World number three Dominic Thiem is "extremely sorry" for the way players conducted themselves at Novak Djokovic's Adria Tour exhibition event after which four players tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Austrian said on Thursday. Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki tested positive after playing in the charity tournament in Serbia and Croatia, which drew big crowds and saw players pose for pictures together.
Croatia will need their big-game players to step up.
Iceland must beat group leaders Croatia and hope the result of Argentina against Nigeria goes their way too.
Eighth seed Casper Ruud rallied from a set down to beat an error-prone Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to become the first Norwegian man to reach a Grand Slam singles final and set up a French Open title clash against 13-time champion Rafael Nadal.
Lorenzo Insigne curled a quite wonderful shot beyond the reach of Belgium goal-keeper Thibaut Courtois after jinking in from the left flank.
Organisers of the world's biggest tournaments say they will not make the same mistakes as they reopen the sport and seek to keep the players safe.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
France's progression to Sunday's World Cup final has included arguably the tournament's most boring and most exciting matches.
Spain claimed the biggest win of the tournament with a 5-0 thrashing of Slovakia in their final European Championship Group E match on Wednesday to finish second in the group and set up a last-16 clash with Croatia in Copenhagen.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the Wimbledon Championships from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Tuesday.
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan saved three match-points in an edge-of-the-seat thriller to prevail over a fighting Danish pair of Frederik Nielsen and Mikael Torpegaard as India kept its place in the Davis Cup World Group I by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Play-off tie, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
Relations between Ukraine and Russia remain highly charged following Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its backing for a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine. Some Ukrainian politicians have called on countries to boycott the soccer World Cup, which Russia is hosting.
The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used for the first time in a World Cup final to award France a 38th-minute penalty which Antoine Griezmann scored to give them a 2-1 lead over Croatia.
Real Madrid and Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was voted Player of the Year for last season by European soccer body UEFA on Thursday, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah with Lionel Messi fifth.
Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has defended his Serbian compatriot Novak Djokovic for hosting the ill-fated Adria Tour where a number of players, including the world number one, tested positive for COVID-19. Djokovic was criticised for hosting the tennis tournament amid a pandemic after his coach Goran Ivanisevic and players Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki returned positive tests over the two legs in Serbia and Croatia.
Australian Nick Kyrgios has hit out at Alexander Zverev after a video appeared to show the German dancing at a crowded club on Sunday despite the world No. 7 pledging last week he would be self-isolating. The video was posted on Instagram by German designer Philipp Plein and later deleted. There was no indication when the video was taken.
India's Davis Cup tie against Finland was on Friday postponed to 2021 as the International Tennis Federation pushed back all the matches, including the Finals, to next year owing to COVID-19 pandemic. India were scheduled to travel to Finland for the World Group I tie in September.
Novak Djokovic marked his return to Serbia, after being stranded in the Spanish resort of Marbella for two months due to the coronavirus lockdown, by announcing that he has organised an event which will be contested across the Balkans. When the world number one had travelled to Marbella with his family in mid-March to visit his younger brother Marko, he had no idea it would be another two months before he could return to his homeland on Sunday.
The Polish Hockey Association picked up the Theo Ikema Award, thanks to the various hockey development projects resulting in 30 newly trained coaches and over 3000 schoolchildren being introduced to the sport within the country.
A summary of Saturday's action in LaLiga, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
Olympic trials: TTFI seeks MEA's help in getting visa for para contingent.
'Luis Enrique has been very important to us and we're all at ease with him.'
Jorge Sampaoli took the blame for Thursday's shambolic 3-0 World Cup defeat by Croatia as he tried to deflect the criticism from a terrible goalkeeping mistake and a poor performance by his captain Lionel Messi.
Images from football friendlies played on Wednesday.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a Croatian soccer shirt with the name 'Putin' printed on the back on Sunday, hours before Croatia play France in the World Cup final in Moscow.
Cristiano Ronaldo rattled home a superb first-half free kick to become only the second male player to score 100 international goals as Portugal outclassed 10-man Sweden 2-0 in their Nations League A Group 3 game on Tuesday.
Images from the 2020 Euro Championships qualifiers played on Saturday
According to Jhingan, not being able to play in the ISL or international matches would have been more frustrating for him.
Former Olympian and World Cup gold medallist Jayanta Talukdar was being treated in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for low oxygen count a week after he was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The 51-year-old Stimac, who was part of Croatia's 1998 World Cup squad that finished third in France, was Wednesday officially announced as head coach of the Indian team. He comes with an experience of over 18 years in coaching, structuring, and developing football with players back home and internationally.
'This was due to some issue over time slots as athletes from all competing nations train at the same venue'
Croatia's Euro 2016 match against the Czech Republic was held up for several minutes after their fans threw flares on to the pitch and began fighting among themselves on Friday. Eight flares and other objects landed on the pitch near to riot police, who had been deployed in front of the section housing Croatia fans. The trouble broke out in the dying minutes of a game that Croatia were leading 2-1.
Pakistan on Monday banned travel from 15 countries, except under certain conditions, and tightened up travel restrictions on 13 other countries in wake of the threat of the new COVID-19 variant Omicorn.
Russia took an unassailable 2-0 lead over Croatia in the Davis Cup final in Madrid on Sunday to secure their third title and first in 15 years, as Daniil Medvedev outlasted Croatian Marin Cilic 7-6(7), 6-2.
Djokovic received severe backlash for organising the tournament with an audience amid the pandemic.
The Euro 2020 Championship is being held across Europe for the first time in the competition's 60-year history, with 11 host cities in total.
The rankings were the first to be issued since France beat Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup final on July 15 and also the first since FIFA replaced its much-criticised previous formula.
Djokovic received a lot of heat from the tennis community and fans alike after testing positive.
France are favourites as Moscow basked in sweltering summer sun
A debatable penalty awarded with the use of FIFA's new video replay system proved a turning point in the World Cup final on Sunday and raised more questions over whether the new technology is being used in the way it was originally intended.
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