Sports

The Japanese Grand Prix will remain at Suzuka until at least the end of the 2024 season after Formula One and circuit owners announced a three-year contract extension on Saturday. The figure of eight track south-west of Nagoya first hosted a Formula One race in 1987 and has provided the decider for 11 drivers' championships. "This extension is part of our long-term commitment to growing the sport in Asia, and we are pleased to be able to continue our successful relationship with Mobilityland,"

England paceman Jofra Archer will miss the entire Indian Premier League as he recovers from a long-standing elbow injury. Rajasthan Royals had hoped that Archer, who was named Most Valuable Player in the 2020 campaign, would play some part in the tournament after sitting out the early rounds. However, although the 26-year-old returned to bowling this week with higher intensity, the ECB has confirmed that the Sussex fast bowler is not match-ready. Archer is the third England player to be ruled out for

Rohit Sharma said that Mumbai Indians have failed to put up big totals in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and that is an area they will have to address. Mumbai Indians (MI) slumped to their third defeat of the season against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday. "Not enough runs, exactly. I still feel it's not a bad wicket to bat on. You can see how Kings won with nine wickets in hand," Rohit Sharma said in the post-match press

STUTTGART: World number one Ashleigh Barty fought back to reach the semi-finals of the WTA Stuttgart clay-court tournament with a 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Karolina Pliskova on Friday (Apr 23). "It was an incredible match, with two very different opening sets, and the third was extraordinary," said Barty after her 18th win this year. "I felt like I created a lot of opportunities and Karolina was able to come up with some quality stuff on some massive points. "It was a really

LONDON: Tottenham striker Harry Kane is in a race against time to be fit for the League Cup final against Manchester City after he missed training on Friday (Apr 23). Kane suffered another ankle injury in the 2-2 draw at Everton last week and missed the midweek win over Southampton. Interim boss Ryan Mason does not know whether the England captain will be available for Sunday's showpiece game against City at Wembley as Spurs hunt their first trophy since 2008. "We're not sure

SYDNEY: Australia's diving team said it was "not safe" to travel to Japan as they withdrew from a Tokyo Olympics test event on Friday (Apr 23) just three months before the pandemic-postponed Games begin. The Diving World Cup was set to take place from May 1 to 6 in the Japanese capital. But with the Japanese government due to impose new virus states of emergency in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday, Diving Australia said they had concluded it would "not be

An own goal by Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno gave Everton a 1-0 win in their Premier League clash at The Emirates on Friday (Apr 23), gifting the Toffees three valuable points in their quest for European football next season and damaging their own hopes. Leno bundled Richarlison's low cross into the net in the 76th minute for the only goal to move eighth-placed Everton to 52 points, one behind Liverpool and three behind fourth-placed Chelsea, while the Gunners stay ninth on 46. As

LONDON: Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has warned "nothing is off the table" as the governing body seeks to prevent a repeat of the European Super League threat. English football is set for a fan-led review, under the direction of former sports minister Tracey Crouch, following the fall-out from the widely criticised breakaway plans. Twelve of Europe's leading clubs - including the Premier League's "big six" - announced late last Sunday (Apr 18) that they had signed up to compete in the

The top two seeds, Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Romania's Simona Halep, respectively, scored quarterfinal victories Friday and moved on to the semifinal round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Fourth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine joined them, advancing past seventh-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-2. Svitolina needed two hours, 37 minutes to win the match, saving 13 of 16 break points (81.3 percent). The No. 5 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will meet Halep after

Tiger Woods posted a photo of himself on crutches on Friday and said his rehab is “coming along” two months after the golf great suffered severe leg injuries when his car careened off a road near Los Angeles and crashed. The photo on the Instagram account of the 45-year-old American showed him smiling on a golf course with a black and white dog. "My course is coming along faster than I am," he said, adding a smiling face emoji. "But it's nice to

The Boston Celtics were without Jaylen Brown for their home game Thursday night against the Phoenix Suns. Brown had been listed as doubtful with an injured shoulder before the Celtics ruled him out, along with Robert Williams and Evan Fournier, prior to the game. Brown has season averages of 24.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. Romeo Langford was in the starting lineup against the Suns, his second start of the season for Boston. Also starting on Thursday were

LONDON: Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan says the new format for the UEFA Champions League is flawed and will add to player fatigue, calling it the lesser of two evils in comparison to the controversial European Super League. UEFA announced this week that they would expand the Champions League to 36 clubs from the 2024-25 season, with teams set to play four more matches compared to the current format. But Germany international Gundogan believes there is nothing wrong with the competition as it

STUTTGART, Germany: Karolina Pliskova will face world number one Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals of Stuttgart's WTA clay-court tournament after seeing off Jelena Ostapenko in a three-set battle on Thursday (Apr 22). Pliskova, the sixth seed, recovered from losing the first set in a tie-break by firing down 21 aces, 10 of which came in the last set alone, for a 6-7 (7/9), 6-4, 6-3 second-round win. "I like spending time on this court," joked Pliskova, the 2018 Stuttgart champion, after needing almost

MADRID: Atletico Madrid stayed in control of La Liga's title race by beating struggling Huesca 2-0 at home on Thursday (Apr 22) with goals in each half by Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco. Correa scored for the third time in two games to give Atletico the lead shortly before halftime, the Argentine dancing through the Huesca defence and getting the help of a deflection to take his shot into the net. Huesca had won two of their last three matches and stayed in

LEICESTER, England: Red-hot striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored an 11th goal in his last eight games in all competitions as Leicester City poured more misery on woeful West Bromwich Albion with an emphatic 3-0 Premier League win at the King Power Stadium on Thursday. Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans were also on target for the home side, who stayed third on 59 points from 32 games, four clear of fourth-placed Chelsea and West Ham United and on course for Champions League qualification. Second-bottom West

BARCELONA: Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona crushed Getafe 5-2 on Thursday (Apr 22) to stay in the hunt for the La Liga title. Messi gave Barca an early lead with the help of a pin-point pass from Sergio Busquets but Getafe pulled level with an own goal by Clement Lenglet. The visitors then conceded a calamitous own goal when Sofian Chakla's backpass deceived keeper David Soria and trickled over the line. Messi extended Barca's lead before halftime, hitting the post then following

PARIS: Football's most powerful clubs faced mounting calls for reprisals over the European Super League fiasco on Thursday (Apr 22), although UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said next week's Champions League semi-finals were unlikely to be affected. Super League chief Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, had insisted Wednesday the rebel competition was merely "on standby" despite nine teams pulling out. Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea withdrew on Tuesday, followed by Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and AC Milan 24

LONDON: Manchester United fans breached security at their club's training ground on Thursday (Apr 22) as they protested against the Glazer family for the owners' role in the failed European Super League plot. United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was forced to speak to around 20 supporters after they blocked both entrances to the Carrington headquarters. The protestors unfurled banners that read "51% MUFC 20", "We decide when you play" and "Glazer out". The 51 per cent is a reference to fans holding the

Devdutt Padikkal managed to overshadow none other than the great Virat Kohli with an elegant hundred in Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)'s successful 178-run chase against Rajasthan Royals (RR), in a virtual cakewalk of an IPL contest at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 22. It hardly happens that someone as brilliant as Kohli, plays a second fiddle, allowing the talented left-hander use his sinewy wrists to caress the balls to all parts of the ground during a mind-blowing maiden IPL century, an

LONDON: Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli became on Thursday the first batsman to score 6,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL). India skipper Kohli reached the milestone in 196 matches and leads the list ahead of Chennai's Suresh Raina (5,448 runs), Delhi's Shikhar Dhawan (5,428), Hyderabad's David Warner (5,384) and Mumbai's Rohit Sharma (5,368). Kohli's unbeaten knock of 72 was eclipsed by 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal, who smashed 101 off 52 balls in a 10-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals to become the