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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss the next three games and return next week for the team's final four regular season games, The Athletic reported Thursday. James was already expected to miss the next two games -- Thursday vs. the Los Angeles Clippers and Friday at Portland -- with Sunday's home game against the Phoenix Suns added to give the superstar more time to heal, per the report. The Lakers play two sets of back-to-back games next week, home

ROME: Manchester United advanced to the Europa League final 8-5 on aggregate on Thursday despite losing 3-2 to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. The Premier League side will play Villarreal in the final on May 26 in Gdansk. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side had taken a 6-2 first-leg lead to Rome, and Edinson Cavani's goals in the 39th and 68th minutes ensured their place in the final. Roma had gone ahead on the night midway through the second half with goals from Edin Dzeko

BARCELONA: After staging a stunning revival to rein in leaders Atletico Madrid, Barcelona can finally go top of La Liga when they host Diego Simeone's side on a mouthwatering weekend as the four teams in the title race come face to face. Atletico lead the standings with 76 points after 34 games heading into Saturday's crunch game away to Barca, who are third on 74. An Atletico slip up will only play into the hands of champions Real Madrid, however, who are second

NEW DELHI: India's Badminton team has been forced to withdraw from the Malaysian Open due to a travel ban, potentially impacting the players' hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Thursday (May 6) that the team had pulled out due to the travel ban imposed by Malaysia in the wake of an unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases in India. The Malaysian Open is one of the final two events where Olympic hopefuls can collect points

BARCELONA: Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso admits his return to Formula One has been a "challenge" but is "not worried" by his form with the marathon season still in its infancy. Alonso, who will turn 40 in July, has endured a roller-coaster of a campaign with Alpine, the rebranded Renault team, after two years out of the sport. At the season-opener in Bahrain, he "over-performed" with a ninth place in qualifying followed by a dispiriting race retirement due to a brake problem. In

LONDON: England's chances of winning the Euro 2020 tournament this year have been boosted by the success of the Premier League clubs in the Champions League and Europa League, says Harry Kane. Chelsea will face Manchester City in this month's Champions League final in Istanbul when several young members of England's squad, such as Mason Mount, Reece James, Phil Foden and John Stones, will be involved. Kane, England's captain, believes that can only help when the delayed European Championship starts in June. "We

LONDON: Villarreal will face Manchester United in the Europa League final after the Spanish side held out for a 0-0 draw at Arsenal on Thursday (May 6) to prevent a clean sweep of European finalists for Premier League sides. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang twice hit the post for Arsenal, but a 2-1 aggregate defeat means the Gunners will miss out on Champions League football for the fifth consecutive season. Edinson Cavani scored twice for United, who progressed 8-5 on aggregate despite a 3-2 defeat away

LONDON: Four-times major champion Rory McIlroy said on Wednesday (May 5) the proposed Super Golf League (SGL) is nothing more than a "money grab" and he remained committed to chasing major victories on the PGA Tour. The Northern Irishman, competing at this week's PGA Tour event in Charlotte, North Carolina, likened the proposed rival circuit to European soccer's breakaway Super League project that spectacularly collapsed last week before it could get off the ground. "You go back to what happened last week in

LONDON: World number three Daniil Medvedev's love-hate relationship with claycourts continued on Wednesday as he took out his frustration on the court before overcoming Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for his first career win at the Madrid Open. Medvedev, who has received an opening-round bye in Madrid, said last month clay was his least preferred surface and once again made his feelings clear during the second round match. "I don't want to play here on this surface!" exclaimed Medvedev at a change of ends.

Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty of Australia outlasted Petra Kvitova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open. Barty needed one hour, 48 minutes to defeat the Czech to improve to 11-1 in three-set matches she's played in 2021. "It's just always staying in the fight," Barty said. "Always staying in the hunt and never letting it slide away. That certainly doesn't guarantee results, doesn't guarantee success. It guarantees you give yourself the best chance to do what you do

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board faces losing about US$270 million in revenue after its lucrative and star-studded Indian Premier League (IPL) was halted by the COVID-19 crisis in the country, a senior official told Reuters on Wednesday. The world's richest Twenty20 league was approaching its halfway stage before it was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday following bubble breaches in two venues. "The ballpark figure for revenue loss would be to the tune of 2000 crore rupees (20 billion)," Arun Singh Dhumal, treasurer of

LONDON: Goals by Timo Werner and Mason Mount sent Chelsea into a Champions League final showdown with Manchester City as they outclassed Real Madrid to win 2-0 for a 3-1 aggregate triumph at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday (May 5). German striker Werner, who has endured a stuttering first season at Chelsea, put them in control when he nodded in one of the easiest goals of his career in the 28th minute after fellow German Kai Havertz had struck the bar. Thirteen-times European champions

Australian police on Wednesday arrested four men in connection with the armed kidnapping of former Test bowler Stuart MacGill. The men were detained in a pre-dawn raid in Sydney, following the kidnapping of the cricketer in the city's affluent Lower North Shore last month. MacGill was lauded as a talented bowler and played 44 Tests for Australia, but was unlucky that his career coincided with that of Shane Warne, ranked by many as the best spin bowler of all time. Police said that

LONDON: Arsenal's season appeared to be ending with a whimper when they were reduced to 10 men after falling 2-0 behind against Villarreal in last week's first leg of their Europa League semi-final. Instead, a precious away goal gave them hope they can finish an inconsistent campaign on a high by setting up a showdown in the Polish city of Gdansk against Manchester United. Arsenal are ninth in the Premier League table and are unlikely to qualify for Europe next year via that

TOKYO: The world's oldest person, a 118-year-old Japanese woman, has decided not to take part in the torch relay for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics over COVID-19 fears, an official at her nursing home said on Wednesday (May 5). Kane Tanaka, who was awarded a Guinness World Record, was slated participate in the relay leg in Fukuoka in southern Japan, which will start on May 11, said the official. "We received an email from her family which said she wanted to withdraw from the

ROME: AS Roma have appointed former Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho as their new head coach on a three-year contract starting 2021-22 season, the Italian Serie A club announced on Tuesday (May 4). The decision comes after the club announced coach Paulo Fonseca will leave his role at the end of the current campaign. "We are thrilled and delighted to welcome Jose Mourinho into the AS Roma family," club president Dan Friedkin and vice-president Ryan Friedkin said. "A great champion who has won

MADRID: World number three Simona Halep was dumped out of the Madrid Open on Tuesday (Apr 4), losing 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the last 16 to Belgian Elise Mertens, while Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev won their opening men's matches. Romania's Halep, who won the Madrid title in 2016 and 2017, is still yet to reach a WTA Tour final this season and this was her earliest exit in the Spanish capital since a 2015 first-round loss. Halep had sailed through the first

LONDON: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said he is constantly surprised by his players' capacity to overcome difficulties as they set their sights on a fourth Champions League final in six years in Wednesday's semi-final second leg away to Chelsea. Real have had the most injuries in La Liga this season but have pulled themselves back into the title race while they have also had to contend without a number of influential players in their run to the last four of Europe's top

BARCELONA: Spain's La Liga is investigating whether a party organised by Barcelona players at their captain Lionel Messi's home broke COVID-19 protocol. "We're looking into it," La Liga sources told AFP on Tuesday (May 4). Monday's meal brought together Barca players, some accompanied by their partners, at the Argentinian star's house, despite social distancing rules in the Catalonian capital outlawing groups of more than six to meet in private. The party may constitute "a possible breach of COVID-19 protocols", the source suggested. The

Some of England's 11 IPL players are already on their way home following the indefinite suspension of the tournament. It is understood Sam Billings, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow have managed to secure flights back to the UK earlier than initially expected. It had been anticipated that all IPL players would be required to self-isolate in India and test negative before leaving the country. The players will still have to quarantine for 10 days at a government-approved hotel upon arrival in UK, as