Page 976 - Sports
Indian women's U-19 football team beats Thailand but fails to advance to next round
The Indian women's team registered a 1-0 upset win over Thailand but failed to advance to the next round of the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers here on Sunday. Grace Lalrampari scored the lone goal in the 36th minute to put India on level points with both Thailand and Nepal. But, India could not make it to the Round 2 of the Qualifiers courtesy their head-to-head result against Nepal. When the goal difference of these three teams were counted, Thailand secured the top spot with a plus 2, while India and Nepal were tied at minus 1. Due to this, the head-to-head result between India and Nepal came into play again, and the Himalayan nation went through. Although Thailand dominated possession, the Indian players worked hard to close down the gaps in the middle of the park. The tactic almost paid off in the third minute, when Roja stole the ball on the left flank and played a give-and-go with Renu, before pulling the trigger from the edge of the area. However, her shot was weak and rolled
I-League: Minerva Punjab split points with Goa's Churchill Brothers
Defending champions Minerva Punjab split points in a goalless draw against Goan giants Churchill Brothers in their first match of the ongoing 12th edition of the I-League here at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula.The match was characterised by the missing final ball and a dearth of imagination in attack. Churchill Brothers gave a good account of themselves while Minerva showed glimpses of what they are capable of in the second half. However, both the teams failed to break the deadlock.Minerva's newly-appointed technical director and coach, Sachin Badadhe, chose to go in with an attacking formation with Nigerian Philip Njoku and talented Souvik Das as wing backs in front of a three-man deep defence led by Ivorian Lancine Toure.Akash Sangwan and the mercurial Nongdamba Naoren played as attacking left and right-wingers. William Opoku Asiedu and Manandeep Singh were the target men up front, while Bhaskar Roy was preferred to man the Minerva woodwork.Churchill also had a new coach for the .
ISL: Jamshedpur FC set to face Kerala Blasters
Two unbeaten sides will square up against each other in the ongoing Indian Super League (ISL) as Jamshedpur FC take on Kerala Blasters here at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Monday.The teams are yet to lose a game this season, but they have just a win to show for their efforts. While the home team have played out three successive draws after their win over Mumbai City in the opener, the visitors have been involved in two draws after winning their opener against Atletico de Kolkata.Jamshedpur FC, with a possession-based style of play, have dominated games but their failure to convert chances and a lack of accuracy in the shooting has contributed to their plight. The fact that star striker Tim Cahill is yet to attain complete match fitness could be an issue for coach Cesar Ferrando.The Australian will play a part at some point against Kerala and the team will look to him to provide some inspiration up front.Defensively, they have looked good with Tiri marshaling the backline ...
hold Churchill hold Minerva in I-League clash
Defending champions Minerva Punjab FC kicked off their campaign on an indifferent note as they were held to a goalless draw by Churchill Brothers in their first match of this season's I-League football tournament at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Sunday.
PM hails contribution of soldiers, sportspersons
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday hailed the contribution of Indian soldiers during World War I, saying wherever there will be a talk of world peace, India's name and contribution will be written in golden letters. He also lauded country's athletes who won medals in recent international events. "Every life, every being is a source of inspiration. Every young sportsperson's passion and dedication is the hallmark of New India," he said in his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat'. He said for India, November 11 has a special significance as it marks 100 years of the end of World War I. "Rightly speaking, we had no direct connection with that war. Despite this, our soldiers fought bravely and played a very big role and made the supreme sacrifice... There has just been a single objective behind it- restoration of peace," he said. Modi also said that wherever there will be a talk of world peace, "India's name and contribution will be written in golden letters." He said the definition of ..
Naorem's brace ensures Shillong Lajong prevail in northeast derby
Naorem Mahesh Singh did the star turn for Shillong Lajong, helping the hosts prevail over Aizawl FC 2-1 in the season's first northeast derby of the I-League here Sunday. At the near-packed JLN stadium, Mahesh scored two brilliant goals in either half to clinch full three points for his side. Aizawl's Liberian striker Ansumanah Kromah got one back for the visitors but it was not enough. The young Shillong Lajong side, not fielding any foreigners this season and playing as many as nine U-22 players in the starting XI, ensured that the fans had enough to rejoice. Expectedly, given the fitness levels and young players in both sides, the game began on a high tempo and continued till the very end. The first chance fell to the visitors as early as in the 5th minute, when Kromah intercepted a defensive blooper deep inside the Lajong half, but failed to capitalise on it. From the resultant corner, the ball swooped down favourably for Aizawl defender Valpuia who was unmarked, but his header ...
Services' Deepak and Prasad enter quarterfinals in Boxing Nationals
Services pugilists Deepak and R L Prasad advanced to the quarterfinals of the 3rd National Men's Boxing Championships with easy victories over their opponents here on Sunday. Deepak, who is the reigning Services champion in the light flyweight category (48 kg), defeated Gopal Hoge of Maharashtra 5:0 to stake claim for a place in the Indian national camp for the 202 Olympics. Deepak, swift on his feet, was cautious to begin but with a solid defence was able to keep his Maharashtrian opponent at bay and score points with ease. Prasad, who too scored 5:0 triumph over Rahul Rajput of Gujarat in flyweight category (52 kg), made the pre-quarterfinal bout look rather comfortable as the 2012 World Youth Boxing champion pounded punches on Rajput who kept ducking to make the job of judges easy by the end of the third round. Railways' Sachin Siwach sent Punjab's Manoj Kumar packing with a 5:0 verdict in a fly weight bout which kept everybody on the edge of the seat. The 19-year-old from the ...
Elina Svitolina wins WTA Finals in Singapore
An unwavering Elina Svitolina claimed the biggest title of her career with a gritty comeback victory against Sloane Stephens at the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore. The Ukrainian once again dug deep to triumph 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 in two hours and 23 minutes on Sunday. She is the first player to go through the WTA Finals undefeated since Serena Williams in 2013. Svitolina has been in brilliant, aggressive form in Singapore, beating defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, Czech players Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova at the group stage, and Kiki Bertens in the semi-finals. Having started slowly in the semi-finals, it was Stephens who made the running early and she broke Svitolina to love in the second game. It was a matchup of similar styles between the athletic counterpunchers and lengthy rallies punctuated the contest. Svitolina looked sluggish after playing the two longest matches in the tournament against Wozniacki and Bertens in the semi-finals. She saved three break points in ..
Golfer Joshi wins Panasonic Open India
Golfer Khalin Joshi finally got the monkey off his back as he registered his maiden triumph with a win in the eighth edition of the Panasonic Open India here on Sunday.
Pankaj advances to knockout stage of Asian Snooker Tour
Multiple time world champion Pankaj Advani on Sunday won both his league matches to move into the knockout stages of the second leg of Asian Snooker Tour in Jinan, China. In his first match, Pankaj overcame a local Chinese challenger Pang Junxu 4-2. Later in the day, the reigning world billiards and snooker champion played exceptional snooker to whitewash Qatar's Ahmed Saif 4-0. Despite an opening 41 break, the Qatari missed and left Pankaj with an opening that would turn out to be the beginning of his lopsided defeat. The Indian neatly put away a few colours to bring the first frame down to the deciding black ball. Pankaj got the advantage and gained a 1-0 lead and never looked back. In the second frame, he pieced together a frame-winning 52 break with Ahmed remaining on nought. The third frame was also one-sided but there was a fight in the fourth. Trailing 38-1, Pankaj cleared the table and won the frame by 2 points to confirm his qualification to the last-16 stage which commences .
Kenyan Abraham Kiptum sets new half-marathon best time
Kenyan distance runner Abraham Kiptum set a new world best time of 58mins 18sec for the half-marathon when he won the Valencia race on Sunday. The previous best time was set eight years ago by Ethiopia's Zersenay Tadesse who ran the Lisbon half-marathon in 58min 23sec in March 2010. The 29-year-old Kiptum came second in the Copenhagen half-marathon last month and has a personal best time of 2hrs 05mins 26sec for a marathon set at Amsterdam in October 2017.
Former England boss Hoddle in serious condition after heart attack
Former England manager Glenn Hoddle remains in a serious condition in hospital after suffering a heart attack, a spokesperson for the former Tottenham midfielder confirmed on Sunday. Hoddle collapsed on his 61st birthday on Saturday shortly before he was due to go on air as a pundit for BT Sport. "Glenn remains in a serious condition in hospital after suffering a heart attack yesterday. He continues to respond well to treatment," said the spokesperson. "The family are grateful to everyone in the football family - and beyond - that have sent kind messages of support, they are very much appreciated. "In particular, Glenn and his family would like to publicly thank the BT Sport staff that treated him immediately on set following his collapse." England manager Gareth Southgate was among the well wishers for Hoddle, who made 53 appearances for the Three Lions as a player before managing his country between 1996 and 1999. "My thoughts and prayers are with Glenn Hoddle and those closest to ..
Want to follow Shubhankar by winning a European tour title this year: Joshi
A maiden Asian Tour title in his kitty, Panasonic Open India champion Khalin Joshi now wants to emulate fellow Indian Shubhankar Sharma by securing a European Tour card in the next two months. Joshi carded a four-under 68 on the final day to notch up a one-stroke win, becoming the seventh Indian to win the Panasonic Open India in the last eight editions. He has now trained his eyes on winning one of the European co-sanctioned events -- Hong Kong (Nov 22-25), Mauritius Open (Nov 29-Dec 2) and Joburg Open (Dec 7-10) -- to secure his card. "I'm playing Jeev Milkha Singh invitational in Chandigarh next week, I will go home then for two weeks and then I have four big weeks coming up. I am going to go back work on my game a little bit and come back fresh for Hong Kong," Joshi told reporters at the press conference. "So hopefully I can do what my friend Shubhankar did last year and try to get my card secured on the European tour. So that is the focus now," said the three-time winner on the ..
Every game is a final, says Jamshedpur coach
Two unbeaten sides, Jamshedpur FC and Kerala Blasters, take on each other on Monday at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in the Indian Super League (ISL) here on Monday.
MSD slugs it out in the nets
Under pressure to deliver, a determined Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday slogged it out at the Cricket Club of India ahead of the fourth One-Day International between India and West Indies. Despite it being an 'optional' session, the veteran wicket-keeper batsman, who was dropped for the T20 series against West Indies and Australia, batted in the nets for over 45 minutes, facing local bowlers. Dhoni, who has of late, struggled to get big scores in ODIs, was also seen having a brief chat with the team's assistant coach Sanjay Bangar. India take on the West Indies in the fourth ODI on Monday after the visitors levelled the five-match series 1-1 with a 43-run morale boosting win in Pune on Saturday. Opener Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayadu, who is looking to consolidate the number four spot, young K L Rahul, Manish Pandey and spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja also practised during the session. Before padding up, Jadeja also bowled to his teammates. Maharashtra player Kedar Jadhav, who has ...
Joshi wins Panasonic Open India for maiden Asian Tour title
An aggressive Khalin Joshi continued India's domination at the USD 400,000 Panasonic Open India, securing a one-stroke win for his maiden Asian Tour title at the prestigious Delhi Golf Club here Sunday. The overnight joint leader fired six birdies in the last 10 holes after a bogey-bogey start to card a four-under 68 on the final day to win the title with a four day aggregate of 17-under 271. Joshi became the seventh Indian to win the Panasonic Open India in the last eight editions. With his feat, the 26-year-old from Bangalore joined past champions Shiv Kapur (2017), Mukesh Kumar (2016), Chiragh Kumar (2015), SSP Chowrasia (2014), Digvijay Singh (2012) and Anirban Lahiri (2011). "I have no words. Huge monkey off my back. I think I played really wellKept my nerves and played really solid coming in. Last few holes were key for me. I am really relieved and happy to win," Joshi said after bagging a winner's cheque of USD 72,000. "I don't know if it was nerves but just poor decision ...
India looking for answers against confident West Indies (Preview)
India will aim to pull up the socks in both batting and bowling departments when they face a resurgent West Indies in the fourth One Day International (ODI) at the Brabourne Stadium here on Monday.
Raegan in Egypt Open junior boys final
Raegan Albuquerque defeated second seed Marwan Abdelwahab of Egypt 11-7 14-12 7-11 11-3 14-12 to enter the junior boys singles final of the Egypt Junior and Cadet Open at Sharm El Sheikh Sunday. In the final, the fourth-seed Indian will take on unseeded Shixian Ding of China, who earlier in the quarterfinals packed of top-seeded Egyptian Youssef Abdel-Aziz before ousting Sweden's Oskar Danielsson 4-2. In a semifinal dominated by the Indian, Raegan attacked really well from the beginning to surprise the second seeded Egyptian rival. But the local boy did well to keep abreast of Raegan in the second and was within reach of levelling the score but the Indian won on the third game point to go 2-0 up. However, the struggling Egyptian took the third but could not add to the pressure of the Indian who won the fourth rather easily. In the fifth game, the Marwan fought well back well and came too close to the Indian before Raegan wrapped up the match, taking the game on his second match ...
Kiwis coach pins hope on IPL experience ahead of Pak series
New Zealand batting coach Craig McMillan has stated that his players' past experiences in franchise T20 competitions like Indian Premier League (IPL) would come in handy when his side would take on Pakistan in their upcoming three-match limited overs series.While saying that there is "nothing better" than playing in those conditions, McMillan admitted that Pakistan is a strong side who are harder to beat in their home conditions."We've had a lot of players playing in different franchise competitions around the world from the CPL to the IPL to the NatWest over in England. So we've got a fair bit of experience," ESPNcricinfo.com quoted McMillan, as saying."There's nothing better than playing in those competitions. We know Pakistan are a very strong side; No. 1 in the world at the moment. Very hard to beat in home conditions," he added.Speaking about the challenges of playing in subcontinent conditions, the coach said that both bowlers and batsman face a different kind of problems, ...
De Villiers signs up for BPL
Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers has signed up for the upcoming sixth edition of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).The 34-year-old, who has joined defending champions Rangpur Riders, will play along players like Alex Hales (England) and Chris Gayle (West Indies), ESPNcricinfo reported.Other players who are set to play in the BPL include David Warner (Australia), Andre Russell (West Indies), and Hazratullah Zazai (Afghanistan) among others.According to the rules, each team can sign a maximum of 12 local and nine overseas players, while every side must have at least four overseas players in their Playing XI.The BPL is slated to be held from January 5 to February 8.