Page 864 - Sports
Walking away from aggression will not lead Australia anywhere: Clarke
Former captain Michael Clarke has advised the current side to "play tough Australian cricket" in the home Test series against India, saying too much emphasis on being nice guys on the field will lead them nowhere. Australian cricketers, who are known to play ruthlessly, have consciously toned down their on-field aggression in the aftermath of the ball-tampering scandal. The mellowed down approach has drawn criticism from World Cup winning skipper Clarke. "Australian cricket, I think, needs to stop worry about being liked and start worrying about being respected. Play tough Australian cricket. Whether we like it or not, that's in our blood," Clarke was quoted as saying by Macquarie Sports Radio. "If you try and walk away from it, we might be the most liked team in the world, we're not going to win s***. We won't win a game. Boys and girls want to win." Clarke cited the example of suspended batsman David Warner, whose aggression brought out the best in him. "It's his style, he's very ..
To increase passenger safety, railways to induct 4,016 LHB coaches this fiscal
In a bid to enhance passenger safety, the railways is set to induct 4,016 Linke-Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches with anti-collision technology, which causes less fatalities, instead of the current Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches during the current fiscal, according to official data. The figure is around 84 per cent higher than the 2,480 coaches the railways had produced in 2017-18. In 2017-2018, the ICF in Chennai, the Rail Coach Factory in Punjab and the Modern Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh -- the rail coach manufacturing units of the Indian Railways -- had together produced 2,480 LHB coaches and in 2016-2017, the number was 1,469. The new generation LHB coaches, which are superior in quality and provide a better ride comfort, are slightly longer than the conventional ICF-designed coaches. The LHB coaches have more safety features and lesser corrosion and maintenance requirements as compared to the ICF-designed coaches. "We have really ramped up the production of such coaches. From
Fourteen wickets for Yasir as Pakistan level series against New Zealand
Leg-spinner Yasir Shah followed his extraordinary first innings performance with a six wicket haul as Pakistan beat New Zealand by an innings and 16 runs in the second Test in Dubai on Tuesday to level the series 1-1. The 32-year-old, who took 8-41 on Monday, had figures of 6-143 in the second innings for a match haul of 14-184. New Zealand -- following-on after being dismissed for 90 in the first innings -- were bowled out for 312 soon after tea on the fourth day. "I came to know yesterday (about Imran Khan's record) so it's an honour that my name will come with him," said Yasir. "I haven't bowled as well as this, especially with the pitch offering turn and bounce like it did. We wanted to put the disappointment of the first Test behind us and set up the series." Yasir's figures are the second best match return ever for Pakistan in Test cricket, bettered only by former captain and current prime minister Imran Khan who took 14-116 against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1982. They are also the
Engineer backs India to do well Down Under; dubs Australia as 'ordinary side'
In the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner, India must grab the opportunity to win their maiden Test series against an "ordinary" Australia, former stumper Farokh Engineer said on Tuesday. After drawing the Twenty20 series 1-1, India and Australia will be locked in a four-Test series, beginning in Adelaide on December 6. "Australia have got two big names missing (Steve) Smith and (David) Warner. When you take two big names out of an (playing) XI, the team is weakened considerably," Engineer. "India will never have a better chance of beating Australia. Australia are a pretty ordinary team at the moment, without these two people (Smith and Warner) and we should make the best of this opportunity," 80-year-old Engineer told reporters here at the Parsee Gymkhana. Smith and Warner are facing a year-long ban after their involvement in the ball tampering scandal in South Africa. Stressing that India have an all-round side, Engineer said the team was playing good cricket and they should ...
Atletico Madrid gear up to face Monaco in Champions League
Atletico Madrid held their final training session on Tuesday before hosting Monaco in the return leg of the Champions League group stage.
Smith faces pacers ahead of Adelaide Test against India
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith, who is serving a one-year suspension for his role in a ball-tampering scandal, on Tuesday turned up at the Sydney Cricket Ground and faced quick trio of Josh Hazelwood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc who were preparing for their upcoming first Test against India beginning December 6.Before playing the first Test, the Virat Kohli-led side will face the Cricket Australia XI in a four-day first-class match starting tomorrow. The CA XI team also practiced along with Smith and fast bowlers.CA XI captain Sam Whiteman said that it was good seeing Smith in the nets. "It looked like they were bowling well and to be fair Steve Smith made it look like he had a bit of time in there, which is pretty amazing to watch. It is good to see him (Smith) around the traps, especially his attitude throughout this whole thing," Cricket.com.au quoted Whiteman, as saying."He still can't play for five or six months, so to see him in there training getting frustrated when ..
Inspired by Mary, Swapna targets re-entry into TOPS
Mary Kom's incredible sixth world championship gold medal win has inspired Asian Games gold medal winning athlete Swapna Barman. She is also hopeful of getting back into the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS).
Golfer Tvesa eyes another shot at glory in 17th leg of Hero WPT
Golfer Tvesa Malik, who has won four times in 16 starts this season on the Hero Womens Pro Golf Tour is all set for an encore as she tees up at the 17th and penultimate leg of the Tour here on Wednesday.
Tottenham wraps up preparations for Champions League game vs. Inter Milan
Tottenham's squad on Tuesday went through its last training session before the Spurs' Champions League clash with Inter Milan.
Badminton: Tata Open from Wednesday, 248 players in fray
As many as 248 shuttlers from 13 countries, including India, will battle it out for top honours in the 11th edition of Tata Open India International Challenge 2018 (Tata Open), which begins Wednesday. The USD 25,000 tournament will be held at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) here till December 2. Besides India, star players from Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the United States of America will take part in the tournament, said a media release issued here Tuesday. While the qualifying rounds will be held Wednesday and Thursday (November 28-29), the main draw will be held from November 30 with the finals slated on December 2. Tata Open is part of the international circuit of badminton tournaments that earns ranking points for players. Under the men's singles format, the No.1 and No.2 seed players are Mithun Manjunath and Asian Junior Champion Lakshya Sen from India. The category will see ...
Prithiviraj elected FMSCI president
J Prithiviraj was Tuesday unanimously elected President of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) at its annual general meeting here. Prithviraj of Coimbatore Auto Sports Club and Shivu Shivappa of Karnataka Motor Sports Club, the vice-president, were elected unopposed, a press release said. Also, the governing council members were elected during the AGM. They are: Vicky Chandhok (MMSC), Farokh Commissariat (IARC), Sita Raina (CMSC), Akbar Ebrahim (Meco MS), Arindam Ghosh (RRPM), Farooq Ahmed (MSCC), B Vijaykumar (Spitfire MS) and Sanjay Sharma (PCRT). The 58-year-old Prithiviraj takes over from Akbar Ebrahim who headed the federation for the last two years.
BCCI announces two-year ban for age frauds
The BCCI on Tuesday announced that a cricketer guilty of age fraud will be barred from all its recognised tournaments for two years. "The BCCI has a zero-tolerance policy for age fraud in sport and has taken strict action against cricketers found guilty of manipulating their date of birth certificates while registering for BCCI tournaments," said the BCCI in a statement. "As conveyed to state associations at the start of the season, BCCI wishes to reiterate that from the 2018-19 season, any cricketer who is found guilty of tampering his/her date of birth will be disqualified and barred from participating in any BCCI tournament for a period of 2 years i.e. 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons," it added. Earlier, a cricketer faced a ban of one year. In September, the BCCI had banned a Meghalya-bound Delhi player, Jaskirat Singh Sachdeva, for producing a fake birth certificate to play in an Under-19 tournament. Age fraud is a perennial phenomenon facing junior cricket. In 2016, former India ...
Ramesh Powar, Diana Edulji discriminated against me: Mithali Raj
Indian women's ODI cricket team skipper Mithali Raj, in a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has accused coach Ramesh Powar and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji of "discriminatory" treatment.Speaking out against her omission from the Indian team for their semi-final clash against England, which they lost by eight wickets, in the recently concluded Women's World T20, the 35-year-old cricketer said that the same left her "baffled" as she had scored back to back fifties in the games before the semi-final and was adjudged 'Player of the Match' on both the occasions.Criticising Edulji for brazenly supporting her omission from the semi-final game, Raj said that it "is a clear sign of bias." "For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence," she added in the letter."To .
Swapna hopeful of getting back TOPS support
Dropped from the TOPS, Asian Games gold medal winning athlete Swapna Barman says she remains hopeful of her re-inclusion in the scheme for the financial support. With her performance in the Asian Games (6026 points) much lower than the Olympic standards, Swapna was excluded from Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) which was revised keeping in mind of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. "I've nothing to comment on it (omission from TOPS). It's the decision by the sports ministry. I will just have to keep performing. I was in TOPS because of my performance. I'm sure to be back again if I start performing again," she said. Swapna said she has been inspired by Mary Kom's sixth world championship title. "It's amazing to see what she's achieving at the age of 36. I'm just 22 now. I will also want to become like her. I don't know whether I would become like her, but there's no harm in trying," Swapna said. She is aiming to get into 6200-plus points bracket at the Asian Championships in Doha next ...
Swapna's coach rues lack of government support
Swapna Barmans coach Subhas Sarkar on Tuesday said the government not having a sports policy in which medal winners are rewarded has come in the way of producing champion athletes.
Swapna's coach wants better incentive from Bengal govt
Absence of a state sports policy for rewarding its medal winners is a big impediment in consistently producing champion athletes like Swapna Barman, her coach Subhas Sarkar said on Tuesday. Born with six toes on each foot, Swapna, who belonged to a poor family in North Bengal, made headlines winning an Asian Games gold medal in hepatathlon in August this year. While her gold medal winning compatriots like Dutee Chand of Odisha (Rs 3 crore) and Hima Das of Assam (Rs 1.6 crore) were honoured with cash rewards running in crores, Swapna got a paltry financial incentive of Rs 10 lakh from the Mamata Banarjee-led government which also promised a job. "I don't want to get into political issues but everybody knows how much amount did Swapna get," Sarkar rued, on the sidelines of felicitation programme by Bandhan Bank that awarded the heptathlete Rs 10 lakh. Sarkar cited example of Haryana, which is now the leading state in producing medal winners. There were 18 medalists -- five gold, five ...
Mithali breaks silence, blames coach and Edulji on World T20 axing
The selection fiasco in the Women's World T20 semi-final against England refuses to die down with the centre of the storm, former India skipper Mithali Raj on Tuesday launching a scathing attack on head coach Ramesh Powar and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji for supporting the idea of benching her for the crucial tie that the team lost to bow out of the showpiece event in the Caribbean.
Australian players remember Phil Hughes on his death anniversary
Australian cricket players on Tuesday paid tribute to former opening batsman Phil Hughes on his fourth death anniversary.Recollecting the memories of the former teammate, former Australia skipper Steve Smith took to his official Instagram account and posted a smiling picture of Hughes."Thinking of you today Hugh. #408," he captioned the post.Fast bowler Mitchell Johnson also took to Instagram posting Hughes' image with the caption, "Always in our thoughts, miss you buddy #408.""Always in our thoughts, we miss you bruz. #408," wrote opener, David Warner.Hughes was the 408th player to represent the national side in the Test cricket and had played 26 Test matches during his career, which ended untimely.Pacer Peter Siddle also remembered his former teammate through an Instagram post."Miss you braz!#408," he captioned Hughes' image.Former skipper Michael Clarke took to his official Twitter handle and wrote, "I will see you again."Hughes was struck on the back of the neck by a bouncer ...
Facing fund crunch, South Africa players pay their way to World Cup
Not amongst the favourites to lift the trophy, South Africa players have paid from their own pockets to just be a part of the men's hockey World Cup beginning here on Wednesday. World number 15 South Africa coach Mark Hopkins said the biggest hurdle for the growth of the game in South Africa is "funding". "The more hockey South Africa plays the better it is. But our challenge is to get the funding in place to allow us to compete in as many Test matches we possibly can," Hopkins told PTI on the eve of his side's opener against hosts India. "We are coming into the World Cup with players needing to pay from their own pocket. They paid to be part of the camps. Our challenge is to get the funding in place. We are lucky to have a few sponsors but the sponsorships we have don't really cover the budget of the World Cup. "We currently have a shortfall at the moment and if we don't get to cover that shortfall, then there is a possibility the players might also have to pay for the World Cup ...
ISL: ATK, Goa rivalry could get bitter with Lanza in spotlight (Preview)
There are quite a few interesting rivalries in the Indian Super League (ISL). The Southern Derby has thrown up some surprises; Bengaluru FC and Kerala Blasters hardly see eye to eye and the Maharashtra Derby is beginning to get intense.