Page 802 - Sports
Liverpool face Man Utd test as Man City look to get back into groove
Jose Mourinho faces a quandary as he prepares Manchester United for a trip to Premier League leaders Liverpool while Manchester City will be keen to show that last week's Chelsea defeat was just a blip. United have an impressive recent record against Liverpool, unbeaten in eight league games, but away fans will travel with a sense of trepidation to Anfield. Unai Emery takes his Arsenal side, unbeaten in 21 matches in all competitions, to face struggling Southampton while Chelsea also travel to the south coast to take on Brighton. Manchester City host seventh-placed Everton while Tottenham, fresh from reaching the Champions League knockout phase, face Burnley at Wembley. AFP Sports picks out some of the main talking points ahead of the weekend fixtures in the Premier League. Can Mourinho end Liverpool's unbeaten run? ========================================== Jose Mourinho came under fire last year for failing to attack Liverpool's then leaky defence, settling for a 0-0 draw that cost .
Leaders Dortmund on target to finish 2018 as Germany's 'Autumn champions'
Borussia Dortmund can take a significant first step towards breaking Bayern Munich's stranglehold on the Bundesliga title by beating Werder Bremen on Saturday to become 'Herbstmeister', or autumn champions. Dortmund are seven points clear in the table and a home win over Bremen at Signal Iduna Park will confirm them as the top side in the first half of the Bundesliga season which ends when the winter break starts on December 23. The unofficial title carries neither a trophy nor prize money, but 38 of the last 55 Herbstmeisters went on to became German champions. More significantly for the Bundesliga, Dortmund are set to finally break Bayern's monopoly on the honorary title they have won for each of the last seven seasons. Dortmund are on a five-match Bundesliga winning streak and coach Lucien Favre said he was more interested in picking up a maximum nine points from their strenuous schedule of three league games in just six days than winning the title of autumn champions in his first .
Barcelona to face demons as Levante host leaders in La Liga
Barcelona will head to Levante on Sunday night top of La Liga and with a score to settle. Seven months ago, they were two games away from becoming the first team to finish a Spanish top-flight season unbeaten since Real Madrid in 1932, and even then there were only 18 games in a 10-team division. It would have been a remarkable feat, a feather in the cap for their coach Ernesto Valverde to help soothe the pain of a quarter-finals exit from the Champions League. But Levante had other ideas, scoring three times in 10 minutes to lead Barca 5-1 before prevailing 5-4. "We are angry not to have come through this game and to lose the opportunity to finish unbeaten," Valverde said. On their way to qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League this time, Barcelona drew at home to Tottenham on Tuesday when Valverde took the chance to rest several key players, including Lionel Messi, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique and Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The irony is they will be fresh this ...
Juventus tackle Torino as Italy's elite reel after Euro maulings
Champions Juventus tackle city rivals Torino with pride at stake as Italy's top teams return to the home comforts of Serie A this weekend licking their wounds after a bruising week in Europe. Juventus travel cross-town to the Stadio Olimpico looking to maintain their eight-point advantage at the top of Serie A after their year-long unbeaten record away from home ended with a shock 2-1 Champions League defeat by Young Boys in Bern. Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates' pride took a knock in Switzerland but the defeat was ultimately painless as Juventus still won their group ahead of Manchester United who lost 2-1 in Valencia. Both Napoli and Inter Milan crashed out of the elite European competition as Roma -- already through to the knock-out rounds -- fell 2-1 at Viktoria Plzen. AC Milan were eliminated from the Europa League with a 3-1 loss to Greek club Olympiakos, as Lazio were beaten 2-1 by Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt, but still advanced to the last 32. All want to get back on ...
Perth Test: India asked to bowl first against Australia
India lost the toss and was asked to bowl first in their second Test of the four-match series here at the Perth Stadium on Friday.Indian captain Virat Kohli said had he won the toss, he too would have opted to bat first. Talking about the pitch, he said, "I was pretty happy to see the pitch the way it is, I hope no more grass is taken off it. That would mean that the first three days would be very lively. We as a team are pretty happy with that."Australian captain Tim Paine, on the other hand, hoped that with hot conditions the pitch will hopefully undergo a change. "It is really warm today and with some hot weather around we expect it will crack up a bit," he said.India are currently leading the series by 1-0 as Men in Blue secured a 31-run victory in the opening Test at the Adelaide Oval.Following are the playing XI for both sides:India: Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, ...
2nd Test: Australia opt to bat first
Australia captain Tim Paine won the toss and decided to bat first in the second cricket Test against India here on Friday.
Australia opt to bat in Perth, India pick four fast bowlers
Australia won the toss and opted to bat against India in the second Test of the four-match series here on Friday. India made two changes in the playing eleven, replacing injured Rohit Sharma with Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin with Umesh Yadav. Australia named an unchanged team. Teams: India: Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (w), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Australia: Aaron Finch, Marcus Harris, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Tim Paine (w/c), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood.
ISL: Bengaluru goal too good for ATK
After back-to-back draws, Bengaluru FC returned to winning ways in the Indian Super League (ISL) with a solitary goal win against ATK at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Thursday.
Indian hockey team blames umpires for defeat against Netherlands
Indian hockey team on Thursday questioned the decisions of umpires for the heartbreaking defeat against the Netherlands in the quarter final of the men's hockey World Cup here.
Manika Batra, Saurabh Chaudhary among those approved by SAI for TOPS scheme
The Sports Authority of India's Mission Olympic Cell approved the names of 29 athletes, including Asian Games gold medallist shooter Saurabh Chaudhary and ace table tennis player Manika Batra, for its Target Olympics Mission Scheme (TOPS). The performance of potential athletes was reviewed in the context of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.It was also decided to extend support towards a specific developmental group for the 2024 Olympics. The names approved in Shooting include Ravi Kumar (Men's 10m Air Rifle), Deepak Kumar (Men's 10m Air Rifle), Apurvi Chandela (Women's 10m Air Rifle), Elavenil Valarivan (Women's 10m Air Rifle), Mehuli Ghosh (Women's 10m Air Rifle), Anjum Moudgil (Women's 10m Air Rifle and Women's 50m Rifle 3 Position), Sanjeev Rajput (Men's 50m Rifle 3 Position), Abhishek Verma (Men's 10m Air Pistol), Saurabh Chaudhary (Men's 10m Air Pistol), Om Prakash Mitharwal (Men's 10m Air Pistol), Manu Bhaker (Women's 10m Air Pistol and 25m Pistol). Anish Bhanwala (Men's 25m Rapid Fire ..
Hockey WC: Harendra Singh laments poor umpiring during quarters defeat
Indian men's hockey team coach Harendra Singh lashed out at the on-field umpires for their poor decisions during their quarter-final match against the Netherlands in the ongoing Hockey World Cup here at the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday.The coach was unhappy over umpire's decision to award the Dutch team a penalty corner, off which they scored the winning goal."I want to say that we can fight 11 versus 11 in a match but not 13 versus 11. The umpires cannot rob the World Cup from this team. It happened two times in the game, we got a card when we had done nothing wrong. Their decisions went against us," Harendra said."The outcome of a protest has never been good in my career. We will accept this gracefully but what we want is neutral umpiring. I expect both teams to be treated equally. One wrong decision can ruin the preparation of four to six years," he added.When asked if the team is going to launch an official appeal against the decision, Indian skipper Manpreet Singh responded, ...
India crash out of Hockey World Cup
Indian hopes of clinching a World Cup title after a long wait of 43 years ended on a sad note as the hosts lost their quarter-final battle of the prestigious tournament to the Netherlands 1-2 here at the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday.After opening their goal account in the very first quarter of the match, India hinted towards creating a history against their formidable opponent. The Netherlands, however, played a better hockey on the day and deservingly sealed a semis spot for themselves.The match started on a scrappy note with both the teams taking turns to possess the ball. The opening goal from the stick of India's Akashdeep Singh in the 12th minute of the match put the hosts in a lead. The Netherlands, making a strong comeback, did not take much of a time to score an equalizer. In the 16th minute of the first quarter, Dutch player Thierry Brinkman deflected a shot from outside the circle to make it 1-1 against India.After the action-packed first quarter, the second quarter was ...
Ponting blames coaching set up for Australian struggle to find 'top-level' players
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting believes that not enough attention is being paid to the coaching in the country which might be the reason behind their struggle to find the top-level players.The 43-year-old said that they need to look back in the time and understand how the coaching system has evolved and changed over the years."It's been a topic of conversation for 20 years, about having the right people at the right places at the right times. Whether that's the cricket academy (now absorbed into the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane) or the states, or the (under) 19s or 17s around the state set-up, I'm just not sure enough attention is being paid to coaching around Australia. I think it might be the reason why we're struggling to find those (top-level) players now," Cricket.com.auquoted Ponting, as saying."If you wind the clock back 20 years when some of these guys that are (now) playing international cricket or senior players in (Sheffield) Shield cricket, have a look
'Majority' back 48-team Qatar World Cup, says Infantino
A "majority" of football federations support increasing the number of teams playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar from 32 to 48, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in Doha on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference after a three-day FIFA summit in the Qatari capital, Infantino said the idea had widespread backing from associations across the globe. "We will see," he said. "So far, of course the majority is in favour because 16 more teams to participate, not only means 16 more countries with World Cup fever but also 15 or 16 more countries being able to dream. "Is it feasible or not, that's the question?" FIFA has said it will make its final decision in March after the completion of a feasibility study. He said that is open to the idea of a 48-team World Cup. Any decision to extend the tournament would be faced by logistical and political problems. The 2022 World Cup, the first in the Middle East, will take place over 28 days not the usual 32, as in Russia earlier this ...
Harendra blames poor umpiring for India's early ouster from WC
India's chief coach Harendra Singh Thursday blamed poor umpiring for his team's early ouster from the ongoing men's hockey World Cup here. He said the International Hockey Federation (FIH) needs to seriously address the issue as his side has been on the receiving end of poor on-field decisions twice this year. Aiming to rewrite history after a hiatus of 43 years, India lost 1-2 to the Netherlands in the fourth and last quarterfinal, crashing out in front of a packed Kalinga Stadium. Harendra said it's high time the FIH reviews the performance of umpires. "I would like to tender my apologies. We haven't given what we had to. I am not going to stop today. If they (umpires) don't want to improve, we will continue to face these type of results," he said at the post-match press conference. "Can anyone define Amit Rohidas's 10-min yellow card? What about this gentleman (pointing at Manpreet Singh), when he was pushed from behind? Why not a yellow card there? We have lost two major ...
PKL: Titans end home-leg on winning note
Telugu Titans ended their home leg on a good note, registering a 41-36 win over Patna Pirates in a zone B clash of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Thursday.
India crash out of hockey World Cup after loss to Netherlands
India's 43-year long wait to reach a hockey World Cup semi-final continued after going down 1-2 to the Netherlands at the jam-packed Kalinga Stadium here on Thursday.
Fit-again Pandya eyes test comeback with Ranji Trophy
India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has his eyes set on a comeback to the Indian Test side that is currently playing in Australia and for that is taking part in Baroda's match against Mumbai in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy after an injury layoff.
Lahiri and Joshi tied 10th in season-ending event
India's Anirban Lahiri and Khalin Joshi shot four-under 68 each to be placed tied 10th at the end of a rain-hit first day in the BNI Indonesian Masters on Thursday. Lahiri and Joshi, two of the 16 Indians in the field this week, were two shots behind the leader, American John Catlin (66). Catlin shared the first round clubhouse lead with Sungho Lee of Korea. Things however did not pan well for Shubhankar Sharma who was four-over through 14 holes with two doubles and two other bogeys. He did have two birdies. Sharma, however, has ensured that he will take home the Asian Tour Order of Merit at the end of the week, for he has an unassailable lead. Lightning around the Royale Jakarta Golf Club led to the suspension of play close to 4pm (local time) before officials decided to call off the action for round one about an hour later. As many as 62 players including defending champion Justin Rose of England will resume their first round on Friday morning. Rose is at five-under through 14 ...
Ronaldo would support Valladolid playing La Liga games abroad
Ronaldo, the former Brazil striker and current majority shareholder of Real Valladolid, has said he would be in favour of the club playing La Liga games outside of Spain. Ronaldo bought a 51-percent stake in Valladolid in September, with the stated aim of establishing the team in the top flight after they were promoted last season. Staging fixtures abroad has become a controversial issue in Spanish football. La Liga were keen to hold a fixture between Barcelona and Girona in January in Miami but Barca have withdrawn their support due to a lack of consensus on the idea. Ronaldo, however, has said he would be in favour if Valladolid were asked. "I am in favour but our fans are the ones who decide," said Ronaldo on Thursday. "If it's good for the fans that we go to play a match abroad, to me it would seem a very interesting project for our club and our brand." La Liga want to develop Spanish football in the United States but their plan has encountered strong opposition, primarily from ...