SPORTS

Greater Noida, April 2 (IANS) Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu and Delhi’s Arjun Prasad climbed atop the leaderboard with totals of seven-under 137 after Round Two of the Rs 1.5 crore Adani Invitational Golf Championship 2025 at the Jaypee Greens Golf & Spa Resort here on Wednesday. While Yuvraj (70-67), a two-time winner on the PGTI this season, came up with a 67 on Wednesday to rise nine spots from his overnight tied 10th, Arjun (68-69) delivered a 69 to gain two spots on his overnight tied third place.Chandigarh golfer Harendra Gupta shot the day’s best score of 66 to end up in tied third place at six-under 138 along with Honey Baisoya of Delhi, who sank two eagles during his round of 68.Saptak Talwar, the first-round joint leader, carded a 72 to close the day as the best-placed professio...

New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) The Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati will be making its debut as a Test venue during the Indian men's team’s 2025/26 home season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Wednesday.Guwahati, which has hosted only international white-ball games so far, apart from a few Indian Premier League (IPL) games, will be hosting its maiden Test match when India take on South Africa in the second and final game of the series on November 22. It will also hold the record for the first city in the North-East part of India to host a Test match.The series between India and South Africa will begin at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on November 14 and run till November 18. South Africa last toured India for Tests in 2019 but faced a 3-0 sweep as the h...

London, April 2 (IANS) Tottenham Head coach Ange Postecoglou acknowledged the comments made by former coach Mauricio Pochettino, who recently admitted he wanted to return to the team. The Australian, who is known for his witty humour and blatant honestly said that he did not feel disrespected by the comments made by the current US National men’s team head coach."Mauricio, if he wants to come back one day, I hope it happens for him. We all have dreams and aspirations, if that’s what he wants. You’re suggesting that he’s trying to put pressure on me?"Well, I don’t feel disrespected. I think if you ask Mauricio that question directly, you’d get a pretty clear answer as to what his intent was. Again, nothing from me to sort of be consumed with. I’m more focused on making sure we try and win to...

Bengaluru, April 2 (IANS) Uncapped fast-bowling all-rounder Arshad Khan comes in for fast bowler Kagiso Rabada as Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to bowl first against an unchanged Royal Challengers Bengaluru in match 14 of IPL 2025 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.Wednesday’s match is also table toppers, RCB’s first home game and fourth ranked GT’s maiden away game of the ongoing season. After winning the toss, GT skipper said Rabada is unavailable for the clash due to personal reasons, paving the way for Arshad to come into the playing eleven.“Looks like a good wicket. We've seen the conditions don't change much. We're all about reducing our unforced errors across all departments. We'll try to finetune the areas that need it,” he said.RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, who got a...

Bengaluru, April 2 (IANS) Indian Arrows Women Juniors began their Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2 campaign with a 2-1 victory against Pudhuvai Unicorns at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence Phase 2, on Wednesday. The teams were tied 1-1 at the break.Abhista Basnett (11’) opened the scoring for Indian Arrows, before Keerthana M (40’) equalised minutes before the half-time whistle. The Arrows returned strong in the second half, as Valaina Jada Fernandes (49’) scored the winning goal after the restart.In the 11th minute, Indian Arrows found the breakthrough from a well-executed set piece. Anushka Kumari delivered a corner into the box, where midfielder Abhista Basnett timed her jump to meet the ball with a firm header that bulged the net at the bottom corner.The Arrows pushed forw...

Jamshedpur, April 2 (IANS) Jamshedpur FC are set to host Mohun Bagan Super Giant (MBSG) in the first leg of their Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 semifinal fixture on Thursday. This will be the first time that these two sides meet in the playoffs, with MBSG reaching the last-four courtesy of winning the ISL League Shield, whereas the Red Miners defeated NorthEast United FC 2-0 in the one-legged eliminator.Jamshedpur FC have not secured a victory in their previous six matches against Mohun Bagan Super Giant in the ISL, losing on four occasions. Another failure to win here will make it their longest winless run in front of any opponent in the competition.Meanwhile, MBSG have been unbeaten on the road in the previous six games, winning thrice and scoring 13 goals at the expense of conceding...

Kolkata, April 2 (IANS) Ahead of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) home clash against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday, mentor Dwayne Bravo talked about what he believes to be the reason behind teams failing to breach the 200-run mark.Heading into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, after a record-breaking 2024 season, fans were expecting teams to go all guns blazing again during the 18th edition of the tournament, but have failed to achieve success using that approach. The former West Indies all-rounder was asked whether the bowlers catching on is the high-risk approach that is no longer working out for the batters.“It's a combination of both. For us as a bowler group, especially the kind of conversation we have and the message that I send, is that you have to be sma...

New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) Competitions for the international shooting season’s first ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun are set to commence in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, and taking aim first-up will be the men’s pistol and the men’s and women’s skeet shooters at the Tiro Federal Argentino de Buenos Aires shooting range, on Thursday.Three Indians, Saurabh Chaudhary, Ravinder Singh, and Varun Tomar will line up in front of the targets in men’s 10m air pistol on Day One of the competition, which will be the first of 15 finals with a top-class field looking to give their respective countries a golden start to the tournament and the year.The men’s and women’s Skeet competitions, meanwhile, will have only the first two qualifying rounds comprising 25 targets each played out on Day One....

Lausanne (Switzerland), April 2 (IANS) The 16 men's and women's teams from across the world will be reaching Belgium and the Netherlands in 500 days from now for the FIH Hockey World Cup, which will be played from August 15 to 30, 2026. The first match of the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup will be played exactly 500 days from today, opening the show for FIH’s most prestigious global hockey event. This will be the first time that the FIH will combine the Women’s and the Men’s World Cups and will be co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands.In addition to the host countries, the teams of Germany (women) and Australia (men) won their tickets to the World Cup via the FIH Hockey Pro League last season. The next two teams (a women's team and a men's team) will also qualify via the Pro League."The fiv...

Hamilton, April 2 (IANS) Extending their dominance in white-ball cricket, New Zealand’s young squad sealed an emphatic 84-run victory over Pakistan in Hamilton on Wednesday, securing an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series. With several first-team regulars absent due to franchise commitments, the Black Caps fielded a relatively inexperienced side. However, according to Mitchell Hay, experience was never an issue for this promising squad.“There are some pretty experienced guys here, both internationally and domestically, which have been great to talk to and learn from,” Hay remarked after the second ODI. “On paper, guys may not have played a lot of international cricket, but within the group, there's immense knowledge to tap into. It’s a great place for New Zealand cricket to...