Category: SPORTS

Striker Neymar called Paris Saint-Germain his “home” after the team’s 1-0 defeat against Bayern Munich, which was still enough for the French club to advance to the Champions League semifinal. The Brazilian is currently negotiating a contract extension. “I don’t think this is even a topic anymore, I obviously feel very comfortable, at home at PSG,” Neymar told TNT Sports Brazil after the match at Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. “I feel happier than before.” Neymar’s tone is very different from less than two years ago, when Barcelona officials…

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Hardik Pandya did not bowl in Mumbai Indians’ lung-opener on Friday due to a shoulder concern but the India all-rounder will soon contribute in team’s cause with ball in his hand, team’s Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan said on Monday. Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions, lost their opening game to Royal Challengers Bangalore by two wickets. “Hardik, as a whole package is always of great value, everyone knows that. It was a workload related thing in the previous game,” Zaheer said at the pre-match conference ahead of their game…

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up two goals but was also sent off as AC Milan won 3-1 at relegation-threatened Parma to keep its small Serie A title hopes alive. Ibrahimovic had a hand in both Milan’s first-half goals on Saturday but was shown a straight red card on the hour mark for something he appeared to say to referee Fabio Maresca. Riccardo Gagliolo reduced the deficit but substitute Rafael Le o sealed the result in stoppage time as Milan moved to within eight points of league leader Inter Milan, which hosts…

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Data, which is used in statistics-driven cricket to help in strategy and player selection, should drive a good contest, legendary Indian batsman Rahul Dravid said. Cricket has always been statistically-driven like baseball, but over the past 15 years we have moved beyond comparing averages and now use data to help in strategy and player selection, Dravid said during a panel discussion at the 15th MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. The first ever panel discussion on cricket at the MIT conference titled “Howzdata- How Analytics is Revolutionizing Cricket” focused on how…

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The next generation of men’s tennis remains a jumble of unrealized potential. With Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer skipping the Miami Open, the tournament was expected to bring the game’s new faces into sharper focus. Instead, the outlook remains fuzzy as the clay season begins. Sunday’s match between No. 37-ranked Hubert Hurkacz and No. 31 Jannik Sinner was the first ATP Masters 1000 final since 2003 with two players ranked outside the top 30. Hurkacz became the lowest-ranked champion in the ATP’s top-level series since 2005. Meanwhile, for…

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Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman’s contentious run-out in the second ODI against South Africa has sparked a debate on spirit of the game with Marylebone Cricket Club saying it was “up to the umpires to decide” if Quinton de Kock had attempted to mislead the batsman. In a stiff chase of 342, Zaman smashed a spectacular 193 in a losing cause as the batsman was run out in a controversial fashion involving South Africa wicketkeeper de Kock. The stumper pointed his finger towards Lungi Ngidi but the ball was, in fact, thrown…

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When even Benjamin Mendy is scoring, it’s a sign of just how well the quadruple chase is going for Manchester City. With the international break over, the runaway leaders started the Premier League title run-in with a 2-0 victory over Leicester, started by Mendy breaking the deadlock on Saturday. After Riyad Mahrez’s shot was punched clear by Kasper Schmeichel, Mendy eventually received the ball to curl in a low shot past the Leicester goalkeeper in the 58th minute. After not scoring in his opening 39 league games for City, the…

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Two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders will be striving for consistency in their bid to recreate old magic which has been lost during a difficult phase of rebuilding after Gautam Gambhir’s departure. Be it the opening combination, middle-order or finding a finisher, KKR struggled for stability in the last edition in the UAE, while a change of captaincy at the halfway stage did not help them either. Add the floundering forms of their two biggest Caribbean stars — a half-fit Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, who is not even half…

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Belgium and the Netherlands scored 15 goals combined in big routs in World Cup qualifying, while Portugal got one from Cristiano Ronaldo in its victory against a Luxembourg team that tinkered with another shock result. Belgium crushed Belarus 8-0 to stay at the top in Group E, while the Dutch trashed Gibraltar 7-0 to go second behind Turkey in Group G on Tuesday. Minnow Luxembourg, which opened with a surprising win against Ireland, looked on its way to pulling off another upset after it took the lead against Portugal, but…

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Steve Smith says he is interested in becoming Australia captain once again if the opportunity comes, asserting that he has learnt to live with the damage caused to his career and reputation by the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. The 31-year-old Smith served a one-year ban from playing and was disqualified from leading Australia for two years because of his role in the incident in which Australians were caught using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball against South Africa. “I’ve certainly had a lot of time to think about it…

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