SPORTS

New Delhi April 15 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced Fairgrounds in Pomona, a temporary stadium in Southern California, as the venue for cricket at the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028The Fairgrounds in Pomona, officially known as Fairplex, is a near-500-acre event complex that has hosted the Los Angeles County Fair since 1922.The cricket competition at LA28 will feature six teams each in the men’s and women’s competition as the sport makes a return to the Games after 128 years.The ICC Chair, Jay Shah, has welcomed the confirmation of the venue and is looking forward to working in partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ensure cricket’s success at the Games.“We welcome the announcement of the venue for cricket at Los Angeles 2028 as it is a si...

Jhansi, April 15 (IANS) Hockey Punjab were crowned the champions of the prestigious 15th Hockey India Senior Men National Championship 2025 after defeating Hockey Madhya Pradesh 4-1 in Division 'A'. Uttar Pradesh Hockey secured the third position after winning the game 5-1 against Manipur Hockey.In the final match, Hockey Punjab stole the show after defeating Hockey Madhya Pradesh 4-1. Jugraj Singh (30', 49') scored a couple of goals displaying experience of such high octane encounters and put his team in a strong position in the final. Jaskaran Singh (38') and Maninder Singh (46') also scored one goal each to take the game further away from the opponent. In reply, Pratap Lakra (28') could only score for Hockey Madhya Pradesh, ending their campaign with the silver medal. Elated on the win,...

Mumbai, April 15 (IANS) The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) successfully convened its 86th Annual General Meeting on Tuesday and unanimously approved the decision to rename Divecha Pavilion Level 3 as Rohit Sharma Stand, Grand Stand Level 3 as Sharad Pawar Stand, Grand Stand Level 4 as Ajit Wadekar Stand at the Wankhede Stadium.Rohit has been a stalwart of Mumbai cricket and has successfully captained India to successive ICC trophies with the T20 World Cup 2024 and Champions Trophy 2025 triumphs. Meanwhile, in a heartfelt tribute to the late Amol Kale, former MCA president, the match day office at the MCA Pavilion will now be known as the MCA Office Lounge in his memory.“Another key resolution passed during the AGM was the approval of the naming of stands at Wankhede Stadium, a proposal i...

New Chandigarh, April 15 (IANS) Harshit Rana claimed three wickets while the spin duo of Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine bagged two scalps each as Kolkata Knight Riders bundled out Punjab Kings for 111 in 15.3 overs in the IPL 2025 fixture at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.Opted to bat first, Punjab Kings had a flying start with openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya pressing on throttle against Anrich Nortje and Vaibhav Arora in the powerplay. It was Arya who took the charge on speedster Nortje, who was making his KKR debut, and slammed two fours in his first over.In the next over, Prabhsimran stepped on the gas and scored two fours and a six before Arya joined with a boundary to make it 20 runs from the over.Pacer Harshit Rana's introduction ...

Mumbai, April 15 ( IANS) Season 3 champions Chennai Lions made Chinese paddler Fan Siqi the highest-valued player at the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) auction on Tuesday, splurging 19.7 Lakh tokens to secure her services for Season 6. With players going under the hammer for the first time, India’s top-ranked national player Diya Chitale also emerged as the highest-valued Indian paddler, returning to Dabang Delhi TTC through the Right to Match (RTM) card at a value of 14.1 Lakh tokens after an intense bidding war.Reigning champions Goa Challengers re-signed two-time title-winning captain Harmeet Desai via RTM with a bid of 14 Lakh tokens, double his base price. Season 2 winners Dabang Delhi TTC brought back Sathiyan Gnanasekaran with a successful bid of 10 Lakh tokens, making him the only pla...

Madrid, April 15 (IANS) Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham believes the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter final against Arsenal, after having lost 0-3 in the first game, is a night made for Los Blancos to shine. Despite the three-goal deficit, confidence is high at Real Madrid with many players and fans taking to social media to express their feelings. The club also posted a video on its website to motivate the side.Bellingham acknowledged the pedigree his side holds, having built their success on unreal comebacks, and believes the night can go down in history."I've heard it a million times since last week, I've seen a million videos - it's really motivating stuff. It's a night that's made for Real Madrid. A night that would go down in history but also something that peop...

New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Nitish Rana stated the on-field umpires are very well within their rights to randomly check sizes of the bats used by the batters during IPL 2025 matches, provided they have the time to do.In RR’s nine-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Jaipur, bats of Rana and Shimron Hetmyer were checked for their dimensions by on-field umpire Nitin Menon, who had a white triangular plastic gauge in hand. When RCB were batting, on-field umpire Sai Darshan Kumar inspected bats of Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal.The random bat checks, as previously reported by IANS on Tuesday, is now going to be a routine affair in the rest of IPL 2025. “There is a huge shortage of time in a T20 game. If the umpires have that much time to check ...

New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) Ahead of Delhi Capitals (DC) taking on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their IPL 2025 game on Wednesday, fast bowler Mohit Sharma stated the new second ball rule in the IPL has been beneficial for bowlers.In their return to the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, DC’s unbeaten streak came to an end after losing to Mumbai Indians (MI) by 12 runs, especially with the middle-order collapsing after the visitors’ opted for a ball change in the 13th over.“It helps 100%, and we saw that in the last game too. Initially, the 12-over ball was a little wet, as dew came in the last game. When their innings was ending, dew started coming in and it was good in the second innings. When Karn changed the ball after the 13th over, the ball started spinning. So the hard ball creates a little ...

New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu expressed heartfelt gratitude after being elected as the Chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF).Mirabai, one of India’s most decorated weightlifters, will be joined by Sathish Kumar, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who was named Vice-Chairperson of the Commission. Their term will last for four years, during which they will serve as a bridge between the athletes and the governing body."I express my immense gratitude to the Indian Weightlifting Federation for electing me as the Chairperson of the Athletes Commission of the federation. I am extremely grateful to Sahdev Yadav Sir for showcasing faith in me. I also thank the committee members for unanimously voting for ...

New Chandigarh, April 15 (IANS) Punjab Kings have won the toss and elected to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2025 clash here at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.The home side made two changes as Josh Inglis and Australia batter Xavier Bartlett were both handed their tournament debuts."We are going to bat first. Feel the wicket has been really well for the last couple of matches, the dew comes in but the outfield doesn't skid through. Don't remember the team changes, I will tell later. We need to take as many catches in the fielding and create some sort of brilliance," said Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer at the toss.Defending champions made one change in their playing 11 with Anrich Nortje replacing Moeen Ali."We were looking to bowl ...