Page 503 - Sports
Team India parties at Dhoni's farmhouse
Members of the Indian cricket team attended a party at the farmhouse of former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni ahead of the third One-Day International (ODI) against Australia here.
Saina enters quarterfinals of All England Championships
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal progressed to the quarterfinals of the All England Championships with a come-from-behind win over Denmark's Line Hjmark Kjaersfeldt in the women's singles competition here Thursday. A 2015 finalist, Saina was blown away by world no 19 Line in the opening game but the experienced campaigner kept her cool to take the match to the decider and eventually come up trumps against her Danish rival. The eighth seeded Indian rallied her way to a 8-21 21-16 21-13 win over the 24-year-old Line in a 51-minute match and is expected to take on her nemesis and two-time champion Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, an opponent who defeated her in last 12 outings. Earlier, Saina had defeated Scotland's Kristy Gilmour 21-17 21-18 in 35 minutes in her opening match on Wednesday night. In men's singles, former Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth's fight lasted just 35 minutes as he went down 12-21 17-21 to 24-year-old Ng Ka Long Angus, who had denied Sameer Verma a title win
Europe gears up for its first-ever T20 cricket league
A continent-based T20 cricket league will be played in Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland from August 30 to September 22, it was announced Thursday. Woods Entertainment and GS Holding have partnered with Cricket Ireland to introduce the continent-based T20 League, a media release issued here stated. The T20 league will feature city-based franchise teams (six teams, two from each country). The tournament, the first T20 league to be played in Europe, will involve 33 matches across all three hosts, featuring a group-stage followed by semi-finals and the final. "The ability to play alongside a range of experienced international cricketers will only benefit both the established and emerging Irish talent that will be involved over the next decade," Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, was quoted as saying in the release. Tournament rules will ensure that each franchise must have a minimum of nine domestic players and up to a maximum of seven overseas players ..
Did VAR get big calls right? Debate rages on after Champions League drama
Neymar called the decision that led to Paris Saint-Germain being dumped out of the Champions League a "disgrace", while elsewhere on Wednesday Roma were left raging -- both clubs are out of Europe and both feel cheated by controversial VAR calls. "It's a disgrace. They get four guys who don't understand football to watch a slow-motion replay in front of the TV," the injured Neymar wrote on Instagram after watching PSG's shock elimination against Manchester United. PSG were wobbling and trailing 2-1 at the Parc des Princes when Slovenian referee Damir Skomina gave a penalty after reviewing the images when Presnel Kimpembe blocked an apparently wayward Diogo Dalot shot with his arm. Marcus Rashford duly scored the penalty that dumped PSG out on away goals. But should such a crucial decision have been given? "I am a big supporter of VAR and I stay a big supporter of VAR," said PSG coach Thomas Tuchel, before admitting: "It was a big decision, a cruel decision." - 'The law is wrong' ...
Three ex Greek football chiefs sentenced over health fund scandal
Three former Greek football federation presidents received five year suspended prison sentences on Thursday for their part in a 13 million euros health fund scandal. Two other men who had served on the federation's board when the funds destined for free amateur player health checks were misused were also found guilty. Former federation presidents Vasilis Gagatsis, Sophocles Pilavios and Giorgos Girtzikis as well as former board members Giorgos Sindoris and Giannis Oikonomidis said they would appeal the verdict. The scandal involved a health fund which was set up in 2005 but was never implemented despite the convicted men running the scheme until 2013 with a loss of around 13 million euros for the federation.
Dakshineshwar upsets mens top seed Prabodh to enter semis
Unseeded Suresh Dakshineshwar of Tamil Nadu toppled top-seeded Suraj Prabodh of Karnataka in two straight sets to enter the men's singles semi-finals of the Dhoot Transmission Poona Club Trophy AITA men's and women's open tennis championships here on Thursday. Dakshineshwar won 6-4, 7-5 and will meet lucky loser Anvit Bendre, a local player, in the semis following the latter's come-from-behind victory over state rival Shahbaaz Khan at the Poona Club's courts. Bendre continued his splendid run in the tournament to oust Khan 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to set up a meeting with Dakshineshwar. In the lower half of the draw, another local boy - third seed Dhruv Sunish - quelled the challenge of fifth- seeded Delhi player Anurag Nenwani, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to enter the last four. Sunish will now take on another Delhi player, the second-seeded Kunal Anand, who out-rallied local boy Sahil Gaware 6-4, 6-3 in another quarter-final match. In the women's section, top-seeded Vaidehi Chaudari of
I-League: Lajong have nothing but pride at stake against Mohun Bagan (Preview)
Shillong Lajong host Mohun Bagan at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Friday with both teams wanting to end on a high in their final I-League football fixture.
Anjum, Adarsh and Chain excel at shooting National selection trials
World Championship silver medallist Anjum Moudgil won the women's 10m air rifle in the National shooting selection trials at the Dr. Karni Singh Range here Thursday. Anjum, who had secured the Olympic quota in the ISSF World Championships in Korea last year, shot 633.2 to win the women's 10m Air Rifle T4 trial. Adarsh Singh, 17, who had won a silver and a bronze at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney last year in the 25m rapid fire men team event and 10m air pistol men team event, also emerged winner in the men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol T3 event here. Army marksman Chain Singh, a bronze medallist at the 2014 Asian Games in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event, won the men's 50m rifle 3 positions T3 event.
BCCI officials not to attend PSL final: PCB
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani on Thursday said that the BCCI has rejected its invitation to attend the PSL final to be held here on March 17. PCB chairman Mani said they had sent invitations to the ICC and all its affiliated boards to attend the Pakistan Super League (PSL) summit clash but the world body's chairman Shashank Manohar, who is an Indian, and BCCI acting-president C K Khanna had cited personal engagements for their unavailability. "Both Khanna and Manohar have refused to visit Pakistan to watch the final of the tournament citing personal engagements," Mani said. Mani, however, said ICC chief executive Dave Richardson will be in Karachi to watch the game. Mani said invitations were sent out to senior officials of India, England, Ireland, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka cricket boards before relations between India and Pakistan had deteriorated after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack. "The idea behind sending ...
Praneeth crashes out of All England Championship
India's B. Sai Praneeth crashed out of the All England Championship badminton tournament following a straight games loss to NG Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong here on Thursday.
Gold Cup: Indian Oil, Central Railway, Army XI enter quarters
Defending champions Indian Oil defeated former champions Army XI 4-2 in a Pool A league game before both progressed to the quarter-finals of the 53rd All India Bombay Gold Cup hockey championship here Thursday. Also through to the last eight were Mumbai Hockey Association Lted (MHAL) XI who shocked Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, 3-2 in Pool D, and Central Railway who defeated Killedar XI 7-3 to record their first win in Pool C. Indian Oil produced another slick performance against the tough Army XI at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium. Armaan Qureshi and Bharat Chhikara scored a brace of goals for Indian Oil, while Army XI fought back and scored through David Dung Dung and Gurpreet Singh. With this their second win in the pool, Indian Oil finished in first position ahead of Army XI, who had defeated Bombay Republicans, the third team in the pool. In the MHAL XI stunner against RCF, Sadiq Mohammad (8th minute), Raj Patil (12th minute) and Manjinder Singh (45th minute) ...
Lajong have nothing but pride at stake against Mariners
Bottom-placed Shillong Lajong will look to end their disappointing I-League campaign on a high when they host Mohun Bagan for the last time at the JLN stadium here Friday. While Shillong are facing certain relegation finishing bottom of the 11-team pile, Bagan could hope most for a fifth-place finish. Hosts Shillong, who decided to go with a team comprising of their young academy players without any foreign recruit, have lost 14 out of their 19 games having conceded whopping 53 goals in a forgettable campaign. The visitors have also had to endure seven losses in their 19 games. But what will aggrieve their legion of die-hard supporters more, is the fact that they conceded more goals than they have scored. Even a change of coach mid-stream could not prevent what will a disappointing season for the Green and Maroons. Bagan won the first-leg encounter between the two sides back in December last year through goals from Japanese midfielder Yuta Kinowaki and Ugandan forward Henry Kisseka, ..
UWW's diktat on WFI is not exceptional: Lalovic
World Wrestling body UWW has said it did not do anything "exceptional" by stopping national federations from dealing with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). United World Wrestling (UWW) President Nenad Lalovic said there is a standard protocol with regards to all its events and demanding visa approvals from India for all nations was part of it. Lalovic did not mention Pakistan in his statement but asserted that India will have to assure that all participating nations will be given entry if it has to host junior Asian championship in July. India had agreed to host re-scheduled junior Championship after original hosts Lebanon withdrew. In the wake of Pulwama suicide attack, India had not issued visas to three-member shooting contingent from Pakistan, prompting IOC to censure IOA. It was followed by UWW asking all its affiliated federations to stop dealing with WFI, putting under the cloud, the conduct of junior Asian championship. "United World Wrestling this week sent a letter to
Indian women fail to win second T20, series against England
The Indian eves lost to England by five wickets in the second T20 International here, surrendering the series with a sixth straight loss in the shortest format.
HC bars IABF from using 'India' or 'Indian' in name
In an interim order, the Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) not to use 'India' or 'Indian' in its name.
Mary Kom ends unbeaten in German training trip
Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom remained undefeated on her return to the 51kg category, winning all her three bouts during a training trip to Berlin, Germany. Mary Kom, who claimed her sixth world title in November last year is making a transition from the 48kg category to 51kg in pursuit of a second Olympic medal. The 48kg category is not part of the Olympic roster. Her 2012 Olympic bronze medal came in the 51kg division. In Berlin, Mary Kom defeated Ukraine's Daria Sierhieieva Germany's Ursula Gottlob and Norway's Veronica Losvik for a confident start to the season. All her victories were unanimous 5-0 triumphs. She would be returning to the country on Saturday morning. "It is never as easy as the score-line suggests. But I am feeling good about my body and also very confident about my abilities. Let's see how it goes from here," Mary Kom told PTI from Berlin. The 36-year-old Manipuri credited her coach Chhote Lal Yadav, who is also an assistant coach in the national camp, for .
India 'A', India 'B' set up final clash in U-19 quadrangular one-day tournament
India 'A' and 'B' teams notched up their second successive win in the under-19 quadrangular one-day tournament, beating Afghanistan and South Africa colts in contrasting styles here Thursday. While the 'A' team crushed Afghanistan by 92 runs, the 'B' team edged out South Africa in a thriller, thanks to some superb fielding which resulted in three run-outs in the space of five balls in the final over, leaving the visitors short by one run. The two Indian teams thus sealed their place in the final on March 11. In the India 'A'-South Africa match at the Greenfield Stadium, the home team was sent in to bat and posted 252 in 47.4 overs, riding on a strokeful knock of 81 by opener Siddhesh Veer (81, 82 balls, 9X4, 3X6) and useful contributions from Priyansh Arya (44, 58 balls, 5X4, 1X6) and Shashwat Rawat (45, 51 balls, 3X4, 1X6). For Afghanistan, leg-spinner Shafiqullah Ghafari took four wickets including those of Arya and captain Nehal Wadhera (13). In reply, the Afghanistan colts were ...
Ganguly backs Dhoni to continue after WC, says age never a factor before talent
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly Thursday backed veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni to continue after the upcoming ODI World Cup, saying if someone has talent "age is not a factor". With the World Cup round the corner, people have been predicting the show-piece event to be Dhoni's last international outing but Ganguly thinks otherwise. "Dhoni can continue after the World Cup. If India wins the Cup and Dhoni performs consistently then why should he retire. Age is never a factor if talent is there," Ganguly told PTI. Ganguly termed the current Indian pace attack as "fantastic" and said the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will play a crucial role during the World Cup. "The Indian pace attack is fantastic. Whether its Bumrah or Shami, the Indian pacers are performing consistently. The pacers will play an important factor for the team in England," said Ganguly. According to Ganguly, Umesh Yadav will go to the World Cup as fourth pacer after Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shikhar Dhawan might be .
RCB aim to live up to reputation in 12th IPL (Team Profile)
After a poor finish in the last couple of years of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who have a very strong side at least on paper, will be aiming for a better outing in the 12th edition of the cash-rich league.
Rashid powers ahead with a 66 in round two of Chittagong Open
Indian golfer Rashid Khan powered ahead by two shots after firing a sizzling six-under-66 in the second round of the Chittagong Open here Thursday. Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid, the overnight joint leader, took the sole lead at the Bhatiary Golf & Country Club after moving to 13-under-131 at the Rs 40 lakh event. Indian teenager Kshitij Naveed Kaul too carded a 66 and as a result moved into second place at 11-under-133. Md Sajib Ali continued to be the highest-placed Bangladeshi golfer for the second day in succession. Sajib gained one spot courtesy a 69 to be tied fourth at eight-under-136 at the halfway stage. Rashid (65-66), who began the day one shot in front along with co-leader Yashas Chandra, didn't have the best of starts as he stumbled with a bogey on the 13th after an early birdie on the 11th. However, he drained a 25-footer for birdie on the 14th to make amends. A good recovery from the trees for par on the 16th seemed to lift the 28-year-old's confidence as he ...