Category: Sports

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FIFA Best Player Award 2019 For Lionel Messi And Megan Rapinoe

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Lionel Messi was selected for the FIFA Best Player Award 2019 by beating rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil Van Dijk, who was the winner of UEFA player’s award last month.

Contestants for FIFA Best Award and other titles

Started in 2016, the first two awards went to Cristiano Ronaldo (2016-17). In 2018, Croatian Luka Modric won the prestigious award. But in 2019, Lionel Messi pipped both the champions to become the best.

Both Lionel Messi and Van Dijk are also competing for the coveted Ballon d’Or that would be announced on 2nd December.

Last season, Lionel Messi emerged top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals and won the European Golden Shoe with 36 goals in the La Liga title.

Van Dijk was in the race to FIFA player of the year after winning World Player of the Year and the Ballon d’Or in 2006.

Why was FIFA Best Award a surprise for Lionel Messi?

Messi called it a surprise because Van Dijk was very close to the award after winning UEFA Player’s award. It is for the first time that Messi received this prestigious award before Barcelona were dumped out by Liverpool in the semi-finals.

Why Cristiano Ronald didn’t attend the ceremony?

The ceremony was held in Milan’s iconic La Scala Opera House but Ronaldo missed the function because of his inclusion in FIFA’s World 11 best team along with Messi.

FIFA Best Player 2019 Women’s Award

Megan Rapinoe got the FIFA Best Player 2019 for women. He beat former World Cup winner Alex Morgan and England’s Lucy Bronze.

Meet Megan Rapinoe

The 34-year old woman footballer was joint top scorer at the … Read the rest

News & Politics Sports

Watch Sevilla V/S Real Madrid Live On Facebook App

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In the latest match in La Liga, Sevilla would take on Real Madrid after Barcelona’s humiliating 2-0 defeat to Granada on Saturday. The defeat came shocking considering the past record of Barcelona. But its ripples have been felt across the tournament.

What is the position of Sevilla?

Sevilla accumulated 10 points in four games. It did fairly well with excellent performance by some of its players under the new coach JulenLopetegui. Ex-Eibar midfielder Joan Jordan and on loan from Madrid left-back Sergio Reguilonare seen in great form.

What is the position of Real Madrid?

Zinedine Zidane’sboys are only two points behind the Sevilla team and its Karim Benzema playing in his top form. Also, he’s current ‘Pichichi’ topscorer of La Liga. But what makes things more interesting is Los Blancos losing each of their last four visits to the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan.

How to watch the La Liga 2019 Sevilla vs Real Madrid live in India?

The La Liga match will be played at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium in Seville. Facebook would give the live telecast of the match from 12:30AM.

How to get live streaming of the match?

Live streaming of Sevilla vs Real Madrid would be available on Facebook app and facebook.com website in India.

Source: https://bit.ly/2krrbrI

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News & Politics Sports

Amit Panghal Is The First Indian Boxer To Enter Men’s World Championships Final

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Amit Panghal created history by entering the final round of men’s World Championships in Ekaterinburg, Russia. He defeated Kazakhstan’s SakenBibbisinov by split decision (3-2) in the semi-final of the flyweight (48kg-52kg) division.

Gold medal round for Phangal

Amit Panghal will take on ShakhobidinZoirov of Uzbekistan. He has been Rio Olympic champion in 52 kg category and has defeated BillalBennama of France in the semifinal category. It is the first time when Panghal will meet Zoirov.

Bronze medal for India

In another match, Manish Kaushik settled for a bronze medal after losing the game the reigning world champion, Andy Gomez Cruz of Cuba. He lost the lightweight (57kg-63kg) match by unanimous decision (5-0).

But both the boxers have qualified for the upcoming Olympic qualifier in Wuhan, China. The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has already announced that boxers with medals at the Worlds will be automatic choice for Olympic qualifiers.

What does this feat mean to India?

Amit Panghal and Manish Kaushik gave India immense hope as the country had never won more than a single bronze in the previous tournaments. With his bronze, Manish Kaushik became the fifth Indian boxer after Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Biduri (2017) wo win a bronze. It was the first appearance of Manish Kaushik at the Worlds but Amit Panghal was a quarter finalist in the previous edition of (2017). Manish Kaushik, the Bhiwani boy, gave exemplary performance of his boxing skills during his final bout with the reigning champion.

Source:https://bit.ly/2kLA1Rz

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Cricket News & Politics Sports

Could World Test Championship Revive Test Cricket?

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The International Cricket Council almost removed ODIs from the newly released the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the cycle till 2022. The new FTP has limited the maximum number of ODIs in bilateral series to three but the number of T20s has been shot up.

Highlights of FTP

Revival of ODIs

ICC has been aggressive in its approach to promote T20s but it says that the new format would help in globalizing the sport. Presently, ICC is putting little focus on ODIs but the popular format could see resurgence before the 2023 World Cup. Also, ICC has suggested a minimum number of games format to make a new qualification system. But ICC won’t interfere in bilateral series played between two countries.

Test Cricket and World Test Championship

Starting World Test Championship is a great idea but it is still at its nascent stage. But ICC is trying to find a solution to questions like number of matches played and point system. The latter issue is raised in the Ashes series between India and West Indies where people accused ICC of disparity.

Uniformity in cricket

ICC stands for uniformity but the present FTP puts more focus on T20 and Test Cricket. The world body hops to make the next FTP more uniform than the present.

Source: https://bit.ly/2kIkFx8

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News & Politics Sports

Pro Kabaddi 2019 Season 7 Results: Patna Pirates Lag Behind With Only 4 Win Against 7 Of Jaipur Panthers

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Patna Pirates take on Jaipur Panthers at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata in the Season 7 of Pro Kabaddi 2019. It would be their second big win after Tamil Thalaivas. But Jaipur Panthers are also eager to end their five-match winless streak.

Patna Pirates

These warriors are standing at the bottom place in the Season 7 and they desperately need a win to start ascending. They have won only 4 matches out of 14 in the Season 7. In the previous match with Tamil Thalaivas, they came out of their six-match losing streak by beating Tamil team with 51-25 score. But they need another victory to rise three places up and secure a playoffs spot the upcoming matches.

Jaipur Panthers

With 7 wins from 14 matches, Jaipur team is at a better position than their counterpart. Jaipur Panthers recently settled a crucial match with Haryana Steelers for tie and now they are looking for a win that can place them in Top 6 in the table. The skipper of Jaipur Panthers is high in spirit after scoring his fourth Super 10 of the season. Sandeep Dhull is also doing good but lack of team support could fail his attempts.

It is a crucial match for both the contestants – Patna Pirates and Jaipur Panthers – and the exciting thing is that both the teams seem to be in high spirit. While Patna Pirates need to strengthen their defense, Jaipur Panthers need to work on the team of the team support.

Source: https://bit.ly/2ma6n8B

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Cricket News & Politics Sports

Adam Gilchrist Bats For Rohit Sharma

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Former Aussie cricketer Adam Gilchrist threw his weight behind Indian batsman Rohit Sharma terming him as a reliable player for Test matches. He came out in open defense of selection committee chairman MSK Prasad who’s facing questions regarding Rohit’s selection as an opener batsman for Test matches.

Why Rohit Sharma’s selection in Test team is questioned?

Rohit Sharma plays in the middle order in One-Day cricket but he’s never scored well in longer format. He got an opportunity to play two Test matches in Australia but missed both the tests – first test due to injury and second miss due to birth of his child. Also, he’s dropped from the team after a poor show of 78 runs in four innings in South Africa in 2018.

Why does Adam Gilchrist favor Rohit Sharma?

Adam Gilchrist is himself a star cricketer. He was a former wicketkeeper cum batsman for Australian team. Adam Gilchrist made a frank opinion that is just the opposite of public image of Rohit Sharma. Gilchrist said that he had played with Rohit Sharma in IPL and that Rohit is capable of performing in a long format. He further said that Rohit Sharma could become an opener in Test match, if Rohit wanted to do so.

Source: https://bit.ly/2me9A7i

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News & Politics Sports

Ronaldo Scores 4 To Let Portugal Into Euro 2020 Qualifier

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Portugal beat Lithuania by 5-1 in their Euro 2020 qualifier. The Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo gave the best performance of his life against the European Champions. He scored four goals at the time when the game turned frustrating.

Ronaldo’s superb performance

The 34-year old captain was playing his 161st international match of his football career when he gave a fantastic performance by delivering his eighth hat-trick for his team. It was the 54th remarkable match of his career that escaped Portugal from defeat.

What Portuguese coach said about Ronaldo?

Portugal coach Fernando Santos said that Ronaldo was the best player in the world and that it was proved beyond doubt. The coach seemed very happy and impressed from the performance of the captain.

Highlights of the match

• Portugal with 8 points became second in Group B
• It is 5 points behind Ukraine
• Lithuania is down with 1 point after the defeat
• Lithuania goalkeeper Ernestas Setkus gave an excellent performance

Turning point in the game

Lithuania team gave striking performance in the beginning and the match seemed to be going against Portugal. At one time, the Portuguese team became frustrated until their captain Ronaldo charged and changed the game with his superb performance.

Source: https://bit.ly/2kvYoCD

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Cricket News & Politics Sports

Former Indian Skipper Sourav Ganguli Declares India VS New Zealand ICC 2019 First Semi-Final Declared A Tactical Blunder By Virat Kohli

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Virat Kohli Could Have Led India To Sunday 14 Final

The Men in Blue lost to the Black Caps in the first semi-final of ICC 2019 in Manchester on 10 July 2019. Indian team was knocked out in a modest 240 run chase by the New Zealand pace battery.

Sky remain overcast throughout the match and rain forced it into the reserve day. It was clear from the start that it wasn’t a batting wicket but Kiwis managed to get 239 after losing 8 wickets in 50 overs.

Indian team was aware about the bowling wicket but took no lessons from the warmup fixture with Kiwis that India lost. The New Zealand pace battery spearheaded by Trent Boult and Matt Henry rattled the top 3 batsmen of India including the skipper Virat Kohli the first three overs.

After the loss of skipper, the team lost control over the game but the captain didn’t try to strengthen the team position by changing the batting order. MS Dhoni was sent on number seven when the team could take advantage of his experience by sending him on fourth or fifth position.

Together MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja rekindled the hope of Indian team and fans but the loss of Jadeja on a slow bowl by Trent Boult shattered the hopes. MS Dhoni reclaimed the ground with his 50 but lost in the rush to retain the strike.

Indian lost the match to New Zealand by 18 runs as none from the team could face the pace attack of Kiwis. The Men in Blue were bundled to the pavilion in 49.3 overs.

Virat Kohli comments on the match

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News & Politics Sports

US Open: Bianca Andreescu Writes History By Winning The Singles Grand Slam

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Bianca Andreescu became the latest trending news in the US Open. The 19-year old Canadian national beat Serena Williams in singles Grand Slam title. Andreescu became the first Canadian to win the US Open.

Who’s Bianca Andreescu?

12-moths ago, this Canadian national was ranked outside the top-200 tennis players and she also failed to perform in the qualifiers for the US Open last year. Also, she’s never gone past the second round in the tournament. But today, this teenager has become the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles after Maria Sharapova in 2006.

Bianca Andreescu’s achievements

• 1st player to win the US Open on her main-draw debut
• $6.27m of prized money
• 5th rank in the latest WTA rankings
• 8-0 career record against the Top 10
• 12 consecutive three-set victories
• 14 consecutive winnings

Bianca Andreescu praised Serena Williams

She said that the champion Serena Williams greeted her with a smile and that Williams was gracious. There was a point when Andreescu thought that Serena Williams would fight back but she impressed Williams with her game to the point where the Queen of tennis gave up and let Bianca win the title. It was a great game and history written again.

Source: https://bit.ly/2k3gknE

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International News & Politics Sports

Portugal Qualifies For Euro 2020 With Ronaldo’s Superb Performance

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European champions Portugal beat Serbia in Euro 2020 qualifying Group Bmatch by 4-2. William Carvalho, Goncalo Guedes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva made goals but it was Cristiano Ronaldo that emerged as start player.

According to the latest trending news, the Portuguese team reached the second place in the group. It earned 5-points in three games but it is 8-points behind the runaway leader Ukraine who scored 13-points in three matches. Luxembourg holds the third-place and Serbia slipped to fourth-place.

Cristiano Ronaldo

He looked subdued in the first half after receiving a hostile reception at Red Star stadium. Serbian fans jeered at him every time he touched the ball but he gave a stunning performance despite the antagonistic response from the Serbian crowd. The Serbian team and its fans tasted the football of the class Ronaldo belongs to in the 80th minute of the game when he shot the ball into the net. This goal sealed the match for Serbia that gave up soon.

Coach Fernando Santos

He steered Portugal to the Euro 2016 title in France and also in the National League in the start of 2019. Fernando Santos was happy with the performance and hoped that it would boost confidence of his team.

Source: https://bit.ly/2kaH8CI

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