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BUENOS AIRES: This year's Copa America gives Argentina another chance to break a 28-year trophy drought, which has been made even harder by a venue switch from home turf to that of arch-rivals Brazil. The Argentinians were supposed to stage the tournament this year, but with COVID-19 cases surging, it was moved at the last minute and Brazil are now hosting their second Copa America in succession, beginning on Sunday (Jun 13). The last time Argentina won the tournament was in 1993, their

TOKYO: The Japanese government is considering ending a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on Jun 20, but keeping some curbs such as on restaurant hours until the Olympics start in July, the Mainichi daily reported. New coronavirus infections in Olympics city Tokyo have inched down during the last month of emergency restrictions, though authorities remain concerned about the spread of variants and the continued strain on medical resources. On Friday, the head of Japan's main opposition Constitutional

UEFA Euro 2020 tournament begins on Friday Turkey taking on Italy in a Group A encounter at the Stadio Olympico in Rome. Google celebrated the tournament with a doodle, which had a whistle to mark the tournament kicking off. For the first time, the tournament is taking place in 11 cities across Europe -- instead of one or two countries -- despite the lingering shadow cast by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal are the defending champions but world champions France start the

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India Men's squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series and three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan will lead in the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who are on the tour of England with the Test team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been named vice-captain. The squad has several new faces in middle-order batsman Nitish Rana, all-rounder K Gowtham, opening batsman Ruturaj Gaikwad and fast bowler Chetan Sakariya among

Czech Barbora Krejcikova reached the French Open final as she beat Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari 7-5 4-6 9-7 on Thursday in a nail-biting, see-saw contest in which she saved a match point and overcame a wrong line call that held up her celebrations. Krejcikova dragged herself back from the brink of facing a match point at 3-5 in the third set and then rode an emotional roller coaster when she thought she had booked her place in the final before a wrong

Al-Arabi and Al-Duhail handball teams will leave Thursday for Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the 23rd Asian Championship for Champions League Clubs, whose competitions will start next Saturday and continue until June 21.

European soccer governing body UEFA has ordered Ukraine to remove the phrase "Glory to the heroes" from the inside of its new national team shirt ahead of the European Championship for political reasons, after a complaint from Russia. Russia on Wednesday had complained to UEFA over Ukraine's kit, which is emblazoned with a map including Crimea and words from a military slogan. UEFA said the map was not a concern, and neither was the phrase “Glory to Ukraine” on the outside of the

PARIS: A fired-up Novak Djokovic repelled a stirring fightback by Italian Matteo Berrettini to claim a 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5 victory on Wednesday to set up a mouth-watering semi-final showdown with defending champion Rafa Nadal. The 34-year-old bellowed a series of frightening roars after completing a victory that at one stage looked like a formality but became increasingly fraught as Berrettini threw the kitchen sink at the Serb who becomes only the second man to reach 40 Grand Slam semi-finals after Roger Federer.

LONDON: Euro 2020 finally kicks off on Friday (Jun 11) as Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal prepare to defend their title and world champions France seek a rare double a year after the tournament was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. France's fearsome forward line makes them favourites to win a third European crown at the pan-continental event, while top-ranked Belgium and a youthful England side will be a major threat. For the first time the tournament is taking place in 11 cities across Europe instead

RIYADH: Singapore fell to another World Cup qualifying defeat on Monday (Jun 7) after a 5-0 loss to Uzbekistan in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. Singapore’s joint qualification campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2023 Asian Cup in China, delayed due to the COVD-19 pandemic, had resumed last week with the Lions’ 4-0 defeat to Palestine. The latest result leaves them out of the running for the next World Cup. Monday’s penultimate Group D match at the King Fahd

Defending champion Iga Swiatek held off a fierce challenge from Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk to reach the French Open quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory on Monday. The eighth-seeded Pole has now won 22 consecutive sets at Roland Garros going into her clash with Greek 17th seed Maria Sakkari as she bids to become the first woman to retain theRoland Garros title since Justine Henin in 2007. Against an 18-year-old opponent who threw everything at her, Swiatek kept her composure on an empty court

Qatar's football national team qualified for the Asia Football Championship in China in 2023, after defeating visitors Oman 1-0, in the match played Monday at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Sadd Sports Club. The match was part of the 8th round of Group E of the AFC World Cup qualifiers that are taking place in Doha with Qatar, Oman, India, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan all participating. Hassan Al Haydous scored the only goal of the match from a penalty kick in the 40th

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has zeroed in on the date for the resumption of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League to be held in UAE. The first game on resumption will be played on September 19 while the final will be hosted on October 15 -- the day India will be celebrating Dussehra this year. Speaking to ANI, a BCCI official in the know of developments of the recent meetings between the BCCI and the Emirates

Doha Falcons came third on Monday in the Valkenswaard of the Longines Global Champions Tour for horse jumping obstacles. The Qatari team was one of 16 from all over the world that took part in the event. They completed the race in 147.84 seconds with no errors in two rounds. The competition saw the return of Bassem Hassan, which helped the Qatari team's performance since he is one of the distinguished athletes in this category. Equnews.com reported that Monaco Aces Jos Verlooy and

The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has been removed from office for 30 days by the organization's ethics commission, it said on Sunday, only a week before Brazil is due to host the Copa America. Brazilian news reports said Rogerio Caboclo was accused of sexually harassing an employee. The CBF gave few details. "The decision is secret and the process will proceed before the aforementioned commission with the aim of investigating the complaint that was presented," the CBF said in a

BAKU: Sergio Perez said before the Formula One season started that he needed five races to get up to speed with Red Bull and the Mexican duly delivered by winning the sixth in Azerbaijan on Sunday. If victory fell into his lap after team mate Max Verstappen crashed out with a tyre blowout five laps from the end while leading, it was still richly deserved. Perez had qualified only seventh, moving up to sixth after McLaren's Lando Norris was demoted, but he showed

MADRID: Sergio Busquets has left Spain's pre-Euro 2020 training camp after testing positive for COVID-19, the country's football federation (RFEF) announced on Sunday (Jun 6). In a statement, the RFEF said Spain captain Busquets, 32, tested positive earlier on Sunday, with the rest of the squad all testing negative. The RFEF added that those who have been in close contact with Barcelona midfielder Busquets "will remain isolated" as a preventative measure. The squad will carry out individual training programmes in the build-up to

SAN FRANCISCO: Philippine teenager Yuka Saso birdied the third playoff hole to beat Japan's Nasa Hataoka and win the 76th US Women's Open at Olympic Club on Sunday (Jun 6). Saso matched South Korean Park In-bee as the youngest winners in the championship's history at 19 years, 11 months and 17 days, and earned her LPGA tour membership. "I'd like to thank my family, I wouldn't be here without them," she said through tears. "To all my sponsors and to all my friends

PARIS: The COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for its postponement but, with the health situation on the continent gradually improving, the delayed Euro 2020 finally kicks off on Friday (Jun 11) in Rome when Italy host Turkey while Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal prepare to defend the title they won in France five years ago. When the action gets underway in front of a planned 16,000 fans at a quarter-full Stadio Olimpico the overwhelming feeling for European football's governing body UEFA will be of relief

WASHINGTON: Collin Morikawa, last year's PGA Championship winner, fired a six-under par 66 to seize the early first-round lead Thursday (Jun 3) at the US PGA Memorial tournament before thunderstorms halted play. The 24-year-old American, who shared eighth last month at Kiawah Island in defending his shocking major crown, fired seven birdies against a lone bogey to grab a one-stroke lead when competition was halted for lightning at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio. Morikawa, who began on the back nine, birdied the par-3