Page 271 - Sports

Bangladesh unlikely to tour Sri Lanka in July -- official

Bangladesh cricket authorities said Saturday they are unlikely to proceed with a planned tour to Sri Lanka in July citing fears that the country could be hit by another attack after last month's devastating Easter bombings. Bangladesh's one-day international series in Sri Lanka was scheduled to take place in July, having been brought forward from December. But the fate of the series has been thrown into doubt following the April 21 Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people. "There is only one problem about Sri Lanka: the kind of situation is there, there's no question of going there. Not only Bangladesh, I don't think any team will play there," Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan told reporters in Dhaka. "If the situation calms down, they assure us and our security team gives clearance, we will see. At the moment we don't have any plan to go there," he added. The Bangladesh national team narrowly avoided being caught in the ...

This season full of wonderful moments, says Liverpool manager Klopp

This season has been a year full of wonderful moments, wonderful moments altogether, and looking forward to games, says Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp."A moment like this is worth more than silverware. This season has been a year full of wonderful moments, wonderful moments altogether. Looking forward to games, enjoying games and last Tuesday was like the icing on the cake so far. Wow. That's exactly the picture we want to draw for the outside world - this is Liverpool," Goal quoted Klopp, as saying.Klopp's comment comes after they reached the Champions League final after they defeated Barcelona in the semi-finals. However, Klopp while expressing his joy said that if people still judge him on not winning something in the past or in the future, then he cannot change that."It's possible here. It's possible in this club and in this city with the people around. That's the picture. If that leads to silverware, then wonderful. But we cannot do more. If people judge me on not winning ...

Supernovas restrict Velocity to 121 for 6 in Women's T20 Challenge final

Supernovas produced a clinical bowling display to restrict Velocity to 121 for 6 in the summit clash of the Women's T20 Challenge here on Saturday. Sent into bat, Velocity suffered a batting collapse as they were reduced to 37 for 5 in the eighth over before Amelia Kerr (36) and Sushma Verma (40 not out) stitched 71 runs in 10.5 overs for the sixth wicket to take their side to a respectable total. But for the superb late fightback by Kerr and Verma, Velocity would not have even crossed the 100-run mark. Wicketkeeper batswoman Verma top-scored for Velocity with a 32-ball 40 not out which was lashed with three fours and a six. Kerr, who holds the record of scoring highest individual runs (232 not out) in ODIs, hit 36 off 38 deliveries which had four boundaries in it. Velocity made a disastrous start, losing a wicket each in the first three overs to be reduced to 14 for 3. New Zealand pacewoman Lea Tahuhu swung the second ball of the innings away from Hayley Mathews who edged it to the ..

IPKL inaugural season to begin in Pune on May 13

The Indo International Premier Kabaddi League (IPKL), a brand new kabaddi league promoted by the New Kabaddi Federation (NKF), on Saturday announced the schedule for the inaugural season, starting at the Balewadi Stadium here on May 13.

Ton-up Buttler runs riot against Pakistan

Jos Buttler's stunning 50-ball century took England to 373 for three against Pakistan in the second one-day international at Southampton on Saturday. Buttler's 110 not out featured nine sixes, including a straight drive off Hasan Ali that took him to three figures. Such was his command that Buttler's second fifty took him a mere 18 balls, with new father Buttler making a 'rocking the baby' gesture to celebrate bringing up a century that also included four fours. An extraordinary 'inside out' six off Hasan over long-off was arguably the pick of his shots, although a pull off Shaheen Shah Afridi that cleared the rope and took him into the 90s was almost as impressive. Together with England captain Eoin Morgan (71 not out) he shared an unbroken partnership of 162. It was an encouraging display by the World Cup hosts just a few weeks from the start of the tournament and further proof of their progress as an ODI side. Saturday's total was the 35th time since their miserable first-round ...

Select Dugout experts pick IPL 2019 possible winner

Prior to the much-awaited Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 grand finale between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, the second edition of the #SelectDugoutDebate was closely contested on Saturday with predictions on 'Who will win worlds toughest T20 finals? from Star Sports Select Experts.

India end IAAF World Relays 2019 on poor note

Indian athletes finished their campaign at the IAAF World Relays 2019 on a poor note on Saturday after the men's, women's and mixed relay teams failed to make it to the final.

Salman Khan to feature in IPL final pre-match show

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will feature in the Indian Premier League's (IPL) pre-match show -- Maruti Suzuki Cricket Live from the Star Sports studio before the summit clash kicks-off between three-time champions Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on Sunday.

Gokulam Kerala FC inch closer to semifinals with win over Panjim

Gokulam Kerala FC registered their fourth win in as many matches at the 2018-19 Hero Indian Women's League, as they beat Panjim Footballers 2-0 at the Guru Nanak Stadium here on Saturday. India internationals Sanju and Anju Tamang were on target for the Kerala side, but it was their teenage sensation Manisha, who bossed the midfield and stole the show to take the Player of the Match award. It was defence-versus-attack all through as Gokulam took the initiative from early on. The Kerala side were without their charismatic captain Dalima Chhibber, who had picked up a knock in the previous game. However, Sanju, who had the captain's armband for the day, responded brilliantly. The India international received a pass from the right, set herself up, and unleashed a drive into the bottom corner. Hans Women FC posted their second win as they beat Rising Student Club 2-1. Hans Women FC's Nigerian midfielder Rita Casia was the star of the show as she controlled the midfield and also scored an ..

Supernovas opt to bat vs Velocity (Toss)

Supernovas' skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to field against Velocity in the summit clash of the Womens T20 Challenge 2019 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Saturday.

IPKL: Haryana Heroes to take on Pune Pride in season opener

Haryana Heroes will take on Pune Pride in the season opener of the inaugural Indo International Premier Kabaddi League on May 13. The league will start from May 13 in Pune and matches will be played there till May 21, while Mysore leg will be played from May 2429 and the final leg in Bengaluru will be held from June 1-4, a media release said Saturday. The opening contest will feature the likes of Jitendra Yadav, who has been a part of the national kabaddi team and was also selected for the World Cup, and V Vimal Raj, who will step on the mat for Pune Pride. According to the release, the winning team will go home richer by Rs 1.25 crore while the runners up would get Rs 75 lakh. The season will see a total of 44 matches being played between eight franchisees, it added.

Indians disappoint in World Relays

The Indians disappointed in World Relays with both the men's and women's 4x400m teams finishing at 17th position while the mixed 4x400m quartet stood 15th here on Saturday. The top 10 finishers in both the men's and women's 4x400m relays and the top 12 in the mixed 4x400m qualify for the World Championships to be held in Doha in September-October. The women's 4x400m quartet of Hima Das, M R Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and V R Vismaya finished fourth in heat number 3, clocking 3 minutes 31.93 seconds, but that was good enough for a 17th place finish overall. Hima Das, who was a doubtful starter despite being named in the team after her lower back injury during the Asian Championships, ran the first leg and she was joint second in 52.60 when she handed the baton to Poovamma. But India dropped down to sixth by the time Poovamma completed the second leg. India was still at sixth after Gayakwad completed the third leg but Vismaya, who ran the final leg, made some recovery to take the team

Herrera confirms United exit

Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has revealed he will leave Old Trafford at the end of the season amid reports of a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Herrera's United contract expires at the end of the season and it is believed he has lined up a deal with French champions PSG. United hadn't commented on Herrera's future, but the 29-year-old Spaniard posted a goodbye message to fans via the club's Twitter account on Saturday. "There is red in my heart, I knew it from the first time I played here and in the moment I started to wear it," said Herrera, who has also been linked with Arsenal, Juventus and Inter Milan. "Every time I represented this club, in every game, in wins and losses, even when I couldn't help from the grass, I understood what this club means. "I am going to remember each of the almost 200 matches that I have played with this jersey. Because playing for the greatest club in England, has been a true honour. Thanks for these five amazing years." Herrera, twice capped

Federer will play Italian Open in warm-up for Roland Garros

Roger Federer will play in next week's Italian Open as he warms up for his return to Roland Garros for the first time in four years, the 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Saturday. Federer, playing his first clay court event in three years, lost in three sets to Austrian Dominic Thiem in the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Friday. "Hello everybody. Just finished speaking to the team and happy to say I'm coming back to Rome to play in Italy," the 37-year-old sais in an Instagram video on Saturday. Federer will have a first-round bye as the number three seed in Rome, where he will begin his tournament against either Frances Tiafoe or Joao Sousa. The Swiss has never won on the clay in Rome's Foro Italico having finished runner-up four times. His only title at the French Open, which this year starts on May 26, was in 2009.

Scintillating Hamilton back on top in Barcelona

Lewis Hamilton topped the times for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in Saturday morning's third and final free practice ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. The defending five-time world champion clocked an exceptional best lap in one minute and 16.568 seconds to outpace the young Monegasque by half a second in a session interrupted by two red flagged stoppages. The first of these came when Hamilton's Mercedes team-mate and world championship leader Valtteri Bottas spun into a gravel trap after 20 minutes and the second in the 56th minute when George Russell hit the barriers in his Williams at Turn Four. The drivers were unhurt, Bottas returning to the pits and later resuming to take third place ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari. The Finn had been quickest in both Friday sessions. In testing conditions, the American Haas team took fifth and sixth places with impressive efforts from Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, enabling them ..

Aabhishek Mishra, Adrian Metge, Ankur Chauhan emerge champions at Desert Storm Rally

Defending champions Aabhishek Mishra of Team Sparky's Garage and his co-driver Srikanth Gowda won the the Xtreme Category of the Desert Storm Rally here Saturday. TVS Racing's Adrian Metge won the hotly contested Moto Category (cross country rally for motorbikes) with a cumulative time of 6:13:25s. The Ndure category was won by Ankur Chauhan and co-driver Prakash M with best rankings in all five legs. With this win, Mishra joined the likes of Suresh Rana and Sunny Sidhu to have successfully defended their Desert Storm Xtreme title. Driving a Toyota Fortuner for the first time in a rally, Samrat Yadav and co-driver Kunal Kashyap displayed phenomenal consistency throughout the rally to clinch the second spot with cumulative timings of 9:41:34s. He was closely followed by Lakhpa Tsering and co-driver V Venu Rameshkumar in their Polaris RZR 1000, who despite being slow in the earlier stages gained time quickly and finished the rally with cumulative timings of 9:47:30s. The fourth and ...

Herrera bids farewell to Manchester United

Spanish midfielder Ander Herrera on Saturday bid farewell to Manchester United after spending five seasons at Old Trafford.

Mairaj misses men's skeet final at Shotgun World Cup

The seasoned Mairaj Ahmad Khan shot a qualifying round score of 121 out of 125 to narrowly miss out on making the final of the ongoing ISSF Shotgun World Cup here Saturday. On day three of competitions, Mairaj, India's only International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage medal winner in skeet, shot rounds of 24, 25 and 23 and was in contention for a qualification shoot-off for the last four final spots till the 21st shot of his last round before missing to eventually end in 11th. Vincent Hancock, twice Olympic and four-time world champion from USA, won gold in the event. The second Indian in the fray, Sheeraz Sheikh, who had shot a perfect score of 50 on Friday, had rounds of 21, 24 and 24 for a total of 119 to end in 33rd position. Trap shooting competitions commence after a weekend break on Monday.

AICF for written apology from players seeking re-registration

: The All India Chess Federation (AICF) has said players seeking re-registration would be allowed to do so if they tender a written apology and give an undertaking that they would abide by the rules of the federation. The Central Council meeting held on March 23, 2019 decided that AICFs focus is not on punishment but on enforcing discipline and promoting talent. Considering the lapse of time, financial difficulty expressed by players, and the primary objectives of AICF, the Central Council has decided those players who are interested in re-registration with AICF should be permitted to re-register if they tender a written apology. Also, the players should give an undertaking that they would henceforth abide by the existing bye-laws/rules of the AICF, the federation said on its website. Meanwhile, Gurpreet Pal Singh, one of the players banned by the AICF, wondered why the federation was showing concern about the players now. "Why at this point of time... why is the AICF ...

Opening for CSK helped grow my game: Faf du Plessis

Chennai Super Kings batsman Faf du Plessis, who is opening the innings for his side, said that this opportunity has helped him grow his game but still feels that his best role is probably at number three."Obviously, in my career, I've always batted 3 and 4. So the first time I really got an opportunity to open was with Chennai, because that's where the gap is. Suresh [Raina] has batted No.3 since he was 18 for Chennai, and he's going to bat there for, I suppose, a few more years. Even [MS] Dhoni sometimes bats at 4 or 5," the International Cricket Council (ICC) quoted Du Plessis, as saying,"So the opportunity for me was to open the batting, especially after [Michael] Hussey left. South Africa team, I bat [at] three, it's probably my best role. It was good for me to just grow my game, just batting different circumstances," he added.Du Plessis and Shane Watson's half-century in the Qualifier 2 helped their side vanquish the Delhi Capitals by six wickets and secure their spot in the ...