Page 2243 - Sports

Suarez, Paulinho move Barca 11 clear of Real

Barcelona opened up an 11-point La Liga lead over Real Madrid ahead of next weekend's Clasico between the Spanish giants as Luis Suarez and Paulinho each scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna. Lionel Messi also saw a penalty saved and hit the woodwork three times as Barca regained their six-point lead over Atletico Madrid in second place. Real remain down in fourth, but do have a game in hand on their rivals as they missed out on domestic action this weekend to win the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. "I know people fixate on the difference between us and Real Madrid, but Atletico are just six points behind," said Barca boss Ernesto Valverde. "No matter what happens on Saturday, there is still a world of a way to go in La Liga." The only drawback for Barca as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 24 games since they were beaten by Real on their last visit to the Santiago Bernabeu in the Spanish Super Cup back in August, was a ...

Brazilian star Kaka announces retirement

Former Brazilian World Cup champion Kaka announced his retirement as a player, suggesting that a management career at his old club AC Milan could be on the cards. "I am preparing to continue in football and to have a different role, but I will no longer be a professional player, an athlete," the 2007 Ballon d'Or winner told Globo television. "I would like to take part in a club in a role more like... a manager, a sporting director -- someone between the field and the club." Kaka, 35, said AC Milan "recently made this proposal". On his Twitter feed, devout Christian Kaka, who was part of Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning team, wrote: "Father, It was much more than I could ever imagined. Thank you! I'm now ready for the next journey. In Jesus' name. Amem." He started his storied career with Sao Paulo in Brazil, where his performances attracted the attention of Europe's leading clubs and prompted a move to Milan in 2003. It was while at Milan that Kaka picked up the Ballon ...

Griezmann 'blacked-up' photo sparks controversy

Atletico Madrid and France forward Antoine Griezmann was forced to remove a photograph from Twitter showing him blacked up and mimicking a Harlem Globetrotter basketball player after the post caused controversy. Griezmann was wearing a basketball jersey and a wig with his face, legs and arms blacked up alongside the caption "80's party" in the photograph on his personal Twitter page. Although the post initially provoked little comment in Spain where Griezmann has spent the entirety of his professional career, many Twitter users around the world questioned the 26-year-old player's choice of fancy dress, with some saying it was racist. Griezmann first responded to the criticism by posting: "Calm down friends, I am a fan of the Harlem Globetrotters and this beautiful era... it's a tribute." He did not immediately delete the original photo, but later he did remove the post and then tweeted an apology. "I recognise that it was clumsy of me. If I have offended people, I ...

Wet pitch delays play in third Ashes Test

Rain and a wet pitch stalled Australia's push for victory on the final day of the third Ashes Test in Perth today. Showers caused play to be abandoned early on the fourth day and they continued through to Monday morning, forcing a scheduled early resumption to be cancelled. Australia need just six more wickets to win the match and regain the Ashes. Complicating matters further was a damp spot on the pitch, just outside the popping crease at the southern end, with WACA ground staff working furiously with leaf blowers to try to dry it out. It was unclear how the water got through the covers onto the pitch, although there was some suggestion it happened when strong winds lifted them up. Match officials were confident the problem would be resolved once the rain stopped, but no time had been set for the resumption.

Robin strike provides holders ATK maiden win of season

Defending champions ATK Kolkata scored their maiden victory in this years Indian Super League when they got the better of Mumbai City FC 1-0 here today. The lone goal in the match was scored by Robin Singh in the 54th minute when he stretched his foot out to get the faintest of touches to a superb tangential cross delivered from the left wing by the speedy Zequinha. The visitors, winless with two defeats and two draws coming into the game, then survived a late onslaught by the home side, who were outplayed in the opening half, to emerge triumphant. The victory also lifted ATK from the bottom of the table to the eighth spot with five points to their credit while Mumbai City, who suffered their first defeat this season at home, were in fifth spot with 7 points. MCFC next take on North East United in an away game on December 20 while ATK will face Delhi Dynamos at home on December 23. The visitors head coach Teddy Sheringham made five changes to the teams starting eleven ...

Unfair to compare myself, Kuldeep with Ashwin-Jadeja: Chahal

India leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal feels it would be unfair to compare him and Kuldeep Yadav with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, a combination which has proved itself over the years. "Ashwin and Jadeja have done so much in the last 5-6 years. We have played only for four-five series. It is unfair to compare myself and Kuldeep with them," he told reporters after India defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third and final ODI here to win the series 2-1. "Our aim is to give our best when we go out and play. If you start comparing now itself to them, it will not be right. We have played most of our games in India, one series in Sri Lanka but the conditions were similar to India. We have not played overseas," he further said. Of late, Ashwin and Jadeja, who are Test regulars, have lost out their places to Kuldeep and Chahal in India's limited overs side. Chahal, who has so far turned out for the country in 17 ODIs and 12 T20 Internationals, said like everyone ..

Two soft dismissals in one over hurt us: Pothas

Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas today said the two soft dismissals in the 28th over set the team back after being "well ahead of the game" up until that point in the third and final ODI against India here today. "Until the 28th over, we were well ahead of the game. Then there were two soft dismissals (Tharanga and Dickwella) in one over and thats what can happen. Very disappointing," said Pothas after the eight-wicket defeat. Asked whether Lanka had faltered in choosing the combination, Pothas, who took over as coach from fellow South African Graham Ford, said the strategy was good but the loss of two wickets in one over hurt them. "Tough one. In hindsight we can look back and pick holes in the system. We had a strategy. What we tried to do was to get as many players as possible who are good players of spin into the squad. "If you want to play India, you want to have players who can play spin in the middle order. That strategy is sound. But unfortunately we lost two wickets ..

Sushil Kumar, Sakshi Malik win gold at Commonwealth Wrestling

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar made a glorious return to the international arena by clinching a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg, South Africa today. Another Olympic medallist, Sakshi Malik, who won a bronze in the 2016 Rio Games, also clinched a gold medal in the championships. Sakshi defeated New Zealand's Tayla Tuahine Ford by a score of 13-2 in the final of the 62kg women's freestyle category to add another yellow metal for India. Earlier in the day returning to international wrestling after more than three years, Sushil defeated New Zealand Akash Khullar's via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category to clinch the yellow metal. It was his first medal in international wrestling since his gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It was double celebration for India as other wrestler in same category, Parveen Rana also won a bronze medal. Sushil returned to competitive wrestling in November at the ...

We need to maintain consistency abroad, says Rohit

India today recorded their eighth successive win in a bilateral series and stand-in captain Rohit Sharma said the team needs to maintain the consistency in the upcoming tours overseas. Shikhar Dhawan struck a sublime hundred in the nick of time as India delivered yet again in a series decider to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the third and series deciding final ODI. India will next play three T20s against the Islanders before embarking on a long away journey, starting with the South Africa tour. And Rohit feels the young lot of cricketers in the team are ready for the tough battles ahead. "We need to continue this consistency. We are going abroad now, the next one and half year will be challenging and we have to be ready for that," Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony after clinching the series 2-1. "The youngsters bring a lot of energy and I'm sure they are ready for all the upcoming challenges," he added. The skipper hailed his team for the "terrific ..

Bhardhvaj enters finals of Junior National Championships

Sixth seeded Rahul Bhardhvaj of Air India scored an upset victory over top seeded Arintap Dasgupta of West Bengal to breeze into the finals of under-19 boys' singles competition of the 42nd Junior National Badminton Championships here today. Rahul defeated Arintap 21-12 21-17 to set up a summit clash with the winner of the match that will be played between Aryaman Tandon and Abhishek Saini. In the boys' under-17 category, fourth seeded Maisnam Meiraba of Manipur steamrolled Iman Sonowal of Assam 21-13, 21-19 to set a final contest with Amit Rathore of Madhya Pradesh who stunned the top seeded Dhruv Rawat of Uttarakhand 21-13, 21-14. Top seeded Akarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh posted a comfortable 21-12, 21-16 victory over Trisha Hedge of Karnataka to book a berth in the final of the under-17 girls' singles category. She will take on second seeded Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra who beat Unnati Bisht of Uttarakhand 21-12, 21-13. In the girls' under-19 event, Akarshi ...

Russia making progress over doping says Coe

IAAF chief Lord Sebastian Coe believes Russia is showing a significant change in its attitude to tackling the doping scandal that saw the nation exiled from world athletics. Russia has been banned from international athletics competition since November 2015 after doping issues. The country's anti-doping agency, RUSADA, is also yet to be declared fully compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Russian athletes have also effectively been banned from next year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, unless they can satisfy stringent drug-testing regulations in order to compete as neutrals. Coe indicated there are reasons for hope that Russia is finally dealing with the problem, but he said the IAAF would still resist setting any time-scale for the nation's reintegration into athletics. "We made a decision that in a way was quite different to the one the IOC was confronted with," Coe told BBC Radio Five Live on Sunday. "I've had 149 or 150 positive tests in the sport, from Russia

David won't give up quest for more glory

Former world champion Nicol David believes she can still win another major title despite being well into her 35th year. David lost a recent World Championship quarter-final to the second-seeded Egyptian Raneem El Welily in four games. But the Malaysian, an eight-time world title winner, believes she is still gradually adapting to the profound changes in tactics and techniques in the women's game in the last two years. David's last big title was the Hong Kong Open in December 2015, since when her superbly athletic and subtlely patterned game has been rendered less effective by a lowering of the tin by two inches to the 17 inches used in the men's game. David does not believe age is the main factor in a failure to add to her 81 titles, and thinks a world ranking at six still provides an adequate platform from which to tackle younger, more naturally aggressive players. "It's just that I've had to learn so much in the last few years," she said. "The game is really different ..

Chennaiyin FC make comeback with 2-1 win over Bengaluru FC

Jeje Lalpekhlua and Dhanapal Ganesh helped Chennaiyin FC to pull off a thrilling 2-1 victory over Bengaluru FC in an ISL match at Sree Kanteerava Stadium here today. Jeje slammed the ball home past a hapless Gurpreet after the ball deflected off the BFC defender just five minutes into the match. Bengaluru skipper Sunil Chhetri equalised for the hosts in the 85th minute but in 88th minute Ganesh sealed the hosts' fate with a brilliant header off Rene Mihelic floater. With this loss, Bengaluru are relegated to second position on the points-table with 12 points of six games. Chennaiyin garnered three points and are placed third with FC Pune taking the fourth position with nine points in six games. The hosts had good chances to score off Bheke and Miku's headers, in extra time but Chennaiyin goalkeeper Karanjit did well to stave off the danger. In 86th minute, Chhetri was furious over poor officiating by Rakitm Saha who did not award a free-kick to him after being brought ...

Alfred Raytond/ wins four wheeler open class section

City based Alfred Raytond/Suguraman won the four-wheeler Open Class section in the 18th Chander Memorial Rally, an FMSCI National event, held here today. A R Nitin/Vikram Venkatkumar emerged winners in the four wheeler-Novice Class while M Nandhini/Priuya Dhanabval won the All Ladies Class section. The pair of Deepak/D Raghuraman pair won in the 2 Wheeler-Open Class. A total of 25 cars-10 in the open category, 13 in the novice class and 2 cars in all ladies class-- participated in the event, covering 125 km. In the two wheeler category, there were 12 entries in the expert class. The rally, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, was flagged off by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sujit Kumar. The prizes were distributed by District Collector, T N Hariharan later in the day.

India beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets, clinch ODI series

India defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the series-deciding third and final one-dayer to clinch the three-match series 2-1, here today. Brief Score: Sri Lanka: 215 all out in 44.5 overs (Tharanga 95; Chahal 3/46, Yadav 3/42) India: 219 for two in 32.1 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 100; A Dananjaya 1/53).

Indisposed Wriddhiman pulls out of Ranji semis

Bengal were dealt a big blow even before the start of their Ranji Trophy semi-final against Delhi with senior player Wriddhiman Saha pulling out due to ill health. It was learnt that Wriddhiman, who trained with the team yesterday, suddenly felt feverish around midnight. "In the early morning, he told the team physio that he was running temperature and had severe body ache. Since he was not feeling well, we did not take a chance," a member of the support staff told PTI after the day's play ended. However, Wriddhiman accompanied the team at the ground and was present for the entire day. When asked if he will be returning back to Kolkata since he is not playing, Wriddhiman said: "I have not decided yet. Let's see what happens." With 10 days to go before India departs for South Africa for the Test series, Wriddhiman is expecting to recover well in time for the series. CAB president Sourav Ganguly had personally written to BCCI president Amitabh Chaudhary to allow Wriddhiman .

Sindhu settles for silver at Dubai Super Series Final

Indian ace P V Sindhu suffered yet another painful loss in a high-stake final, going down fighting against World No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in a pulsating women's singles title clash of the Dubai Super Series Final here today. In the prestigious season-ending tournament finale, Sindhu played her heart out before losing 21-15 12-21 19-21 to 20-year-old Yamaguchi in an energy-sapping battle that lasted an hour and 34 minutes. "It has been a good year and I ended the year with another good tournament and won a silver. I will look to play next year with the same confidence and hope to go further," Sindhu said after the match. The 22-year-old Indian came agonisingly close to clinching the title before finishing runner-up once again in her third major tournament, following last year's Rio Olympics and this year's Glasgow World Championship. In scenes similar to the World Championship final in August, the summit clash here went down to the wire as the duo engaged in a ...

Sushil Kumar wins gold at Commonwealth Wrestling

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar made a glorious return to the international arena by clinching a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg, South Africa today. Returning to international wrestling after more than three years, Sushil defeated New Zealand Akash Khullar's via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category to clinch the yellow metal. It was his first medal in international wrestling since his gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. It was double celebration for India as other wrestler in same category, Parveen Rana also won a bronze medal. Sushil returned to competitive wrestling in November at the Senior Nationals in Indore where he won a gold medal amid controversy after getting three walkovers from his fellow wrestlers. Incidentally, it was Rana who gave him a walkover in the title clash in Indore, but the duo wrestled this time and Sushil came out on top with a 5-4 victory margin. In his first bout, .

Sandhu best Indian at T-8th, Shubhankar 11th in Jakarta

Ajeetesh Sandhu finished Tied 8th after returning with a second successive 67 in the final round of the Indonesian Masters here today. It was his fifth Top-10 finish in last nine starts, during which he won once at Yeangder TPC and was Tied 2 at Macao Open and Panasonic Open India besides being third at Take Solutions Masters. Meanwhile, Justin Rose finished the tournament with a 10 -under 62 just the same as he had started the week with a 10- under 62. He ended with a total of 29-under 259, for a whopping eight-shot win over Thailand's Phachara Khongwatmai (65), who aggregated 21-under 267. Four other Indians finished in Top-20 and that included S Chikkarangappa, who faltered in the final round with 75 that included a double and two other bogeys on the front nine. Shubhankar Sharma, who has had a great season, was T-11 with a final round 71 that saw him total 12-under 276, while Gaganjeet Bhullar (67) was T-13 at 11-under, while Shiv Kapur (69) was T-20 alongside ...

Sindhu loses to Akane Yamaguchi in summit clash of Dubai Superseries Finals

The 22-year-old came agonisingly close to clinching the title before finishing runner-up once again in her third major tournament