A last-gasp goal from Taison helped Shakhtar Donetsk defeat resilient 10-men Hoffenheim 3-2 in Champions League Group F, keeping alive the Ukrainian side’s hopes of reaching the tournament’s knockout stages.

Hosts Hoffenheim on Tuesday got off to the worst possible start as Ismaily broke the deadlock in the 14th minute following a one-two with Taison, reports Xinhua news agency.

Shakhtar then gained momentum and raced into a 2-0 lead moments later as Junior Moraes’ pass allowed Taison to beat onrushing Hoffenheim goalkeeper Oliver Baumann with a strike into the far corner.

However, Hoffenheim hit back almost immediately, as Andrej Kramaric capitalized on a through ball from Ishak Belfodil to chip Shakhtar keeper Andriy Pyatov in the 17th minute.

Buoyed by their goal, the German side equalized before the break as Shakhtar failed to clear the ball following a corner, allowing Steven Zuber to head home from inside the box.

Into the second half, and Hoffenheim suffered a setback as Adam Szalai received his marching orders after committing his second bookable offence in the 59th minute.

Even though the German side had a numerical disadvantage they still created chances, as Steven Zuber rattled the crossbar on 70 minutes before Nico Schulz missed an open goal from inside the box nine minutes later.

The visitors nevertheless remained dangerous and hit the woodwork in the 83rd minute when Taison unleashed an effort from 12 meters.

The Brazilian remained in the thick of things and scored the winner from close range following good build-up work from Ismaily in the dying seconds.

The result sees Hoffenheim crash out of the Champions League group stage after slumping to fourth place with three points from five games.

Shakhtar’s win sees them move up to third place with five points, meaning the Ukrainian side still has a chance to progress to the knockout stage if they can win their final group match at home to Lyon.

IANS

Pune NorthEast United FC got the better of FC Pune City 2-0 in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Tuesday.

Bartholomew Ogbeche and Juan Mascia scored a goal each to seal three points for the visitors, who have continued their unbeaten run away from home and climbed to the second spot on the league table with 17 points from eight matches.

Meanwhile, Ogbeche has equalled Ferran Corominas’ tally of eight goals in the race for the Golden Boot.

FC Pune City, who started the match with four foreign players, created plenty of chances to score but failed to beat NorthEast United custodian Pawan Kumar.

NorthEast United broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute when Federico Gallego’s flat corner-kick reached Ogbeche at the far post. The striker chested it down and placed the ball into the net to score his eighth goal of the season.

Pune soon stepped up their efforts and were almost rewarded in the 41st minute when Marcelinho’s free-kick from the left found Matt Mills inside the box. The defender rose highest and was denied by Pawan, who pulled off an outstanding save.

Pune started the second half just like they ended the first. They pressed for an equaliser but a resilient NorthEast United backline stood firm to keep the scores level.

Juan Mascia dribbled into the box from the right and was brought down by Sahil Panwar in the 90th minute. The forward stepped up and converted from 12 yards to seal the win for NorthEast United.

(IANS)

 After finishing as the second highest run-scorer in the recently-concluded ICC World T20, Harmanpreet Kaur, the India T20I skipper rocketed three slots to reach the No.3 spot in the latest ICC Women’s T20I Player rankings, released here on Tuesday.

Harmanpreet, who aggregated 183 runs including a match-winning 103 in the tournament opener against New Zealand, leads a bunch of India batters making notable advances in the rankings, that include young Jemimah Rodrigues and opener Smriti Mandhana.

Jemimah climbed nine places to a career-best sixth while Smriti vaulted seven places to a career-best 10th after contributing in their team’s campaign in the Caribbean, which ended in a 8-wicket loss to England in the semi-finals.

Among others, Australia opener Alyssa Healy, who finished the highest run-getter with 225 runs, has gained four slots to reach the No.8 position in the ICC T20I batter’s list led by New Zealand’s Suzie Bates and West Indian Stafanie Taylor at No.2.

The other batters to gain in the latest rankings update include Javeria Khan of Pakistan, who has gained seven places to reach a career-best 14th position, and Clare Shillington of Ireland, who has gained one slot to take the 19th slot.

Meanwhile, in the bowlers’ list led by Australia’s Megan Schutt and India’s Poonam Yadav at No.2, New Zealand spinner Leigh Kasperek’s seven wickets have lifted her seven places to third position while finalists England’s Sophie Ecclestone has moved from 16th to fourth and fast bowler Anya Shrubsole from 12th to sixth place after a seven-wicket effort, which included a hat-trick against South Africa.

Other bowlers to improve their rankings include New Zealand leg-spinner Amelia Kerr (up 15 places to a career-best seventh), Delisa Kimmince of Australia (up 10 places to eighth), South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail (up 11 places to 10th), Pakistan’s Nashra Sandhu (up 25 places to a career-best 10th), Shashikala Siriwardene of Sri Lanka (up six places to 17th) and Salma Khatun of Bangladesh (up two places to 14th).

Windies’ Deandra Dottin has shot up from fourth to second in the list of all-rounders led by compatriot Stafanie Taylor. She has overtaken Australia’s Ellyse Perry and compatriot Hayley Mathews after finishing with 121 runs and 10 wickets in the tournament.

South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk has advanced one slot to reach fifth position among all-rounders.

In the ICC Women’s T20I team rankings, England have overtaken New Zealand to the second position in the list which continues to be topped by Meg Lanning-led Australia with 283 points after their fourth ICC Women’s World T20 title.

IANS

 
India are expected to face an uphill battle playing in front of the hockey crazy Odisha crowd that will turn up in large numbers to watch the 2018 FIH World Cup starting here on Wednesday.

Despite being the most successful team in Olympic hockey with eight golds, India have won the World Cup only once, way back in 1975.

Despite playing at home, it will be sort of miracle if World No.5 India managed to break this long barren run this time round.

Under current coach Harendra Singh, the Indian team has shown a lot of promise.

Since taking over from previous incumbent, Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne in May this year, Harendra has guided the team to silver at the Champions Trophy, a bronze at the Asian Games and the Asian Champions Trophy title.

Before that, India had finished fourth at the 2018 Commonwealth Games under Marijne’s watch.

This World Cup will feature a total of 4 pools with four teams each.

The pool toppers will get a direct entry into the quarterfinals while the 2nd and 3rd placed will have to go through play-offs to enter the last eight stage.

India have been placed in Pool C along with strong title contenders Belgium and minnows South Africa and Canada.

Pool A contains Argentina, Spain, France and New Zealand.

The hosts will start their campaign against South Africa on the opening day while Belgium will play Canada the same day.

Overwhelming favourites and defending champions Australia are in Pool B along with Ireland, England and China.

Pool D is expected to throw up several mouth watering matches since it includes formidable Germany, another strong contender Holland, four-time winners Pakistan and Malaysia.

Australia, who have won the last two editions, will be chasing an unprecedented third consecutive title.

If the boys from Down Under are successful in their quest, they will win their fourth title and become the joint most successful nation in the tournament along with Pakistan.

The fact that Pakistan have managed to reach India is something of a triumph for the cash strapped team.

Their participation was in doubt till the last moment due to lack of funds. It was only the signing of a major sponsorship deal with Haier Pakistan that enabled their participation.

IANS

After a prolonged suspense over her omission from India’s playing XI during the Women’s World T20I semis, ace cricketer Mithali Raj has finally come out in open with her side of the story. The star batswoman has accused head coach Ramesh Powar and Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Diana Edulji of discrimination and bias in a letter addressed to the BCCI. Mithali has also alleged that Powar used his position to humiliate her during the World T20 in West Indies.

Mithali is the leading scorer for India in T20 Internationals (both men and women), she is even ahead of the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Harmanpreet Kaur in that list. The 35-year old had scored two consecutive fifties in two matches and won player of the matches awards in the coveted Women’s World T20 event. Despite being declared fit, Mithali was controversially left out of the semifinal against England.

India women cricket team’s unbeaten run was finally ended in the semifinals of World T20 when England thrashed the women in blue by eight wickets in a lopsided encounter. After India’s loss, captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s team selection and strategy came under the scanner. However, the India women’s T20 skipper said she had no regrets about her team selection.

Mithali also alleged that CoA member Edulji, who had backed her axing from India’s playing XI, “used her position against me”.  “For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down. I am forced to think if my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence,” the veteran batswoman wrote in a letter to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and Cricket Operations GM Saba Karim.

“I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful.

“I wanted to win the world cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity.”

She slammed Edulji, a former India captain, for defending the team’s decision to drop her. “To put things in perspective, I have always reposed faith in Diana Edulji and have always respected her and her position as a member of the COA, Never did I think she will use her position against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it.”

On Powar, Mithali narrated a series of instances where she felt a little hard done by the coach. “For instance, walking off if I am sitting anywhere around, watching in the nets when others bat but choosing to walk away when I am batting in nets, if I try to go up to him to talk to start looking into his phone and keep walking.

“It was embarrassing and very evident to everyone that I was being humiliated. Yet I never lost my cool,” she said.

 India’s veteran boxer M.C. Mary Kom extended her 10-year-old commercial relationship with IOS Sports & Entertainment, a sports management group, it was announced on Tuesday.

Mary recently created history by winning her sixth World title becoming the most successful amateur boxer the world has ever seen.

Commenting on extending her commercial relationship with IOS, Mary said: “In the last 10 years I have only focussed on my game and entire commercial work was perfectly managed by my team IOS. Looking at smooth working with them, I have decided to extend this relationship with them.”

Welcoming the extension of relationship with the boxer, Neerav Tomar, MD & CEO of IOS Sports & Entertainment said: “We look forward to this extended relationship and hope to establish a stronger brand Mary in the days to come”.

IOS exclusively represents India’s top sport stars of the likes of Vijender Singh, Hima Das, Manika Batra, Mirabai Chanu, Manpreet Singh, Jinson Johnson and many more.

IANS

 India’s pacer Ishant Sharma on Tuesday said that the team is focused on winning the four-match Test series starting December 6 in Adelaide.

Ishant said no player is thinking about the personal performance, rather all players have one aim of winning the Test series.

“The biggest thing right now is to win the series and that’s what everybody is focusing on right now. We are not even thinking about personal performances. Just one aim that is to win a series in Australia,” Ishant told reporters ahead of the four-day practice match against Cricket Australia XI on Wednesday.

“Everyone is really passionate. We are pretty motivated to win the series. Not only in Australia, when we played in South Africa and England we were pretty motivated to win a series abroad and I think that is the biggest opportunity for us right now because we always have a good balance in the side which can do things for us which is very promising,” he added.

Ishant said the practice match is important for the team because this match will only set the tone for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

“I think it’s pretty serious for us (the practice game), because we have to set the tone. You know the conditions, obviously playing here after a long time. You need to get into the groove, get used to the conditions and I think it’s a pretty important game for everyone,” he said.

With pacers like Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar doing their job well, Ishant is taking this opportunity to display to make his mark.

“If you’re representing the country the pressure is there, I think it’s a great opportunity as well because you have a healthy competition in the team as you can see there a lot of fast bowlers coming up and if you are not doing well then any time you can sit behind and watch the game,” he said.

” I think it is a great opportunity for everyone to do well in any conditions as you can see we did well in the last two tours especially in South Africa and England as well,” he added.

IANS

 Udanta Singh paid a perfect tribute to his idol Sunil Chhetri on the occasion of his captains 150th game for the club, as the young Manipuri lad scripted Bengaluru FCs solitary goal win over Delhi Dynamos in an Indian Super League (ISL) tie at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Monday.

After surviving an onslaught from Delhi Dynamos, Udanta Singh notched the winner (87th minute) to win it for captain Chhetri.

Playing their seventh game of the season, Bengaluru FC are now on the top of the ISL table with 19 points, while it seems all but over for the Dynamos as they remain rooted at the bottom after 9 games, yet to register a clear win to their account.

Bengaluru FC started with four foreigners in the absence of the injured Miku and suspended Dimas Delgado. Erik Paartalu recovered in time to be named on the bench.

The first opportunity fell for the home team when Chhetri latched onto a long ball, however, Pritam Kotal recovered well to cover him off with the advancing Albino Gomes clearing the ball.

Gurpreet Sandhu was called into action in the 15th minute when he parried a shot from Adria Carmona after Lallianzuala Chhangte foxed Rino Anto to set up the chance.

In the 27th minute, Nandhakumar went on a great run down the right after some good build-up play. However, the final pass to Andrija Kaluderovic saw the striker slam the shot wide.

Just after the half-hour mark, Chhangte broke the offside trap and was in a one-on-one situation. However, Gurpreet came off his line and blocked the effort.

Rino Anto once again played Delhi onside and this time the ball fell for Nandhakumar whose shot was deflected for a corner by Juanan.

Nandhakumar was once again through on goal and his left-footed shot was just about kept out by Gurpreet.

After Delhi had the better of the chances in the first half, Bengaluru fashioned the first chance of the second. Udanta was set free on the right wing and the winger squared the ball for Chhetri inside the box. But the 34-year-old scuffed his attempted shot wide.

Delhi strove hard to get an equaliser. However lack of cutting edge in the attacking third meant their moves broke down. Bengaluru brought on Erik Paartalu as they searched for some solidity in midfield.

The Blues had a great chance to score in the 70th minute when Udanta took advantage of a confusion in the Delhi defence to play Xisco Hernandez through on goal with a good lob. But the Spaniard’s first-time shot was straight at Albino.

Three minutes later, Delhi’s finishing woes were on show as Kaluderovic headed over from close range after getting on the end of a corner from Rene Mihelic.

With four minutes of regulation time left, Bengaluru found themselves in the lead after a mix-up in the Delhi defence. A loose ball after a Bengaluru move broke down wasn’t cleared properly.

It finally fell to Udanta, who saw a stinging grounder go in off the post after taking a deflection off Marti Crespi.

The Blues would see out the game with ease and notch their sixth win in seven games.

IANS

The Odisha government on Monday announced that all educational institutions in Bhubaneswar will remain closed for the opening ceremony of the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup on Tuesday.

Schools and educational institutions in the capital city will remain closed on Tuesday, while educational institutions across the state will remain closed after 1.30 p.m, a release from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said.

Similarly, all government offices in the state, including those in Bhubaneswar, will function till 1.30 p.m, the release said.

The inaugural event will be held in the evening on Tuesday. The matches for the world cup will begin at Kalinga Stadium here from Wednesday.

The state government also announced that all educational institutions and government offices in Cuttack will be closed on Wednesday after 1.30 p.m in view of the Hockey World Cup celebrations event scheduled to be held at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Wednesday.

Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit and music maestro A.R. Rahman are slated to perform at the inaugural programme at Kalinga Stadium on Tuesday. Besides, some Odia actors will also perform at the programme.

Similarly, Rahman and some actors will perform at Barabati Stadium on Wednesday.

IANS

India will be playing an International Friendly against Oman on December 27 in Abu Dhabi as part of their preparation for the forthcoming AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, it was announced on Monday.

As per the October FIFA Rankings, Oman are currently ranked 84 in comparison to India on 97.

All India Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das said it’s important that the National Team plays “stronger opposition” in their quest to prepare better for the Asian Cup.

“Oman are a very strong team. We were drawn against them in the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifiers and are aware of their quality and strength. It will be the perfect test for our boys as they gear up for the Asian Cup,” Das said.

“I need to thank the Oman Football Federation for agreeing to play the match in Abu Dhabi,” he added.

National coach Stephen Constantine highlighted the “need to strike a rhythm.”

“It’s now a question of trying to establish a rhythm and making sure we all know what we have to do. In our last game against Jordan, the circumstances were exceptional and that was a good learning experience for all the players,” the coach stated.

Constantine explained that Oman will be very similar to Bahrain and UAE, both of whom India will be facing in the group stage of the AFC Asian Cup.

“Oman will be in some ways very similar to Bahrain and UAE which is why we wanted to play them so that we can get a good idea of what we are going to face in the group stages,” he maintained.

India last played Oman in the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifiers (in 2015) and lost 1-2 in Bengaluru and 0-4 in Muscat.

Constantine, however, said that the team is a “completely different” outfit now.

“After 3 years, we are a completely different team and I believe we are getting better. It should be a great game for us,” he said.

India will play Thailand in their first match of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 at the Al Nahyan Stadium on January 6.

IANS