Category: SPORTS

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik is not known to lose his cool for on-field lapses but he doesn’t mind letting it rip occasionally if it can bring the best out of his players.During Friday’s must-win away match against Kings XI Punjab, Karthik lost his cool at the innings break as his bowlers and fielders didn’t execute his plans properly. When asked about his frayed temper, the KKR skipper admitted that he wasn’t happy with his bowlers and fielders. “It’s been a hard few days. I wasn’t too happy with…

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Fourteen-year-old Grandmaster Nihal Sarin is training his sight to become the youngest Indian to break the 2600 rating barrier from the TePe Sigeman & Co International tournament, beginning here on Friday. Nihal goes into the tournament with a live rating of 2598, hoping to break the Indian record set by Parimarjan Negi almost a decade back in 2009. Negi had then become the youngest Indian to have broken the barrier, at the age of 15 years 11 months. Crossing the mark will make Nihal currently the youngest player in the world…

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Kevin Gameiro has knocked Arsenal out of one Europa League semi-final and now he wants to do it again.Gameiro helped Atletico Madrid end Arsene Wenger’s hopes of a glorious finale last season, a 2-1 aggregate win sending them through to the final, where they would sail past Marseille.Twelve months on, it is Unai Emery in charge of Arsenal and Gameiro leading the line for Valencia who, like their opponents, may well need to win the Europa League to play in the Champions League next term.”It’s going to be a different…

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Kings XI Punjab opener KL Rahul defended his strategy of playing slow initially while chasing a mammoth 213 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, saying one between him and Chris Gayle was supposed to go all out upfront while the other tried to take the game deep.Chasing a huge total, Rahul (79 off 56; 4×4, 5×6) made a valiant effort with the bat but lacked support from the other end as Kings XI were restricted to 167 for eight.”That’s been the team plan. One of me or Chris Gayle look to bat 15-16…

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KL Rahul is a phenomenal talent who has the ability to emulate Virat Kohli’s heady achievements if he remains in his “zone”, feels none other than ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle.Rahul, 27, has overcome probably the toughest phase in his life and career which saw him endure a dismal run in the Test tour of Australia and an interim BCCI suspension for making sexist comments on a TV chat show alongside India teammate Hardik Pandya.Having put that phase behind, Rahul let his bat do the talking and alongside his Kings XI…

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Steve Smith is happy to have ended Rajasthan Royals’ “home run” on a high after a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad as he gears up to leave for Australia to take join national team’s World Cup preparatory camp.Rajasthan Royals kept slender hopes of IPL play-off qualifications alive with a seven wicket win over Sunrisers and are currently on sixth place with 10 points from 12 games. “It was a good end to our home season, the boys pulled things back nicely. Playing together as a group and we’re winning those key…

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Amit Panghal (52kg) picked up his second successive gold medal of the year, while Pooja Rani (81kg) finished on top among the women to bring a fine end to India’s phenomenal campaign in the Asian Boxing Championships here Friday. India ended the event with 13 medals — two gold, four silver and seven bronze medals — in the tournament which was held simultaneously for men and women for the first time.Panghal, who won the Asian Games gold medal last year, defeated Korea’s Kim Inkyu in a unanimous decision. He came into…

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Athletics icons Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie are locked in a bitter dispute just days away from the London Marathon with claims of robbery and an unpaid hotel bill at the heart of the row.Britain’s quadruple Olympic champion Farah, aiming to win Sunday’s race, wrapped up his pre-marathon press conference with claims that Gebrselassie had made no effort to recover items stolen from his room at the Ethiopian’s hotel near Addis Ababa.Farah was staying at the hotel in late March as part of training for Sunday’s prestigious race. Gebrselassie —…

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Shane Watson couldn’t thank Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stephen Fleming enough after ending his prolonged slump in form, saying he would have been “dropped a long time ago” in his previous franchise.He had gone without a fifty in his first 10 innings of the ongoing Indian Premier League before striking 96 off 53 balls on Tuesday night to guide Chennai Super Kings to a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. “I can’t thank Stephen Fleming and M S Dhoni enough for their belief in me. Just about every other team I’ve been…

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Youth Olympics gold medallist Jeremy Lalrinnunga went on a record-smashing spree, claiming three world marks in a power-packed performance, to secure second place in his group at the Asian Weightlifting Championship here on Sunday.In a remarkable performance, the 16-year-old Jeremy, who is competing in group B of the 67Kg men’s event, smashed the Youth World and Asian records in snatch, clean and jerk and total lift with an effort of 297kg (134kg+163kg) to be placed second in his group behind Pakistan’s Talha Talib, who lifted 304kg (140kg+164kg). The final standings…

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