Page 773 - Sports
Do Spurs have the stamina to fight on four fronts?
Tottenham Hotspur have had to cope with the unwanted attention manager Mauricio Pochettino has received this week in the wake of Jose Mourinho's sacking with the Argentine now favourite to be Manchester United's next permanent manager. Pochettino has enough to contend with in his current job over the next 10 days with Spurs facing four winnable fixtures, starting at Everton on Sunday, that could propel them into the title race or limit ambitions to a top-four finish for a fourth straight season. After Liverpool's win over Wolves on Friday, Tottenham trail the leaders by nine points and second-placed Manchester City by five. Yet, with Liverpool facing a tough run of festive fixtures with Arsenal at home on December 29 followed by a trip to City on January 3, there could be a chance for Spurs to cut the gap as they also face Bournemouth, Wolves and Cardiff before New Year's Day. To do so, though, Pochettino will need to continue getting the maximum from a squad that remains alive in ...
Salah and Van Dijk seal Christmas top spot for Liverpool
Liverpool passed another stringent test of their Premier League title credentials as Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk gave them a 2-0 victory at Wolverhampton that guarantees top spot at Christmas. Salah's 11th goal of the season was a classy one and helped subdue a dangerous Wolves side who had made a lively start. The home side continued to push Jurgen Klopp's side hard but their resistance was finally broken with 22 minutes remaining as Van Dijk capped a superb performance with a goal that cemented his side's position at the top of the table with 48 points. Manager Jurgen Klopp said: "The first goal was brilliant, it was cool. And the second goal - yes, well done. I'm completely happy with the result and it is big for us. "We will be training on Christmas morning so it is like every other day. It is an outstanding number (of points), it is absolutely cool." While Liverpool have struggled at times to match the attacking potency of Manchester City, who they face on January 3, their .
Disgraced Bancroft reveals he almost gave up cricket for yoga
Disgraced Australian player Cameron Bancroft Saturday said he was a vastly different person to the one caught ball-tampering and revealed he considered walking away from cricket to become a yoga teacher. The opener received a nine-month ban from the international and domestic game for his part in the scandal in South Africa that rocked the sport, in which he used sandpaper to try to alter the ball. Then-captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were suspended for a year. A day after Smith re-emerged into public life with a press conference in Sydney, Bancroft has also broken his silence a week ahead of his ban running out. He did so in the form of a long letter addressed to his former self, published in the West Australian newspaper, describing his emotional journey since. In it, Bancroft describes the major influence Australian coach Justin Langer has had on him, along with West Australian mentor Adam Voges. He said a crucial moment was Voges asking him to justify why he should
WADA team leaves Russia without crucial lab data
A five-person World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) team is returning from Moscow without the raw laboratory data needed as part of the deal to reinstate Russia to WADA compliance. The Canada-based doping watchdog said that the team was unable to extract the data because of issues raised by Russian officials that had not been mentioned in previous talks between them and WADA. "The team was unable to complete its mission within the prescribed time due to an issue raised by the Russian authorities that the team's equipment to be used for the data extraction was required to be certified under Russian law," WADA said in a statement. Providing full access to the lab by the end of the year was a condition of Russia's controversial reinstatement in September following a major scandal over state-sponsored doping. But the Russians did not permit retrieval of the data dubbed "the missing piece of the puzzle" by WADA officials, who had said they wanted to review the data and have Russians retest any ..
PKL: Puneri Paltan end campaign with big win over Telugu Titans
Puneri Paltan ended their campaign with a thumping win as they beat Telugu Titans 35-20 in the Pro Kabaddi Season 6 here at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Friday.
Plea in Chennai HC seeks legal action against BCCI
A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to authorities for initiating legal action against the BCCI for allegedly representing the country without any proper official approval from the government. A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam issued notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and other authorities concerned, returnable by February 7, 2019 and posted further hearing to that date. The petitioner, Geeta Rani, from Delhi said, "The BCCI is registered as a society in Tamil Nadu under the Societies Registration Act and always denied its status of being a State under Article 12 of the Constitution. It is worth noting that even at the time of registration, no recognition or affiliation was asked from the government to represent India by BCCI and presuming it to be sole authority to govern cricket, without any sanction, the BCCI started to act as (the) governing body of cricket as well as representative of ...
Sledging in ricket is not new, says Kirmani
Former India wicket-keeper batsman Syed Kirmani Friday said sledging in cricket is something which is not new and has been prevalent since the game's inception. Kirmani's remark came in the backdrop of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah's criticism of India captain Virat Kohli's on-field behaviour during the ongoing Test series Down Under. Kirmani said Kohli's aggressive on-field behaviour is his natural instinct. "Naseeruddin Shah, and everybody else have their opinions. Everybody looks at things with different perspective. So, I have nothing to contradict with what Naseeruddin Shah has to say about Kohli. Look, there are natural instincts embedded in everybody. Those natural instincts in their blood cannot be changed," he said here. "We never had the advantage of IT and third umpire, but we played cricket in gentlemen's spirit. I am very proud of it. However, there was sledging in our time too. It will not die," Kirmani added. Kirmani was replying to a question on Shah's comments about .
Full strength Delhi set to take on Madhya Pradesh
All but out, Delhi will be hoping for a miraculous turnaround when they take on a formidable Madhya Pradesh led by Naman Ojha in their sixth round Ranji Trophy encounter starting Saturday. The contrasting fortunes tell the tale of the two teams during the current season. Madhya Pradesh, with 18 points from 5 games which includes two outright wins, are very much in contention for a quarter-final berth among the the top five teams from Group A and B. They are second in Group B, two points behind Kerala (20 points from 6 matches) while Delhi only have seven points in their kitty. While the performance in the first five matches had been below-par but it needs to be factored in that most of Delhi's regular players were on national duty (A tour and Emerging Asia Cup) at some point of time which affected the balance of the team. Regular speedsters Kulwant Khejroliya (back from injury) and Navdeep Saini (back from A Tour) will be sharing the new ball while Himmat Singh is back after a ...
Bengal Warriors beat Tamil Thalaivas in PKL
Bengal Warriors started their home leg with a bang, defeating Tamil Thalaivas 27-24 in a Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 6 match here on Friday. Incidentally, this was the 500th match in the history of PKL. Jang Kun Lee was the star performer for Bengal Warriors and top scored with 12 points. Ran Singh marshaled the defence for the Warriors and scored 4 tackle points. Sukesh Hegde top scored for the Thalaivas with nine points and was ably supported by Ajay Thakur. In the absence of Manjeet Chhillar, Bengal Warriors' defence couldn't contain Bengal raiders and scored just six tackle points. While Bengal Warriors remain in contention for place in the playoffs, Tamil Thalaivas were knocked out earlier.
Team seeks new chapter in its history, says Real Madrid coach
Real Madrid head coach Santiago Solari said on Friday that the Spanish powerhouse intend to win the 2018 Club World Cup to add another chapter of success to their history full of trophies.
PKL: Bengal Warriors beat Tamil Thalaivas 27-24
Bengal Warriors started their home leg with a bang as they beat Bengal Warriors 27-24 in the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League here on Friday.
Neymar granted permission to begin Christmas holidays earlier
Paris Saint Germain star Neymar has travelled to Brazil, where he will spend the Christmas holidays with the permission of the French powerhouse, coach Thomas Tuchel revealed on Friday.
Veda Krishnamurthy dropped from New Zealand Tour
Middle-order batswoman Veda Krishnamurthy was dropped from the One-Day International and Twenty20 International squads for the upcoming tour to New Zealand, BCCI announced on Friday.
Australian Open to introduce 10-point tie-break in final set
The Australian Open Tournament is set to introduce a 10-point tie-break should the players be tied at 6-6 in the final set -- the fifth set in the men's competition and the third in the women's -- as of 2019, the organisers announced on Friday.
I-League: Indian Arrows stun Gokulam Kerala 1-0
Indian Arrows stunned eighth placed Gokulam Kerala FC 1-0 in an I-League clash at the Barabati Stadium here on Friday.
India can still win Test series: Ganguly
Despite the Perth Test loss, former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday said India can still win the series which is level at 1-1 now.
Mahesh, Vikram march into semi-finals of squash tournament
National champion Mahesh Mangaonkar of Maharashtra quelled a strong challenge from Goa's Yash Fadte to enter the men's open semi-finals of the 75th CCI Western India Squash Open on Friday. Mangaonkar carved out a 11-4, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 victory in the quarter-final match at the Cricket Club of India here. Second seed Vikram Malhotra and 3-4 seeded Abhishek Pradha, both from Maharashtra, also won their quarter-final encounters and will clash in the semi-finals. Malhotra prevailed over Uttar Pradesh's Jamal Sakib 11-3, 11-3, 12-10, while Pradhan got the better of state rival Abhishek Agarwal 11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7. Results: Boys' U-15 (quarter-finals): 1-Paarth Ambani (MH) beat Sharan Punjabi (MH) 11-6, 11-7, 11-1; Krishna Mishra (MP) beat 3/ 4-Vivaan Shah (MH) 11-9, 11-7, 4-11, 11-3; 3/ 4-Rutva Samant (MH) beat Jeh Pandole (MH) 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-5; 2-Jaivir Singh Dhillon (DL) beat Ansh Tripathi (UK) 11-7, 11-2, 11-6. Girls U-15 (quarter-finals): 1-Yuvna Gupta (MH) beat
India under Virat has learnt to give it back: Richards
Viv Richards is happy that the current Indian team has come a long way in terms of aggressive attitude from the teams that he played against and credit should go to skipper Virat Kohli for infusing positive attitude. "India were not like this years back (70's, 80's and 90's). But it's nice to have someone like Virat. I love it (aggression), why not? They now love to give it back. That's what cricket is all about. I love Virat's captaincy," Richards said during a promotional event. While there has been criticism for Kohli's aggressive brand of captaincy, Richards finds nothing wrong. "He competes hard. He expects results. A lot of people have said he's too aggressive... I don't think so. When you have a guy who can lead from the front, it can only rub off on the individuals who are following him. As you can see, the Indian team today is the team to beat in world cricket." Shifting focus to the ongoing India's Test series Down Under, Richards agreed to the euphoria that Kohli's men have
India can still win series in Australia: Ganguly
The momentum is definitely on Australia's side after the series-levelling win in the second Test in Perth, but former captain Sourav Ganguly on Friday said India can still win the four-match rubber. India suffered a 146-run drubbing at the hands of Australia in the second Test. The four-match series is now level at 1-1 ahead of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. "India can still win, it depends on how they play. All in the playing eleven have to take up responsibility. Everybody has to play well," Ganguly said during a promotional programme at a school here. India's batting, except for the duo of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, have come a cropper and Ganguly urged the middle-order to take up more responsibility. While interacting with the students, Ganguly was asked what was the difference between now and his childhood days and the cricketer-turned-administrator said: "When I was a child, my father used to earn, I would spend a good time. Now I've to earn." It was also announced ...
Fourth edition of PBL starts on Saturday with 9 teams
The fourth season of Vodafone Premier Badminton League (PBL), beginning here on Saturday, promises to be a notch higher than the previous editions with the addition of Pune 7 Aces, making it a 9-team affair.