Birmingham, June 10 (IANS): The England cricket team has too much at stake in the second Test against New Zealand to lose focus and get distracted by the Ollie Robinson tweets issue of the first Test, says its former captain Nasser Hussain. The second Test began at Edgbaston here on Thursday. The first match had ended in a draw. "I have no doubt that England's cricketers will be able to focus on the matter at hand at Edgbaston -- winning a Test series against New Zealand

Chennai, June 10 (IANS): Perhaps in a first of its kind, doctors at the MGM Healthcare, on Thursday said they have successfully performed a live-donor liver transplant on a Covid positive national kabaddi player in coma with liver failure. The 26-year-old patient, Raghul Gandhi, hailing from Puducherry developed acute liver failure and his condition worsened due to sudden onset of jaundice. He slipped into a deep coma within two days after being diagnosed with the disease and was

Birmingham, June 10 (IANS): New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman BJ Watling's swansong hit a jarring note on Thursday after the 35-year-old was ruled out of the second Test against England due to a sore back. The Test match at Edgbaston, which began on Thursday, was expected to be the penultimate of his career, as he looks to retire after the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India. "BLACKCAPS wicket-keeper BJ Watling is a late withdrawal from the second Test again

New Delhi, June 10 (IANS): Former Asian Games gold medallist in boxing Ngangom Dingko Singh, who passed away on Thursday morning, will be remembered as a person who revolutionised boxing in particular, and sports in general, in Manipur -- and in India. Dingko, was suffering from liver cancer, and he passed away aged 42. He had to undergo radiation therapy for liver treatment in January last year. He even had to sell his house for his medical treatment. He had also tested positi

Tokyo, June 10 (IANS): Tokyo Olympic Games could see a ban on alcohol in dining and public areas of the Games Village although athletes will be allowed to consume it inside their rooms. "In case they were to drink inside their own rooms -- this is equivalent to cases where we are drinking in our own home," Toshiri Muto, CEO of Tokyo Olympic Games Organising Committee, told Japanese media. "Can we prohibit that (drinking inside own rooms)? That's not conceivable

Sydney, June 9 (IANS): Seven top Australian players -- Pat Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson and Jhye Richardson -- could pull out of the national team's white-ball series in the West Indies next month, according to media reports. The development comes a day after Cricket Australia announced six additions to their 23-member preliminary squad for the limited-overs cricket tours of West Indies and Bangladesh in July and August. A

Sydney, June 9 (IANS): Former Australia batsman Michael Di Venuto, who is credited for laying Steve Smith's path to greatness, has returned to Australian team as assistant coach for the limited-overs tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh in July and August respectively. Although there is no clarity over his role, it looks likely that he will settle into the post of batting coach which he once occupied between 2013 and 2016. The Australian cricket team is without a batting c

New Delhi, June 9 (IANS): Krishna Nagar, a para badminton player from Jaipur in Rajasthan, was allotted Paralympic Games quota place in men's singles short stature 6 (MS SH 6) category on Monday by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). "It is a big achievement for me. I have been training hard for the past one year and earning a ticket for the Tokyo Paralympic Games is like a dream come true," the 22-year-old Nagar told IANS from Lucknow. Nagar, winner of bronze med

Hengelo (The Netherlands), June 9 (IANS): Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey clocked 29 minutes 01.3 seconds to break the women's 10,000-metre world record by five seconds during the Ethiopian athletics trials here on Tuesday night. "I expected to run a world record. I would like to try to break the 29-minute [barrier] in 10,000m in future," the 23 years old said in the post-race interaction. Last year, Letesenbet set a world 5000m record of 14 minutes 06.62 seconds. T

Paris, June 9 (IANS): Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, to enter semi-finals of the French Open here in a late match on Tuesday. This was Greek Tsitsipas's only second win over the Russian who was looking to get to world No. 1 position. Medvedev could have become No. 1 had he won the title or even by reaching the final without current No. 1 Djokovic reaching there. The two-hour-21-minute battle saw Tsitsi

New Delhi, Junè 8 (PTI) The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has written to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for sanction of four travelling coaches, including chief national coach Pullela Gopichand, and two physios to travel with the Indian badminton contingent to the Tokyo Olympics. Apart from Gopichand, who has been to the last three Olympics, the three foreign coaches -- Agus Dwi Santoso (Indonesia), Park Tae Sang (Korea) and Mathias Boe (Denmark) were named in th

London, June 8 (PTI) The Indian team management has decided to give a three-week break to its players after the World Test Championship final in a bid to address the mental fatigue that might be triggered by lengthy spells in a bio-bubble. The WTC final against New Zealand will be held from June 18-22 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton and the members of the Indian squad will disperse for close to three weeks (20 days) before regrouping on July 14 to prepare for the five-match series

Warsaw, Jun 8 (PTI) Olympic-bound Indian wrestler Deepak Punia on Tuesday pulled out of the Poland Open here to avoid aggravating his left-hand injury that he carried into the last Ranking Series event before the Tokyo Games. Punia was to take mat for the 86kg event but forfeited his quarterfinal against American Zahid Valencia. It has been learnt that the 2019 World championships bronze-winner had suffered the injury two-three days before leaving for Warsaw during practice. &quo

Doha, Jun 8 (PTI) Sunil Chhetri has never liked counting his goals and he prefers to keep it that way even after surpassing the great Lionel Messi as the second highest scorer in international football. The 36-year-old Chhetri achieved his 74th strike with his brace against Bangladesh in the joint preliminary qualifying round match for 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup here on Monday night. Messi has 73 so far. The skipper said he will get down to counting his goals prob

Bengaluru, June 8 (IANS) India men's hockey team goalkeeper Krishan Pathak said on Tuesday that coordination with defenders was the key to a sturdy defence. The 24-year-old Pathak, who has donned India colours in 50 matches, added that he is "always in sync" with the plans made by the defenders. "There might be only one goalkeeper on the pitch, but he is definitely not alone. I keep speaking to the defenders about their plans and ensure that I am in sync with t

New Delhi, June 8 (IANS) India skipper Virat Kohli will be vulnerable against New Zealand in the World Test Championship final if conditions in Southampton aid swing and seam bowling, said former New Zealand captain and coach Glenn Turner. "I don't wish to speculate on whether Kohli's reflexes have deteriorated. But if the pitch and overall conditions favour seam and swing, he is also likely to struggle along with others as was demonstrated in New Zealand," the for

Paris, June 8 (IANS) After her fourth-round victory extended her winning streak to 10 matches in French Open as well as this season, eighth seed Iga Swiatek is gearing up to face giant-killer Maria Sakkari with 'patience' as a weapon. Sakkari had beaten No.4 seed Sofia Kenin in straight sets on Monday before Swiatek had to battle against Marta Kostyuk for her 6-3, 6-4 win. "I have not played her, so it is hard to say. I played many practices with her, and she is real

London, June 8 (IANS) A day after England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) suspended pace bowler Ollie Robinson for eight-year-old racist and sexist tweets, another current England player could find himself in trouble after an old, racist tweet of his was brought to light by media. The name of the player has been withheld by wisden.com which exposed the tweet. The player was 16 when he wrote, "your going out with an Asian. -_- < #asianthroughandthrough #hweolloo #chinky.&quo

London, June 7 (IANS) When India captain Virat Kohli and New Zealand counterpart Kane Williamson take field for the World Test Championship (WTC) final on June 18, they will renew a captaincy rivalry that goes back 13 years, to the 2008 under-19 World Cup semi-final. Kohli came out winner in that duel, and India eventually won the World Cup by beating South Africa in the final. Since then, however, Williamson has grown in experience and earned accolades for his leadership whereas

Budapest, June 7 (IANS) India's Jasleen Singh Saini on Monday lost in first round of the men's 66kg category and crashed out of the World Judo Championships here. He lost to Radu Izvoreanu of Moldova. On Sunday, India's top ranked woman judoka Sushila Devi had lost her first-round match of the 48kg category. Susila, however, could still qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games through the continental quota. She will, however, have to wait until June 28 to know her fate.