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SINGAPORE: In European football, incidents of racial discrimination, either on the pitch or online, are a regular feature of every season. Frequently, there are depressing headlines detailing the abuse of black players. It has long been an issue. In England, racist abuse became more common in stadiums in the 1970s and 1980s when black players started to play for clubs and the England national team. There are infamous images of Liverpool star John Barnes back-heeling a banana skin that had been thrown on

NEW YORK - Major League Baseball (MLB) postponed the remainder of a series between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets on Friday due to COVID-19, an early sign of trouble as the league navigates a new season amid the pandemic. The Nationals’ home opener against the Mets was put on hold Thursday, a day after the Washington team reported one player had tested positive for COVID-19. Later on Thursday, the team said at least two additional individuals had come back with positive

MADRID: So often over the years Barcelona and Real Madrid have fought it out between themselves for the Liga title, cruising to 95-plus points while everyone else battles to be the best of the rest. However, with 10 games to go this season, Atletico Madrid sit top of the table in what looks like a year when 85 points might be enough to secure the silverware. It is set to be the closest-run title race for some time, with just six points separating

TOKYO: Osaka prefectural governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said on Thursday (Apr 1) the Olympic torch relay in the city of Osaka should be cancelled amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. Yoshimura had sounded the alarm the previous day that a jump in new coronavirus cases in Osaka was raising fears the western Japanese metropolis was entering a fresh wave of infections that could become its worst yet. The prefecture, which had just emerged from a COVID-19 state of emergency a month ago, reported

LONDON: Barcelona advanced to the last four of the women's Champions League with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Manchester City after a 2-1 defeat in the second leg of their quarter-final at the City Academy Stadium on Wednesday. City came into the game with a 3-0 deficit after losing the away leg, played in Monza because of travel restrictions, but they began brightly and pulled back a goal when Janine Beckie prodded home in the 20th minute after Barca had failed to clear

LONDON: Eden Park in Auckland will host the opening game of the 2023 women's World Cup with the final taking place in Stadium Australia in Sydney, soccer's world governing body FIFA said on Wednesday as it announced the nine host cities for the tournament. Adelaide, Brisbane, Dunedin, Hamilton, Melbourne, Perth and Wellington were the other seven cities in Australia and New Zealand selected to host matches. Australia and New Zealand will host one semi-final each with the full schedule to be announced later

LONDON: The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will look at the possibility of using COVID-19 passports to allow fans to return to stadiums for the upcoming domestic season, the governing body's managing director of county cricket Neil Snowball said. The new County Championship season will begin on ApR 8 with games initially being played without spectators. May 17 has been pencilled in as the date when the largest outdoor seated venues can allow up to 10,000 people or a quarter of capacity,

LONDON: Naomi Osaka had grown so accustomed to dominating that she was not immediately sure what lessons to take after her 23-match winning streak came to an abrupt end in quarter-final action at the Miami Open on Wednesday (Mar 31). Osaka, the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion whose last loss came in February 2020, was beaten 6-0 6-4 by Greek 23rd seed Maria Sakkari. "I feel like even if you're not playing great you should still find ways to win. I'm

SARAJEVO: Antoine Griezmann struck again as France extended their World Cup qualifying Group D lead to four points with an unconvincing 1-0 away win against Bosnia on Wednesday (Mar 31). Griezmann, who scored in last Wednesday's opening game against Ukraine, put the world champions on seven points from three games. Ukraine, who were held to a 1-1 home draw by Kazakhstan, have three points with Finland on two points from two matches. Bosnia, who have not won in their last 11 outings, lie

LONDON: Harry Maguire smashed home a late winner as England laboured to a 2-1 victory over Poland in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday (Mar 31) after an error by John Stones nearly cost the hosts all three points. Maguire swivelled and smashed home a knock-down from a corner in the 85th minute to maintain England's perfect start to their Group I campaign. England had dominated the majority of the match at Wembley, taking the lead after 19 minutes when Harry Kane fired home

DUISBURG, Germany: Germany's performance was dubbed "embarrassing" after they suffered their first World Cup qualifying defeat for 20 years in a humiliating 2-1 home loss to North Macedonia which heaped pressure on coach Joachim Loew. "The disappointment is huge," said a crest-fallen Loew after the final whistle in Duisburg on Wednesday. "This is a set-back. There were a lot of mistakes and we didn't find a way to break down the deep-standing North Macedonians. "We also let them counter-attack and had no grip

The Expo 2020 Dubai will be the principal sponsor of the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming 14th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Taking place from October 1 2021 to March 31, 2022, Expo 2020 will welcome more than 190 nations and millions of people from across the globe to Dubai for 182 visually striking, intellectually enlightening and emotionally inspiring days. Visitors will experience a dynamic and diverse programme, including innovation, culture, art, food, music and sport from every corner

Gareth Bale has praised Wales caretaker coach Robert Page for keeping the team focused despite off-the-field distractions and securing a "massive win" over the Czech Republic in a 2022 World Cup qualifier. Manchester United forward Daniel James's goal secured a 1-0 win over the Czechs on Tuesday (Mar 30). The victory moved Wales up to third place in Group E, one point behind the Czech Republic in second and four adrift of leaders Belgium, having played one game fewer than both. It was

LONDON: Amnesty International said on Wednesday (Mar 31) it hopes England will join other countries in protesting against the conditions of migrant labourers in Qatar ahead of the 2022 World Cup there. Players from Germany, the Netherlands and Norway wore shirts before World Cup qualifiers voicing concern over human rights in Qatar, following a report last month in Britain's Guardian newspaper that at least 6,500 migrant workers had died in Qatar in the decade since it won the right to stage the event.

Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu praised his side's ruthlessness after they recorded their biggest win in World Cup qualifying with Tuesday's (Mar 30) 14-0 thrashing of Mongolia. The win fell one goal short of matching their all-time record, a 15-0 victory over the Philippines in Olympic qualifying in 1967, but Moriyasu was delighted with the way his side took Mongolia apart in the Group F match behind closed doors at Chiba's Fukuda Denshi Arena. The players were focused on what they could accomplish rather

MIAMI, Florida: After players at the Miami Open expressed a reluctance to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the women's tennis governing body said on Tuesday (Mar 30) it would educate athletes and encourage them to get the shot. After fourth round wins on Monday, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka had aired concerns about how quickly the vaccines had been rolled out and said they would wait before deciding whether to get one. Svitolina added that getting the vaccine made no sense since

TOKYO: A Japanese karate champion who will compete at the Tokyo Olympics testified before an ethics commission on Wednesday (Mar 31), alleging that a federation official hit her in the face with a bamboo sword. Ayumi Uekusa, who will compete in the women's over 61kg kumite category as karate makes its Olympic debut this summer, said she was the victim of a bullying campaign by Masao Kagawa, the technical director of the Japan Karatedo Federation. It is the latest "power harassment" scandal to

Nate Diaz is set to make his return to the UFC on May 15th, in the co-main event of UFC 262. The Stockton fan-favorite will be fighting Leon Edwards upon his return to the octagon. According to an initial report from Ariel Helwani of ESPN, Nate Diaz will face 'Rocky' in what will be the former's first fight since UFC 244 in 2019. The fight will reportedly be a five-round co-main event, the very first in UFC history. Here is the report from Ariel Helwani on Twitter: While

LEUVEN: Belgium's second-string used the opportunity of a rare start to impress coach Roberto Martinez as they thumped Belarus 8-0 in their World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. With Martinez warning players were under scrutiny for places in the Euro 2020 squad, Michy Batshuayi, Hans Vanaken (2), Leandro Trossard (2), Jeremy Doku, Denis Praet and Christian Benteke all scored as the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Dries Mertens were given the night off. It lifted Belgium to seven points from three

KUALA LUMPUR: A Myanmar footballer who plays for a Malaysian club has been hit with a one-match ban for flashing the three-finger salute used by anti-coup protesters during a game, an official said on Tuesday (Mar 30). Hein Htet Aung, who plays for second-division side Selangor FC II, made the political gesture during a match against PDRM FC earlier this month. A picture of him flashing the symbol went viral, and he was found to have broken rules prohibiting offensive gestures or language,