Manchester United and Liverpool, England's two most successful clubs, will do battle in the third round of the FA Cup after the draw was made on Sunday.
As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.
Reigning champion Pankaj Advani stayed on course for a second successive World Professional Billiards title after securing contrasting wins over compatriot Sushrat Pandia and England's Martin Goodwill on the opening day of the event in Leeds.
Moeen Ali scored a majestic century as England amassed an impressive first-innings total by lunch on Day Two of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Durham.
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India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani clinched the World Billiards Championship (time format) title to bag a record 12th world crown on Wednesday and in so doing completed a rare 'Grand Double' post his third win in both the long and short formats in the same year.
Pogba said last month that he could seek a new challenge after three years at United, while his agent recently told The Times that the 26-year-old intends to leave the club amid reports linking him to Juventus and Real Madrid.
Statistical highlights of the fifth and final day in the first Test between India and South Africa, in Centurion, on Monday. South Africa beat India by an innings and 25 runs to a take a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.
Even as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has been busy fighting his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to take control of the party, his step-brother Prateek Yadav has kept himself away from the hullaballoo and has been busy building his biceps.
'I thought Virat Kohli was the best batsman I've ever seen because of the way he plays in all forms, but Steve Smith... that's another level.'
Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Paul Robinson has withdrawn from the England squad to face Hungary and retired from international soccer, the English Football Association (FA) said on Sunday.
Channel Nine plans to broadcast some action from this summer's Australia-England Ashes series in 3D, although not the Tests themselves, and plans to take cricket viewers where they have never been before.
Pankaj Advani's hopes of winning the World Professional Billiards title for the second consecutive time went up in smoke after compatriot Dhruv Sitwala registered a hard fought 723-608 victory over the reigning champion in the quarter-finals of the event in Leeds.
Chelsea reached the League Cup quarter-finals thanks to two own goals in a 3-2 win over second-tier Derby County on Wednesday as Frank Lampard's return to his former club ended in disappointment.
Tottenham Hotspur have loaned Ireland striker Robbie Keane to the Premier League's bottom club West Ham United until the end of the season with an option for a permanent cross-London move, the clubs said on Sunday.
Talking points from this weekend's Premier League action as top two Manchester City and Liverpool both won with City remaining a point clear with two games remaining.
'Not thought about scoring five hundreds. I just go out there and do my job. Not thinking about all these kind of milestones'
England forward Theo Walcott has apologised for trying to win a penalty by diving in Arsenal's 1-1 FA Cup third-round draw against Leeds United on Saturday.
Dipika Pallikal equalled the highest ranking ever achieved by an Indian women squash player when she obtained a career-best 27th rank in the Women's International Squash Player's Association (WISPA) charts.
Arsenal eased past second-tier Reading 2-0 with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scoring twice, while Newcastle United romped to a 6-0 win over 10-man Preston North End and Hull City won 2-1 at Bristol City.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field
Indian captain Virat Kohli continued his unbelievable record-breaking spree with the bat as he surpassed the legendary Sir Donald Bradman and Rahul Dravid by becoming the first batsman to score double hundreds in four successive Test series.
The type of cricket balls used in England will give the Pakistan bowlers a huge advantage over the home side in the four-Test series starting this week, former Pakistan players said on Monday.
Ireland's most prolific goal-scorer Robbie Keane announced his retirement on Wednesday after an 18-year career in which he scored 67 goals for his country to put him 15th on the list of all-time international marksmen.
Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of at least three World Cup matches after sustaining a hairline fracture on his left hand.
The Indian cueist was unstoppable in the 150-up format, beating Ireland's Wayne Doyle, England's Aaron Davies, Australia's Grant Meadley and Vietnam's Long Nguyen Thanh to take the top position in Group A.
Andrew Strauss delivered the perfect riposte to those questioning his place in England's One-Day team with a polished 126 to help his side to a four-wicket win over Pakistan in Leeds on Sunday.
Joe Root was named 'Test Player of the Year', 'Limited Overs Player of the Year' and Fans' 'Player of the Year' at England's annual awards ceremony on Monday. The Yorkshire batsman, 25, hit two centuries in England's Ashes triumph last year, scored four one-day tons and was his team's leading scorer at the recent World Twenty20 tournament in India. He overcame competition from Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes for the Test award and edged Jos Buttler and David Willey in the Limited Overs category, with both prizes decided upon by a media poll.
Pankaj Advani failed to defend his IBSF billiards title in the Points format, as he went down 0-6 to nine-time World champion Mike Russell of England in a one-sided final in Pune on Monday. Russell, who lost to Advani in the World Professional Billiards championship in Leeds last year, produced an impeccable display of cue control and potting to beat the Indian 151-129, 151-00, 151-29, 150-20, 151-09, 151-125.
Australia's explosive opening batsman David Warner, who was there on the field when Phillip Hughes was struck on that fateful day back in late 2014, has insisted that every time he scores runs, it's for the late Australian left hander. On his way out to bat on the opening day of the third Test against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Warner gently placed his hand on the plaque stationed immediately outside the Australian team dressing room that was erected in Hughes' memory.
England captain Alastair Cook will be eyeing a place in history when his side's three-Test series with Sri Lanka begins in Leeds on May 19. Cook boasts 9,964 runs and is just 36 runs short of completing 10,000 runs in Test cricket. More notably, the 31-year old can eclipse master blaster Sachin Tendulkar's record of being the youngest to reach the 10,000-run feat. Tendulkar's 10,000th Test run came against Pakistan in Kolkata in March 2005, a little more than a month before his 32nd birthday. Cook meanwhile, turned 31 on Christmas Day last year, meaning if he scores the 36 runs required in the opening Test against the visiting Sri Lankans at Headingley, he would have reached the 10,000 barrier five months younger than India's batting legend. While Cook looks likely to become the youngest man to 10,000 Test runs, he won't be the fastest to reach the milestone in terms of innings played.
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