India to play against Sydney FC
new delhi: The Indian football team will face a tough test when it takes on defending A-league Premier Champions Sydney FC in a friendly match on August 28 as part of its exposure tour of Australia. India are also scheduled to play APIA leichhardt Tigers FC and Rydalmere lions FC on August 25 and 31 respectively. "Sydney FC are the current A-league Premiers Champion and the best-performing club over the last 3 years. It will be a huge test for us and we are ready for that," India head coach Constantine said. While APIA leichhardt Tigers FC are the reigning National Premier leagues NSW premiers champion, Rydalmere lions FC have been promoted to NSW NPl2 after finishing at the top of NSW NPl 3 last season.
Anand plays draw with levon
st louis: Former World Champion Viswanathan Anand played out his fifth draw on the trot in the Sinquefield Cup, signing peace with levon Aronian of Armenia in the fifth round here. After a rather forgettable show in the preceding Rapid and Blitz event, this is a comeback of sorts for Anand as he remained within striking distance of the five leaders but now needs to drive in top gear in the remaining four rounds to have any chance of a podium finish. World Champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway split the point with Wesley So of United States. In other games of the day, Frenchman Maxime-Vachie-lagrave could not dent the Petroff defense of Fabiano Caruana of United States and the all-Russian duel between Sergey Karjakin and Alexander Grischuk could not reach a decisive point."
Rajput is Zimbabwe's new coach
mumbai: Former India opener lalchand Rajput has been appointed as the head coach of Zimbabwe's national team. Zimbabwe Cricket made the announcement on their official Twitter handle. "@ZimCricketv is thrilled to announce lalchand Rajput has been appointed as the substantive head coach of our mens national team. The former @BCCI international is a respected and successful coach reputed for his passion, hard work and intimate knowledge of the game #AllTheBest," Zimbabwe Cricket tweeted. Rajput was earlier appointed as the interim head coach of Zimbabwe in May for the tri-series involving Pakistan and Zimbabwe and for the ODI rubber against Pakistan. "I am happy and excited over the appointment and look forward to the challenges ahead. I am thankful to Zimbabwe Cricket for recognising my coaching abilities and giving me a three-year term, but renewable yearly," Rajput said.
3 boxers in q/f of youth c’ship
budapest: Three Indian boxers, including reigning champion Nitu (48kg), advanced to the quarterfinals of the world youth championships here. Anamika (51kg), who did not get a first-round bye, entered the pre-quarters after beating Bulgaria's Goryana Stoeva in her opening bout 5-0 on Thursday. Among the three who made the quarters, two were from the men's draw. Asian Bronze-medallist Bhavesh Kittamani (52kg) and S Barun Singh (49kg) advanced to the last eight with identical victories. Nitu, pummelled her opponent — Bulgaria's Aynurova Zakifova — prompting the referee to stop the contest in the Indian's favour in the third round. Bhavesh claimed a dominating 5-0 win over Iran's Mobin Alaee, while Barun defeated Sodirbek Komolmirzaev by a similar scoreline.
Root to play in Big Bash
sydney: England captain Joe Root will play for the Sydney Thunder in Australia's Twenty20 Big Bash league from December. Root and England teammate Jos Buttler will both play the first half of the BBl season for the Thunder, in a window between England's tour to Sri lanka and its series against the West Indies. In a statement on Friday, Root said "everyone you speak to that has played in the Big Bash finds it a really interesting tournament and watching it you can see that. You want to be involved in it and I'm really excited to get that opportunity with Sydney Thunder.".
