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PARIS: Striker Mauro Icardi scored a hat-trick as Paris St Germain eased into the French Cup semi-finals with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Angers and AS Monaco joined them with a 2-0 win over 10-man Olympique Lyonnais on Wednesday (Apr 21). Icardi’s early strike for PSG was followed by an own goal from Angers defender Vincent Manceau and a simple headed third from Neymar in the second half, before the Argentine striker added two more. The defending champions, who have appeared in the

BIRMINGHAM, England: Manchester City recovered from conceding a very early goal to win 2-1 at Aston Villa on Wednesday (Apr 21) and move a step closer to the Premier League title after a game in which both sides finished with 10 men. City, who are 11 points ahead of Manchester United with five games left, were caught napping early when Villa took a quick free kick. A pass from Ollie Watkins found John McGinn and he rifled the ball home with 20 seconds

Judd Trump says even reigning world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan knows he is the number one player in the world. Trump's first-round win over Liam Highfield at the World Championship means he will remain top of the rankings at the start of next season. But had Trump lost, world number two and top seed O'Sullivan could have replaced him by retaining the title. "I have done enough over the past couple of seasons to be world number one," said Trump. "Even if I wasn't

Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer says the club "apologise unreservedly for the unrest" caused by the proposed European Super League. The rare public comment from the American came after Liverpool owner John W Henry apologised to supporters. United, Liverpool and four other Premier League sides withdrew from the ESL on Tuesday after a backlash. "We failed to show enough respect for its deep-rooted traditions," Glazer said in an open letter to fans. The 50-year-old admitted efforts "in seeking to create a more stable

Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal survived a scare before fighting back to beat Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the second round of the Barcelona Open. Nadal, who has not lost on clay to an opponent ranked outside the world's top 100 since 2004, won 3-6 6-2 6-4 against 111th-ranked Ivashka. British number one Dan Evans was unable to continue his excellent form on clay, losing to France's Corentin Moutet in a spiky second-round match. Evans, seeded 16th, lost 6-4 5-7 6-3. The pair

SINGAPORE: From this weekend, COVID-19 testing will not be required for up to 250 fans attending Singapore Premier League (SPL) matches, said the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on Wednesday (Apr 21). This comes after conditional entry was implemented on Apr 10, the first-time fans could watch live matches since the final day of the 2020 season in December. Explaining the ticketing process in a media release, FAS said fans will need to buy a physical ticket from dedicated booths at match venues,

Liverpool owner John Henry apologised to supporters and to manager Jurgen Klopp on Wednesday (Apr 21) for the "disruption" caused by the club's involvement in the breakaway European Super League project. Liverpool were among the six Premier League clubs who signed up for the Super League but withdrew on Tuesday amid a storm of protests from fans, players, managers and governments, alongside threats of bans and sanctions from the game's European and world governing bodies UEFA and FIFA "I want to apologise to

Breakaway Super League clubs Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea could be banned from this season's Champions League semi-finals, UEFA executive committee member Jesper Moller said. The trio are part of the 12 clubs who announced on Sunday they were setting up a breakaway European Super League, a move which has drawn widespread criticism. Real Madrid are due to face Chelsea and Manchester City are drawn against Paris Saint-Germain - who have not agreed to join the breakaway league. Arsenal and Manchester United,

An Olympic artistic swimming qualifier scheduled for Tokyo in May will now be held outside Japan in June at a location to be decided, world body FINA said on Tuesday. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted preparations for the start of the 2020 Summer Games, already postponed by a year, in July. FINA said in a statement that the changes were due in part to "challenges related to the international calendar and the necessary adaptation of the venue to the Olympic Games’ operations in

Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden is out indefinitely after sustaining a setback during his rehabilitation from an injured right hamstring, the team announced Tuesday. "We're back to square one," Nets coach Steve Nash said. "He will be back when he's back. It might be the playoffs. It might be sooner." The 31-year-old was re-injured during an on-court session, according to the team. He underwent an MRI exam Tuesday to learn the severity of the injury. Harden is averaging 25.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and

Albert Ramos-Vinolas eked out in a win in the first round of his hometown event, beating Denmark's Holger Rune 6-7 (2), 6-1, 7-6 (2) at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Tuesday. Ramos-Vinolas needed more than three hours to get past his opponent, who is ranked 323rd in the world. Four of the five seeded players in action Tuesday earned second-round wins, with fifth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, seventh-seeded Denis Shapovalov of Canada, eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium and 11th-seeded Jannik Sinner

The India Open Super 500 tournament, one of the last three qualifying events for the Tokyo Olympics, was on Monday postponed due to raging COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The USD 400,000 India Open was scheduled to be held behind closed doors in the national capital from May 11 to 16. "Considering the current challenges, BAI is left with no option but to announce the postponement of the tournament for the time being," Badminton Association of India (BAI) general secretary Ajay Singhania said

Delhi Capitals' (DC) Amit Mishra (4/24) spun his web around the Mumbai Indians (MI) batsmen to restrict them to sub-par 137 for 9 after the defending champions decided to bat. Opener Shikhar Dhawan then top-scored with a 45 off 42 balls as DC held their nerves in the final overs to chase down the target with five balls to spare. It was their first win over MI in last five meetings, having lost four times last season in UAE. Chasing 138 to win,

STUTTGART: Former Stuttgart champion Laura Siegemund will face world number one Ashleigh Barty of Australia in the second round of the clay-court WTA tournament after seeing off qualifier Mona Barthel on Tuesday (Apr 20). Siegemund, 33, who won the Stuttgart tournament in 2017 and reached the 2016 final, needed just over two hours to seal a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 first-round win over Barthel, who fired down four aces without reply. Barty will make her debut in Stuttgart in the second round against the

LONDON: Chelsea moved into the Premier League's top four after a 0-0 draw against Brighton on Tuesday (Apr 20), but the result was completely overshadowed by the club's role in derailing the controversial European Super League. Just before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, it was widely reported that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had decided to withdraw from the controversial breakaway plan. While there was no official confirmation from the club, the Blues are understood to be preparing documents to formally quit the tournament. Manchester

Ed Smith's role as England national selector has been abolished. In a restructuring of the way the England men's teams are selected, responsibility will now fall to head coach Chris Silverwood. "The restructure is in the best interests of helping England men's teams be successful," said England managing director Ashley Giles. The former England batsman, 43, will leave the England and Wales Cricket Board at the end of the month. Smith had held the role of national selector since 2018. Giles, who devised

Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will step down from his role at the end of 2021. The announcement came before Manchester United, along with the other five Premier League sides involved in the proposed European Super League (ESL), withdrew from the competition. The planned breakaway league has received widespread condemnation. Woodward, 49, joined United in 2005 and has been in his current role since 2012. He was set to leave at the end of the year but the decision to announce his

All six Premier League teams involved in the European Super League have now withdrawn from the competition. Manchester City were the first club to pull out after Chelsea had signalled their intent to do so by preparing documentation to withdraw. The other four sides - Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham - have all now followed suit. The Super League said it would reconsider "the most appropriate steps" to reshape the project. The 12-team Super League was announced on Sunday to widespread condemnation.

Moeen Ali took 3-7 and Sam Curran 2-24 for Chennai Super Kings as Rajasthan Royals capitulated to a 45-run defeat in the IPL once Jos Buttler was bowled by a beauty from Ravindra Jadeja. Buttler (49 off 35) had the Royals handily placed at 87-2 after 11 overs in their pursuit of 189 for back-to-back IPL wins - only to then be dismissed by left-arm spinner Jadeja from the first ball of the 12th over with a delivery that pitched on leg stump

Stewart Cink's multiple-victory season has the 47-year-old in the conversation for the 2021 United States Ryder Cup team. Cink vaulted 13 spots to No. 24 in the U.S. team standings following his four-shot victory at the RBC Heritage. The top six players following the Tour Championship will earn automatic spots, with captain Steve Stricker then selecting the final six team members. Cink and Bryson DeChambeau are the only two-time winners on the PGA Tour this season. Following a string of three consecutive missed