Page 520 - Sports
Neroca look to consolidate fifth spot against Gokulam Kerala
Neroca FC will look to consolidate their fifth position in the Hero I-league standings when they take on hosts Gokulam Kerala FC at the EMS Corporation stadium here Sunday. The home team is fighting to stave off relegation, currently placed 10th among 11 teams with 14 points from 18 games. They need to win both their remaining encounters in the 11-team league to stay afloat. Gokulam Kerala have lost seven in 12 games. They simply have to give it their all on Sunday. Neroca, on the other hand, despite going down narrowly in their previous against champions Minerva, have shown enough capabilities throughout to confirm the fifth position in a highly competitive league. Manuele Fraile has built together a fighting unit who have delivered above average in all key game parameters. In the first-leg between the two sides, a Baoringdao Bodo goal for Gokulam had cancelled out a Eduardo strike for Neroca and both sides had shared the spoils at the Khuman Lampak in Imphal. The only thing going ...
Bengal join Karnataka in Super League
Riding on their seamers' tidy show, Bengal grabbed a Super League spot from Group D with an eight-wicket win over hosts Odisha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here Saturday. Bengal finished with 20 points from seven matches to become the second team to qualify after Karnataka who topped group D with an all-win record. Sent in, Karnataka suffered a batting collapse to be restricted for a modest 138 for nine. But their bowlers rose to the occasion to choke Haryana's run chase and script a thrilling last over win by 14 runs at the DRIEMS Ground in Tangi. Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal claimed 3/16, while seamer Prasidh Krishna (3/25) also bagged a three-wicket haul to derail Haryana's run-chase. In a must-win match for Bengal at the Barabati Stadium, seamers Ishan Porel (3/19) and Ayan Bhattacharjee (2/13) did not allow Odisha let loose, taking wickets at regular intervals as the hosts managed a paltry 108 for nine. In reply, Wriddhiman Saha anchored the chase with a 31-ball 52 (5x4, 3x6) ...
Premier League-ISL bring football development week to Mumbai
The Premier League is bringing its first 'Football Development Week' in India to Mumbai and it will start from Sunday. ThePremier League is bringing the initiative to Indiain conjunction with Indian Super League, UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and Star Sports, a media release said Saturday. As per the release, it is focused on the theme of youth player development and will see representatives from the Premier League, Arsenal FC and Leicester City FC leading workshops, club-to-club training, referee development and forums for ISL clubs, AIFF coaches and executives. The event will see 40 youth players from Arsenal and Leicester City play in friendly games against Mumbai City FC and Reliance Foundation Young Champs academy teams. Former Premier League player Les Ferdinand who scored 149 goals in 351 appearances for clubs including Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers is among those who will offer his expertise to Indian youth coaches and
Ajgar & Musthafa score a hat-trick in JK Tyre Himalayan Drive
After four days of cross-country rallying, the formidable team of Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa successfully defended their JK Tyre Himalayan Drive 7 crown. Hailing from the small port town of Haldia in West Bengal, Ajgar Ali, along with Erode's Mohammed Musthafa, achieved the rare feat of winning their third successive title in the country's only international TSD (Time, Speed, Distance) rally. In the national category, Ajgar Ali and Mohammed Musthafa ended with a final tally of 1110 penalty points to emerge victorious. Securing the second position were the team of Gagan Sethi and Rajkumar Mundra with 1847 penalty points while Jogendra Jaiswal and Nagarajan Thangaraj ended their campaign in third position with 2035 penalty points. In the open category, the team of Govind Dalmia and Anand Agarwal edged past category leader Rohit Agarwal and Kunal Joshi to finish with 9149 penalty points. The Agarwal-Joshi team scored 9691 penalty points. Finishing third in this category were the ...
Advani leads strong field in CCI snooker
India's top 8 ranked players, including star cueist Pankaj Advani (ONGC), will vie for top honours in the Rs 12.9 lakh prize money CCI All India Open Snooker Championship which begins Monday. Laxman Rawat (Indian Oil), Aditya Mehta (ONGC), Kamal Chawla (Railways) will also be vying for the champions' top prize of Rs two lakh, a media release said Saturday. Sourav Kothari (ONGC), who had finished runner-up in the last edition, Sundeep Gulati (Delhi), Varun Madan (Delhi) and M Yogesh Kumar (Karnataka) are the four other top-ranked players in the fray. Last year's champion Brajesh Damani (West Bengal), Sumit Talwar (Chandigarh), Divya Sharma (Haryana), Akshay Kumar (UP), Himanshu Jain (Telangana) and Shoaib Khan (Delhi) are some of the strong contenders from outside Mumbai. The local challenge will come Cricket Club of India's Nikhil Ootam, Rahul Sachdev, Hasan Badani, Mukund Bharadia and Shabaaz Khan. Khar Gymkhana's young, talented cueists Sparsh Pherwani, Kreishh ...
Mushtaq: Tamil Nadu maul Meghalaya by 92 runs but fail to make
Murli Vijay struck a breath-taking hundred as Tamil Nadu defeated Meghalaya by 92 runs in their last Group B match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament here Saturday. However, the win was not enough for Tamil Nadu to make it to the knock-out stage, as they ended on the fourth position in Group B. Electing to bat first, Tamil Nadu rode on Vijay's 107 off 67 balls to post a massive 213/2 on the board and later restricted Meghalaya to 121/4 at the Lalabhai Contractor stadium here. Vijay and opener Washington Sundar (53 off 37 balls) laid the foundation for a big score with a 139-run stand for the first wicket. While Sundar struck five fours and two sixes, Vijay was more aggressive, hitting nine fours and five sixes. Sundar's fall in the 15thover did not deter Vijay from playing his shots. He got able support from R Vivek (36 not out off 14 balls). Vijay departed soon after bringing up his hundred, but he had taken Tamil Nadu past the 200-run mark. All Meghalaya bowlers had an
SAI yet to clear Indian gymnasts' participation in Olympic qualification events, claims GFI official
Indian gymnasts, including Dipa Karmakar, were Sunday left in the lurch with a top Gymnastic Federation of India official claiming that the Sports Authority of India was yet to clear them for the upcoming World Cups at Baku and Doha. The GFI had registered Dipa for the back-to-back World Cups to be held from March 14-17 and March 20-23 at Azerbaijan and Qatar respectively, while also sending the entries of Yogeshwar Singh and Ashish Kumar in the men's artistic section at the Doha event. However, the SAI has still not sanctioned the gymnasts' tours with the World Cup in Baku beginning in less than two weeks. The two World Cups are part of the 2020 Olympic Qualification series. The GFI has nominated its vice president Riyaz Bhati to accompany the delegation at the two events. However, Bhati claimed that SAI Project Manager Rajinder Pathania is not clearing the team because he wants to go for the two events. "GFI has fulfilled its responsibilities concerning registration in a fair and ...
PUBG bans users below 13 years in China
Online multi-player battle royale game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, popularly known as PUBG, has been imposed with a digital lock and now users under 13 years of age would have to ask their guardians to open the game for them.
ISL: ATK, Delhi to bring down curtain on league stage (Preview)
ATK and Delhi Dynamos will square off in what will be the final game of the league stage of the Indian Super League at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, here on Sunday.
Hyderabad ODI: India's late strikes restrict Aussies to 236/7
Indian bowlers restricted Australia at the score of 236 in the first ODI of their ongoing five-match series here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.Opting to bat first, Australia did not make best of the starts as their skipper and opening batsman Aaron Finch continued with his poor run of form and departed back to pavilion for a duck in the second over of the match.The Australian innings was, however, stabilised by Usman Khawaja and Marcus Stoinis who built an 87-run partnership to get their side out of the troubled waters.At a time when the partnership started to look threatening for the Indians, skipper Virat Kohli brought in go-to man Kedar Jadhav into the attack. The right-arm spinner did not disappoint his captain and gave India the much needed breakthrough.Stoinis (37) misread the high release delivery of Jadhav and gave away an easy catch to Kohli at short midwicket.Looking determined on the crease, Khawaja also followed Stoinis to the pavilion after being ..
1st ODI: Indian bowlers restrict Australia to modest total
The Indian bowlers once again underlined their collective might by restricting Australia to a modest 236/7 in 50 overs in the first ODI here on Saturday.
Pillai Group to offer sports management program under FIFA/CIES University Network
The Mahatma Education Society's Pillai Group of Institutions has partnered with FIFA and the CIES University Network to offer a Sports Management program, the first of its kind in South Asia. FIFA-CIES which runs this course in 15 other countries will roll out its 16th centre at the Pillai Group's Management training centre in Panvel from September 2019 and is expected to attract applications from all South Asian countries, from which the required number of students will be chosen after a rigorous selection process conducted by CIES for FIFA. This was announced by K M Vasudevan Pillai, chairman, Pillai Group of Institutions at a special FIFA/CIES/PILLAI Sports Summit on the theme 'Sport and the Development of a Nation'. Four-time Olympian and Asian Games gold medallist Shiny Wilson, who inaugurated the summit, acknowledged the growing sports market in the country. "While top sports persons will always get jobs, sports management will offer opportunities to people who are passionate ...
Jharkhand, Delhi qualify for Mushtaq Ali super league
Jharkhand and Delhi Saturday qualified for the Super League stage of the Syed Musthaq Ali Trophy T20 cricket tournament from Group 'A' with comfortable wins here over Kerala and Nagaland respectively. Jharkand overhauled Kerala's score of 176 for 6 in the final over when former India ODI cricketer Saurabh Tiwary smashed a six over covers off Sandeep Warrier. Kerala made an exit following today's loss. In the other match, Delhi restricted Nagaland to 118 and romped home in 12.3 overs, thanks to Hiten Dalal's 81 (6X4, 7X6), but was unable to pip Jharkhand on net run-rate after both teams finished on 20 points. Kerala captain Sachin Baby won the toss and chose to bat in a virtual shoot-out for a spot in the super league and the openers-Vishnu Vinod (27, 20 balls, 4X4) and Rohan Kunnummal (34, 25 balls, 2X4, 3X6) provided a good start. India discard Varun Aaron proved expensive, spraying the ball around and was tonked for 35 runs in 3 overs. Vinod fell to the impressive Vikash
Dutch Junior International: Sai Charan Koya upsets top seed to enter pre-quarters
Andhra Pradesh shuttler Sai Charan Koya put up a brilliant performance to upset the top seed and storm into the pre-quarter-finals of the ongoing Dutch Junior International in Haarlem, the Netherlands on Friday.The 16-year-old needed just 38 minutes to prevail over Indonesia's Syabda Perkasa Belawa 21-11, 21-19.Roy was joined by Maisnam Meiraba Luwang and Priyanshu Rajawat in the Round of 16 on a day of some scintillating upsets by the young Indian shuttlers.Manipur's Meiraba registered a strong 21-13, 21-16 victory over the ninth seed Ernesto Baschwitz while Dhar native Rajawat emerged a fluent 21-14, 21-12 winner over the 13th seed Miguel San Luis, also of Spain.India dazzled in girls' singles as well with a mature show from Gayatri Gopichand. The 15-year-old staved off a stiff resistance from the 10th seeded Amy Tan in the first game and then quickly clenched the second game to secure a 21-17, 21-12 win en route to the pre-quarters.However, the campaign came to an end for Samiya ...
Indian bowlers restrict Australia to 236/7
Indian bowlers controlled the proceedings like seasoned puppeteers pulling strings at will to restrict Australia to a sub-par 236 for 7 in the first ODI here Saturday. It was a vastly different performance from the bowling unit which maintained discipline for the better part of the 50 overs with Mohammed Shami (2/44 in 10 overs) showing the way. Kuldeep Yadav (2/46 in 10 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (0/33 in 10 overs) and Kedar Jadhav (1/31) made up for a rare off-day by Jasprit Bumrah (2/60 in 10 overs), that too, by his standards. Even Usman Khawaja (50) and Glenn Maxwell (40) -- the top two contributors for Australia -- weren't exactly comfortable against an Indian attack that bowled as many as 169 dot balls. This effectively meant Australia couldn't score 28.1 overs out of the 50 overs during Indian innings. What the statistics won't reveal is the contribution of Kedar as the sixth bowler and Jadeja, who stifled the Aussies during the second Powerplay. This was after Shami bowled a ...
BCCI unveils World Cup jersey
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has launched the national team jersey for the 2019 ODI World Cup.
Big question mark over ISL's future if I-League clubs are ignored: Bhutia (IANS interview)
At a time when many I-League clubs are unclear about their future, former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia says there would also be a "big question mark" over the future of the Indian Super League (ISL) unless it accommodates clubs which have "history, passion and fanbase".
ATK hope to finish on high against inform Delhi
Their qualifying hopes dashed, two-time former champions ATK will look to conclude their campaign on a winning note when they face an in-form Delhi Dynamos in the Indian Super League here Sunday. ATK suffered a crushing 1-3 defeat to Mumbai City at home for their second successive loss and sixth overall to be eliminated from the playoff race. For a brief period, after the season resumed in January, it looked as if ATK had completely turned things around. With the signing of Edu Garcia, ATK looked like a potent threat, picking up an impressive 2-1 against Jamshedpur FC earlier this month. However, dropping points at FC Pune City and then losing 0-3 at FC Goa meant they were back in the elimination zone before Mumbai completed the formalities in the previous match. Under tremendous pressure, it would be interesting to see how ATK coach Steve Coppell manages the team against the resurgent Dynamos, who are on a six-match unbeaten run. "Who knows whether or not I'll be here next season. ...
Sai Charan Koya enters pre-quarterfinals at Dutch Junior International
India's Sai Charan Koya put up a brilliant performance to upset top seed Indonesia's Syabda Perkasa Belawa and storm into the pre-quarterfinals of the Dutch Junior International in Haarlem, Netherlands on Friday. The Andhra Pradesh lad needed 38 minutes to prevail over Belawa 21-11, 21-19. The 16-year-old was joined by Maisnam Meiraba Luwang and Priyanshu Rajawat in the Round of 16 on a day of some scintillating upsets by the young Indian shuttlers. Manipur's Meiraba registered a strong 21-13, 21-16 victory over the ninth seed Ernesto Baschwitz while Dhar native Rajawat emerged a fluent 21-14, 21-12 winner over the 13th seed Miguel San Luis, also of Spain. India dazzled in girls' singles as well with a mature show from Gayatri Gopichand. The 15-year-old staved off a stiff resistance from the 10th seeded Amy Tan in the first game and then ran away in the second to secure a 21-17, 21-12 win en route to the pre-quarters. However, it was curtains for Samiya Imad Farooqui, Smit Toshniwal ..
IPL is "next big step" for women's cricket: Meg Lanning
Australian skipper Meg Lanning feels that introduction of Indian Premier League (IPL) would be the "next big step" in women's cricket.Last year, IPL had staged a one-off exhibition match for women players in Mumbai hinting at possibility of the start of women's own T20I league. Lanning said that if that turned out to be the reality then it would be an exciting prospect for the female cricketers."It was a lot of fun. We only, obviously, played the one game last time. I am not too sure what the set up would be this time if there was one but, from the response we got last time, everyone is keen to do it," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Lanning, as saying."I would certainly love to be involved in something like that. The next big step for women's cricket is if an IPL could get up - it's certainly an exciting prospect," she added.Australia are currently engaged in a three-match T20I series against New Zealand which the hosts are leading 2-0. Lanning said that they are aiming to finish ...