Page 2059 - Sports
Badminton's top seeds gear up for prestigious KISG titles
Dhruv Rawat and Amit Rathore, Malvika Bansod and Aakarshi Kashyap have been given top seeding in badminton singles draw in the inaugural Khelo India School Games here. It would be a treat to watch the young guns compete in the badminton competition scheduled be held at the India Gandhi Indoor Stadium from February 5 to 8. Uttarakhand lad Dhruv Rawat (Sharda Public School, Almora) has been pegged as a favourite in the boys' competition, ranked third in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) under-19 list. With a fair bit of international experience under his belt, he will enter the School Games with a positive sentiment. Madhya Pradesh's Rathore, seeded second, is hoping to challenge the top-seeded Rawat, who got the better of him when they last played an under-17 match and keep the National under-17 champion Maisnam Meiraba at bay this time around. Rathore hopes to produce a good performance when he revives his on-court rivalry with these lads. "I am excited to be ...
I would not play Bumrah in England: Holding
West Indies legend Michael Holding has serious doubts over Bumrah's ability as a new ball bowler and said his specific skills does not make him an automatic choice in the playing eleven during India's tour of England later this year. "I am not sure he is going to be a good new ball bowler. He struggles to take the ball away from right-handers when bowling with the new ball. So he wouldn't be my first choice (on overseas tours). My first choice is always Bhuvneshwar Kumar," Holding told PTI. "Then I would think about Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami. When India play in England, pitches will be drastically different to South Africa. I wouldn't play Bumrah because he bangs the ball in. Those pitches need someone to bowl so that the ball who kisses the surface and gets it to move around." Playing his maiden Test series, Bumrah turned out to be the surprise revelation and picked his maiden five-wicket haul in the third Test and Holding said the India pacer bowls a lot of ...
Former champions Saina, Sindhu start favourites at India Open
In-form Saina Nehwal and defending champion P V Sindhu will be the cynosure of all eyes when they start their campaign at the USD 350,000 India Open, starting tomorrow. The marquee event will also feature 2014 champion Kidambi Srikanth beginning his new season after missing last week's Indonesia Masters. Saina, who had clinched the India Open Super Series in 2015, has made a superb start to the new season as she reached the finals of Indonesia Masters after recovering from an ankle injury and she would be one of the favourites this week. This was the first major final appearance for Saina since her injury-induced ouster from the Rio Olympics. In 2017, the Indian found it difficult to consistently cross the second round, mainly due to her poor fitness level. However, now that she has displayed her new-found fitness at the Indonesia Masters, she will hope to keep that intensity going when she plays at the second successive tournament at Siri Fort Sports Complex ...
Like Sir Richards, Kohli will learn to calm down: Holding
Virat Kohli can come across as intimidating but he is still learning and would become calmer as he grows on the job, feels West Indies' pace legend Michael Holding, who finds an uncanny similarity between the Indian skipper and Sir Vivian Richards. "At the moment he is a young captain, who is just learning and understanding what it takes to be a captain. He is a bit exuberant and very emotional. Sometimes he gets so emotional that it is intimidating not only for the opposition, but for his players as well. When I compare Virat to Vivian Richards, it is not just in the batting but captaincy as well," Holding told PTI. "It was similar with Viv. When he took over the captaincy, it was similar. And then he grew in the job. He learnt to be a little bit calmer and then his team got calmer as well. And then the results came. I think it should be a similar learning situation with Virat," he added. India clinched the third Test by 63 runs at Wanderers but lost the three-match ...
Mexico crowned CONCACAF Women's U-20 champions
Mexico were crowned CONCACAF Women's U-20 champions for the first time in history after a drama-filled victory over holders US here on Monday.
In-form India aim to outclass Pakistan in U-19 WC semis (Preview)
After registering victories by big margins in their previous matches, in-form India will aim to outclass arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final of the Under 19 World Cup at the Hagley Oval here on Tuesday.
Atletico gets back on track with win over Las Palmas
Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Thomas Partey helped Atletico Madrid get back on track with a 3-0 win over Las Palmas in the 21st round of La Liga football action.
After IPL gains, India colts face Pakistan in U-19 WC semis
After bagging lucrative deals at the IPL auction, members of the unbeaten Indian team will be eager to deliver when they face arch-rivals Pakistan in the second semifinal of the ICC U-19 World Cup here tomorrow. Three-time champions India have played like a thorough professional outfit, winning all four matches in emphatic fashion including the quarterfinal against Bangladesh. For two-time winners Pakistan, it has not been smooth sailing all the way. They lost their tournament opener to Afghanistan before winning three in a row. However, their last two results were narrow three wickets wins against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Pakistan's bowling, led by left-arm pace sensation Shaheen Afridi, has done the job for the team but batting has been far from convincing. Ali Zaryab Asif did bulk of the scoring in the middle- order, rescuing the side from tight situations twice. He hit 59 against Sri Lanka and followed it up with a 74 against South Africa in the quarterfinal. It's .
Smith in no mood to give up ODI captaincy
Australian skipper Steve Smith said that he has no intention to step down from the one-day captaincy despite his recent struggles during the side's 4-1 defeat in the five-match ODI series against England.The 28-year-old, who is leading Australia across three formats of the game, was at his menacing best in the Test arena during Australia's 4-0 Ashes rout of England, amassing 687 runs at an average of 137.4.However, Smith was exactly opposite in the ODI format, failing to pass half-century in five innings as England's impressive 50-over side bounced back from Ashes defeat to thrash the hosts in the ODI leg of their tour.Under Smith, Australia have won just two out of 13 one-day internationals in the past 12 months, but the skipper has quashed any talk of giving up ODI captaincy.He further stressed that there would be a review of the side's woeful one-day form while adding that evaluating personnel will be part of that review."I'm happy leading these boys at the moment.Unfortunately, I .
U-19 WC: Australia defeat Afghanistan to enter finals
Australia produced an all-round performance with the bat and ball to register a 6-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the semi-final contest at the Hagley Oval here on Monday and enter the U-19 World Cup Super League final.
Pedrosa, Dovizioso, Lorenzo set pace on 1st pre-season test day
Spain's Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Italy's Andrea Dovizioso set the pace on the first day of pre-season tests at Sepang International Circuit outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ahead of the 2018 MotoGP season.
Merlo's four-fer, Edwards' fifty guide Aussies to U-19 WC final
After Jonathan Merlo bagged a four-wicket haul before opener Jack Edwards struck a quick-fire half-century as Australia thrashed Afghanistan by six wickets to storm into the final of the ICC Under-19 World Cup here at the Christchurch on Monday.Chasing a modest target of 182 runs in the first Super League semi-final, Edwards hammered 72 runs off 65 balls, including eight boundaries and two sixes, to back up the effort from the bowlers, lead by Merlo's four wickets.After losing opener Max Bryant cheaply for four runs, Edwards shared a crucial 77-run partnership for the third wicket with captain Jason Sangha (26) to break the back of the run chase.Subsequently, Param Uppal and Nathan McSweeney contributed unbeaten 32 and 22 runs to help Australia chase down the target in 37.3 overs.Earlier, Merlo finished with the figures four for 24 while Zak Evans (two for 26), Ryan Hadley (one for 17), Edwards (one for 16), Will Sutherland (one for 41) and Lloyd Pope (one for 34) all contributed ...
Barbosa, Fittipaldi, Alburquerque win Daytona 24 Hours
Brazil's Christian Fittipaldi and Portugal's Joao Barbosa and Filipe Alburquerque won the Daytona 24 Hours championship in a clean race at the Daytona International Speedway.
AC Milan records 3rd consecutive win
AC Milan notched its third consecutive win in Italian football action, downing Lazio in a hard-fought 2-1 match.
Marseille, Monaco tie in Champions League spot contention
Ligue 1 clubs Marseille and Monaco exchanged spots in the league table after a 2-2 draw in a crucial UEFA Champions League ticket contention, while Gustavo Poyet recorded a winning start as Bordeaux head coach after shocking second-placed Lyon 3-1 at home.
'A coach needed': Afghan boxing seeks Indian guidance
A brutal war and relentless terror attacks have hurt just about everything in Afghanistan, barring perhaps one -- the spirit to go on and aim for a life beyond the trauma of daily violence. A shining example of this is the country's eight-strong boxing team that is in the national capital to participate in the ongoing India Open, the richest boxing tournament ever to be held here. They are in the national capital to compete but also have a request for "old friend" India -- "provide us with at least one coach to train our kids". "The night we landed in India, we got the news of terror attack in Kabul which killed so many people. This is the daily horror we live with," coach Mohammed Qadir Sultani told PTI, referring to the ambulance bombing in Kabul on January 27 which killed over 100 people. "The fear of life is a constant in Afghanistan, nobody knows whether they would make it home after starting out to train in the morning," he spoke with a smile on his face despite ..
Barcelona in talks for Brazilian midfielder Arthur
Barcelona have begun talks to sign highly rated Gremio central midfielder Arthur Melo, the Brazilian club said.
Argentine first division match delayed by bomb threat
An Argentine first division football match between Huracan and River Plate was delayed almost two hours after a bomb scare.
Ajax drop points, PSV take out FC Twente in Dutch league
Ajax dropped points by playing out a 0-0 draw at FC Utrecht in a failed attempt to keep the gap with Dutch Eredivisie leader PSV on five points.
Windies announce enhanced retainer contracts for players
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced that it has enhanced its central retainer contracts for Test and limited-overs international players, which will be effective from July 1.According to new arrangement introduced by the CWI, the contracts have been split into three categories - all-format contracts, red-ball contracts and white-ball contracts.Though CWI chief executive officer Johnny Grave did not reveal the value of the contracts, he said that the new system would offer increased remuneration to the Caribbean players."The new retainer contracts aim to incentivise our players to play cricket for the WINDIES and be contracted to CWI. All the new contracts offer increased remuneration to our WINDIES Men's team as well as enhanced medical and insurance policies," Grave said.The new West Indies men's contracts will officially run from October 2017 to September 2018, but Grave confirmed that new retainers would be offered to both international and regional players only from July 1, ...