Page 623 - Sports
Davis Cup and tennis need a change: Tournament referee
Tournament referee Wayne McKewen on Tuesday backed the new shortened version of the Davis Cup, asserting that it was time the tournament and tennis went through a change.
Windies add pacer Thomas for 2nd Test vs England
Fast bowler Oshane Thomas was on Tuesday added as the 14th player in the West Indies Test squad while retaining the rest of the squad for the second Test against England, starting here Thursday.
Kenya's tennis star Cheruiyot to use Australian experience at Davis Cup
Kenya's tennis star Kevin Cheruiyot hopes his recent experience in Australia will boost his country's performance at this year's Davis Cup Europe/ Africa Zone Group Two competition.
Cup dilemma for Barca coach Valverde
FC Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde has a tough decision to make ahead of his side's Copa del Rey quarterfinal return leg at home to Sevilla on Wednesday.
ISL: After setback, Bengaluru keen to make amends (Preview)
Bengaluru FC will be eager to stamp their dominance yet again after suffering a rare setback in their previous Hero Indian Super League (ISL) clash.
300mn people's promotion to winter sports already works: IOC chief
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), gave thumps-up to China's vision of promoting 300 million people to winter sports and said he is very sure about the success of the Games during a visit to Beijing 2022 competition zones here on Tuesday.
PSG inks contract with Argentine Leandro Paredes until 2023
Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes on Tuesday signed a contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for the next four-and-half seasons, the French football club announced.
Always my dream to play for Atletico Madrid: Morata
Striker Alvaro Morata said on Tuesday that despite his past with Spanish football giants Real Madrid, it was always his dream to play for Atletico Madrid.
Vissel Kobe unveils Iniesta, Villa, Podolski lineup in US match
J-League club Vissel Kobe unveiled its three-pronged attack featuring Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Lukas Podolski, but the Japanese football club was unable to put any points on the scoreboard and ended up with a 0-0 tie in a friendly with Major League Soccer (MLS) club Columbus Crew SC in the first contest of a Southern California tour.
Man City give Liverpool title boost with shock Newcastle loss
Manchester City handed the advantage firmly to Liverpool in the Premier League title race as they surrendered the lead in a stunning 2-1 loss away to Newcastle United on Tuesday. Pep Guardiola's second-placed side looked likely to keep the pressure on Jurgen Klopp's leaders as Sergio Aguero got them off to an ideal start in the Spaniard's 100th league game in charge by scoring the fastest goal of the season just seconds into the action at St James' Park. But Newcastle staged an unlikely comeback to ease their relegation fears thanks to Salomon Rondon's 66th-minute equaliser, the first goal City had conceded for more than 10 hours, before Matt Ritchie struck the winner from the penalty spot with 10 minutes remaining after Fernandinho's foul on youngster Sean Longstaff. It means Liverpool, who could have been only a point ahead of their main rivals on their return to action, can extend their lead at the top to an imposing seven points with victory over Leicester at Anfield on ...
United held but late show rescues Solskjaer's unbeaten start
Manchester United preserved Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's unbeaten start as manager with two goals in the final five minutes of a dramatic 2-2 draw against Burnley on Tuesday. The result ended Solskjaer's perfect streak of eight successive victories since the Norwegian took over from the sacked Jose Mourinho before Christmas. But Solskjaer remains unbloodied in his interim spell after Ashley Young sent over a 92nd-minute cross, Alexis Sanchez's header was saved by Tom Heaton and defender Victor Lindelof pounced to net the last-gasp equaliser at Old Trafford. Earlier, Solskjaer's magical touch seemed to have deserted him when Andreas Pereira, handed just the third league start of his career by the manager, gifted Burnley an opening goal after 51 minutes when he received a pass from teammate Phil Jones and was immediately dispossessed by Burnley's Jack Cork. The midfielder's through ball quickly played Ashley Barnes into space in the United area and his devastating shot gave David de Gea no ...
Pakistan's top female shuttler wants to visit India for exposure
Devoid of international exposure, top female shuttler of Pakistan Mahoor Shahzad has urged the sports authorities of her country to send badminton players to neighbouring India for coaching and participation in events. Mahoor, who won the singles title in the National Championship in Lahore, said India had progressed a lot as far as badminton is concerned. "They are a force to reckon with in badminton and they now have regular international events in India. Their coaches are also in the upper category," she said. "I think our sports authorities including the badminton federation should do something to ensure we can go to India to get coaching and also participate in international events," she added. Mahoor, who won the singles title in the international badminton event held in Islamabad in 2017, has represented Pakistan in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. But she said her dream was to compete and qualify for the next Olympic Games in Tokyo. "Presently, I am the first Pakistani .
Qatar thrash UAE amid ugly scenes to reach Asian Cup final
Qatar punished unwelcoming hosts United Arab Emirates 4-0 in a politically charged clash marred by disgraceful crowd behaviour on Tuesday to reach their first Asian Cup final. The Qataris, whose national anthem was drowned by boos before the game, face Japan in Friday's final after goals from Boualem Khoukhi, Almoez Ali, Hasan Al-Haydos and Hamid Ismaeil sealed victory for the 2022 World Cup hosts amid ugly scenes in Abu Dhabi. As they celebrated victory and a record sixth clean sheet at a single Asian Cup, shoes were thrown at them and plastic bottles rained down from angry local fans -- as they had for every Qatar goal, midfielder Salem Al-Hajri hit on the head after their third. A clash bristling with simmering regional tension over the long-standing Gulf blockade of Qatar quickly burst into life as a meaty tackle from Bandar Al-Ahbabi on Akram Afif put the Qatari midfielder up in the air. But Qatar drew first blood after 21 minutes when Khoukhi's shot squirted under UAE goalkeeper
Spirited Indian women's hockey team beat World Cup bronze medalist Spain 5-2
An improved attack and tactical defending saw the Indian women's hockey team convincingly beat World Cup bronze medalists Spain by 5-2 in their third match of the tour on Tuesday.The young striker from Mizoram Lalremsiami (17′, 58′) starred in the match by scoring twice, while Neha Goyal (21′), Navneet Kaur (32′), Rani (51′) ensured India remain in the lead after an initial setback in the first quarter.It was Spain who scored the first goal in the 7th minute of the match through Berta Bonastre, putting India on the back foot right at the start. But a determined India made a quick recovery with striker Lalremsiami's fine goal in the 17th minute and then further improvised their attack to score in the 21st minute through Neha Goyal to take a strong 2-1 lead.Navneet Kaur struck a splendid third goal for the team in the 32nd minute that took India's lead to 3-1. However, Berta scored her second goal of the match in the 35th minute that narrowed India's lead to 3-2.India worked on a ...
Pleased with spinners, overall team looks good: Mithali Raj
Pleased with Indian bowlers, Mithali Raj on Tuesday said spinners have proved themselves with their match-winning spells on challenging flat wickets in New Zealand.Spinners, who adapted to unusual conditions in the Kiwi-land, supported fast bowlers to help India take an unassailable 2-0 lead over New Zealand in the three-match ODI series.Ekta Bisht (3,32) (2,14), Deepti Sharma (2,27) (2,51) and Poonam Yadav (3,42) (2,38) worked in tandem to run through the Kiwi batting in both the matches."Initially a lot of people asked me whether spinners can turn the match around for us on these wickets. The spinners have been doing well from the first match," the Indian ODI skipper said.Indian openers too choked out a weakened New Zealand bowling unit with relentless accuracy. Smriti Mandhana has been terrific with the bat, scoring 105 and an unbeaten 90, while Jemimah Rodrigues lightened the first ODI with her unbeaten 81 to guide India to big wins."Smriti has been among the runs, so has Jemimah.
Punjab Royals beat UP Dangal to enter PWL-4 final
2018 European Championships silver medallist Mimi Hristova helped Punjab Royals take an unassailable 5-3 lead over UP Dangal and enter the final of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season 4 here on Tuesday. Before Mimi, Bajrang Punia, Dato Marsagishvili, Nitin Rathi and Anita won their respective bouts to hand Punjab Royals an unassailable 5-3 lead with one bout to go in the tie. Mimi was trailing 0-2 with less than a minute to go for the final whistle, but she came back strongly to edge past Sarita 5-2 and clinch the tie in Punjab's favour. Jitender spoilt a little bit of Punjab's fun by defeating Amit Dhanker 5-0 in the men's 74kg category in the inconsequential last bout of the evening. Earlier, Olympic bronze medallist Dato Marsagishvili put Punjab Royals ahead winning the men's 86kg category bout 4-2 against last year's European U-23 silver medallist Irakli Misituri of Up D angal in a closely fought bout. The 19-year-old young Punjab Royals' Anju, who won gold at the Khelo India ...
Ex-captains, MCA officials deliberate for betterment of Mumbai
Former Mumbai captains including Milind Rege, Sanjay Manjrekar and Sameer Dighe along with senior officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) "brainstormed" here for betterment of city's cricket Tuesday. Speaking to the media afterwards, CIC member and former India pacer Raju Kulkarni said, "It was a meeting where we did a lot of brain-storming and we want to improve. We were on the same page -- the team management, CIC (cricket improvement committee of MCA). "But one thing on which we were unanimous is that the repair work is not to be done, it has to be restructured," said the former speedster. "It was a fruitful discussion on what steps should be taken for the development of Mumbai cricket," MCA joint secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar said. The former captains met members of the MCA Cricket Improvement Committee and the Bombay High Court-appointed Ad Hoc committee following the debacle in the Ranji Trophy, where the 41-time winners were knocked out of the preliminary .
CAG make last eight despite loss in T20 tourney
CAG lost to Air India by four wickets in their final group match, yet made it to the quarter finals of the 15th DY Patil T20 Cup on Tuesday. DY Patil B continued their impressive run and also entered the quarter-final with a 11-run win over Jain Irrigation. CAG will play DY Patil B in the first quarter-final on January 31. Mumbai Customs made it to the last eight stage with a 16-run win over RBI and will now play against Canara Bank for a place in the semis. Earlier, Canara Bank made it to the quarter-finals despite a five-wicket loss at the hands of Jain Irrigation. Brief scores: CAG 153-7 in 20 overs lost to Air India 157-6 in 19.5 overs by 4 wickets. DY Patil B 188-6 in 20 overs (Aman Khan 44, Naushad 29; Dhrumil 3-24) bt Jain Irrigation 177-7 in 20 overs (Shrikant 62, Urvesh 37; Nathu Singh 3-33, Pravin 2-24) by 11 runs. Mumbai Customs 197-4 in 20 overs bt RBI 181 in 19.2 overs by 16 runs. Canara Bank 159-6 in 20 overs (Bharat Chipli 49, KB Pawan 37, KV Siddarth 24) .
Pant, Thakur star in India A's 4th straight win over England Lions
Returning to competitive cricket after the Test tour of Australia, Rishabh Pant slammed a quick half-century while Shardul Thakur starred with the ball to guide India A to a fourth straight win over England Lions in the unofficial ODI series here Tuesday. Asked to bowl first, Thakur picked up 4 for 49 as his new-ball spell helped India A topple the visitors' top-order and leave them tottering at 55 for 4 by the 15th over. But half-centuries from Ollie Pope (65 off 103) and Steven Mullaney (58 off 54) helped England Lions resurrect their innings. However, the visitors still could only manage 221 for 8 in 50 overs. India got home in 46.3 overs with six wickets in hand, largely due to the efforts of Pant. Chasing the target, KL Rahul, who alongside Hardik Pandya is facing an inquiry by a yet to be appointed Ombudsman for their loose talk on women during a TV show, made 42 off 77 balls while opening the batting. The Karnataka batsman was finally amongst the runs after a dismal tour of ...
Olga Babiy emerges sole leader
: Woman Grandmaser Olga Babiy of Ukraine snatched the sole lead with three points after the third round of the Velammal AICF Woman Grandmaster Round Robin Chess tournament here Tuesday. She defeated WIM Nakhbayeva Guliskhan of Kazakhstan in a double edged French game where the Kazakh girl missed her way and lost in 42 moves. Former World Under-12 champion Divya Deshmukh moved into the sole second spot with 2.5 points scoring a facile win over fellow Indian Saloni Sapale. It was all aggression in the Sicilian game between Divya and Saloni. In the ensuing time scramble, Saloni found herself a rook down as Divya forked her way to win after 33 moves. Earlier the second round saw WIM Babiy posting a second straight win, with Munguntuul, Michelle, Divya close behind with 1.5 points. Babiy accounted for Colombian Angela Franco Valencia in an interesting Sicilian game. Results: Round 3 (Indians unless specified) : Olga Babiy (Ukr) 3.0 beat Nakhbayeva Guliskhan (Kaz) 1.0, ...