, Aguero took centre stage with a finishing masterclass to take his tally in City's last seven home games to 14 goals as Guardiola's side moved 16 points clear. "An authentic legend of this club," said Guardiola of his prolific Argentine striker. "In the second half he scored four goals. Sergio is like this, he has a special talent in the box. He's clinical... especially the third one and fourth one are amazing." Aguero now has 28 goals in all competitions this season -- eight more than Sterling. "So we try to create a lot of chances to score the goals he does, and he always does. Congratulations to him because ...
Postponed men's downhill to be raced Thursday
The blue riband men's downhill, scheduled to open the Olympic alpine skiing programme, will be raced Thursday after high winds forced its postponement today. "Due to the strong wind and unfavourable forecast for today, the men's downhill is postponed," the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced. "The jury has decided to switch the official programme and has rescheduled the men's downhill for Thursday, February 15, and the men's super-G on Friday, February 16," FIS said, with the downhill set to start at 0200 GMT. The downhill training for the men's combined event scheduled for tomorrow has also been cancelled. It is not the first time Mother Nature has played havoc with the best laid plans for alpine skiing at the Olympics. Four years ago in Sochi, the latter part of the programme was rescheduled because of poor weather while the downhill in Vancouver in 2010 was put back two days because of heavy snow and rain. The downhill at the 1998 Nagano Games was rescheduled .
Venus, Vandeweghe put US up 2-0 in Fed Cup
Venus Williams got the defending champion United States off to a winning start in their Fed Cup first-round tie against the Netherlands before CoCo Vandeweghe survived a scare to extend the lead to 2-0. Cheered on by her younger sister Serena, who is poised to make her own comeback to the sport after a year away and the birth of her daughter, seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus made relatively light work of 124th-ranked Arantxa Rus, winning 6-1 6-4 yesterday. The 37-year-old, who enjoyed a renaissance year in 2017 when she reached two Grand Slam finals, showed some signs of tiring towards the end of the second set even as her clear advantage in skill and raw power were on display. It was her 1,000th career match and her 22nd singles appearance in a tournament she first played in 1999, but Williams insisted milestones were far from her mind. "I don't really know about these milestones when they happen," she said. "It's just great to be playing the game that I love -- not .
Ronaldo hat-trick as Madrid warm up for PSG with big win
Cristiano Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick as Real Madrid warmed up for their Champions League showdown with Paris Saint-Germain with a big 5-2 victory over Real Sociedad in La Liga. Zinedine Zidane's side have not scaled their usual heights this season and this was still not perfect, but they do look to be finding some form just in time for a potentially season-defining tie with the French side. They blew Real Sociedad apart in the first half at the Santiago Bernabeu, taking the lead inside a minute through Lucas Vazquez and finding themselves four goals to the good by the interval. Toni Kroos got Real's other goal yesterday, as they made it three wins and a draw from their last four La Liga games, with 18 goals scored in that time. The defensive lapses that allowed the visitors to pull two goals back late on will be a concern for Zidane, though. Madrid are still a huge 16 points behind unbeaten league leaders Barcelona, but they are now back up to third above Valencia, who ..
Proteas halt India's rampaging ODI run to keep series alive
India's rampaging ODI run was brought to a halt by a resilient South Africa, which kept itself alive in the series with an exhilarating five-wicket win in the rain and lightning-struck fourth one-dayer, here. The stunning turnaround under the Duckworth/Lewis method meant South Africa maintained their unbeaten record in pink and make it 3-1 in the six-match series. Heinrich Klaasen smashed 43 not out off 27 balls (5 fours, 1 six) and led the Proteas' assault on the Indian spinners after rain intervened twice to reduce the game to a 28-over contest. Lightning and light rain had first intervened during the Indian innings, and it came again early during the South African innings. In total 113 minutes were lost and South Africa received a 202-run target from 28 overs. Until then, chasing 290 originally, Hashim Amla (33) and Aiden Markram (22) had given an attacking start to the hosts. Markram was out lbw in the eighth over in what turned out to be the last ball before rain ...
4th ODI: South Africa beat India by 5 wickets
South Africa today won the fourth One Day International (ODI) of the six-match series beating India by 5 wickets at the Wanderers here, where the latter is leading the series by 3-1.A stupendous partnership of 72 off 42 between David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen, made South Africa bag the victory.Contribution of Ab de Villiers and Andile Phehlukwayo with respective scores of 26 and 23 hugely helped this victory.When the match finally resumed after the rain, South Africa was chasing a revised target of 202 in 28 overs against India.Earlier, India had set a 290-run target for South Africa with the help of Shikhar Dhawan's 13th hundred.Opting to bat first, India lost opener Rohit Sharma on just 5, once again becoming the victim of Kagiso Rabada.Skipper Virat Kohli, who has scored two hundreds and one fifty in the series, then added valuable 158 runs along with Dhawan. He smashed a six and seven fours in his 75-run score from 83 balls.As India piled up runs at the scoreboard, Dhawan hit ...
Rain and Klaasen assault lead South Africa to victory
India's aura of invincibility in recent times took a hit as South Africa pulled off a spectacular chase to emerge winner by five wickets in the rain-curtailed fourth one-day international here tonight and stay alive in the series. The stunning turnaround under the Duckworth/Lewis method meant South Africa maintained their unbeaten record in pink and make it 3-1 in the six-match series. Heinrich Klaasen smashed 43 not out off 27 balls (5 fours, 1 six) and led the Proteas' assault on the Indian spinners after rain intervened twice to reduce the game to a 28-over contest. Lightning and light rain had first intervened during the Indian innings, and it came again early during the South African innings. 113 minutes were lost and South Africa received a 202-run target from 28 overs. Until then, chasing 290 originally, Hashim Amla (33) and Aiden Markram (22) had given an attacking start. Markram was out lbw in the 8th over in what turned out to be the last ball before rain ...
4th ODI: Proteas beat India in nail-biting finish
South Africa survived a nail-biting finish to edge out India by five wickets in a rain-curtailed fourth One-Day International (ODI) here on Saturday.
SA beat India by 5 wickets in 4th ODI, remain alive in series
South Africa defeated India by five wickets in the rain-curtailed fourth one-day international here tonight, to remain alive in the six-match series. Opting to bat, India put up 289 for seven in the stipulated 50 overs. Chasing a revised target of 202 in 28 over after a second rain interruption, South Africa completed the job in 25.3 overs. Brief scores: India: 289/7 in 50 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 109, Virat Kohli 75, MS Dhoni 42 not out). South Africa: 207/5 in 25.3 overs (Heinrich Klaasen 43 not out, Hashim Amla 33).
4th ODI: Match resumes, South Africa gets 202 target
After rain, the match finally resumed with South Africa chasing revised target of 202 in 28 overs against India in the fourth One Day International (ODI) of the six-match series at the Wanderers here.Earlier, India had set a 290-run target for South Africa with the help of Shikhar Dhawan's 13th hundred.Opting to bat first, India lost opener Rohit Sharma on just 5, once again becoming the victim of Kagiso Rabada.Skipper Virat Kohli, who has scored two hundreds and one fifty in the series, then added valuable 158 runs along with Dhawan. He smashed a six and seven fours in his 75-run score from 83 balls.As India piled up runs at the scoreboard, Dhawan hit his 13th hundred in his 100th ODI appearance to become the first Indian to do so.Dhawan struck the ton off 99 balls, which included two sixes and ten fours.Dhoni remained unbeaten on 42 to take India to 289 in 50 overs.For South Africa, Rabada and Lungi Ngidi claimed two wickets each while Morkel and Chris Morris shared one wicket each.
3rd Women's ODI: India lose to S. Africa by 7 wickets
After two consecutive wins, the Indian women's cricket team lost to South Africa by seven wickets in the third and final One-Day International here on Saturday.