Category: SPORTS

Indian chess ace Viswanathan Anand’s signed off second from bottom after his disappointing campaign at the Legends of Chess online tournament ended with a loss to long-time rival Vasyl Ivanchuk in the ninth and final round. It was Anand’s eighth loss in the USD 150,000 tournament. The 50-year-old ended in ninth position behind GM Peter Leko who finished last. After all the four games ended in draws, the Anand-Ivanchuk contest went into the Armageddon (a tie-breaker), which also ended in a stalemate. The Ukrainian emerged victorious as he played black…

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Olympic athletes competing for gold medals in a world reeling from a pandemic? It won’t be the first time.   A century before the Tokyo Games were postponed because of coronavirus, the Olympics were held in the Belgian city of Antwerp following the Spanish flu pandemic. The 1920 Games were meant to symbolize a recovery from World War I, not a health crisis. Belgium, a battleground for the opposing powers, was the host country and the five rings of the Olympic flag flew at an opening ceremony for the first…

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Pakistan opener Shan Masood does not want to read too much into England’s four-wicket defeat against the West Indies in the first Test, saying losing just a match does not make them a weak side. England lost the opening Test by four wickets on Sunday at an empty Rose Bowl in Southampton, the first international cricket match after the coronavirus outbreak. “This is the first competitive match for both teams after nearly three months and I think the rustiness was evident in the home side. But I think they (England)…

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Star all-rounder Ben Stokes had sneaked off for a “cigarette break” in order to calm his nerves ahead of the Super Over during last year’s epic World Cup final, an anecdote which finds mention in a new book on England’s triumph. A year ago, England had claimed their maiden 50 over World Cup title after beating New Zealand by virtue of a contentious boundary count-back rule as scores were tied even after the Super Over. It was arguably one of the the greatest finals in the Cup history. On the…

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Karim Benzema helped Real Madrid move one step closer to dethroning Lionel Messi’s Barcelona. Benzema scored one goal and set up another to lead Madrid to beating Alav s 2-0 on Friday and restoring a four-point lead over Barcelona in the Spanish league with only three rounds left. Benzema scored a penalty kick in the 11th minute and assisted Marco Asensio in the 50th to ensure an eighth straight victory since La Liga resumed play after stopping for three months due to the pandemic. Benzema has four goals during the…

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West Indies captain Jason Holder says both his team and England putting up a united front to show support for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign before the start of the first Test meant the “world to him” and he felt Michael Holding’s powerful speech on racism “in his veins”. Both teams took the knee for 30 seconds in solidarity with the BLM movement before the start of play on Wednesday. “It meant the world to me. Just the support from everyone, everyone understanding the moment, everyone understanding the occasion. And…

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Nearly 200 players took the field for an 8-minute, 46-second moment of silence to protest racial injustice before Major League Soccer’s return to action. Players wore black T-shirts, black gloves and black facemasks emblazoned with Black Lives Matter on Wednesday night. The shirts had varying slogans that included Black And Proud, Silence Is Violence and Black All The Time. The players walked toward midfield, raised their right arms one at a time and held the pose so long that some could be seen stretching fatigued muscles afterward. It was a…

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All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan has hit out at rival P R Venketrama Raja faction’s allegations that he “prompted” the resignation of chief selector R B Ramesh and urged the Grandmaster to clear the air. Ramesh on Tuesday resigned as the chief selector of the AICF alleging “interference” from warring officials of rival factions. Responding to the development and the subsequent allegations that he was behind it, Chauhan stated, “I am appalled to see a news release issued by Vijay Deshpande on behalf of P R…

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When Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris confronted Son Heung-min on the field at halftime, Jose Mourinho was far from annoyed. The manager renowned for his own flashpoints and volatility was delighted to see tensions between teammates erupting in public view. “It was beautiful,” he said. “Probably it’s a consequence of our meetings.” Angered by the timidity of a 3-1 loss at Sheffield United in the previous English Premier League round, Mourinho saw the passion he wanted as Tottenham this time secured a 1-0 victory over Everton on Monday. Just before the…

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