Renault's Chinese test driver Guanyu Zhou won a virtual Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday as Formula One sought to entertain fans with esports action in a season stalled by the spreading coronavirus. The first seven rounds of the real championship have been cancelled or postponed, including the showcase Monaco Grand Prix, and it remains to be seen how many there will be ultimately.
Jenson Button won a 'Legends Trophy' esports race on Saturday with fellow retired Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve going from last to sixth on his virtual debut.
The industry came under scrutiny after the proliferation of games like cards, casinos, and fantasy sports among young people led to addiction and financial losses, with some reported cases of suicide.
England cricketer Ben Stokes will test his driving skills against five Formula One drivers, including Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, in the sport's second virtual Grand Prix this weekend. The World Cup winning all-rounder will team up with Thai racer Alexander Albon in the Red Bull line-up for his first esports competition.
74% of users play fantasy sports 1-3 times a week, with the majority playing once a week and 20% of the respondents reported playing more than five times a week, says a report on the online gaming industry in India.
India chess captain Vidit Gujrathi shared a memory of beating the legendary Viswanathan Anand for the first time and termed it as a special moment of his career.
'Banning a game is not the solution, rather, there should be laws that restrict the number of hours spent a week playing a game.'
Rafael Nadal will have his work cut out when play begins next week, not on the Caja Magica's three red dust courts, but on gaming consoles.
Most sports in New Zealand, including the dominant rugby union, have said they were suffering financial pressure from the outbreak as broadcast, commercial, sponsor and ticket revenue all dried up.
Every day at 9 am, five 20-somethings who live in a 4-bedroom apartment in Bengaluru have a session with their physical trainer. After a workout, they spend the next 8 to 10 hours in their spacious living room, headphones in place and computer screens in front of them. Their salaried job: To play video games for the rest of the day.
Alex Marquez celebrated a first MotoGP win -- even if only virtually -- in a '#StayAtHomeGP' esports race featuring 10 top riders including older brother and six-time world champion Marc.
While Formula One rivals compete in virtual grands prix and various esports series during the coronavirus lockdown, six-times World champion Lewis Hamilton has been busy racing against himself. The Briton has been a keen gamer since boyhood and for some years a brand ambassador for the Gran Turismo franchise on Sony's PlayStation.
Sports fans and players across the world frustrated by cancelled matches because of the coronavirus epidemic are turning to e-sports, with professional real-world athletes joining virtual game tournaments of football, auto racing and basketball.
Sex and soccer have long been comfortable bedfellows in Brazil.
With football matches cancelled across Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus, La Liga players Borja Iglesias and Sergio Reguilon found a novel way to attract 60,000 online fans - by battling out a thrilling Seville derby on the FIFA 20 videogame. Fans in Andalusia suffering from La Liga withdrawal symptoms after Sunday's clash between Sevilla and Real Betis was postponed tuned in for the showdown between Betis's Iglesias and Sevilla's Reguilon on streaming service Twitch.
Some of England's leading players will go head-to-head from their living rooms over Easter as part of a new FIFA 20 tournament launched by the FA on Thursday.
Sebastian Vettel has never been one for social media or had much time for esports but even the four-times world champion has shifted his stance, however slightly, under Formula One's coronavirus lockdown. Although the 32-year-old Ferrari driver is still not remotely tempted by Twitter or Instagram, he has acquired a gaming rig. Just how much the German uses it remains to be seen.
With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is being staged online. Nadal showed impressive fingerwork to beat young Canadian Denis Shapovalov in his opening round-robin match on a digital representation of the Spanish capital's Manolo Santana Stadium.
Every brand and company in India too will soon need a metaverse strategy, notes Sandeep Goyal.
Anahat Singh seals berth for World Junior Squash C'ship after topping selection trials
A summary of all things football.
The Thai's victory over his Ferrari rival gave Red Bull something to celebrate on a day that should have seen the return of Max Verstappen's home Dutch Grand Prix after a 35-year absence.
Professional tennis has been suspended since March because of the outbreak and the ATP and WTA Tours have said the hiatus will continue at least until mid-July. Andy Murray had previously said that tennis would be one of the last sports to resume.
Former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen has offered to play for Brazilian team Chapecoense following the air crash in Colombia last week in which most of their players died.
NASCAR will be the first major sport in the United States to return to action amid the coronavirus pandemic after the organisers of the popular racing series said on Thursday that the season will resume without fans in mid-May. NASCAR, which postponed racing in mid-March due to concerns over the novel coronavirus, said its season will resume on May 17 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Ferrari are planning to add female racers to their expanding young driver programme as they seek to develop talent for the future.
In fact, NASCAR will just about be the only show in town, with the NBA and NHL, which would in the thick of the playoffs at this point of the season, and MLB all on the sidelines muddling through various return to play scenarios.
Formula One expects to run a shortened season of 15-18 Grands Prix once racing can resume after the coronavirus pandemic, hopefully during the European summer, chairman and chief executive Chase Carey said on Monday. The original 2020 calendar had a record 22 races but the season has yet to start with the first eight postponed or cancelled and more likely to be called off.
'In order to resume, I think the Tour is going to be open when the world is completely open, and everybody can travel freely'
The English Premier League is exploring the use of audio effects and computer generated 'fans', to improve the viewer experience of watching behind closed doors games. The league voted on Monday to allow teams to return to non-contact training in small groups from Tuesday and hopes to be able to clear contact training next week as it steps up 'Project Restart'.
In a statement, the Albert Einstein Hospital said Pele had undergone a transurethral resection of the prostate. According to the US National Institutes of Health's website, the procedure involves removing an internal part of the prostate gland in order to treat an enlarged prostate.
Nadal may have 19 Grand Slam titles, one shy of Federer's all-time men's record, but when it comes to IT skills, he resembled a Sunday morning park hacker crumbling under pressure. After some pleasantries, the conversation moved on to the forthcoming virtual Madrid Open being contested with joysticks rather than tennis rackets.
The Ultimate Tennis Showdown will be held at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in Nice with 10 matches every weekend for a total of 50 matches and prize money on offer for each clash.
Max Verstappen apologised to Brazilian Formula One fans on Monday after a comment about Felipe Massa caused offence at the weekend.
Brazil's World Cup stadium in Natal is up for sale as the company that owns it is suffering from cash flow problems following a corruption scandal.
'I asked him what he thought of the result and he said he liked it' 'He said it made him look older and asked for it to be thinned out a bit to make it smoother and more jovial'
Brazil coach Dunga said Tuesday he would pick star striker Neymar for the Olympics rather than the Copa America Centenario if he is only cleared to play in one tournament this summer. Neymar's summer schedule has been the subject of much debate, with the Barcelona superstar initially vowing to play both tournaments -- the 16-team Copa America in the United States in June followed by the Olympics in August. But the chances of Barcelona signing off on such a grueling schedule for their prized striker seem remote. With the Copa America part of the FIFA calendar, Barcelona are obliged to release Neymar for the tournament. However, the Spanish giants have no obligation to release Neymar for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where five-time world champions Brazil will once again try to win the only major title that has eluded them. It is possible Barcelona could give Neymar the green light to play in the the Olympics on the condition he does not play the Copa America.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
Media attention has focused on whether their most prized asset Neymar will eventually make a sensational move to the Santiago Bernabeu.
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