Sports

LONDON: South Africa's Dean Burmester captured his first European Tour title in just over four years on Sunday as he produced a bogey-free final round of nine-under-par 62 to secure victory at the Tenerife Open. Burmester entered the final day at Golf Costa Adeje one stroke off the lead but stormed past his rivals with five birdies on the opening seven holes. The 31-year-old gained four more strokes on the back nine to finish at 25-under for the tournament, five clear of his

LONDON: Two late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo earned Juventus a 2-1 comeback win against Udinese on Sunday to give the Turin club a precious three points in the Serie A top-four race. Juve climbed into third place on 69 points, level with Atalanta in second and AC Milan in fourth, but two points ahead of fifth-placed Napoli. The visiting defence was caught napping when Udinese wing back Nahuel Molina latched onto a quickly taken freekick to fire home the opener after 10 minutes.

VALENCIA, Spain: Lionel Messi led Barcelona to a quick-fire comeback to win 3-2 at Valencia on Sunday and keep the pressure on La Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid. Barca fell behind in the 50th minute when Valencia defender Gabriel Paulista headed into an empty net from a corner after keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen had stumbled to the ground in his attempt to come for the ball. The Catalans, who had blown the chance to go top of the league with

BANGKOK: A Myanmar swimmer has abandoned his dream of competing at the Tokyo Olympics in protest at the junta ruling his homeland, saying that taking part would be "propaganda" for the regime. Win Htet Oo is one of Myanmar's top swimmers but in early April, the 26-year-old said he was no longer interested in going to Tokyo. "To accept the MOC (Myanmar Olympic Committee) as it is currently led is to recognise the legitimacy of a murderous regime," he wrote in a statement

LONDON: The Champions League final will definitely take place in Istanbul on May 29 despite Turkey going into a COVID-19 lockdown, UEFA said on Thursday (Apr 29). A resurgence of COVID-19 infections has prompted the Turkish government to impose a 17-day lockdown which will end on May 17. With the growing possibility of English Premier League clubs Manchester City and Chelsea reaching the final scheduled for the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, questions have been raised about the logistics of the venue. However, UEFA insist

LONDON: India batting great Sachin Tendulkar has donated 10 million rupees (approximately US$135,000) to a fundraising campaign that is helping hospitals treating COVID-19 patients procure oxygen concentrators. Mission Oxygen, which describes itself as a non-for-profit, charitable initiative, said it has placed an order for 1,365 concentrators from China and thanked Tendulkar for his donation. "His donation of rupees 1 crore to Mission Oxygen in its endeavour to procure and provide life-saving oxygen concentrators to hospitals across the nation in this time of need

LAUSANNE: European football's governing body UEFA on Thursday (Apr 29) announced it was joining a sporting boycott of social media this weekend to protest against online abuse. A number of high-profile footballers have suffered racial abuse in recent months, prompting calls for tougher action from internet giants. A coalition of football organisations including the English Football Association and Premier League revealed they would not post on their channels this weekend and the boycott has grown, with other sports bodies, sponsors and broadcasters joining

Opener Prithvi Shaw smashed six fours in the first over in a stunning batting display on his way to a blistering 82 as Delhi Capitals (DC) crushed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Ahmedabad on Thursday. Chasing 155 for a win, Shaw sent all the six legal deliveries from opening bowler Shivam Mavi to the boundary, driving, punching and sweeping at will. Mavi's first delivery saw Dinesh Karthik diving full-length to his left to take

LONDON: Seamers Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali took four wickets each as Pakistan seized control of the first test against Zimbabwe on the opening day at the Harare Sports Club on Thursday. The pair helped the tourists dismiss their hosts for 176 in the first innings, before Pakistan reached 103 without the loss of a wicket in reply at the close to trail by 73 runs in the first game of the two-match series. Openers Abid Ali (56 not out) and Imran Butt

LONDON: Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday (Apr 29) he planned to be in Formula One next season, was enjoying this year's title battle and had already been laying the groundwork for 2022. The 36-year-old, who is out of contract with Mercedes at the end of this year, tested Pirelli's 18-inch 2022 tyre compounds at Imola this month. Never a big fan of testing, the Briton told reporters ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix that for once he had volunteered to

VILLARREAL, Spain: Villarreal claimed a narrow advantage in their Europa League semi-final against Arsenal with a 2-1 home victory in the first leg on Thursday (Apr 29), although they will feel frustrated at letting the London club off the hook. First-half goals by Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol put the Spanish club in command and it looked bleak for the visitors when Dani Ceballos was sent off just before the hour mark. Arsenal were rocking and needed keeper Bernd Leno to avoid them

SINGAPORE: South Korea's Inbee Park overcame steamy conditions to lead the HSBC Women's World Championship first round with an eight-under-par 64 as she seeks her third title in Singapore on Thursday (Apr 29). Despite confessing that she does not enjoy the heat, the reigning Olympic champion showed she was still one for the big occasion as she signed for a bogey-free card, marked by eight birdies. The tournament, cancelled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is the first event on any international

The Canadian GP has been cancelled for the second successive year due to Covid-19 and will be replaced in its June slot by Turkey. F1 says that international travel restrictions in Canada meant it "became impossible for Formula 1 to enter the country without a mandatory 14-day quarantine" for the Montreal event. The Turkish GP at Istanbul Park will instead take over the June 11-13 slot Turkey proved a popular addition to last year's revamped schedule after a nine-year absence from the sport

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson recorded 12 aces and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Millennium Estoril Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win against Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena on Wednesday in Portugal. Anderson trailed 2-4 in the tiebreak before winning five straight points to finish in one hour and 49 minutes. He'll face No. 6 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia, who endured two rain delays and rallied to beat Portugal's Nuno Borges 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4. No. 3 seed Ugo Humbert of France

Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek said on Wednesday (Apr 28) that he has secured funds to test the resolve of Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke in a bid to buy the Premier League club from the American billionaire. Kroenke and his son and director Josh put out a joint statement on Tuesday saying that they remain "100per cent committed to Arsenal" and were not interested in selling a stake in the club despite furious backlash from the fans. Thousands of fans protested outside

LONDON: Silverstone will be the first circuit to trial Formula One's new sprint qualifying format, the British Grand Prix venue said on Wednesday (Apr 28). The sport confirmed this week that teams and bosses had agreed unanimously to debut a new points-scoring qualifying race at three grands prix, yet to be confirmed, this season. "We are incredibly excited that Silverstone fans will be the first to experience the Formula One sprint qualifying format at this year’s British Grand Prix," said the circuit's managing

LONDON: Harry Kane has said he is frustrated at not winning trophies with Tottenham Hotspur even as the prolific striker continues to win individual accolades every season. Kane was named Premier League Player of the Year at the London Football Awards and the 27-year-old leads the league with 21 goals as he looks to win his third Golden Boot award. However, the north London side blew an opportunity to win their first trophy since 2008 when they lost the League Cup final to

PARIS: Manchester City took a big step towards their first Champions League final as goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez earned them a 2-1 comeback win at Paris St Germain in the semi-final first leg on Wednesday (Apr 28). PSG went ahead courtesy of a Marquinhos header in the first half, but Mauricio Pochettino's side lost control after the break with De Bruyne and Mahrez finding the back of the net in the space of eight minutes to secure City's 18th

Defending champions Mumbai Indians will look to sort out their middle-order woes and bring their campaign back on track when they take on an inconsistent Rajasthan Royals in an IPL game, on Thursday. MI are coming into the match after suffering back-to-back losses, the last one being a nine-wicket defeat against Punjab Kings in Chennai and need to start the Delhi leg afresh. The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan have lost thrice in the tournament so far and will seek to build on the six-wicket

NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings beat bottom side Sunrisers Hyderabad to go top of the IPL on Wednesday as the big-money tournament staged its first game in India's coronavirus stricken capital. Scores of police guarded the barricaded gates around the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Dehli during the match which Chennai won by seven wickets in 18.3 overs. Normally the stadium would be packed with 40,000 people for major cricket games. But with Delhi accounting for more than a tenth of the 3,200