The odds will be stacked heavily in favour of India when the title contenders, with an eye on securing a knockout berth, meet minnows Papua New Guinea in the ICC U-19 World Cup, in Mount Maunganui, on Tuesday.
Conceding an early goal jolted India out of inertia and the visitors outplayed New Zealand 2-1 in the second Test of the four-match hockey series at the National Stadium in Wellington on Sunday. The home side took the early lead with Simon Child sounding the board in the fourth minute. Stung by the jolt, Tushar Khandekar restored parity for India in the 30th minute while skipper Sandeep Singh produced the match-winner with a penalty corner conversion in the 55th minute.
Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Simon Katich feels that a hughly seasoned captain like Mahendra Singh Dhoni must have had his reasons for not giving full quota of overs to his premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in most of the recent IPL matches.
Delhi Waveriders crushed Kalinga Lancers 6-0 to storm into the semi-finals of the Hockey India League on Wednesday.
A superlative 52-ball 75 by Australian Simon Katich and aggressive by captain Yuvraj Singh helped Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by four wickets in the Indian Premier League match in Mohali on Sunday.
While Belgium dominated the first half, India did well to roar back in the second session. Belgium went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead, but India fought back well to keep pressure on the opponents in the 2nd half.
After a goalless opening two quarters, Nick Ross broke the deadlock for New Zealand in the 41st minute. But the hosts' joy was short lived as India equalised two minutes later through a field goal from SV Sunil (43rd).
Rajneesh Gupta surveys the batting landscape in India-Australia Test encounters.
Sandeep Singh's hat-trick went in vain as India squandered a 2-0 lead to go down 3-4 to New Zealand in their first match of the Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Thursday.
Much of this has been made possible by the owners's insistence on building a team, rather than banking on a collection of talented individuals not necessarily suited to play alongside one another.
'The spelling mistakes have screwed up the Index section of the book as well,' The News reported from Washington.
Dipa Karmakar's historic 4th place finish in Artistic Gymnastics drew praise from the entire nation. The Tripura girl performed with exceptional grit but missed out on a medal by a narrow margin. The 22-year old, who had earlier become the first Indian gymnast to qualify for finals, was lauded by Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and former cricketer Virender Sehwag.
Indian men's hockey team fired in a goal two minutes from the final hooter through Ramandeep Singh to pull off a 3-2 win over France and begin their FIH World League semi-finals campaign on a winning note in Antwerp.
'When cricketers, coaches, captains, managers, franchise owners focus on the prize, they forget the process.' 'You can't win every game. Getting better is all about making mistakes.'
It was 15 minutes of total confusion as TV replays of Dhoni's catch were inconclusive.
Juventus and Inter, who have 42 points each from 17 games, both play on Monday while Lazio, with 39 from 17, have an outstanding fixture at home to Verona to come in early February.
'Now it's about going out there and lift the trophy and achieve his the ultimate goal'
India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will join compatriot Virender Sehwag and a host of other international cricketers for a charity match at the Kia Oval on September 17.
Some England soccer fans sobbed while others looked to the future with confidence
Indian defence crumbled under the onslaught of a rampaging Australia as they were handed a 1-5 thrashing by the world champions in their second league fixture of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia on Thursday. Australia, the eight-time winners of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, launched their campaign to reclaim the title they lost to New Zealand last year with a dominant performance against the Indian side seeking to provide exposure to several youngsters. Blake Govers (fifth minute), Jacob Whetton (13th), Eddie Okkenden (20th), Simon Orchard (25th) and Matt Ghodes (53rd) scored for Australia, who have brought virtually their full-strength squad to prepare for the Olympic Games. India's lone goal came through a penalty corner conversion by Rupinder Pal Singh in the eighth minute. This was Australia first outing in the round-robin league, while India prevailed 2-1 over Japan on Wednesday in an unimpressive campaign opener.
Delhi Waveriders' winless streak continued as they lost 2-3 to defending champions Jaypee Punjab Warriors to slump to their third defeat in the fifth edition of the Hockey India League, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Images from Day 1 of the third Test between India and South Africa in Nagpur, on Wednesday.
Portugal's football team captain Cristiano Ronaldo's agent has revealed that the forward would play out the rest of his career at Real Madrid, shunning reports of a return to Manchester United.
The two Indian golfing aces were just a stroke behind world No 2 Ernie Els in the Caltex Singapore Masters.
India defeated Papua New Guinea by 10 wickets in a U-19 World Cup match, in Mount Maunganui, on Tuesday.
India settled for silver after losing to Australia 3-1 (0-0) in penalty shootout in the final of Champions Trophy hockey tournament in London on Saturday. After their spectacular effort to hold World No.1 Australia at 0-0 in regular time, India missed three penalties in the shootout to go down fighting in a morale-boosting clash. SK Uthappa, vice-captain SV Sunil and Surendar Kumar missed the strokes for India.
Former seam bowlers Venkatesh Prasad and Balwinder Sing
India crashed to their second defeat in the men's hockey World Cup by conceding a late goal yet again to go down 1-2 against England at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague on Monday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers to take note of at the end of the first day's play in the third Test between India and South Africa.
The second edition of the Hockey India League gets underway on Saturday with Punjab Warriors taking on Delhi Waveriders in the opening match at the newly-built International Hockey Stadium in Mohali.
His approach to the game was a complete dichotomy to his background, a rich kid, who had a fleet of chauffeur-driven cars waiting for him to be taken to practice.
The focus is firmly trained on teen sensation Manu Bhaker as the fancied Indian shooting team eyes a head start at the 21st Commonwealth Games
Appealing that another chance be given to Hardik Pandya and K L Rahul, who have drawn flak for their outrage-evoking comments on women during a chat show, renowned umpire Simon Taufel Monday said 'we all make mistakes'.
Nikita Puri lists the best shows and films to watch online as you ace social distancing.
Star batsman Rohit Sharma's finger fracture is not only a blow to the Indian team but a big setback for Mumbai Indians as well, who will be playing their Champions League T20 qualifiers starting September 13, in Raipur.
Kedar Jadhav slams unbeaten 93, Shreyas Iyer scores half-century while Varun Aaron takes three wickets.
Jaypee Punjab Warriors made it to the third final with a 3-1 win over Delhi Waveriders while it will be a maiden summit clash for Kalinga Lancers who ousted defending champions Ranchi Rays 4-2 in the Hockey India League, in Ranchi, on Saturday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday.
The 22-yard strip at the Feroz Shah Kotla will be the cynosure of all eyes as a buoyant India seeks their biggest series triumph against South Africa when they square off in the final Test of the four-match rubber in Delhi on Thursday.
