Sports

SINGAPORE: Delwinder Singh is more used to crunching tackles than crunching the numbers but he is well aware of the figure in question. That was the number of days since Tanjong Pagar United’s last win in Singapore’s professional football league. And while the numbers don’t lie, sometimes they don’t tell the entire truth, said Delwinder, a defender for the Jaguars. After all, the team had sat out the competition for five seasons since their last win in 2014. They’d then gone winless through

LIVERPOOL: Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane moved clear at the top of this season's Premier League scoring charts but his two goals were only good enough for a 2-2 draw away to Everton on Friday (Apr 16). The England captain opened the scoring in the 27th minute with his 20th league goal of the campaign but former Spurs player Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled from the penalty spot. But Kane punished a defensive mistake six minutes later to earn his side a draw. Worryingly for seventh-placed

MADRID: Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has reiterated that he is not worried about his future ahead of Saturday's (Apr 17) Copa del Rey final meeting with Athletic Bilbao. The Copa represents a chance for Barca to end a trophyless run which dates back to the 2018-19 season. After finishing last season without silverware, their hopes of Champions League glory were ended by PSG at the last-16 stage, while their defeat in last weekend's El Clasico means they are third-placed in La Liga heading

Moeen Ali hit 46 from 31 balls after Deepak Chahar's four-wicket haul and Ravindra Jadeja's electric fielding had shredded Punjab Kings' top order as Chennai Super Kings stormed to their first win of the IPL season. England star Ali struck seven fours and a six from the No 3 spot before Sam Curran (5no) smashed the winning boundary as Chennai coasted to their target of 107 with 26 balls to spare in Mumbai to win by six wickets and bounce back from Saturday's

Stewart Cink opened up a five-shot lead at the halfway stage of the RBC Heritage after firing back-to-back rounds of 63. Cink followed an early eagle at the second with six birdies as he raced to 16 under par, dropping only one shot over the first 36 holes to become the oldest player to hold the halfway lead in the history of the tournament in South Carolina. Overnight leader Cameron Smith slipped seven shots off the pace, while Dustin Johnson safely made it

SINGAPORE: Joseph Schooling famously upset the great Michael Phelps to win Olympic gold but he said "my biggest rival is myself" as he bids to return to form at the Tokyo Games. Schooling, Singapore's first Olympic champion, said the year's pandemic delay had given him extra time to prepare after a disappointing world championships in 2019. The 25-year-old caused a sensation at Rio 2016, when he beat his idol Phelps - who has a record 23 Olympic gold medals - by a fingertip

MANCHESTER, England: Manchester United reached the Europa League semi-finals after Edinson Cavani's early strike and a Jesus Vallejo own goal secured a 2-0 home win over Granada on Thursday (Apr 15) and completed a 4-0 aggregate rout of the Spanish side. United will face AS Roma for a place in the May 26 final in Gdansk after the Italian side ground out a 3-2 aggregate win over Ajax Amsterdam with a 1-1 home draw in the second leg of their quarter-final. Cavani netted

Japan's inability to contain the COVID-19 pandemic means that plans to hold the Olympics in Tokyo should be reconsidered, health experts wrote in a commentary. The 2020 Games, already delayed by one year, are due to begin in fewer than 100 days, even as Japan expands quasi-emergency measures to halt a fourth wave of infections. Japan has exhibited "poor performance" in containing virus transmission, along with limited testing capacity and a slow vaccination rollout, according to the commentary published in the British Medical

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain were revelling in the joy of knocking holders Bayern Munich out of the Champions League in midweek when Neymar offered more cause for celebration. In an interview with Brazilian broadcaster TNT Sports following PSG's away-goals victory in the quarter-finals, Neymar dropped a clear hint that he would be staying at PSG beyond the end of his current contract. "For me there is no debate, it is obvious that I feel very comfortable here and at home at Paris Saint-Germain. I

MADRID: First-half strikes from Paco Alcacer and Gerard Moreno guided Villarreal into the Europa League semi-finals with a 2-1 victory over Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday (Apr 15) and a 3-1 aggregate triumph. Villarreal dominated the game and almost took the lead after 25 minutes when forward Samuel Chukwueze rattled the post with a close-range volley. They did not have to wait long to open the scoring, however, with Alcacer netting 10 minutes later. Chukwueze was initially flagged offside in the build-up, but the

ROME: AS Roma advanced to the Europa League semi-finals with a 3-2 aggregate win over Ajax Amsterdam after Edin Dzeko’s late equaliser secured a 1-1 home draw on Thursday (Apr 15). The Italian side will now face Manchester United, who beat Granada 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate in their quarter-final second leg, for a place in next month's final. Brian Brobbey struck for Ajax four minutes after his halftime introduction but Dzeko’s 72nd minute finish levelled the scores in the

LONDON: Marc Marquez is a six-times MotoGP world champion but he admitted he had butterflies in his stomach ahead of this weekend's Portuguese Grand Prix when he returns to the track for the first time since last year's season-ending crash. Marquez fractured his upper arm in the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix in July and did not race again all year. The 28-year-old Repsol Honda rider also missed the opening two races of this season in Qatar. "My confidence is not high, I have

Chris Morris - the most expensive player in Indian Premier League history - justified his hefty price tag as he fired four late sixes to see his Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling three-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on Thursday. Chasing 148 to win, the Royals looked to be heading for a second-straight defeat to start the tournament when stumbling to 17-3 inside four overs and 42-5 in the 10th, but David Miller's 62 from 43 balls and the late cameo from £1.6m man

Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been treated in hospital after he contracted malaria while on international duty with Gabon. The 31-year-old scored in Gabon's 3-0 win over DR Congo in Africa Cup of Nations qualification on 25 March. He played in Arsenal's Europa League quarter-final first leg against Slavia Prague on 8 April but missed Sunday's win over Sheffield United. "I've spent a few days in hospital this week," he said on Instagram. "I'm already feeling much better every day, thanks to the

World number one Judd Trump says the return of fans will help bring out his best at the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield. Until now the 2020-21 season has been entirely played behind closed doors because of Covid-19 restrictions. However, the tournament is part of a government pilot scheme to help fans return to sporting and cultural venues. "You miss the coughing and the mobile phones going off," Trump told BBC Radio 5 Live. "When you are losing and you get a frame

British number one Dan Evans claimed the biggest win of his career by beating Novak Djokovic in the last 16 of the Monte Carlo Masters. Evans, who has struggled on clay in recent times, started superbly against the world number one, breaking him in his first two service games. He was able to wrap up the opening set before Djokovic fought back at the start of the second. But Evans recovered and held his nerve to wrap up a 6-4 7-5 win. It

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli has been reprimanded after hitting a plastic chair with his bat following his dismissal during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match. Kohli made 33 in Bangalore's second successive win this season of the popular Twenty20 tournament after they edged out Sunrisers Hyderabad by six runs in Chennai on Wednesday (Apr 14). But the star batsman was charged for breaching the IPL's code of conduct that relates to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures

Caster Semenya retained her 5,000m title at the South African Athletics Championships on Thursday (Apr 15) and confirmed she would not be attempting to qualify for the 200m at the Tokyo Games. The double Olympic 800m champion cannot compete over her favoured distance having refused to abide by a World Athletics ruling that athletes with differences in sexual development competing in races ranging from 400m to a mile must reduce their naturally high levels of testosterone. She has taken that fight to the

Empty stands has been the new normal for tennis since last year due to COVID-19 restrictions but top men's players like Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic said they still find it difficult to maintain their intensity during matches in the absence of fans. The professional circuit was shut down for several months last year before tournament organisers set up 'biosecure bubbles' for players and support staff while keeping fans away from stadiums. Barring the swing in Australia in February, tournaments continue to be

RIO DE JANEIRO - The world’s most famous statue of Jesus Christ was lit up with the Olympics logo and images of sporting arenas on Wednesday to mark 100 days to the Tokyo Olympic Games opening ceremony. Hundreds of LED projectors were used to beam images onto the 98-foot (30-m) Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, according to media reports. The show began and ended with the statue seeming to wear Brazil jerseys in yellow and green, the country’s distinctive sporting colours,