Page 641 - Sports

Tendulkar to flag-off Kolkata marathon on Feb 3

Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar will flag-off the third IDBI Federal Life Insurance Kolkata Full Marathon from the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan here on February 3.

Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth in Indonesia Masters quarters

Indian star shuttlers Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and P.V. Sindhu won their respective matches to enter the quarter-finals in the Indonesia Masters here on Thursday.

Photo expo portraying Kashmir in positive light with football

Pictures of Kashmir using football as the theme and the youth taking to the game in the valley have been captured by noted photographer Prashant Godbole who has given a diferrent connotation to words like 'riots' and 'hostile environment' through his oeuvre. "Three days I toured around the valley and this is what I noticed," Godbole told PTI showing the pictures of young boys and girls taking up football passionately. A picture titled 'Training camp' is of youths at a football training camp on the outskirts of Srinagar. 'The Rioters' is a photo of boys playing football on the narrow street of Srinagar interrupting pedestrian movement. A picture, 'Distracted youth', refers to boys focused on football and not attentive to other works. "The lost cause' is a picture of a young shepherd holding a football lost in thoughts and forgetting to take care of a herd of sheep behind him. An important picture is of 'civil war' where security personnel are seen playing football taken ...

Real Kashmir FC organises photo exhibition

I-League club Real Kashmir FC has organised a photo exhibition here to showcase the growing football fandom in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The club has tied up with its sponsor Adidas to organise the exhibition which was opened for public viewing on Thursday. It will be on till January 27. The pictures have been shot by award-winning photographer Prashant Godbole, the club said in a statement. Real Kashmir member Afshan Ashiq said the exhibition is a "great endeavour" to highlight positivity. "My journey had its share of challenges where I received opposition from my family for taking up a rough sport, but it was constant support from J&K Government and CRPF team which boosted my morale," he said.

Karnataka recover after top-order collapse

There were three attractive half-centuries but a top and lower-middle order collapse saw hosts Karnataka manage a below-par 264 for 9 against Saurashtra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semi-final on Thursday. After being reduced to 30 for 4 within the first hour, half-centuries from skipper Manish Pandey (62 off 67 balls), Shreyas Gopal (87 off 182 balls) and wicketkeeper S Sharath (74 batting, 177 balls) took Karnataka to 232 for 5 before they again lost wickets in a heap - four for 26 runs. If Saurashtra captain and strike bowler Jaydev Unadkat (4/50) blew away the top-order, it was veteran off-spinner spinner Kamlesh Makvana (3/73), who nearly polished off the lower-half. Unadkat's opening spell included the scalps of Krishnamurthy Siddharth (12 off 21), Ravikumar Samarth (0) and Test opener Mayank Agarwal, who made 2 runs off 30 balls. Unadkat pitched the ball up and also got it to move both ways troubling the batsmen early morning. Samarth and Siddharth got deliveries that

Davis Cup win last year helped Prajnesh come of age, feels coach Zeeshan Ali

India's No. 1 singles player Prajnesh Gunneswaran's win over Chinese teen sensation Yibing Wu in the fifth rubber of the Davis Cup second round Asia/Oceania Group I tie last April helped him come of age, feels India's Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali.

Amandeep cuts Gursimar's lead in 2nd leg of Hero WPG Tour

Amandeep Drall turned in the days only under-par round of one-under 71 to come within one shot of the overnight leader Gursimar Badwal (75) after two rounds in the second leg of the Hero Womens Pro Golf Tour at the Oxford Golf Resort here on Thursday.

Umesh Yadav stars as Vidarbha takes control vs Kerala

Umesh Yadav destroyed Kerala with a fiery spell, picking up seven wickets as Vidarbha took control on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Krishnagiri stadium here Thursday. The defending champion reached 171 for 5 in 45 overs after winning the toss and bundling out Kerala for 105 in the first innings. Yadav, who was part of the India team that won the Test series in Australia recently, ran through the host batting line-up, took a personal best 7 for 48 as the host folded for 105 in just 28.4 overs with just three players reaching double figures. Vishnu Vinod, captain Sachin Baby and Basil Thampi were the only Kerala batsmen to make double digit scores. On a pitch which was on the bouncier side, the burly pacemen posed the Kerala batsmen a lot of trouble and was ably assisted by Rajneesh Gurbani (3 for 38), the star of Vidarbha's maiden Ranji triumph last season. Yadav also reached the 100-wicket milestone in Ranji Trophy during his brilliant spell. His ..

PWL: MP Yodha aim to confirm place in semis (Preview)

Debutant MP Yodha will look to cement their place in the semi-finals with a win over UP Dangal when they clash in the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) Season-4 at the Gautam Buddha University Indoor Stadium here on Friday.

Amandeep cuts Gursimar's 5-shot lead to one

Amandeep Drall turned in the day's only under-par round to come within one shot of leader Gursimar Badwal (75) after two rounds in the second leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour, here Thursday. Gursimar, who held a five-shot lead after 18 holes, carded 75 after being five-over after 13 holes. She is now one-under 143, while Amandeep, who shot one-under 71, is even par 144. Tvesa Malik (73), the 2018 Hero Order of Merit winner, was lying Tied-third with rookie Sifat Alag (74) at three-over 147. Neha Tripathi, winner of the first leg, had a rough day with four-over 76, lying fifth at five-over 149. Ananya Datar (74) was sole sixth at 152, while Mille Saroha (74) and Gaurika Bishnoi (80), who had a disastrous four-hole run of two bogeys and two doubles bogeys between fifth and eighth, were Tied-seventh. Afshan Fatima (78) was lying ninth, as Khushi Khanijau (77) and Suchitra Ramesh (80) were tied for tenth place. Gursimar and Amandeep played in the lead group with Sifat being the third

Rafael Nadal marches into Australian Open final

Former world number one Rafael Nadal surged into the final round of the Australian Open after sweeping aside Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in their semi-final clash of the men's singles event here on Thursday.The 32-year-old ended the dream run of Stefanos who had caused the biggest upset of the competition by knocking out defending champion Roger Federer in the fourth round of the tournament. Nadal registered a 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory over his Greek opponent in a clash that lasted one hour and 45 minutes.Well aware about the damaging abilities of Stefanos, Nadal ensured to keep his opponent under pressure right from the first set. The Spaniard earned the first break point of the match and forced Stefanos into errors to take a dominating 5-2 lead. With the help of 26 winners and three service points, Nadal sealed the opening set in 32 minutes.The dominant display of the world number two player continued in the second set as well as he earned 5-4 advantage against the Greek player. losing

Naomi Osaka enters maiden Australian Open final

Reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka reached her maiden Australian Open final as she defeated former world number one Karolina Pliskova in their semis clash of the women's singles event on Thursday.The 21-year-old thrashed Pliskova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 and set up a summit showdown against two times Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova.With 96 points and 15 aces, Osaka kept the momentum with herself and played in a dominant fashion on the court.While talking about the match, the Japanese player said that she was not at her best but is happy about the fact that she did not give up."I don't necessarily think I played the best I've ever played. I mean, for me, what I take away from this is that I never gave up, and that's something that I'm really proud of myself for," WTA quoted Osaka, as saying."There are moments in the match where I thought, like, 'This is getting really close.' I just thought I wouldn't forgive myself if I had a little dip or a moment of accepting defeat," she added.Expressing

Tendulkar to flag off Kolkata Marathon on Feb 3

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar will flag off the third IDBI Federal Life Insurance Kolkata Full Marathon from the Saltlake Stadium on February 3. The full marathon will see 500 runners competing, while 3,000 runners will be a part of the half-marathon, the organisers stated in a release. Last year's winner Anjali Saraogi, an accomplished ultra-runner who has represented India in international events has confirmed her participation. Other participants include Bylahalli Janardan, an 86-year-old, who is planning to run the half marathon, Mohammed Asif Iqbal, a visually impaired runner, and Shubhashis Ghosh, who suffers from a rare heart ailment. The timed 10K and 5K Fun Run will witness 4,500 and 7,000 participants respectively. The full marathon will flag off at 4.30 am, followed by the half marathon at 6 am. The 10K and 5K fun run will start at 7.45 am and 8.15 am respectively in the event carrying a total prize purse of Rs 6 lakh.

PCB expresses regrets over Sarfraz's alleged racist remarks

The Pakistan Cricket Board has expressed regret over the alleged racist remarks made by national team captain Sarfraz Ahmed against South African pacer Andile Phehlukwayo during the second ODI in Durban. Sarfraz was caught on the stump microphone making an alleged racist remark towards Phehlukwayo in the 37th over of South Africa's run chase on Tuesday. The hosts eventually won the match by five wickets. "The PCB expresses regret over the remark made by their captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and picked up by the stump mic during the second ODI against South Africa in Durban," PCB said in a statement. "The PCB neither endorses nor supports any comments that have the potential to cause offence, and firmly reiterates their zero-tolerance approach towards racist comments made; in whatever context." Sarfraz was caught on the stump mic, passing comments in Urdu. "Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj (Hey black guy, where's your mother sitting today? What have you .

Sindhu, Saina & Srikanth enter quarters at Indonesia Masters

Indian trio of P V Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth eased into Indonesia Masters' quarterfinal with straight-game victories over their respective opponents, here Thursday. Second seed Sindhu defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener. The 23-year-old from Hyderabad, who had won silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games before clinching the World Tour Final title last year, is expected to take on Spain's Carolina Marin next. London bronze medallist Saina too stormed into the last eight with a 21-17 21-15 win over Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani, her fifth overall. Eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14 21-9 win over Japan's Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto. Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Malaysia Masters last week, will face either Indonesia's Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie or China's reigning All England champion Shi ...

Coach Zeeshan happy with India's acclimatisation on grass courts

Davis Cup coach Zeeshan Ali Thursday said Indian players are fast acclimatising to the grass courts as they plot an upset win against higher-ranked Italy in next week's Qualifiers. The Indian squad has checked in here more than a week early to get acclimatised to the surface as most of them last played on grass-courts at the Wimbledon last year. "It's one of the earliest, we've come in for a Davis Cup tie to acclimatise and get used to playing on grass. They all believe that they have a very good chance of winning this time," the India coach told reporters after a practice session. "I'm hoping that it's only going to get better from now on but as compared to yesterday, I can already see there's a huge difference in how they are hitting the ball. It's a good sign." Prajnesh enjoyed one of the biggest wins of his career on grass when he beat then world number 23 Canadian Denis Shapovalov while Ramkumar Ramanathan also savoured the best result of his career on same surface as he made the

I-League: Minerva look to get back to winning ways against Lajong (Preview)

Minerva Punjab, their hopes of defending the I-League title now quashed, will look to get back to winning ways when they take on bottom-placed Shillong Lajong here on Friday.

ISL: Chennaiyin FC sign Vineeth, Halicharan on loan from Kerala Blasters

Chennaiyin FC on Thursday announced the arrival of forward C.K. Vineeth and winger Halicharan Narzary from Kerala Blasters on loan till the end of the ongoing season.

Chennaiyin FC signs Vineeth, Narzary on loan from Kerala

ISL team Chennaiyin FC Thursday announced the signing of forward C K Vineeth and winger Halicharan Narzary from Kerala Blasters on loan deals till the end of the ongoing season. Also, under the same deal, young forward Baoringdao Bodo has joined the Kochi-based ISL club from Chennaiyin FC on a permanent move, a press release said. "Vineeth and Halicharan bring plenty of quality and experience to our squad. Our focus will be to salvage some pride in the ISL while putting up a good run in our debut AFC Cup campaign," CFC head coach John Gregory said. "The Super Cup also provides us with an opportunity to repay our fans' unconditional support this season with a trophy," he added. Vineeth said he was looking forward to the stint with CFC, adding he hoped to contribute in the upcoming the AFC Cup and Super Cup. "I am looking forward to the rest of the season with Chennaiyin FC. This campaign hasn't gone to plan so far but it will be a fresh start and I hope to contribute with

Chennaiyin FC sign Vineeth, Narzary on loan from Kerala Blasters

Chennaiyin FC Thursday signed forward CK Vineeth and winger Halicharan Narzary from Kerala Blasters on loan till the end of the ongoing ISL season. Young forward Baoringdao Bodo has joined the Kochi-based ISL club from Chennaiyin FC on a permanent move. "Vineeth and Halicharan bring plenty of quality and experience to our squad. Our focus will be to salvage some pride in the ISL while putting up a good run in our debut AFC Cup campaign. "The Super Cup also provides us with an opportunity to repay our fans' unconditional support this season with a trophy," said head coach John Gregory. "I am looking forward to the rest of the season with Chennaiyin FC. This campaign hasn't gone to plan so far but it will be a fresh start and I hope to contribute with the AFC Cup and Super Cup also on the horizon," said the Kannur-born forward. The 30-year-old Vineeth returns to the city where he began his professional career with Chennai Customs. A two-time I-League winner with Bengaluru FC, Vineeth ...