Page 2221 - Sports

Craig Overton out of England lineup for 4th Ashes test

England right-arm seam bowler Craig Overton won't play in the Melbourne Cricket Ground Test against Australia because of a fractured rib. Overton, who made his test debut in Adelaide earlier this month, was diagnosed with a cracked rib during the third test in Perth which Australia won to regain the Ashes. After being struck in the ribs when batting in Adelaide, Overton exacerbated the damage when he tumbled attempting to take a catch off his own bowling in Perth. The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed today that Overton won't play in Melbourne beginning Tuesday. Uncapped paceman Tom Curran is reported to be set to make his debut to replace Overton. Curran, an uncapped right-arm bowler, was only added to England's Ashes squad when Steve Finn was ruled out at the start of the tour due to injury. The 22-year-old Curran, who was born in South Africa, played a one-day international and three Twenty20 matches for England earlier this year.

Starc out, Bird in for Boxing Day Test against England

Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc was today ruled out of the fourth Ashes Test with a heel injury and will be replaced by Jackson Bird. Starc, who is Australia's leading wicket-taker in the series with 19, bruised his heel bowling in Australia's series-clinching third Test win in Perth last week. There wasn't enough time for him to recover from the injury to his landing foot, with team management officially ruling him out two days before Tuesday's Melbourne Test. While Starc had been optimistic about his chances of playing, Australia's selectors took a cautious approach with their star paceman ahead of a key series against South Africa early in the new year. Starc said he hoped to return for the series-ending Sydney Test on January 4. "It's never nice to miss but it would be pretty selfish of me to go in to a game not at 100 percent," he told reporters. "It's nice that we have won the series and we can play it a little bit safer now. "I think the discussions (with ..

ISL 2017: Keane's debut goal seals ATK's victory

Robbie Keane's first goal in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL) 2017 helped ATK to a 1-0 victory over Delhi Dynamos FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake here on Saturday.Until Keane struck late in the second half, the teams looked destined to share points. But as it turned out, ATK went on to win their second game in success, while Dynamos slumped to yet another defeat to stay rooted to the bottom of the points table.In the 78th minute, a cushion header from Bipin Singh found Keane on the edge of the box. The former Tottenham striker then showed his class to create an opening for himself with some neat footwork before slotting the ball past Arnab Das Sharma.After a bright start to the game, both sides turned sloppy in possession. But Keane, who missed a few games due to injury, was influential for the home side throughout the game.Five minutes into the game, a drop of the shoulder gave Keane enough space inside the Delhi box to find Jayesh Rane but his header went

Pune City defeat FC Goa, secure spot in top four

FC Pune City leaped into fourth place after a 2-0 win over FC Goa here on Saturday. By dishing out yet another counter-attacking performance, they snapped the home side's streak of three consecutive wins.The game changer was the 72nd minute, when Marcelinho threaded a pass forward for Emiliano Alfaro, who clinically buried it past Laxmikant Kattimani. Alfaro had a chance to double the lead two minutes later, but his shot didn't have enough pace and was cleared away.However, Pune finally scored their second goal in the 84th minute, when Jonatan Lucca gleefully converted after Mandar Rao Dessai's clearance deflected into his path.Apart from setting up the first goal, Marcelinho also ballooned shots coming seconds apart from each other in the 50th minute. He was also in the middle of a penalty shout which the referee waved away. But while they have the attacking verve, Pune won this game on the merit of smart defence.In the first 10 minutes of the match, Mandar and Brandon both got into .

Cricket betting racket busted in Hyderabad, 9 held

The Hyderabad police on Saturday busted a cricket betting racket, and apprehended two bookies and seven punters.However, nine accused persons are at large and two teams have been deployed to nab them from Goa, Banglore, Patna, and Mumbai.On December 22, the Hyderabad South Zone Police on a tip-off conducted a raid in the house of one of the accused situated at Hyderabad's Tagarikanaarea.During the search, a bookie, Rajgopal Bhattad, was available at the house and was accepting the betting from punters over the phone. He was in possession of Samsung cell phone, two Dell laptops with a hard disk, which were used in the commission of offense, and a cricket betting amount of Rs 28,300 accepted from the punters.

Sushil Kumar picked up for highest price in PWL history

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar created a history after being picked up at a whopping amount of Rs 55 lakh, the highest amount ever in the history of Pro Wrestling League auctions.Sushil, who is all set to bang the mats followed by his continuous winning streak at the recent National Championship and Commonwealth Wrestling Championship, was sold to team Delhi Sultans amidst an intense bidding session, here on Saturday.On bagging the most prestigious player in the history of Indian wrestling, Team Delhi added, "We are honored to have Sushil as part of our team. We are currently bidding for the best players and are certain of making it as the best team".Pro Wrestling League is the richest and biggest wrestling league that offers a whopping amount to Indian and international wrestlers.Slated to kick-start from January 9, PWL's auction is currently under process routing ways for teams to bag best players and form a powerful team to battle it out.

Vijender beats Amuzu to defend double titles

Maintaining a winning streak, Indian star boxer Vijender Singh scored his 10th consecutive victory in pro-boxing by defeating Ghana's Ernest Amuzu on Saturday here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.En route to his win in the Super Middleweight clash, Vijender also retained both the WBO Oriental & Asia Pacific super middleweight pro boxing titlesOlympic silver-medallist Vijender, defeated Chinese boxer Zulpikar Maimaitiali during his last fight in Mumbai in August to claim the WBO Oriental super middleweight title and successfully defended his WBO Asia Pacific crown.The 32-year-old Bhiwani boy, who had won the double title fight in August this year, entered professional boxing in the year 2015..

Warriors open PBL-3 campaign with 4-3 win vs Smashers

Awadhe Warriors put behind the absence of injured Saina Nehwal to kickstart their campaign in the third edition of the Rs 6 crore Premier Badminton League (PBL) with a 4-3 win over Chennai Smashers at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

Vijender beats Amuzu to continue unbeaten run in pro-boxing

Star pugilist Vijender Singh's unbeaten run in pro-boxing stretched to 10 bouts as he successfully defended his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific super middleweight titles by beating Ernest Amuzu of Ghana at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Saturday.

Warriors shock defending champions Smashers in PBL opener

Awadhe Warriors overcame the last-minute pullout of star player Saina Nehwal owing to an injury, as they stunned defending champions Chennai Smashers in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) opener here tonight. Awadhe won both their men's singles and mixed doubles to take an unassailable 3-0 lead (4-0 on points) in the five- match duel at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium. World No. 3 Kidambi Srikanth downed Frenchman Brice Leverdez 15-12, 15-14 to build upon the successes of Parupalli Kashyap and the mixed doubles pair of Christinna Pedersen and Tang Chun Man earllier. The resilient Frenchman stretched Srikanth in both the games but the Indian closed out the second via sudden death after they were tied 14-all. Kashyap won his singles against Daniel S Farid 15-12, 15 -8 to give them an additional advantage as Awadhe had ticked this encounter as their Trump Match. The victory gave them two points as against the usual one point for a win. Kashyap dominated ..

10-on-trot: Vijender retains twin titles, remains unbeaten

Vijender Singh belatedly went into the offensive to defend his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super middleweight titles with an unanimous verdict over African champion Ernest Amuzu here tonight, continuing his unbeaten run in the pro circuit. With this victory, Vijender has now won 10 pro bouts on the trot. The 32-year-old Olympic bronze medallist has so far enjoyed a great run in the professional career, winning all his nine fights, and tonight was no different at a jam-packed Sawai Mansingh Stadium as he emerged as the king of 'Rumble Rajasthan'. It was very cautious first round from both, and barring a few jabs here and there, both tried to read each other's styles. Vijender seemed to have found his bearing only when the sixth round started. He landed some real hard punches on Amuzu's rib- cage to take control of the bout. Amuzu returned the favour with a few of his own, but the West African Boxing Union Middleweight champion could not sustain the tempo against his ..

Barca rout Madrid 3-0 in La Liga

Barcelona scored three goals in the second half to extend their lead over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga, here at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday.The three goals of the day came from Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Aleix Vidal to give Barcelona a 14 point lead over bitter rivals and defending champions Real Madrid.Barcelona's 3-0 win marked their third consecutive league match victory at the Bernabeu, a feat that has been never achieved before by any club.The scoreboard was 0-0 in the first half of the game until Luis Suarez scored the first goal of the day and for the side in the 54th minute.The lead was doubled 10 minutes later from the penalty spot, with Messi doing the honours.In the 90th minute, Messi skipped past Marcelo Vieira to cut it back to Aleix Vidal who put it in the nets to give the team their third goal.

ISL: ATK ride Keane's strike to beat Delhi 1-0

Irishman Robbie Keane scored a delectable second-half winner to hand holders ATK a 1-0 win over bottom-placed Delhi Dynamos FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) tie here at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Saturday.

Azhar Ali recalled in Pak ODI squad for New Zealand series

Pakistan have named former captain Azhar Ali and all-rounders Aamir Yamin and Mohammad Nawaz in the squad for five-match ODI series against New Zealand next month.However, left-handed batsman Ahmed Shehzad and all-rounder Imad Wasim have not been picked for the series.Middle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood, pacer Junaid Khan and all-rounder Imad Wasim will also miss out after failing fitness tests.Fast bowler Aamer Yamin has replaced Junaid in the squad announced by chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq."Azhar Ali makes a comeback to the ODI squad after being rested against Sri Lanka and having regained full fitness," Pakistan publication Dawn quoted Haq as saying."Junaid Khan has been ruled out due to a fracture in his right foot. Doctors have advised him a six-week rest," he added.Sarfraz Ahmed will continue to be the skipper after leading the team to victory in the Champions Trophy in June.The Sarfraz Ahmed-led side also includes Muhammad Hafeez, who was recently banned from bowling by the ...

Robbie Keane strikes winner as ATK beat Delhi Dynamos 1-0

Robbie Keane struck late in the second half to help two-time champions ATK pip Delhi Dynamos 1-0 in an Indian Super League encounter, here tonight. The former Ireland and Spurs player injected life into the game with a spectacular finish in the 78th minute to score his first goal of the season. This was ATK's second win from six matches as they climbed to seventh position in the league table with eight points. After being routed by Pune 1-4 in their first home appearance of 2017, this was ATK's first home win of the season. Keane, the 'Player of the Match', celebrated it with a double somersault and gestured with folded hands towards their gallery where co-owner Sourav Ganguly was cheering the side. An innocuous move from the Conor Thomas saw Bipin Singh create that perfect opportunity for the Irish man by heading down a long ball from the centre of the pitch. Having seen his assists missed by his teammates, the 37- year-old calmly received the ball, turned around to ...

Sushil earns highest bid at Pro Wrestling League auction

Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar earned the highest bid of Rs 55 lakh from Delhi Sultans in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) third edition auction here on Saturday.

Chelsea suffer 0-0 draw against Everton

English Premier League (EPL) defending champions Chelsea on Saturday gained a single point in the league table after a goalless draw against Everton away in the 19th round.

PWL auctions: Sushil Kumar picked for Rs 55 lakh by Sultans

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar was picked for a whopping Rs 55 lakh during Pro Wrestling League auctions, here today. Six franchises intensely bid for India's greatest indvidual Olympian, who recently won gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in South Africa. "We are honored to have Sushil as part of our team. We are currently bidding for the best players and are certain of making it as the best team," said a statement from the Delhi franchise. PWL is set to start from January 9.

Dhoni fixed till WC, others not measuring up: MSK Prasad

Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad today made it clear that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is set to continue till the 2019 World Cup as some of the younger keepers, who have been tried, are not even close to the former Indian captain's level. Prasad's views make it clear that Delhi captain Rishabh Pant has now fallen off the radar quite sharply with the second keeper in limited overs being 32-year-old Dinesh Karthik. Asked if they are looking at Dhoni on a series by series basis, Prasad said: "We are grooming some wicketkeepers during India A tours. But more or less, we have fixed up (our) minds till the World Cup (on continuing with Dhoni) and after that at later stages we will start grooming some of those (wicket- keepers)." "I think MS Dhoni still remains the No 1 wicket-keeper in the world and day in and day out we have been saying this. In the current T20 series (against Sri Lanka), the stumpings he has effected and caught-behind he has taken are phenomenal," Prasad was ...

Ashwin, Jadeja's absence continues for South Africa ODIs

The seasoned spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja continued to find themselves out of the 17-member squad for the One-day Internationals (ODI) that the BCCI on Saturday named for the six games against South Africa in February next year.