Joshua King Shatters Spain’s Dream Of Qualifying For 2020 With His Penalty Kick

Spain missed the opportunity to qualify for Euro 2020 when it couldn’t save a crucial match with Norway. It was 1-1 draw in Oslo. The three-time champions Spain was relying much on this match because it was the only hope for qualifying for Euro 2020.

Highlights of the match

  • Joshua King’s 94th minute penalty equaled the match with 1-1
  • Spain’s aggressive football was visible in the first half of the match
  • The home goalkeeper Rune Jarstein kept Mikel Oyarzabal’s ball out

Factors that affect Spain’s opportunities for Euro 2020

1. Romania failed to beat the Faroe Islands but it lost the match with 3-0 score. If it could, Spain would have qualified for Euro 2020.

2. In another match, Sweden thrashed Malta 4-0. If it would have otherwise, Spain would have benefitted from the match.

What’s next for Spain?

Spain has to defeat Sweden in Solna on Tuesday. It is very crucial match for Spain because losing the game would akin to losing the opportunity to qualify for Euro 2020. Spain has two matches in spare in addition to the Tuesday match.

Sweden with five points and three matches remaining is leading in Group F while Romania is only one point further back. Norway is also a strong contender for Euro 2020. It is four points behind Sweden but still there are matches to play with Romania, the Faroes and Malta.

What did Spain’s captain say?

Spain captain Sergio Ramos was in pain while describing the poor performance of his team in a crucial match. He recently broke Iker Casillas’ national appearance record with his 168th cap.

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

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Mary Kom With 8th Medal Becomes The Most Successful Boxer At The Worlds

MC Mary Kom had a great day at the ongoing Women’s Worlds in Ulan Ude, Russia, when she became the most successful boxer in the history of the World Championships – both men and women.

Indian boxing legend MC Mary Kon wins 8th medal at the Worlds

The 36-year old Mary Kom won her 8th WC medal by defeating the Rio Olympics bronze medalist, Columbia’s Valencia Victoria. She won in a 51kg category quarterfinal bout by a unanimous 5-0 verdict and became the only boxer to secure eight medals at the Worlds

Mary Kom’s medal tally at the Words

The heavyweight legend has six gold medals and a silver at the Worlds. The only boxer matching her standard is Cuba’s Felix Savon. The second most successful boxer at women’s Worlds is Ireland’s Katie Taylor. She has six medals – five gold and one bronze.

For record, May Kom’s earlier won medals in pinweight (46kg) and light-flyweight (48kg) category. The 51kg heavyweight is the new introduced division and for this reason the first medal of Mary Kom. Here it is necessary to mention that 51kg heavyweight is an Olympic category.

Mary Kom’s next battle

Mary Kom is aiming at her 7th Worlds gold by defeating the present European Championship and European Games gold-medalist, Turkey’s BusenazCakiroglu. It is going to be an interesting game because it is the first time Mary Kom will BusenazCakiroglu.

This match is important for Mary Kom because winning a gold will be a direct entry to first 2020 Olympic qualifier in Wuhan, China without going through selection trails at home.

Source: https://bit.ly/2oovEO8

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Mayank Agarwal And Cheteshwar Pujara Polled In 100-Runs After Early Dismissal Of Rohit Sharma In 2nd Test Day 1 Match

The opening-day of 2nd Test between India and South Africa saw early dismissal of Rohit Sharma but Mayank Agarwal and CheteshwarPujara put India in a dominant position by putting in 100-runs together. South Africa also made a change in bowling order. It brought spinners at both the ends.

Highlights of the match

  • Playing at 37, CheteshwarPujara went ahead for a big one into the mid-wicket stands. He took a lose ball by SenuranMuthuswany to hit a six.
  • Captain Faf du Plessis brought Anrich Nortje to test the strength of Mayank Agarwal in facing bouncers. But Mayank hit back-to-back boundaries and put Indian score over 100-runs.
  • Anrich Nortje and Keshav Maharaj brought South Africa back to game with a couple of tight overs but this success was short-lived as soon as Pujara pick up a boundary and took India past the 90-run mark.
  • Anrich Nortje tried hard to break the 2nd wicket partnership of Indian batsmen. He wanted to take advantage of Mayank’s weakness against short-pitched balls.
  • Mayank Agarwal made his 4th half-century in Test Cricket. This Karnataka batsman proved cricket after taking lead from Rohit Sharma. Early dismissal of Rohit made the South African team jubilant but Mayank who already had a double-hundred in Vizag test gave a strong base to Indian team.

The second-wicket batsmen did a great job together by keeping the bowlers at a bay. Post lunch, they started looking for some bad balls to play boundaries to add more runs to the Indian score.

Source: https://bit.ly/2M04FRI

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India vs South Africa Women ODI Cricket: Mithali Raj Says High Score Necessary To Popularize Women Cricket In India

Indian cricket team of women suffered a blow just before the first One Day International (ODI) against South Africa. A key player of the team was retired hurt and ruled out of the series. But the good thing is that the Indian skipper is in high spirits to popularize women’s cricket in India.

Press briefing of Indian skipper Mithali Raj

Captain of Indian women’s cricket team, Mithali Raj, predicted that the ODI series with South Africa would be “very competitive.” She further stressed her point that the women’s cricket matches had to be high scoring in order to popularize women’s cricket. She was addressing the press ahead of the first ODI in Vadodara.

Smriti Mandhana retired hurt

A fracture in her right toe made Smriti Mandhana unfit for playing the series. She was ruled out of the entire series but a final call on her ouster would be taken only after an assessment by physios in NCA. She needs an MRI but that is possible only after the swelling is controlled.

Head coach Woorkeri Raman speak for Smriti Mandhana

The head coach is still uncertain whether Smriti would be able to play but the coach would take a decision only after receiving a detailed medical report from physios. She said that it was difficult to give any timeline for her recovery.

India vs Africa ODIcricket series

The two teams would play a series of three limited over matches starting from October 9. The first match will be played at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara.

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India Scored 91 At Lunch On Day 1 Of 1st Test With South African At Visakhapatnam

Virat Kohli decided to bat first and his decision was proved wise as India scored 91 runs without losing any wicket in the first day of the first test match at Visakhapatnam with South Africa.

India chooses to bat

Both the openers of Indian cricket team Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal played well scoring 50 and 39 runs respectively. Skipper Virat Kohli took the decision of batting first without any hesitation despite knowing that South Africa has a strong bowling line. Confident of taking a lead, he allowed his opening batsmen to play freely and score as much as they can.

South African bowlers troubled India

There were some anxious moments in the first half of the match with South African spinners Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander almost tied the Indian batsmen on the pitch. But then the ball was new. Indian batsmen remained defensive until they got hold of the ball.

Rohit Sharma scored 50

Rohit displayed beautiful foot movement in the second half of the match. He hit a couple of sixers on the spinning ball and scored his 50 runs. It was his 11th 50 and first as an opener.

Mayank Agarwal not-out at 39

His role was more supportive than aggressive. He let Rohit Sharma to charge while baffling the bowlers with his defensive batting style.

South African bowling

Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander together bowled 8 overs out of which 3 overs were maiden. They gave a total of 19 runs. Their economy was 2.25.

Source: https://bit.ly/2ovIB8b

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FIFA Best Player Award 2019 For Lionel Messi And Megan Rapinoe

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

Watch Sevilla V/S Real Madrid Live On Facebook App

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.

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

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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Could World Test Championship Revive Test Cricket?

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

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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