Page 657 - Sports
Federer, Kerber stunned as Nadal powers into Open quarters
Defending champion Roger Federer was stunned by fiery Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas who ended his bid for a record seventh Australian Open Sunday on a day of upsets that also saw second seed Angelique Kerber crash out. The Swiss master caved in under the energy and pressure of a man 17 years his junior to tumble out 6-7 (11/13), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in the last 16 on Rod Laver Arena. World number two Kerber was also sensationally bundled out by a woman playing the event for the first time, with American Danielle Collins humiliating the Wimbledon champion 6-0, 6-2 in under an hour. The man Federer beat in last year's final, sixth seed Marin Cilic, was also sent packing by Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut, who now plays Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Shaparova was another to fall, but there was no such drama for a rampant Rafael Nadal who powered into the last eight with a straight sets win over Tomas Berdych. Federer was gunning for a 21st Grand Slam ...
Chikka finishes tied-24 as Jazz wins title in Singapore
Indian golf S Chikkarangappa finished Tied-24th after a final round of 71 at the SMBC Singapore Open on Sunday. Chikka, who was in Top-10 midway through the second round, finished with rounds of 71, 66, 72 and 71 for a four-under 280. Arjun Atwal, the only other Indian to make the cut, shot 74 on the final day and ended T-51st. Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond found his winning rhythm when he closed with a six-under-par 65 to take home the SMBC Singapore Open trophy for his third Asian Tour title and also seal his passage to The Open. The 23-year-old arrived in Singapore on the back of a rich vein of form to establish himself as one of the genuine contenders for the prestigious SMBC Singapore Open trophy at the start of the week. He did not disappoint as he shrugged off the challenges of a host of quality players including Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Davis Love III to become the third Thai after Thaworn Wiratchant (2001) and Prayad Marksaeng (2017) to lift his third Asian Tour title .
Injured Nuwan Pradeep ruled out of Australia series
Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Pradeep has been ruled out of their upcoming two-match Test series against Australia owing to a hamstring injury.The 32-year-old had sustained the injury during Sri Lanka's warm-up match against Cricket Australia XI, earlier this week. After the scans, it was revealed that the player is diagnosed with a grade-one strain in his left hamstring and is doubtful for the upcoming South Africa series as well, ESPNcricinfo reported.After Pradeep's ouster, Sri Lanka are left with a bowling contingent that includes Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara, Kasun Rajitha and Dushmantha Chameera.Sri Lanka are slated to play their first Test against Australia on January 24 followed by the second match on February 1.
Agut storms into maiden Australian Open quarterfinal
Roberto Bautista Agut stormed into his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal on Sunday after beating Croatia's Marin Cilic in a five-set battle at the ongoing Australian Open.
Nadal compliments Berdych, bats for equal prize money
Spain's Rafael Nadal on Sunday complimented Tomas Berdych, whom he defeated earlier in the day to make it to his 11th quarterfinal at the Australian Open, and said he was in favour of equal prize money for men and women tennis players, at a post-match press conference.
Pak names new-look team for Pro-League Hockey, drops 11 players from World Cup side
Pakistan selectors Sunday effected a wholesale change in the country's hockey squad for the FIH Pro-League series beginning next month by dropping 11 players, including captain Muhammad Rizwan, who were part of the team's disastrous campaign in the recent World Cup. After trials held in Islamabad, chief selector Islahuddin Siddiqui announced Sunday that captain Muhammad Rizwan (Sr) and 10 other players, mostly seniors, were dropped from the team. Midfielder Ali Shan will lead the new-look 18-member Pakistan squad for the Pro-League series in Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and European countries in the coming six months. The 25-year-old has so far represented the country in 135 international matches. Pakistan had finished 11th without winning a single match at the 16-nation World Cup held in Bhubaneswar during November-December last year. Then manager Hasan Sardar had held the senior players responsible for the team's miserable show in the mega event. Interestingly, the ...
Khelo: Surabhi, Manush emerge singles champions in U-21 TT
SurabhiPatwari of West Bengal and Manush Shah of Gujarat emerged individual champions in the Under-21 section in Table Tennis at the Khelo India Youth Games, which came to an end on Sunday. In an all-West Bengal starrer, the U-21 girls' singles final went down to the wire as Surabhi Patwari and Kaushani Nath showed exceptional skills. The match was interestingly poised at three sets all, and the decider turned out to be cracker. Surabhi finally overpowering Kaushani 16-14 in the decider to take the gold by a 4-3 margin, a media release said. Prapti Sen from West Bengal and Shrushti Helengadi were awarded the bronze. Gujarat's Manush Shah faced stiff competition from Anirban Ghosh of West Bengal in the U-21 boys singles final. The battle between left-handed Shah and right-handed Ghosh reached its zenith in the third game where Anirban had the last laugh winning 12-10. Here too the match went down to the decider after six games, but Anirban was left stranded in the final ...
Khelo: Maharashtra with 228 medals winoverall trophy
HostsMaharashtra walked away with the Overall Trophy at the Khelo India Youth Games, as they amassed a mammoth 85 gold, 62 silver and 81 bronze for a total of 228 medals. Their sportspersons and officials received the trophy from Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Sports Minister Vinod Tawde at the closing ceremony here, a media release said. Javadekar said the performances of the athletes at the Games had underlined the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of "5minute aur" for sports. He added that the government was determined to bring in a compulsory one-hour daily sports period in every school across the country. Tawde said he wanted not just five minutes, but 50 minutes and encouraged all the sportspersons. Maharashtra finished ahead of Khelo India School Games 2018 winners Haryana, who were second with 62 gold, 56 silver and 60 bronze for a total of 178 medals. Delhi stood third with 48 gold, 37 silver and 51 bronze, a tally of 136 medals. On the final
Nadal wary of 'dangerous' giant-killer Tiafoe after Berdych rout
Rampant Rafael Nadal battered ex-world number four Tomas Berdych Sunday but said he would be taking a step into the unknown against "dangerous" Frances Tiafoe in the Australian Open quarter-finals. The Spanish 17-time Grand Slam winner dismissed the unseeded Czech 6-0, 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) to tear into the last eight without dropping a tournament set. Next in the firing line for Nadal is giant-killing American Tiafoe -- who celebrated his 21st birthday in style Sunday by beating 20th seed Grigor Dimitrov. "It's going to be the first time that we play each other. Yeah, he's playing great," he said of 39th-ranked Tiafoe who created one of the shocks of the tournament by knocking out fifth seed Kevin Anderson in the first round. "I know him, of course. He's been on the tour for a while. He's young. When you have younger players coming, they have always more attention." Tiafoe, whose best previous Slam result was reaching the third round of Wimbledon last year, warmed up for Melbourne by ...
FC Goa sign Naveen Kumar for rest of ISL season
FC Goa on Sunday announced the signing of Naveen Kumar from Kerala Blasters on a loan deal for the rest of the Indian Super League (ISL) season. According to the deal between the two ISL teams, goalkeepers Naveen and Lalthuammawia Ralte will be swapping places. Naveen will be re-joining the Gaurs after having helped the team to a semi-final spot in the ISL last season. Speaking about his return to FC Goa, Naveen said: "I am thrilled to be back with FC Goa. I had a great time last season and I bring with me very positive memories of my time with this great club and its fans. "The chance to play in this fantastic team and to again work with Sergio Lobera was something I could not turn down. FC Goa gave me a great opportunity last season and I have built on that. I hope I can show our fans why the club wanted to bring me back." Speaking on Naveen's arrival, Sergio Lobera said, "I am very happy to see Naveen back. He is a player that knows our style of football and for us, it is very ...
'Coach whisperer', mind guru propel Aussies at Asian Cup
If Australia successfully defend their Asian Cup title in the United Arab Emirates, two people will be quietly celebrating behind the scenes: a self-styled 'coach-whisperer' and the team's in-house mind guru. Coach Graham Arnold is an adherent of Bradley Charles Stubbs, the colourful motivator who has worked with several big names including Wallabies handler Michael Cheika and England's Eddie Jones. Meanwhile Mike Conway, one-time managing director of Australian children's band The Wiggles, is on hand as the Socceroos "emotional agility and mental coach" during the tournament in the United Arab Emirates. It's perhaps no coincidence that positive vibrations have been a feature of the Australian campaign -- even to the extent of grating on the opposition. Arnold was accused of arrogance after his bold assertion that Australia "expect to win" their opening game against Jordan -- a fixture they lost 1-0. But Arnold, 55, was merely quoting from a Stubbs mantra, which holds that unwavering .
Khelo: TN, Kerala share spoils in Under-21 Volleyball finals
TamilNadu and Kerala won three medals each as they dominated the volleyball competition at the Khelo India Youth Games here. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were the next best with two each. The two teams from southern India shared the spoils in the Under-21 category on the final day of the games on Sunday. Tamil Nadu won the girls' U-21 final, while Kerala took gold in the boys' U-21 category, a media release said. In the Girls' final, Tamil Nadu made a stunning comeback to win gold after losing the first two games to Kerala, who got off to a strong start and had cruised to a 25-23, 25-11 lead. Tamil Nadu turned things around with a 25-23 win in a tight third set. They followed that up with a strong performance to finally prevail 23-25, 11-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-9 in just under two hours. The Boys' U-21 final saw favourites Kerala overcome Tamil Nadu in a tense four-set battle to stay unbeaten en route to the gold. Tamil Nadu made a good start to win the first set 25-21 and
Finch feels he was 'weak link' in Aussie squad thrashed by India
Australia's white-ball skipper Aaron Finch admitted that he was a "weak link" in the team that suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of India in their recently-concluded ODI series.The 32-year-old said that he witnessed a significant improvement in the Australian ODI batting performance in their one-day matches against India, adding that his poor performance in the series was a disappointing thing for him as a captain."We've seen some real improvement in the way we've batted in the last three ODIs in particular. I was probably the weak link in that which is disappointing for me as the captain of the side," Cricket.com.au quoted Finch, as saying.The right-hand batsman has been dropped from Australia's upcoming two-match Test series against Sri Lanka."I think this time will be really good to be able to work on my game with some more time in the schedule. I think it will allow me to work on specific things in my game. When you're trying to tinker with a few things with a day in between ...
Indian women's football coach confident ahead of Hong Kong friendly
Indian women's football team coach Maymol Rockey is confident of the squad's success ahead of their first friendly match against Hong Kong. Rockey said that the match is a "space to test permutations and combinations in the team"."Every team presents its own challenges. Hong Kong is no different. In fact, they have some players who could hurt us if we are not on the top of our game. However, it does not matter to us if it is a friendly match or not, we will be going all out for a win," AIFF quoted Maymol, as saying."We are looking to test our permutations and combinations in these matches. We will also experiment with our tactics," she added.Indian women's team are playing four Friendlies - two against Hong Kong in Hong Kong, followed by two against Indonesia in Indonesia. The matches have been organised to help the team prepare in the best shape for the forthcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualifiers Round 2.The coach said that such matches help giving players the much-needed experience ...
Dortmund downs Leipzig 0-1, stays on top of Bundesliga
Germany's Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund won 1-0 at RB Leipzig with a solitary goal from Belgium's Axel Witsel to maintain a six-point lead over Bayern Munich and a nine-point lead over third-placed Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Tiafoe edges past Dimitrov into Australian Open quarters
Unseeded Frances Tiafoe celebrated his 21st birthday by booking his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open here on Sunday after routing Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.
Collins stuns Kerber to breeze into Australian Open quarterfinals
Unseeded Danielle Collins pulled off the biggest upset so far at the Australian Open women's draw on Sunday after she routed former champion Angelique Kerber to make it to her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Club America defeat Pachuca 3-0 in Clausura Tournament
Club America, the defending champions of the Clausura Tournament, defeated Pachuca 3-0 at the Azteca Stadium.
Barty storms past Sharapova into Australian Open quarters
Australia's Ashleigh Barty defeated Russia's Maria Sharapova here on Sunday to make it into the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of her career at the Australian Open.
Arsenal power past crosstown rival Chelsea 2-0
Arsenal came out with an aggressive game plan and executed it to perfection in a 2-0 victory here over bitter London rival Chelsea in Premier League.