Rampant four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz dropped just five games in an ominous display of strength at the Australian Open on Wednesday to sprint into the third round. The Spanish third seed showed no mercy to Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, who was taught a 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 lesson on Margaret Court Arena in an 81-minute...
Former world number one Rohan Bopanna and his new Colombian partner Nicolas Barrientos bowed out of the Australian Open men’s doubles event with an opening-round loss to the Spanish team of Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar in Melbourne on Tuesday. Bopanna and Barrientos went down 5-7, 6-7 (5) in a match that lasted close to...
Barcelona hammered rivals Real Madrid 5-2 in a wild Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to win the first trophy of coach Hansi Flick’s reign. Raphinha scored twice while Robert Lewandowski, Alejandro Balde and Lamine Yamal also found the back of the net while Kylian Mbappe and Rodrygo scored for Real Madrid. The clash took...
Indian badminton stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their stellar run on the international stage by reaching the men’s doubles semifinals of the prestigious Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament on Friday. The seventh-seeded Indian duo defeated Malaysia’s Yew Sin Ong and Ee Yi Teo in straight games, 26-24, 21-15, in a 49-minute quarterfinal clash....
Novak Djokovic claimed Thursday that he was “poisoned” by lead and mercury in his food during his troubled and brief stay in Melbourne in 2022 before he was deported on the eve of the Australian Open. The former world number one had his visa cancelled and was eventually kicked out of the country over his...
Brazilian football star Neymar has announced that the FIFA 2026 World Cup will be his last opportunity to compete on football’s biggest stage. While injuries have limited his impact at Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, Neymar remains determined to represent Brazil and is optimistic about earning a spot in the squad for the tournament, which will...
HS Prannoy’s match against Brian Yang of Canada in the first round of the Malaysia Open was interrupted after the roof of the playing arena began leaking midway through the fixture. Prannoy, returning to action after the Olympics, was leading 21-12, 6-3 when rainwater began seeping through the roof, forcing play to stop on Court 3 about...
Former world number one Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open preparations suffered a blow Friday as he was bundled out of the Brisbane International by towering American Reilly Opelka. The 2.11 metre (six feet 11 inches) Opelka served magnificently and returned just as well to stun the 24-time Grand Slam winner 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. Djokovic had gone...
Rishabh Pant’s resistance was ended by Scott Boland early in the third session after which the pacer rattled India by dismissing Nitish Kumar Reddy the very next ball. India’s run rate dipped below two runs an over around the halfway mark of the second session as Pant and Ravindra Jadeja ground it out against the...
Nitish Reddy, an unknown entity in red ball cricket before the start of Border-Gavaskar series, virtually bailed India out with his dogged maiden Test century in Melbourne on Saturday, severely denting Australia’s hopes of winning the Boxing Day contest. Reddy’s unbeaten 105 took India to 358 for nine, still 116 runs short of Australia’s first...