Page 2230 - Sports

Injury time penalty gives Jamshedpur 1-0 win over Bengaluru

Jamshedpur FC scored from a stoppage time penalty as they beat Bengaluru FC 1-0 in an entertaining Indian Super League match here today. Brazillian Matheus Trindade Goncalves sent Bengaluru goalkeeper in the wrong direction in the first minute of the stoppage time to score the only goal of the match to the stunning silence of the home crowd at Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The visitors won the penalty after Rahul Bheke brought down Sameegh Doutie inside the box in a tussle for the control of the ball. Bengaluru thus tasted their back-to-back home defeat though they still remained at second place with 12 points. With the win, Jamshedpur jumped to sixth place with nine points. The first half was scrappy as Jamshedpur played a rather defensive game as compared to Bengaluru who aimed at the rival's net on several occasions. Both teams went into the break goal-less but returned with an aggressive approach, constantly attacking each others box. Jamshedpur went on the offensives with

Cricketers safe after Melbourne incident

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said all players and support staff of the touring Ashes party are accounted for and safe after a car drove into a crowd close to Flinders Street Station here on Thursday evening.

Chennai Smashers' Sindhu excited to play at home

Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu today said she was excited at the prospect of playing Premier Badminton League (PBL) matches in Chennai. A key member of the defending champions -- Chennai Smashers, she said it will be good to play in front of the home crowd and hoped the team can do well and defend the title. "I am very happy and thrilled at the prospect of playing in front of the Chennai crowd. It will be great to play at home," she told reporters here ahead of the League that begins on December 23 in Guwahati. The PBL matches in the city will be played between January 5 and 9 next year. Sindhu said the League was a great platform for shuttlers with Indians getting to rub shoulders with some of the world's best. "PBL is a wonderful platform. It is a place where lot of talent is showcased. Our team is talented and we have a world class mixed doubles pair (Chris & Gabrielle Adcock) and will give our best," she said. About her performance ...

Rohit Rajpal elected president of DLTA

Former Davis Cupper and Fed Cup captain Rohit Rajpal was elected as the president of the Delhi lawn tennis Association (DLTA) during its recent Annual General Meeting. Rajpal said that it was an emotional moment for him as this is the same place where he trained as an 11-year-old. "My aim is to create a bunch of players, who could pose a challenge at tennis Majors," Rajpal said. Eminent educationist and member of DPS society Narendra Kumar was elected as chairman.

Hamilton is a 'free spirit': Mercedes boss

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has said that four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will not bid adieu to Formula One in the same way as his former team-mate Nico Rosberg did.German tennis star Rosberg shocked the sporting world by announcing a sudden retirement from Formula 1, barely a week after winning his maiden world championship title last year.Hamilton, on the other hand, recently became a four-time world champion with a ninth-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix, the race which was won by the Red Bull's Verstappen.While Hamuilon would be free to walk away, Wolff insisted that the Briton would not drop another bombshell on the team as long as team work to keep him happy."Lewis doesn't want to be put in a box with people saying, 'You need to behave like this and do this to be a racing driver," Sport24 quoted Wolff, as saying."He could be doing something completely different in a year or two or three's time and I am aware of that, but equally I know he will protect the ...

Dutch football club Ajax fires coach Keizer

Dutch football club Ajax on Thursday announced the firing of coach Marcel Keizer and his coaching staff.

Russia offers FIFA joint investigation into doping in football

The Russian Investigative Committee on Thursday offered to cooperate with FIFA in a joint inquiry on the alleged use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances among members of the Russian national football team.

Ronaldo fitness worry ahead of Clasico

Cristiano Ronaldo trained alone today ahead of Real Madrid's clash against Barcelona this weekend, after sustaining a knock to his calf during the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. The Portugal star received rough treatment as he scored the winner in last Saturday's 1-0 victory over Brazilians Gremio in the final, but Ronaldo had insisted he would be fit for the visit of Barcelona. "Cristiano Ronaldo trained alone out on the pitch, both with and without the ball," Real wrote on their website, two days ahead of Saturday's Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu. Following Real's return to Spain, the five-time Ballon d'Or recipient had remained in the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday before finally lacing up his boots for an individual training session on Thursday. Spanish sports daily As reported it was simply a "precaution" as Real look to trim the 11-point gap between themselves and leaders Barcelona, who are unbeaten in La Liga this season. "He will play in the Clasico barring ...

Driver Gill eyes domination in Rally of Arunachal

Three-time Asia-Pacific Rally Championship champion Gaurav Gill will hope to reassert his supremacy as Round 5 of the MRF FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, the Rally of Arunachal, that got underway here on Thursday.

I-League: Indian Arrows search for win against Gokulam Kerala

Eighth-placed Indian Arrows look to get back to winning ways and finish the I-League season on a high when the young colts face ninth-placed Gokulam Kerala FC at the Ambedkar Stadium in the national capital tomorrow.Losing two back-to-back matches against table toppers Minerva Punjab FC by a slight margin tarnished the high flying start of the Arrows, but Head Coach Luis Norton de Matos feels that his team will go all out for a win.Speaking on the eve of the match, Matos said, "We are certainly looking for a win against Gokulam Kerala FC. The I-League is very exciting for us. In the Hero I-League, the most important thing for us is to show our boys can play with senior players. With no foreigners and mostly 16-17-year-olds, even if we finish fifth or sixth it's a huge positive."Sitting beside Matos, skipper Amarjit Singh stated that, "We are combining well, we have players from both the U-17 and U-19 teams and our styles and strategy were different. In the first three matches, we were

Doubles pairing will be key: NE Warriors Ajay Jayaram

India international Ajay Jayaram is optimistic of his team North Eastern Warriors' chances in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) hopes that the Korean doubles pair will be key to their chances. "It is going to be a tough one (tournament) for sure. Every team has big names but if you look at our team, we have the perfect balance," said Jayaram. "Although a lot of would depend on how Tzu Wei Wang and me perform but I also feel that our strongest point would be the Korean pair in the doubles section as they are a dominating force and will determine how our results turn out to be," he added. Jayaram, who has reached the finals of the PBL consecutively in the past two years with two different teams, will surely look to make it a hattrick of finals leading his new team to the last stage of the tournament and make their debut season a memorable one. "Yes, I have been lucky to reach the finals twice in a row with two great teams but I dont think that would add any pressure to ..

I-League: Chennai City ready to welcome East Bengal at 'New Home'

The newly-shaped Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of Coimbatore is all set to welcome I-League at its doorstep with Chennai City FC going head-to-head against the Kolkata giants Kingfisher East Bengal tomorrow.Speaking on the eve of the match, Kingfisher East Bengal Head Coach, Khalid Jamil said, "We just to play our natural game as we have played all our matches. I never look back into the past and won't do that either. We played a positive football in our last game and garnered important three points. Boys are really confident and we are focused on tomorrow's game."The architect of the last win, Willis Plaza doesn't feel complacent at all and he stresses on the 'team-effort'."We're really feeling confident, we are in good shape and whether I score or anyone else does, it matters little. The most important thing is the team and to churn out the positive results", the T&T-born striker aired.On the other hand, the home team coach V Soundarajan, coming back from an emphatic win against ...

North Eastern Warriors all set for PBL debut

With just a couple of days to go for the third edition of the Premier Badminton League (PBL), new entrants North-Eastern Warriors are raring to go into their debut season with all guns blazing in their opener against last year's semi-finalists Hyderabad Hunters at the Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.

Pankaj Advani storms into last 16 of National 6-Red Snooker

Defending champion Pankaj Advani blanked Pandurangaiah by five frames to nil to advance to the last 16 of the 7th National 6-Red Snooker Championship here today. Also advancing were former Asian billiards champion Sourav Kothari, who ended the run of Lucky Vatnani, winning 5-1. In another match, Varun Madan defeated former Asian billiards champion Dhruv Sitwala 5-3 to move up. Advani, the 18-time world champion, started slowy and was trailing in the first frame, but he cleared the table in the end to clinch the frame. He did not look back after that as he took the next four to win in an hour's time. Ishpreet Singh Chadha pulled off an upset, beating former world and Asian champion Rupesh Shah 5-4, taking the final frame 41-27. He took the first two frames in quick time with attacking play. Shah came back strongly in the third frame with a phenomenal break of 71. Ishpreet retaliated by winning the next two consecutive frames to lead by 4-1. Rupesh held his nerve and ...

Want Gurbani to represent India from Vidarbha like me: Umesh

India pacer Umesh Yadav on Thursday urged Rajneesh Gurbani to keep performing well and be the second bowler from Vidarbha to make the national team after him.

I got emotional seeing my coach ecstatic, says Vidarbha's Gurbani

Rajneesh Gurbani, a qualified civil engineer whose 12-wicket match haul helped Vidarbha beat Karnataka by five runs to qualify for their maiden Ranji Trophy final, on Thursday revealed that his eyes welled up when he saw coach Chandrakant Pandit ecstatic.

PGTI golf meet: Shubhankar takes lead on opening day

Shubhankar Sharma, fresh from his maiden international win at the Joburg Open last week, lived up to the tag of being the pre-tournament favourite at the PGTI's season-ending McLeod Russel Tour Championship with a scorching opening round of six-under-66 that gave him the lead.

Jagtap, Aparajitha lift titles in Western India tourney

Maharashtras Aditya Jagtap, seeded 3/4, got the better of second-seeded Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi in three straight games to lift the mens title in the 74th CCI-Western India Squash championships here today. Jagtap defeated Nandrajog 11-6, 11-7, 15-13 in a 30-minute encounter to take home the winner's prize money of Rs 1.25 lakh while the loser received Rs 62,000. Jagtap was trailing 0-5 in the third game before reaching match-ball at 10-9 but needed four more match-balls to secure the game and the match in the final held at the Cricket Club of India. Jagtap, who had beaten top seed Ravi Dixit in the semi finals, is on a roll this season, having been a finalist at Khar Gymkhana and winning the Otters Open, Maharashtra State Open and Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana titles on the trot. The womens crown was clinched by Tamil Nadus unseeded Aparajitha Balamurukan who prevailed over top seed Urwashi Joshi in four games - 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-4. Aparajitha got Rs 35,000 while Urwashi .

Coimbatore to welcome I-League with East Bengal taking on Chennai

The city's newly-shaped Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is all set to welcome the I-League with Chennai City FC going head-to-head against Kolkata giants East Bengal on Friday.

Hume convinced me to join ISL: Taylor

Having impressed in his debut match, midfielder Ryan Taylor today said it was former ATK player Iain Hume who convinced him to join the Indian Super League. The two-time champions ATK had replaced injured midfielder Carl Baker with defender Taylor, raising a few eyebrows but the former Newcastle United player's inclusion in the starting lineup saw them secure their first win in five matches. The 33-year-old not only played the entire duration of the game against Mumbai City FC but created a chance, had one shot on target and even picked a yellow. "Iain is a good friend. We have known each other for 14 years. He had only good words to say about ISL and he convinced me join the League. He has his family but he comes this far away to play and still loves it," Taylor said. "He (Hume) speaks very highly of everyone in ATK. He said about how the fans fill up the stadium for every game. That's what drew me here." ATK now face Delhi Dynamos FC in a home game on Saturday and the