K’taka lift Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Surat: Karnataka won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after defeating Tamil Nadu by one run here on Sunday.Chasing a target of 181 runs, Tamil Nadu’s Hari Nishanth started playing aggressively and smashed three boundaries to Ronit More. However, More made a comeback in the same over and dismissed Nishanth (14).Shreyas Gopal then took the wicket of the other opener, Shahrukh Khan (16). Dinesh Karthik and Washington Sundar were the next batsmen but the former only managed to score 20 runs before he was sent back to the pavilion.Krishnappa Gowtham then bowled Sundar (24) to reduce Tamil Nadu on 80/4 after the completion of 10 overs.Vijay Shankar and Baba Aparajith took the field and played brilliantly, taking Tamil Nadu past 150 runs. Soon after crossing the 150-run mark, More took the wicket of Aparajith (40).Aparajith’s dismissal brought Ravichandran Ashwin on the field and they needed 13 runs from the last over. Ravichandran smashed two boundaries off the first two deliveries of the over, bowled by Gowtham. (ANI)
India face Pak in volleyball final
Kathmandu: Defending champions India will face Pakistan in the summit clash of the men’s volleyball competition in the South Asian Games after their respective wins in the semifinals here on Sunday. India defeated Sri Lanka 27-25 25-19 21-25 25-21 in a hard-fought match while Pakistan beat Bangladesh 25-15 25-21 26-24 in the other semifinal. The final will be played on Tuesday. India are also the defending champions in the women’s event and they face hosts Nepal in the summit clash on Tuesday. The Indian women’s team had defeated Maldives while Nepal had beaten Sri Lanka in the semifinals. (PTI)
McGregor to make UFC return
Atlanta: Conor Mcgregor will be making his UFC return in January next year and will face Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in the match. Ireland-born Mcgregor had confirmed last month that he would be making his much-anticipated return in January, but his opponent was not known at that time. “I have the opponent’s name … if I was to give you his name, which I would love to do, I know the UFC would flip it,” CNN had quoted McGregor as saying at that point in time. UFC President Dana White confirmed that Mcgregor will indeed face ‘Cowboy’ in his first bout. “Conor has signed and Cerrone is ready to go,” CNN quoted White as saying to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Mcgregor has 21 wins and four losses to his credit in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), but he has not taken part in the UFC since his loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. Following this match, tensions flared among both the camps and this led to McGregor’s six-month suspension and later, he ended up announcing his retirement on social media. (ANI)
Oz leg-spinner retires
Canberra: Australia leg-spinner Kristen Beams has decided to hang her boots from playing career and the ongoing season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) set to be her last.Beams, who made her first international appearance in 2014 in an ODI against Pakistan, had represented Australia in one Test, 30 one-day internationals and 18 Twenty20 Internationals.The 35-year-old has played for Melbourne Stars in the WBBL since the inception of the league and if she features in Sunday’s encounter against Brisbane Heat, it will be her last game for the franchise as well as of her playing career.”We congratulate Kristen on a terrific career both for Australia and her adopted home state of Victoria and are so grateful for the contribution she has made on and off the field,” Cricket Australia CEO Kevin Roberts was quoted as saying by the ICC.”She’s been a wonderful ambassador of the game, always willing to go the extra mile to inspire the next generation of cricketers ,” Roberts added.(IANS)