Page 2054 - Sports
Mkhitaryan looks forward to 'offensive football' at Arsenal
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has made an apparent dig at ex-boss Jose Mourinho, saying he is looking forward to playing attacking football as he prepares for his Arsenal debut. The Armenia international, who joined the London club last week from Manchester United in a swap deal with Alexis Sanchez moving in the opposite direction, is likely to face Swansea on Tuesday. Mkhitaryan struggled to pin down a regular starting spot at Old Trafford and was played in a variety of attacking roles during his 18 months at the club. Mourinho has been criticised for an unwillingness to let his attacking players off the leash in big games despite the rich resources at his disposal. Mkhitaryan, 29, said in an interview with UEFA back in 2009 that he wanted to play for Arsenal and he has now turned that dream into reality. "Of course it's very important to have respect from your manager," he told Arsenal Player. "I know that he's demanding and he likes his players to explore. "He was one of the ...
Shiva, Sarita enter semis on another good day for India
World medallists Shiva Thapa (60kg) and L Sarita Devi (60kg) notched up hard-fought wins to enter the semifinals as Indian boxers continued their fine run at the USD 100,000 India Open here today. The home favourites had a stellar day and look good to walk away with most of the medals. World bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), also a three- time Asian championships medal winner, was up against Uzbek Sherbek Rakhmatulloev. The top seed started off on a cautious note and spent the first three minutes getting a measure of his rival. Both the boxers let it rip in the second round and exchanged a fair number of blows before Shiva started taking control of the proceedings. Rakhmatulloev, on the other hand, began to drain out and resorted to bending and holding to slow things down. The tactic fetched him repeated cautions but he was lucky to not get a warning. Shiva stepped it up in the final three minutes to get the judges' nod in a split decision. The Assam-boxer will square .
Kashmir hosts water sports camp in winter
The temperature is dipping in Srinagar and the cold wave is bone chilling but this has not stopped local authorities from organizing a water sports coaching camp at the Nehru Park Training Centre near the Dal Lake here.Energetic water sports players can be seen here training with full sprit to maintain their physical fitness to compete in the national championships.The coaching camp is going on under the supervision of national canoeing and kayaking coach Bilques Mir.Mir, told ANI, "There is equal participation form men and women here. The girls here are very brave. And whenever they complain me about winters, I motivate them by saying that they should imagine themselves on podium with medals."The participants are exhibiting excitement and working hard in learning all the techniques of canoeing and kayaking with an aim to get gold medals at national level.A water sport player said, "This camp helps us stay fit mentally and physically. This makes our body ready for every condition, be .
Women chess players perform better than expected against men
When it comes to playing chess against a male opponent, women often outperform expectations, a new study claims.
Rai, Narang, Chandela among 27 Indian shooters named for CWG
Top Indian shooters Jitu Rai, Gagan Narang and Apurvi Chandela were today named in the country's 27-member squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Gold Coast, Australia. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) announced the full quota of 27 shooters (25 men and 12 women) after the Organising Committee of the Games reduced the country quotas across sports. India had fielded 30 shooters in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and bagged 17 medals (4 Gold, 9 Silver, 4 Bronze). Though most of the disciplines will be held in Gold Coast, shooting will be held at the Belmont Shooting Centre in Brisbane from April 8 to 14. There will be nine men's and eight women's events in the three disciplines of rifle, pistol and shotgun. Besides Rai and Narang, other top shooters among men include Sanjeev Rajput, Manvjit Singh Sandhu and Mohammed Asab. In the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Rai had won a gold in the men's 50m pistol event while Narang had bagged a ..
I-League: East Bengal rally to hold Minerva to 2-2 draw
East Bengal came from two goals down to hold league leaders Minerva Punjab FC to a 2-2 draw in an entertaining I-League football encounter at the Barasat Stadium here on Tuesday.
Women beat expectations when playing chess against men: study
Women playing chess against men perform better than expected, a study based on data from 160,000 ranked chess players and more than five million matches suggests. The findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggest that female players are not affected by negative stereotypes about women's chess abilities during competition games. This is in contrast with previous findings on the phenomenon of stereotype threat which have suggested that awareness of negative stereotypes can hamper women's performance. "These findings show that even famous psychological phenomena may not be present all the time," said Tom Stafford from the University of Sheffield in the UK. "Factors other than stereotype threat appear to be more important in determining men and women's tournament chess performance. "Looking at such a large real-world sample allows us a lot of confidence that our numbers are reliable," said Stafford, who led the study. Being aware of a negative stereotype
Shubman Gill: New 'Yuvraj' of Punjab cricket
A heady mixture of silken grace and dollops of brute power has always defined Punjab school of batsmanship and the latest to have emerged from that stable is 18-year-old Shubman Gill. With an aggregate of 341 runs in the ongoing U-19 World Cup, the teenager from nondescript town of Fazilka in Punjab's Ferozepur district has been the centre of attention, even more than the highly-rated skipper Prithvi Shaw. Strapping with sinewy wrists, Shubman's exciting strokeplay has earned him eyeballs and no wonder he went to Kolkata Knight Riders for a bid of Rs 1.8 crore at the IPL auction. It was around 10 days ago when India were playing their second group league game of the World Cup against Zimbabwe at Mount Maunganui, Shubman pulled rival pacer N Nungu for a six over deep mid-wicket. It was a short-arm jab but more interestingly there was an eerie similarity with a stroke that Virat Kohli had hit during his innings of 150 against England in an ODI in Pune, last January. In ...
Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill's family revel post India's U-19 WC show
Pankaj Shaw, father of Indian U-19 skipper Prithvi Shaw, has heaped praises on the Men in Blue's all-round performance after they stormed into the finals of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, following their thumping win over arch-rivals Pakistan.Three-time champions India marched into their sixth final at the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup with a facile 203 runs victory over Pakistan in the second semi-final clash at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch.Ecstatic with the victory, Pankaj said that batsmen performed really well especially Shubman Gill before adding that the fielding and bowling was equally good."I am feeling very happy that our kids played well against Pakistan. We have beaten them by 203 runs. Everyone batted really well especially Shubman Gill, who performed really well in the middle. Our opening was also good. Prithvi and Manjot Kalra added 90 runs for the opening wicket. India's fielding and bowling attack was also good. So, I am feeling really good. They have a coach like Rahul .
Russian speed skater Graf refuses to compete at Pyeongchang
Russian speed skater Olga Graf announced today she is refusing to compete in the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics, because a ban on her country meant there wouldn't be enough athletes to form a team for the pursuit race. Following a ban over alleged state-sponsored doping in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week decided to allow only 169 of Russia's athletes to take part in the Games under a neutral flag. The move has excluded many high-profile athletes from the 2018 Winter Olympics. As only four of Russia's speed skaters have been allowed to compete -- including Graf -- Russia will be unable to form pursuit teams. "I'm happy that the IOC commission considered me to be a clean athlete," Graf wrote on Instagram. "But it's deplorable that more than the half of the country's team, including my pursuit race teammates, have not been approved to compete. "That makes it impossible for Russia's athletes to participate in the event." Graf, who .
Claims Putin ordered Russian doping prog 'slander': Kremlin
The Kremlin today dismissed claims by Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov that President Vladimir Putin ordered a state-sponsored doping programme, calling them baseless "slander." "This is yet more slander which doesn't have a single piece of evidence to support it," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists following allegations made by Rodchenkov to German public broadcaster ARD. The ARD report yesterday quoted Rodchenkov, the source of revelations on Moscow's state-sponsored doping, as saying that orders came from the Russian leader who was kept informed through former sports minister Vitaly Mutko. "Of course it came all the way from the top, from the president," Rodchenkov claimed. "Because only the president can deploy the domestic secret service FSB for such a special task." Rodchenkov is the former head of Moscow's anti-doping laboratory who fled to the United States in 2016 following the sudden death of two senior officials from Russia's anti-doping
Dilshan, Agarkar among new joinees in St Moritz Ice Cricket
Sri Lanka's Tillakaratne Dilshan, New Zealand's Nathan McCullum and India's Ajit Agarkar are the latest cricketers to join a host of former stars for the inaugural St. Moritz Ice Cricket to be held in Switzerland from February 8 and 9.While Dilshan is the best rated Sri Lankan player in run-chases in the ODI history, McCullum and Agarkar had represented New Zealand and India in more than 150 and 200 international matches, respectively.The unique two-day event is set against the serene and breath-taking backdrop of the Swiss mountains which will host two matches in two days.The lake freezes into an extremely thick layer of ice which then gets covered by the soft falling snow, enabling the lake to withstand more than 200 tons of weight, which makes it the perfect area to construct a pavilion village and grandstands to watch and support the festivities.The two teams, Badrutt's Palace DIAMONDS and ROYALS already have star-studded cricketers like Shahid Afridi, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad ...
Kapil, Pandya cannot be compared: Azhar
Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin on Tuesday said "there cannot be another Kapil Dev," rubbishing the comparison of India's first World Cup winning captain with all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
IOC president to review Olympic Winter Games preparations
The International Olympic Committee president arrived in South Korea on Tuesday to review the final preparations for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games.
Fans will choose name for Miami team: Beckham
Fans will select the name and colours of the Major League Soccer team scheduled to take the field in Miami in 2020, club boss David Beckham said.
Sidhu hails Indian U-19 team's performance
Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu today congratulated the India U-19 cricket team for reaching the finals of the ongoing World Cup. The Indian team crushed arch-rivals Pakistan by 203 runs in the semi-final clash of the prestigious tournament in Christchurch. The minister extended his best wishes to the Indian team for the final against Australia to be played on Saturday. He credited the exceptional coaching skills of chief coach Rahul Dravid for the achievement. Sidhu said Dravid played a yeoman's role in shaping up and honing the skills of the Indian team, that delivered par excellence performance in batting, bowling as well as fielding. Calling Shubhman Gill, who hit a classy unbeaten 102 off 94 balls, the future of Indian cricket, Sidhu said the 18- year-old played a gem of an innings which paved the way for victory. The Indian team has so far been enjoying an unbeaten run in the U-19 World Cup. Earlier, in the quarterfinals the Indian team beat Bangladesh ..
Yorkshire signs Pujara for second stint
Unsold in IPL players' auction, Cheteshwar Pujara will warm up for India's Test series in England by playing county cricket as Yorkshire has signed him for his second stint with the club. The 29-year-old Pujara, who will share overseas duties with New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, is set to arrive in the United Kingdom just in time for the Leeds Bradford MCCU fixture on April 7. Pujara is returning to Yorkshire for his second stint with the club after turning out during 2015, a County Championship winning year. Despite a deal for the Rajkot-born right-hander being struck several weeks ago, the club's announcement has been purposely delayed until after the Indian Premier League auction. During that time, the BCCI has scheduled a one-off Test against Afghanistan in Bengaluru, from June 14-18, and Pujara is set to depart for his home country after the Royal London 50-Over clash at Lancashire. Yorkshire is hoping Pujara will return in time for an away trip to Hampshire, .
Beckham awarded MLS Miami franchise
David Beckham, the former Manchester United star and England captain, and his investor group said that they had been awarded a Major League Soccer (MSL) franchise for Miami.
Vikram Sisodia named CWG Chef De Mission
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appointed Vikram Singh Sisodia as Chef de Mission for the 21st Commonwealth Games to be held on the Gold Coast in Australia.Sisodia is currently Joint Secretary of the IOA.The IOA has also appointed three team managers-- Namdev Shirgaonkar, General Secretary, Modern Pentathlon Federation of India, Captain Ajay Naarang, Chairman of the Event Committee of Asian Sailing Federation and V.A. Shiyad, Secretary General of Andaman and Nicobar State Olympic Association.The three team managers will help Sisodia in the execution of day-to-day duties during the Games.IOA President, Dr. Narinder Dhruv Batra, said, "The officials nominated by the IOA deserve this opportunity. I am sure they would take good care of the Indian contingent. I wish them all great games."IOA Secretary General, Rajeev Mehta, said, "Though the job is new to Mr. Sisodia and his team of officials, I know their capabilities as administrators. I am quite assured they would discharge ...
Alonso upbeat ahead of 2018 F1 season
Fernando Alonso is optimistic about the prospects for McLaren in the 2018 Formula One season now that the team has switched from Honda to Renault engines.