Sports

The remainder of the suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) season will have to be played outside the country, the organising Indian cricket board said, though it is unclear whether a window can be found to play the outstanding 31 games. The popular Twenty20 league was suspended indefinitely last week after several personnel tested positive for COVID-19. India reported 366,161 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, taking the caseload to 22.66 million. Sourav Ganguly, head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI),

Japan's Naomi Osaka said on Sunday that while she has spent her entire life waiting to compete at the Olympics, the risks of holding the Tokyo Games amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic should continue to be carefully discussed. Opinion surveys have shown that most Japanese oppose holding the Games this summer due to worries about the coronavirus, and Tokyo itself is currently under a state of emergency to tame a rise in infections. Osaka, the world number two women's tennis player and one

Talking Points from the Premier League weekend: HAVE CHELSEA GAINED A PSYCHOLOGICAL EDGE Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Manchester City made sure City's title celebrations remained on hold but perhaps more importantly sent out a message to Pep Guardiola's side for the Champions League final and next season's title race. Surprisingly, Guardiola made wholesale changes to his side when victory would have sealed a third title in five seasons. When Sergio Aguero fluffed a Panenka-style penalty to give City a 2-0 lead, it sparked

PARIS: Paris St Germain's Ligue 1 title hopes took a major knock on Sunday (May 9) when the defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw at Stade Rennes, leaving Lille holding a three-point advantage at the top with two games remaining. Neymar opened the scoring with a penalty on the stroke of halftime but Serhou Guirassy equalised in the 70th minute to leave PSG, who finished with 10 men after Presnel Kimpembe was sent off in the 87th minute, on 76 points.

TURIN, Italy: Juventus started the season looking to win a 10th straight Serie A title but instead find themselves in danger of missing out on a Champions League spot after a 3-0 home defeat by top-four rivals AC Milan on Sunday left them fifth with three games left. Goals from Brahim Diaz, Ante Rebic and Fikayo Tomori secured the win and sent Milan up to third on 72 points from 35 matches, leaving Juve a point behind fourth-placed Napoli and needing teams to

LONDON: Alexander Zverev underlined his credentials as a French Open title contender with a battling 6-7(8) 6-4 6-3 victory over Italian Matteo Berrettini on Sunday to claim his fourth Masters 1000 crown and second Madrid Open title. Germany's Zverev, conqueror of claycourt specialists Rafa Nadal and Dominic Thiem en route to the final, dropped his first set of the tournament. However, he fought back under a closed roof at the Manolo Santana stadium to lift his first claycourt title since 2019. "I feel

LONDON: West Bromwich Albion were relegated from the Premier League on Sunday after a 3-1 loss at Arsenal sent them straight back down to the Championship after one season in the top flight. The defeat left the Baggies in 19th place with 26 points, 10 points behind fourth-bottom Burnley with only three games left to play. It is the first time manager Sam Allardyce has suffered relegation from the Premier League during his 17 campaigns. West Brom started brightly but struggled to move

Rory McIlroy shot 3-under-par 68 to win his first PGA tournament in more than 18 months on Sunday, finishing at 10-under 274 in capturing the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, N.C. McIlroy finished one shot ahead of Abraham Ancer, who shot a 5-under 66. McIlroy overtook 54-hold leader Keith Mitchell, who shot 72 and finished tied for third with Viktor Hovland (67) at 8-under par. Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, rounded out the top-five at 7

BIRMINGHAM: Manchester United recovered to beat Aston Villa 3-1 away in the Premier League on Sunday (May 9) as Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Edinson Cavani scored in the second half to put on hold the title celebrations of champions-elect Manchester City. The result left United second on 70 points from 34 games, 10 behind City who have played a game more and missed a chance to secure the title on Saturday after they suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea. It also

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt's induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame will be deferred by a year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions from Australia to the United States, the Hall of Fame said on Thursday. Australian great Hewitt, who won two Grand Slam titles during his career, was named to the Class of 2021 in February and was to be honoured at a July 17 induction ceremony at the Newport, Rhode Island-based Hall of Fame. "Unfortunately due to the circumstances

Spain's Rafa Nadal was named the 2021 Laureus Sportsman of the year on Thursday, while fellow tennis player Naomi Osaka won the top women's honour. Japan's Osaka won her second U.S. Open title last year, while Nadal equalled Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam titles by claiming his 13th French Open crown. Nadal picked up his fourth Laureus honour, having previously scooped the Breakthrough, Comeback and men's individual awards. "The rest of the sportsmen probably deserve the trophy the same as me,

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

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