Real’s Carvajal out until next year due to calf injury
MADRID, Dec 5: Real Madrid right back Dani Carvajal has a calf injury and is not likely to play again until next year.Tests on Monday showed Carvajal hurt the left calf muscle. He was substituted at halftime of Madrid’s 2-0 win against Granada on Saturday in the Spanish league.Carvajal is expected to be out for about a month and could miss at least five matches, including four in the Spanish league and the team’s visit to Union Berlin in the group stage of the Champions League. Madrid has already secured first place in the group. It leads the Spanish league along with Girona. (AP)
EPL sells domestic TV rights for record $8.45 billion
LONDON, Dec 5: The Premier League sold its domestic TV rights for 6.7 billion pounds ($8.4 billion) for the next four-year cycle, for what the competition was the largest sports media rights deal ever concluded in Britain.The new contract covering the period from 2025-26 to 2028-29 underlined the league’s status as the richest in football, with the annual figure of ($2.12 billion) around double the value of domestic rights in each of Germany, Spain and Italy.Sky Sports will screen a minimum of 215 matches per season – up to 100 matches a season more than it currently does – while TNT Sports, formerly BT Sport, will get 52 games. Amazon Prime, which shows 20 matches per season reportedly did not bid for any matches in the next cycle.The current deal is worth a reported 1.66 billion pounds ($2.10 billion) a season.“The outcome of this process underlines the strength of the Premier League,” said Richard Masters, its chief executive, “and is testament to our clubs, players and managers who continue to deliver the world’s most competitive football in full stadiums, and to supporters, who create an unrivalled atmosphere every week.” (PTI)
Sprinter who ran solo in Delhi athletics meet fails dope test
NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Sprinter Lalit Kumar, who ran solo in the 100m final at the Delhi Athletics Championships in September after seven other competitors pulled out on hearing the presence of NADA officials, has failed a dope test, according to officials.It is learnt that Kumar’s urine sample collected after the race on September 26 has returned positive for a banned steroid.Eight runners had qualified for the 100m final but seven disappeared apparently after hearing that dope testers from the National Anti-Doping Agency were present at the competition venue to take urine samples.Delhi State Athletics Association said that the committee, which was formed to look into how the seven other runners pulled out of the race, will submit a report in a few days.“The punishment for the dope offender will be handed by the NADA. We had formed a committee to look into how the seven other runners had pulled out.(PTI)
Ebenyo, Yehualaw star attraction in Kolkata 25K run
KOLKATA, Dec 5: World championships 10,000m silver medallist Daniel Simiyu Ebenyo of Kenya and Ethiopian 10K world record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw will be the star attractions in the men’s and women’s sections respectively in the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K run on December 17.Ebenyo won a silver medal in 10,000m in Budapest world championships in August and then finished second in half marathon in Riga at the inaugural World Road Running Championships, before easily winning the Delhi Half Marathon in October.Two other Kenyans, Roncer Kipkorir Konga and Bernard Biwott, with sub 60-minute personal best in half marathon (21.0975 km), are expected to challenge Ebenyo for the top podium position.Yehualaw, who set the 10k world record of 29:14 in 2022, will participate in the event for the first time. She also sits second on the world all-time list in half marathon with a time of 1:03:51 (clocked in 2021).Another Ethiopian, Anchinalu Dessie and Kenya’s Betty Chepkemoi Kibet will be the main challengers for Yehualaw. (PTI)