Page 514 - Sports
Rajasthan Royals' camp gets underway
With the Indian Premier League around the corner, Rajasthan Royals Monday began their second pre-tournament camp. A training camp is being organised at the Brabourne Stadium here March 6. The Indian players who are part of the Rajasthan Royals squad will participate in the camp under the guidance of the Royals head coach Paddy Upton along with head of cricket Zubin Bharucha. The camp figures three days of intensive training as well as fitness drills to help the players hone their batting, bowling and fielding skills. Practice matches will be held as a platform for the new players including Riyan Parag, Shubham Ranjane, Shashank Singh and others to play with the likes of captain Ajinkya Rahane, Jaydev Unadkat, Sanju Samson, Stuart Binny, Dhawal Kulkarni among others. Royals physiotherapist John Gloster along with assistant physiotherapist Niranjan Pandit are part of the camp to ensure the fitness and energy levels of the players remains optimum, along with their nutrition. While ...
Brazil 'not obliged' to win Copa America, says Neymar
Brazil captain Neymar has rejected claims that the five-time World Cup champions are obliged to win this year's Copa America as competition hosts.
The U23 boys are raring to go, says head coach
The strength of any football team is its bench and for a team like India which is looking to take giant strides in the world of football, progress at the grassroots level is of prime importance.
Career-best rank of 68 for Jeevan after Dubai exploits
The semifinal finish at the ATP 500 event in Dubai lifted Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan to a career-best ranking of 68 in the doubles chart even as Leander Paes suffered a steep 23-place slide to 96 on Monday. The left-handed Jeevan and his Indian partner Purav Raja reached the last-four stage after coming through the qualifying and earned 225 points for their effort. They are now India's number three and four ranked players respectively as Raja gained 17 places to rise to 79. Rohan Bopanna continues to be the country's top doubles player at number 38 and is followed by his partner Divij Sharan (40, -1). At 96, Paes is at number five in the country. In the singles, Prajnesh Gunneswaran is at number 97 (-3) and is followed by Ramkumar Ramanathan (136, +1), Yuki Bhambri (171), Saketh Myneni (246, +4) and Sasi Kumar Mukund (270, -1).
We haven't ousted Ashwin, Jadeja, just made use of our opportunities: Kuldeep
"We haven't ousted anyone but made use of opportunities that we got," was how young chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav responded when asked if Yuzvendra Chahal and his performances have literally shut the ODI door on veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The wrist spinner duo of Chahal and Kuldeep have been regular feature in India's ODI format confining finger spinner Ashwin to the sidelines and relegating Ravindra Jadeja as the third specialist spinner. "No, no, not at all. We haven't ousted anyone. It's just that we have got the opportunities and we did well. They (Ashwin and Jadeja) have always been doing well for India. In Test matches, Ash (Ravichandran Ashwin) and Jaddu Bhai (Ravindra Jadeja) are still playing," Kuldeep said on the eve of the second ODI. Since it was a leading question, Kuldeep made extra effort to make it clear that there "And we learn a lot from them. They have a lot of experience. When I am in the Test squad, I learn a lot from them. Whenever we got an ...
Indian women suffer fifth straight T20 loss
India suffered a crushing 41-run loss to England in the first T20 of the three-match series here Sunday with Smriti Mandhana making a forgettable captaincy debut. India struggled to 119 for six after Tammy Beaumont (62 off 57) and skipper Heather Knight (40 off 20) steered England to 160 for four in 20 overs. The loss, India's fifth in a row in the shortest format, showed the W V Raman-coached side has a lot of work to do before the T20 World Cup in Australia early next year. India lost all their T20s in New Zealand after winning the ODI series and things are heading in a similar direction against England with two more games to go. Ahead of the second T20 Thursday, the momentum is with the visitors who also won the third and final ODI. Mandhana, who became India's youngest T20 captain at 22, said India's bowling should have been tighter in the death overs. "We gave away 10-15 extra runs at the end. Didn't have a great start with the bat as well. Really happy with the way Arundhati ...
Chelsea prevail over Fulham 2-1 in EPL action
Spain goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga regained his spot in Chelsea's starting lineup as the Blues prevailed 2-1 over Fulham, who did not have their best start in the post-Claudio Ranieri era.
Morata keeps Atletico Madrid on track in 2-0 win over Real Sociedad
Two first-half headers by Alvaro Morata were what it took to give Atletico Madrid a win over Real Sociedad even though the capital squad was left short-handed after Koke was expelled in the 61st minute after two yellow cards.
Goswami rises to top of ODI rankings
India's veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami Monday rose to the summit of the ICC women's rankings for ODI bowlers following her influential role in the team's series win over England recently. The 36-year-old Goswami, who last held the top spot in February 2017, finished with eight wickets in the series while helping her team reach second position in the eight-team championship that provides direct qualification berths to hosts New Zealand and four other top teams in the 2021 Women's World Cup. The latest rankings update also takes into account performances of another ICC Women's Championship series in which defending champions Australia scored a facile 3-0 win over New Zealand to move closer to a direct berth as they are now at the top with 22 points from 12 matches. India are second with 16 points from 15 matches while New Zealand are on 14 from 15. Reigning World champions England are behind South Africa in fifth position, with 12 points from as many matches. Goswami, the most successful .
Goalless draw at Everton sees Liverpool slip from EPL summit
Liverpool relinquished their lead at the top of the English Premier League after playing out a goalless draw against Everton in the Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park.
Juventus notch win over Napoli
Juventus, Atletico Madrid's rival in the Champions League, notched a 2-1 win over second-place Napoli in the 26th week of Italy's Serie A competition, thus taking a big step toward the title and putting themselves 16 points ahead of their southern Italian rivals.
ICC in constant touch with us, says Amitabh Chaudhry
Board Of Control For Cricket in India's (BCCI) secretary Amitabh Chaudhry on Monday told that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has been in constant touch with the BCCI and that the ICC has conveyed to them that boycotting any country from where terror emanates is not within the domain of the ICC."ICC Chairman after discussing with the with the board has conveyed to us that boycotting any country from where terror emanates is not within the domain of ICC," Amitabh Chaudhry told reporters.BCCI had previously written a letter to the ICC raising two concerns, one was of security of the players and fans. The second matter was related to suggesting India and other members take no part with teams which come from areas where terror emanates from.There has been a huge outcry in the country urging India not to play against Pakistan in the World Cup after a terror attack in Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14."The main concern raised by us was of security of players and the fans which the ...
Williamson closes in on Kohli at Test rankings
Kane Williamson, captain of New Zealand, after striking a second double-century of his career in the first Test of the three-match series against Bangladesh, has reached his career-best 915 rating points to attain the second spot in the batsman rankings in the Test format.This knock by the Kiwi captain has lifted him from 897 points to 915 points and he is just seven points away from toppling Virat Kohli at the top position in the ICC Test batsman rankings.With two matches still to go in the series against Bangladesh, Williamson has a chance to topple Kohli at the top of the rankings.Williamson rating points of 915 are the highest for any New Zealand player. Only Sir Richard Hadlee had points more than 900 for a Kiwi player.Openers Tom Latham and Jeet Raval have also made steady progress in the rankings after scoring centuries. Latham's knock of 161 has enabled him to reach the 11th position while Raval has risen five slots to reach the 33rd position.Among the bowlers, the pair of ...
World Cup auditions continue as India aim for 2-0
Auditions for the World Cup hopefuls will continue but India will also be aiming to produce another complete performance against Australia in the second ODI here Tuesday. The Virat-Kohli led team ticked all the boxes to thrash Australia by six wickets in the series opener on Saturday. It was a welcome win for India after losing the T20 series 0-2. With only four ODIs remaining before the World Cup, the hosts will look to finalise the "two available spots" in an otherwise settled squad for the all important tournament. Opener Shikhar Dhawan failed in Hyderabad but he is likely to get another game as chances of K L Rahul coming in for him appear bleak. However, if given a chance Rahul will be more than willing to make optimum use of. Vice-captain Rohit Sharma can take any attack to cleaners on his day and the Aussies would be wary of him and skipper Virat Kohli, who scored 44 on Saturday night. Both Rohit and Kohli are always hungry for runs and if the duo fires in unison at the VCA ...
England's renaissance in ODI's makes them favourites for the World Cup
England will go into this year's World Cup as the favourites. This can be considered a remarkable change in fortunes considering their performance in the previous two World Cups in 2011 and 2015.Since the World Cup 2015, England have won 14 bilateral series out of 20.England's batting approach was considered traditional since the Cricket World Cup 2015, as they struggled with posting big scores on the board playing with an old fashioned approach.But since, the appointment of Trevor Bayliss as the head coach, England went through a tremendous turn-around changing their batting approach, playing attacking cricket from the first ball of the match.England management who has been previously guilty of choosing Test players for the ODI's and not picking up the right players for the format changed their approach and started picking up specialists for the ODI format.Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler are all familiar names in the ODI format and their approach to the game has ...
Ind W vs Eng W 1st T20I: India to bowl first against England
India won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first T20I of the ongoing three-match T20 series here at Guwahati on Monday.Following the toss, Indian captain Smriti Mandhana said she was looking to bowl first, considering the pitch conditions. Bharti Fulmali, Komal Zanzad, Ekta Bisht and Anuja Patil are the four players who are missing from action in this first T20I.England's captain Heather Knight, on the other hand, made two changes in the team from the final ODI against India.Following are the Indian and England playing XI:India-Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana (capt), Veda Krishnamurthy, Mithali Raj, Arundhati Reddy, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam YadavEngland- Tammy Beaumont (wk), Danielle Wyatt, Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver, Lauren Winfield, Katherine Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Anya Shrubsole, Kate Cross, Linsey Smith, Alex Hartley.
Neymar says 2 injuries, not 1, affected World Cup displays
Brazil and Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar was battling back from two injuries, not one, at last year's World Cup. In an interview with TV Globo on Sunday, Neymar said a problem in his right ankle was affecting his recovery in Russia, as well as the metatarsal fracture in the same foot that he had previously described. "Besides the metatarsal, I had an ankle problem. I ruptured the ligament and the recovery was crazier because of this," the PSG striker said. Neymar said the metatarsal injury did not unduly trouble him in Russia, but the ankle did. "It is very annoying with the ankle, it takes a long time to get back to normal," he said. Neymar is currently recovering from another metatarsal injury in his right foot that he sustained in January, and is expected to return to action next month.
Morata double keeps Atletico's title hopes alive
Alvaro Morata's first-half double fired 10-man Atletico Madrid to a 2-0 victory at Real Sociedad as Diego Simeone's men kept their slim La Liga title hopes alive. The Spain international striker scored twice in three first-half minutes on Sunday as Atletico cut the gap to leaders Barcelona back to seven points after the reigning champions' 1-0 Clasico win over third-placed Real Madrid on Saturday. Midfielder Koke was dismissed just after the hour mark, but Atletico have now won three straight league games after back-to-back defeats by Real Betis and Real Madrid last month had ended an 18-match unbeaten run. "The sending off of Koke ended the game as we had planned it," said Atletico coach Simeone. "We had to defend, make ourselves strong in our penalty area and take a game that was very important to win." After a slow start to the contest, Morata gave Atletico the lead on the half-hour mark by nodding home after Thomas Lemar's corner was flicked on by Diego Godin. The 26-year-old, who
Balotelli posts goal celebration video on social media mid-match
Mario Balotelli showed off a new goal celebration on Sunday as he took a selfie video with his Marseille teammates and posted it on social media during their 2-0 win over Saint-Etienne. The Italian scored his fourth goal in six Ligue 1 games since joining Marseille from Nice in January by hooking home Florian Thauvin's 12th-minute corner with an excellent acrobatic volley. "Balotelli takes the pressure, he takes the limelight. He reminds me of (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic and he scored an Ibrahimovic goal," said Saint-Etienne coach Jean-Louis Gasset. "He has brought back the public, the confidence, and many of his teammates will raise their level of play." As he celebrated his volley, Balotelli took a phone from the cameraman behind the goal before filming the video with his laughing teammates and posting it on his Instagram story. The 28-year-old then carried on playing. He was not the first player to produce a selfie-based celebration, after Roma great Francesco Totti took a picture of ...
Juve put one hand on title after squeezing past Napoli
Juventus closed all talk of a challenge to their Serie A dominance after coming through a second-half onslaught at Napoli to win 2-1 in an engrossing match that saw each side have a man sent off and stretch their lead at the top to a huge 16 points. Massimiliano Allegri's unbeaten leaders have now as good as sealed their eighth straight Serie A title after a match that looked dead at half-time with Juve two goals and a man up, but sparked back into life when goalscorer Miralem Pjanic was sent off for handling a Napoli pass and picking up a second yellow card just after the break. "I fell asleep, I should have replaced Pjanic when he had the first card. He was at risk, but I didn't expect him to handle," said Allegri, whose future at Juve is uncertain after what will be five seasons in Turin. "I already said we'll sit down to talk about this season and the next. I am very happy to be at Juventus." Midfielder Pjanic swept home his free-kick opener in the 28th minute, which came ...