Sports

Paris St Germain will once again be without Neymar when they face Lille in the French Cup last-16 on Wednesday but manager Mauricio Pochettino hopes to have Angel Di Maria and Marquinhos available after their homes were robbed last weekend. Brazilian forward Neymar has not yet fully recovered from an adductor muscle injury he picked up in the previous round against Caen on Feb 10. The French champions initially said he would be out for action for "up to four weeks" but Pochettino

Justin Thomas climbed to No. 2 in the official world golf rankings following his victory at The Players Championship on Sunday.The win vaulted Thomas past Jon Rahm despite the Spaniard's tie for ninth place at TPC Sawgrass. Thomas also moved up three spots in the United States Ryder Cup team standings and he is now behind only Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, who finished two shots behind Thomas on Sunday.Johnson retained a healthy cushion at No. 1 in the world rankings despite settling

South African qualifier Lloyd Harris stunned US Open champion Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4 in the Austrian’s opening match at the Dubai Championships on Tuesday. Harris hit nine aces and didn’t allow fourth-ranked Thiem a single break point as he booked a third-round match against Filip Krajinovic. The 81st-ranked Harris needed just 72 minutes to dispatch the top-seeded Thiem. “Obviously, I’m super happy with that win, by far the highest-ranked player I’ve beaten. I look up to Domi a lot, so for me it’s a special

STOCKHOLM: Zlatan Ibrahimovic may be about to thrill Swedish soccer fans again if Janne Andersson names him in his squad for this month's World Cup qualifiers after the pair settled their differences to pave the way for the talismanic striker's return. Ibrahimovic, 39, walked away from the national team after Sweden exited Euro 2016 at the group stage and his relationship with Andersson, who took over after that tournament, was limited to sniping form the sidelines while hinting at a comeback. Throughout that

DUBLIN: World Rugby on Tuesday (Mar 16) announced the launch of a new global women's 15s competition to "supercharge" the sport. The annual WXV competition, starting in 2023, will have three tiers and is aimed at raising competitiveness in the build-up to an expanded 16-team World Cup in 2025. It is being supported by an initial £6.4 million (US$9 million) from the global governing body. Sixteen teams will be involved and the competition will take place within a new September-October global window, except

South Africa Legends entered the semifinals of the Road Safety World Series T20 by beating Bangladesh Legends by 10 wickets here. Openers Andrew Puttick (84 not out off 54 balls; 9×4, 1×6) and Morne van Wyk (69 not out off 62 balls; 9×4) slammed unbeaten half centuries as South Africa Legends chased down the 161-run target in 19.2 overs late on Monday. The win helped the South Africans finish third with 16 points after India (20 points) and Sri Lanka (20 points). Earlier,

The 121-day torch relay is set to begin on Mar 25 at the J-Village training centre in Fukushima, launching the build-up towards the Jul 23 start of the Games, postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. "People are fine to watch from the side of the road, but when they do so we would like them to practise distancing and avoid crowds," Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto told a news conference. "We want to ensure a safe torch relay not only for

The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin on April 9, and the final is scheduled for May 30. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced online brokerage firm Upstox as its official partner for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. This will be a multi-year partnership, according to a statement released on the IPL official website. The upcoming season of the tournament is slated to begin on April 9, and the final is scheduled for May 30. Upstox, backed

Luis Suarez will be key for Atletico Madrid if they are to turn around a 1-0 deficit against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge. Atletico Madrid's hopes of coming back against Chelsea in the Champions League on Wednesday may depend on Luis Suarez returning to form on his return to the country where he became one of the best in the world. Atletico trail 1-0 after Olivier Giroud's bicycle kick lit up an uneventful first game at the Wanda Metropolitano last month and handed

A regular feature of Kohli's batting in his career has been the number of times he has remained unbeaten. In fact, in 81 T20I innings, the India captain has remained not out 22 times, which proves just how good he is. After a long time, Virat Kohli, the master of the chase was on display, batting in full throttle and guiding India home in the second T20I against England on Sunday. Kohli did what he does best – shepherd a chase in a

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola played down Oleksandr Zinchenko's comment that the team could win all four trophies this season. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola moved quickly to quash talk of a historic quadruple on Monday -- after one of his own players said they were capable of a clean sweep of trophies. City face Borussia Moenchengladbach in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in Budapest on Tuesday, well placed to progress after winning the first leg 2-0. The match was switched

In today's QNB Stars League Round 21 match against Al Wakrah, Al Gharafa will be aiming for all three points as the Cheetahs battle for a spot in next year's AFC Champions League. The Week-21 match, which was originally scheduled for April 6, was moved up due to Al Gharafa's play-off with FC AGMK of Uzbekistan in Doha on April 7 place in the AFC Champions League group stage this year. The match at Al Gharafa Stadium is scheduled to begin at 5:00

Borussia Moenchengladbach coach Marco Rose paid tribute to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola ahead of the two sides' Champions League last 16 second leg, saying the Premier League team are almost playing 'Total Football'. Guardiola's City are league leaders in the English top-flight, boasting a 14-point lead over second-placed and rivals Manchester United. Guardiola, who has guided City to two Premier League titles since arriving in 2016, used the Dutch tactics of 'Total Football' at former club Barcelona after having played under Johan

LONDON: The three remaining Twenty20 matches between India and England in Ahmedabad will be held behind closed doors due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, the state's cricket association (GCA) said on Monday (Mar 15). A sizeable crowd attended the world's biggest cricket stadium for the first two matches of the series, with most fans in the stands not wearing masks. The series is tied at 1-1 and the final three games of the five-match series will be played on Tuesday,

BARCELONA: Lionel Messi celebrated his record-equalling 767th appearance for Barcelona by scoring two goals in a 4-1 La Liga victory over Huesca which helped the Catalans to move within four points of the top of the table on Monday. Spectacular first-half strikes by Messi and Antoine Griezmann from long-range appeared to have put Barca in the driving seat with the visitors rarely threatening. However, Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was adjudged to have felled Rafa Mir on the stroke of halftime as the

WOLVERHAMPTON: Liverpool breathed new life into their chances of a top-four finish in the Premier League as Diogo Jota returned to haunt Wolves with the only goal in a 1-0 win at Molineux on Monday (Mar 15). A disappointing night for the hosts ended with a bigger concern than just the result as goalkeeper Rui Patricio had to be stretchered off after 15 minutes of treatment for a head injury after he collided with his own player Connor Coady in the closing stages.

Paris Saint-Germain star Angel Di Maria was withdrawn during his side's loss to Nantes on Sunday after he received news that his home had been burgled, AFP reported. PSG told AFP that Di Maria was one of two players who were victims of burglaries during the game. A source close to the investigation told AFP on Monday that although the burglary took place in the presence of Di Maria's family at their home in Hauts-de-Seine, there was no violence. PSG's sporting director Leonardo

Pele has congratulated Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese forward surpassed the Brazilian soccer great's tally of goals scored in official matches. Ronaldo netted a hat trick in Juventus' 3-1 win over Cagliari on Sunday to move onto 770 career goals, three more than Pele. The 35-year-old Ronaldo took to Instagram to recognize his achievement as well as the Brazilian's influence on his career, prompting Pele to reply. "Life is a solo flight. Each makes his own journey. And what a beautiful journey you

KUALA LUMPUR: South Korea will host North Korea for a series of World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers later this year, the Asian Football Confederation said on Friday (Mar 12). South Korea, who reached the 2002 World Cup semi-finals on home soil, are one of eight countries hosting their respective Asian qualifying groups, in a new format intended to reduce coronavirus risks. China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Japan are among the other hosts for the postponed games, which will be played from May

First day of pre-season testing delivers surprise as world champions Mercedes endure difficult start with new W12 car; Max Verstappen two tenths ahead of Lando Norris at head of timesheet in the new Red Bull; Ferrari also hit early reliability trouble Red Bull's Max Verstappen led McLaren's Lando Norris on the opening day of 2021 testing in Bahrain as world champions Mercedes endured an uncharacteristically difficult start to pre-season with their new car. At the start of F1's shortened three-day track build-up to