Bravo, Alves, Mascherano out of Barca squad for Valencia clash
Barcelona: Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, Brazilian Dani Alves and Argentine Javier Mascherano are out of the Barcelona squad for the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals against Valencia on Wednesday. Besides the three footballers, who are regularly included in the squad of coach Luis Enrique, forward Sandro Ramirez and Brazilian defender Douglas will also be absent from Wednesday’s clash, reports Efe. The 18-player squad of Barcelona includes Marc-André Ter Stegen, Jordi Masip, Gerard Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Arda Turan, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr, Marc Bartra, Munir, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Adriano Correia, Aleix Vidal, Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu. (IANS)
Mumbai stun Ranchi Rays 7-5 to register first win of HIL
Mumbai: Dabang Mumbai shrugged off four consecutive defeats to outclass table toppers Ranchi Rays 7-5 and pocket five crucial points in the Coal India Hockey India League (HIL) at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium here on Wednesday. Despite the loss, Ranchi maintain their top spot with 22 points from six games with four wins and two losses, while Mumbai, despite the win, are still at the bottom of the table with nine points from five games, having won one and lost four. The match started as a one-sided contest as the home side was in attack mode, playing some fast hockey to put pressure early on the opponent. Mumbai were rewarded with two back-to-back penalty corners in the fourth and fifth minute respectively, but some good goalkeeping by Ranchi keeper Tyler Lovell denied the hosts the chance to take the lead. But the hosts made the best use of the third penalty corner in the ninth minute to take a 1-0 lead in the tenth minute. As the ball came in Harmanpreet Singh tried to spin the ball which went to Diwakar Ram, and the latter did not miss a chance to drag it straight into the right corner. (IANS)
u-19 WC: Pakistan top group after beating Lanka
Mirpur: Pakistan rode on a fine all-round performance by Hasan Mohsin to defeat Sri Lanka by 23 runs in the last league match and top Group B in the ICC Under-19 cricket World Cup here on Wednesday. Mohsin top-scored with 86 and then rattled Sri Lanka with two early wickets as Pakistan fought back after being dismissed for 212 to bowl their rivals out for 189. Pakistan will take on the West Indies in the fourth quarter-final in Fatullah on February 8. Sri Lanka, who finished second in the group, meet England here on February 7. Pakistan kept the pressure on the batsmen to clinch victory in the 47th over as leg-spinner Shadab Khan finished with 3/31. Sameen Gul, Mohsin and Ahmad Shafiq shared six wickets between them. (IANS)
Asia Cup, World T20 team selection on February 5
Mumbai: The Indian squads for the upcoming Asia Cup T20 tournament in Bangladesh and the subsequent ICC World Twenty20 championship in India are to be chosen on February 5 at Delhi by the national selection panel headed by Sandeep Patil. “The meeting has been scheduled on February 5 at Delhi to pick the teams for the Asia Cup and World T20 events,” Cricket Board sources told PTI. India would play a three-game T20 series at home against Sri Lanka from February 9, ahead of the multi-nation T20 events. The Asia Cup is slated to be held from February 24 to March 6, after a four-team qualifying event to spot one qualifier for the tournament proper from February 19-22. India take on hosts Bangladesh in the tournament opener at Mirpur followed by matches against arch-foes Pakistan (Feb 27), Sri Lanka (Mar 1) and qualifiers (Mar 3). This is the first time the Asia Cup is being played in the T20 format, in a change from the earlier 50-over competitions. (PTI)
Star India renews broadcast rights for EPL
Mumbai: Star India on Wednesday renewed its exclusive broadcast rights for the English Premier League for the next three seasons, from 2016-17 to 2018-19. With the renewal, Star India will continue to broadcast Premier League matches on a live or delayed basis across India on the Star Sports channels as well as stream all matches on its digital platforms Hotstar and starsports.com. The Premier League is the most watched football league in the world, broadcast in 185 countries to 730 million homes. “Our partnership with the Premier League is in line with our strategy of promoting and building football as a priority sport in the country. England’s Premier League is the most successful and viewed football league in the world with millions of fans in India,” Star India COO Sanjay Gupta said. “We have been broadcasting Premier League football for the last 15 years and this renewal reaffirms our faith in the strength of the competition as the best international football property. With Premier League, Bundesliga and the Indian Super League (ISL), we continue to have a portfolio of the best of global and Indian football.” Star India is a fully owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. (IANS)
Bengal face Bengaluru in PKL
Bengaluru: Buoyed by their convincing win over Telugu Titans in their very first outing in the third season of the Pro Kabaddi League, a rejuvenated Bengal Warriors will look to upset Bengaluru Bulls on their home turf here on Thursday. But their record against Bengaluru Bulls hasn’t been very good. In the four meetings that they have had in the league phase in the past seasons, the team from Kolkata have never won. Bengaluru thus have a major psychological advantage against a team who have started with a bang by beating the mighty Telugu Titans. (IANS)
