PSG & Utd eyeing Lewandowski transfer
Paris: Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski has received offers from both Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, according to a report in German football magazine Kicker on Thursday. Kicker reported that Lewandowski, whose current deal at Bayern runs until 2021, was unhappy with the club's plan to extend his contract by a single year, suggesting the player wanted a longer deal. "At the moment, he has requests from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain," the magazine wrote. The 30-year-old Polish striker has scored 189 goals in 240 games for Bayern since joining in 2014, and has consistently been linked to Europe's biggest clubs. He openly flirted with a move to Real Madrid last summer, before ultimately staying in Munich.
Stimac names probables for kings camp
New Delhi: Injured striker Jeje Lalpekhlua along with four others have been left out of the national team's probables' list for the Kings Cup football tournament in Thailand next month. India's newly-appointed head coach Igor Stimac on Thursday announced the list of 37 probables for the preparatory camp ahead of the Kings Cup to be held in Buriram, Thailand from June 5-8. The camp will be held in New Delhi from May 20. Besides Jeje, a host of other players who will miss the Thailand campaign are Halicharan Narzary (knee injury), Mandar Rao Desai (hamstring injury), Ashique Kuruniyan (knee injury), Narender Gehlot (knee injury) and Jerry Lalrinzuala. The King's Cup is a FIFA-sanctioned international 'A' tournament being organised by the Thailand FA since 1968. India's previous participation in the King's Cup was in 1977. Hosts Thailand and Vietnam are the two other teams participating in the tournament.
Sharapova rules out of Roland Garros
Paris: Maria Sharapova has pulled out of this year's French Open with a shoulder injury, the two-time former Roland Garros winner announced on Wednesday. Sharapova, 32, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has not played since pulling out of a tournament in her native Russia at the end of January. "Sometimes the right decisions aren't always the easiest ones," she said in a post on her Instagram account. "In better news, I have returned to the practice court, and slowly building the strength back in my shoulder," she added with a picture of her lifting the Roland Garros trophy in 2014. Sharapova has been struggling back to top fitness since watching from the sidelines during her 15-month doping ban that ended in 2017. This year's French Open will run from May 26 until June 9, with Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep as defending champions.
SuperSonics beat Triumph Knights
Mumbai: SoBo SuperSonics defeated defending champions Triumph Knights Mumbai North East by four wickets to register their second successive win in T20 Mumbai League at Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday. Opting to bowl first, the SuperSonics restricted the Knights to a sub-par 143 for eight and later opener Hersh Tank's 47 (39b, 5x4, 1x6) laid the foundation stone of the win. Despite a mini-collapse in the middle, the lower middle-order, assisted by sloppy catching, helped the SuperSonics cross the line off the penultimate ball. Tank's dismissal off the last ball of the 13th over triggered a mini-collapse, with Knights picking three wickets for 25 runs in 24 balls to leave SuperSonics at 118 for five. But they eventually overhauled the target.
China to host 2023 football Asian Cup
Beijing: South Korea have abandoned their bid to stage football's Asian Cup in 2023, authorities said, leaving the sole other bidders China with a free run to become hosts. The Korea Football Association (KFA) said in a statement it had pulled out to "strategically focus" on a joint bid with North Korea to host the Women's World Cup in the same year. The KFA announced the joint bid in March, but diplomatic contacts between Pyongyang and Seoul have since dwindled with North Korea-US nuclear talks deadlocked. "For the Women's World Cup, FIFA and the South Korean government will provide active support so that the joint hosting by South and North Koreas can be materialised," the KFA's head Chun Han-jin said in the statement late on Wednesday. Seoul's Asian Cup withdrawal means that China should on June 4 be confirmed by the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) as hosts of the nations championship finals for the second time.
Porto want to keep ‘keeper Casillas
Lisbon: FC Porto want to keep goalkeeper Iker Casillas on staff despite the Spanish veteran suffering a heart attack in training. "Casillas still has a year left on his contract and we want him to remain part of FC Porto's structure, and not only for one year," club president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa told Thursday's sports daily O Jogo. "Casillas is one of us and he will always have a place at FC Porto." The former Real Madrid and Spain star, who will celebrate his 38th birthday on Monday, was taken to hospital and had surgery on May 1 after collapsing during training. He left hospital after five days and said he was "lucky" to be alive but had no immediate plans for the future.
