Page 324 - Sports
Mumbai hot favourites against battered KKR (Preview)
With an enviable head-to-head record to back them, in-form Mumbai Indians will look to cement their place in the playoffs by knocking Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) out of the competition when the two sides meet in an Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Shane Warne is my idol, says Rahul Chahar
Mumbai Indians (MI) leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who had a very good outing against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the match which his team won at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday night, regards legendary Australian cricketer Shane Warne as his idol.
Claire Polosak: First woman umpire in men's ODI
Australia's Claire Polosak will create history by becoming the first woman umpire ever to stand in a men's ODI when she takes the field in the final of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 on Saturday.
Dhoni, Jadeja pretty sick, both are unwell: Fleming
Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja are "pretty sick", an update that could leave fans, slowly gearing up to switch to World Cup mode, worried. Both players missed CSK's 46-run defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians on Friday night. Dhoni, their inspirational captain, was ruled out of the game owing to fever. Shedding light on Dhoni and Jadeja's illness, Fleming said, "They (Dhoni and Jadeja) both are pretty sick... both unwell, virus and bacteria... A lot of teams are struggling at the moment through that." With 314 runs at an average of above 100 from just seven innings, Dhoni has been leading the batting charts for CSK in the ongoing Indian Premier League. The World Cup starts May 30 in the United Kingdom, and both Dhoni and Jadeja are part of the Indian squad, which will begin its campaign on June 5 against South Africa. When CSK played without Dhoni for the first time in IPL 2019, they suffered a six-wicket thrashing by Sunrisers
Skipper Dhoni's absence was quite a big hole to fill, feels coach Fleming
The absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's "comforting" presence in the middle was a void Chennai Super Kings found too difficult to fill, coach Stephen Fleming said after a rare loss in the ongoing IPL. Hosts CSK lost by 46 runs to Mumbai Indians in their return-leg Indian Premier League encounter, which Dhoni missed due to fever. "Yeah sure, think you know the answer to that. Dhoni is a great leader and a great player. He's been a constant for us for so many years. You just get into the rhythm while having him there. When you take a leader like that out, there are going to be some holes to fill. It's not that we're not trying to fill it. It's just that the hole is quite big," Fleming said on Friday. "It takes a mammoth effort to lift the team when you have one of your best players unavailable." When CSK played without Dhoni for the first time in IPL 2019, they suffered a six-wicket thrashing by Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 17. The team's showings have been below-par in the two matches ...
Alex Hales banned for recreational drug use
England batsman Alex Hales has been banned for three weeks from cricket for recreational drug use.
'Not harsh enough': England star Rose shocked by Montenegro racism rap
England defender Danny Rose said he was "shocked" that Montenegro were only told to play just one game behind closed doors as punishment for racist chants, insisting the sanction "was not harsh enough". UEFA ordered Montenegro to play their next home Euro 2020 qualifier in an empty stadium after Raheem Sterling, Rose and Callum Hudson-Odoi were targeted by racist abuse by home supporters during England's 5-1 win in Podgorica in March. Sterling celebrated the visitors' fifth goal by cupping his ears towards the crowd after a section of supporters were heard directing monkey chants towards England's black players. "I don't think it is a harsh enough punishment for someone to learn from in the future, just a one-game ban and 20,000 euros -- it's a bit shocking but there is not much I can do now," Rose told Sky Sports on Friday. "I just have to hope that I never have to play there again, it's a shame that this where we are now and I just have to get on with it. "I wouldn't want to go back
Kohli test awaits Delhi Capitals at Kotla (Preview)
Having finally broken the voodoo at home, Delhi Capitals will start the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore as favourites when the two teams clash at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday. DC and RCB have both been on a win streak in recent times, but the home team finally managing to adapt to the wickets at the Kotla gives them a slight edge.
Woods chooses not to enter Quail Hollow
Masters champion Tiger Woods is not ready to get back to work. Woods did not enter the Wells Fargo Championship next week at Quail Hollow, meaning he likely will go an entire month without playing until the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black on May 16-19. "He's not ready to go next week," said Mark Steinberg, his agent at Excel Sports Management. "The Masters took a lot out of him. He's not hurt, but he is being smart." This would be only the third time in his career that Woods did not play between majors. He went nine weeks between the Masters and U.S. Open in 2006 when his father died, and eight weeks between the Masters and U.S. Open in 2008 when his left leg was badly injured. He went a month between the U.S. Open and British Open in 2013. Woods won the Masters to end 11 years without winning a major, one of his proudest feats considering he had overcome four back surgeries and at times wondered if his career might be over. In an interview Thursday with GOLFTV, Woods said he ...
Firmino injury casts shadow over Liverpool's five-goal rout
Jurgen Klopp revealed Roberto Firmino has suffered a torn groin muscle after Liverpool powered back to the top of the Premier League with a 5-0 rout of Huddersfield. Firmino's injury, sustained in training this week, is bad news for Liverpool as they battle with Manchester City in the title race and prepare to face Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday. Liverpool boss Klopp remains optimistic about the Brazilian forward's chances of a quick recovery, but the injury update took some of the gloss off an evening which featured Naby Keita scoring after just 15 seconds for the club's fastest ever Premier League goal. "He trained normally yesterday but after training he had a small tear in a very small muscle," Klopp said. "Apart from the word 'tear' everything is positive but it is Bobby and he might be ready for Wednesday. We don't know at the moment. Because it's him, it's more likely than not. "Of all the bad news you could get, it is pretty much the best ..
Guardiola eyes history as City's treble chase heats up
Manchester City face Burnley on Sunday at the start of a four-match spell that could see Pep Guardiola write a remarkable new chapter in English football history. Guardiola's side follow the crucial Premier League fixture at Turf Moor with games against Leicester and Brighton, as City seek to hold off Liverpool in a thrilling title race. City are two points behind Liverpool after the leaders regained top spot with their 5-0 win over Huddersfield on Friday. But the champions, who also have an FA Cup final date with Watford on May 18, will be guaranteed to retain the title if they win their last three matches. That means a City team that has won 26 of their last 28 games, a run dating back to the end of last year, now stands just four victories away from becoming the first side in the history of English football to win all three domestic trophies in the same season. It is a feat Guardiola has already achieved in his career -- with Barcelona 10 years ago. But the City manager was not ...
Martens eyes Barcelona Champions League double
Barcelona forward Lieke Martens wants the club to make it a Champions League double by winning both the men's and women's tournaments this season as reward for the work they are doing in women's football. Barca's female side take a 1-0 lead into their semi-final second leg at home to Bayern Munich on Sunday while the men's team begin their own bid to reach the final against Liverpool next week. "It would be amazing for the club if both teams win the Champions League," Martens told AFP. "I think that it's so great that a big club like Barcelona is putting so much into women's football, it's what we need. Women's football is getting bigger and bigger and Barcelona really get it." In a World Cup year, women's football has enjoyed extra prominence in Spain this season after a record crowd of 60,739 turned out to watch Atletico Madrid play Barcelona in March, just over a month after 48,121 watched Athletic Bilbao play Atletico at San Mames. The drive has been for women's teams to become ...
Losing regular wickets cost us the game: Raina
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stand-in skipper Suresh Raina blamed the team's batting for the 46-run loss which they faced against Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday night.
Had to scrape every run and wicket: Rohit Sharma
After securing a comfortable win against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma said it wasn't easy for his team to come and perform at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here and that they had to "scrape" for every run and every wicket.
Conflict of interest - A cricketer's bane of concern - Wake up BCCI! (Column: Close-in)
Indian cricket is in a state of turmoil, especially on the issues relating to the 'conflict of interest' clause. Indian legendary cricketers are being questioned in this respect. Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman are facing this issue, with a demand for them to explain themselves. Cricketers of such stature and status should never be ridiculed in such an open manner. The BCCI's ombudsman, D.K. Jain should have done his enquiry in a silent manner, rather than making it a public affair.
Landmark law behind US women's football dominance
The United States will arrive in France for the women's World Cup as the standard-bearers for one of the most dominant eras in the history of international football. In the 34 years since a makeshift team played their first international, the Americans have forged a record of success unparalleled in women's football. Since the first women's World Cup in 1991, the USA has won the tournament three times and finished runner-up once. Over the same period, the USA has won four gold medals and a silver since women's football was launched at the 1996 Olympics. It is the sort of record that the USA men's team -- who did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup -- can only dream of. So how have they done it? Why have generation after generation of US women emerged as world-beaters? The roots of US dominance can be traced back to landmark legislation passed in 1972 known as Title IX. The law banned gender discrimination in federally-funded education programs and paved the way for a new generation of
Argentine women's football turns professional, but only just
The women's game is turning professional in football-mad Argentina, but there's very little in that status to compare to the world in which the country's male superstar Lionel Messi operates and excels. The Argentine Football Association (AFA) announced in March that the 16-team women's top division would become professional from June -- a welcome boon ahead of the World Cup that will kick off that same month in France. Argentina have qualified for only the third time in their history. But scratching below the surface, women's professionalism is a far cry from that enjoyed by Messi, the highest paid player in the world on USD 84 million a year added to USD 27 million in endorsements, according to the 2018 Forbes list of top-earning athletes. AFA has created a fund worth USD 2,600 a month for each team to pay the salaries of eight players -- those players, not enough to make up a full team, will earn 15,000 pesos each, or USD 330. "People see that the national team isn't doing so well
Rajiv secures maiden top-10 finish at ARRC, Senthil finishes 17th
Young Indian rider Rajiv Sethu savoured his first ever top-10 finish at the Asia Road Racing Championship while Senthil Kumar gained a place to end 17th in Race 1 of Round 2 here Saturday. With this six-point effort, Idemitsu Honda Racing India's Rajiv has already got 14 points in his kitty from three races, while in the entire 2018 season he earned just seven points. Starting 12th on the grid in the Asia Production 250 class, Rajiv immediately gained two places to reach 10th, but was soon back to his original starting position behind Irfan Ardiansyah at the Bend Motorsport Park. In the fourth lap, he again overtook two riders to claim the 10th position and was largely held to that position by Mohamed Muzakkir, who never let the Indian pass him. The 21-year-old from Chennai again lost a place when Mohammed Bahauddin Nazirul Izzat passed him with just two laps to go. However, the gritty Indian held his nerves to re-enter the top-10, going full throttle. He showed some good skills and ..
Rana Gharami tests positive for banned substances by NADA
Rana Gharami, player of Delhi Dynamos in the Indian Super League (ISL) tested positive for the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA)'s 59 categories of substances banned in competition.Few glucocorticosteroids - Prednisone and 20-B-OH-Prednisolone metabolites were found in Gharami's urine sample dated January 31, 2019, following Delhi's 2-0 win against Kerela Blasters, goal.com reported on Friday.The player can face a ban up to four years if it is established that the substance was used intentionally, given it is his first offence. Otherwise, the former Mohun Bagan player will have to serve a two-year ban.In another scenario, if Gharami is able to establish no significant fault or negligence, then the period of ineligibility can get reduced but not less than half of the applicable period (as mentioned in clauses 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 of NADA's anti-doping rules).The 28-year-old can now either get his 'B' sample tested or he can accept the charges and face the repercussions laid down by ...
Ben Foakes to replace Sam Billings in England's team
Ben Foakes will replace the injured wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings in England's squad for the one-off ODI and one T20I against Ireland against Pakistan.Billings dislocated his shoulder in the field for his county Kent in a limited-overs clash against Glamorgan in Cardiff, International Cricket Council (ICC) reported on Friday.Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow who are capable of keeping wickets have been rested for both the fixtures after their stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).The 27-year old Billings was not included in England's 15-member team for the World Cup but his injury means that should one of Bairstow or Buttler sustain an injury during the tournament, Foakes will be the likely replacement.If Foakes gets a chance in the playing XI, it will be his first white-ball appearance for England.The 26-year-old Foakes made his Test debut for England in Sri Lanka late last year and he even scored a century in his debut match.The player has been in good form recently in the ...