London, Aug 5: Former Arsenal soccer player Thomas Partey was granted conditional bail on Tuesday after appearing in court charged with five counts of rape.
The 32-year-old midfielder, who has also been charged with one count of sexual assault, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London. The alleged offenses, between 2021-22, relate to three women.
The conditions of Partey’s bail include that he cannot contact any of the women and must notify police of any permanent changes of address or international travel.
Partey is a free agent after his contract at Arsenal expired at the end of June. He is reportedly set to join Spanish team Villarreal.
“I understand he’s no longer employed in this country and playing in Spain now,” chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said.
Partey arrived at court wearing a dark zip up sweater and carrying a suit jacket. In court, he stood with his arms behind his back in the dock.
His lawyer Jenny Wiltshire previously said he “denies all the charges against him” and that he welcomed “the opportunity to finally clear his name”.
Police said the investigation was opened in February 2022 when it first received a report of rape. Partey was charged July 4 – days after his Arsenal contract expired.He is due to appear at the Old Bailey Sept. 2. The case against Thomas Partey now moves to the Old Bailey, where proceedings are set to continue on September 2. As the legal process unfolds, the former Arsenal midfielder remains out on conditional bail, with serious allegations casting a long shadow over his future in football. While Partey has denied all charges, the coming months are likely to be pivotal — both for his professional career and personal reputation. (AP)

Jamshedpur, Aug 5: P. Christopher Kamei’s solitary first half strike ensured Indian Army FT edge past a resilient ten men Tribhuvan Army FC in a Group C fixture of the 134th Durand Cup which was played here at the JRD Tata Sports Complex for their first win of the tournament. Tribhuvan Army FC finished their Durand Cup campaign with one point from three matches while Indian Army has three points from two matches.
Gagandeep Singh started in goal for Indian Army FT in place of the suspended Sayad bin Abdul Kadir as Head Coach Manish Wahi gave starts to Abhishekh Shankar Powar and Wangden Tamang in place of Shubham Rana and Samir Murmu while Tribhuvan Army FC Head Coach Meghraj K.C also made three changes for their final group game, bringing in Niraj Chaudhary, Anil Bomjan and Shrijan Dani in place of Aviskar Khadka, George Prince Karki and Niranjan Dhami.Tribhuavan Army started the match on the front foot controlling the possession and pace of the game and created the first real chance of the game with Gagandeep Singh palming away Gillespye Jung Karki’s header to safety. Indian Army side started to settle into their rhythm and showed more control in possession and created chances of their own, taking the lead in the 21st minute. Wangden Tamang found P. Christopher Kamei on the edge of the box with a cross from the left wing who controlled the ball with his left foot and with a precise low shot, the experienced midfielder found the bottom corner past the diving goalkeeper.Troubles mounted for the side from Nepal as they were reduced to 10 men in the 29th minute as goalkeeper Bikash Kuthu was shown a straight red card for a reckless foul on Liton Shil outside the penalty box while trying to stop the striker who ran free from the defence and had also rounded the keeper. The resultant free kick taken by the goal scorer Christopher Kamei hit the crossbar.
The Nepali Army side showed character even with a man down as they continued to press forward in search of the equaliser. The forwards were able to find some good positions in the danger area but they were denied by a combination of some solid defending and a couple of saves by the Indian Army side as the scores remained the same into the break.
Indian Army continued to dominate possession from the restart but were unable to make use of their man advantage as Tribhuvan Army showed some resilience in defence, making it hard for the Indian Army attackers to score their second. They were also wasteful in front of goal with Liton Shil missing as many as three chances to score. On the other end, the Nepal side who were playing on the counter attack missed a golden opportunity to level the scores. Disanta Rai failed to divert a cross from the left wing into an open goal as the substitute miscued his shot. Moments earlier Captain Gillespye Karki was unlucky to hit the crossbar with a powerful header from a corner kick with the goalkeeper rooted to his spot. Tribhuvan Army looked dangerous every time on the counter attacks, but were not clinical in the final third.In the end, Christopher Kamei’s first half strike was enough to secure their first win of the tournament and secure three points. (Agencies)

Shillong, Aug 5: Meghalaya’s most eagerly anticipated football tournament – the Shillong Premier League 2025 – will begin on Wednesday with Nangkiew Irat taking on Nongrim Hills in the opener.
Kick-off will be at 5:30pm as the SPL 2025 launches under the bright lights of the SSA Stadium at First Ground, Polo.
Although it was several months ago and with different players, it is worth noting that Nangkiew Irat and Nongrim Hills were involved in two high-scoring matches in SPL 2024.
The first saw Nongrim Hills triumph 5-2 but Nangkiew Irat fought back in the second leg and won it 4-0.
Nangkiew Irat finished in a commendable fourth place last season and they will be aiming to break into the Top 3 this year, while Nongrim Hills were seventh in 2024 with high hopes for an improvement in form in 2025.
Shillong Lajong are the defending champions, having lifted a fifth SPL title in dramatic fashion on the last day against second-placed Mawlai.
Rangdajied United were third and Laitkor and Langsning were fifth and sixth respectively while Sawmer were just out of the relegation zone in eighth position.
Malki, who last featured in the SPL in 2022, will be returning this season having won the First Division 2024, while runners-up Mylliem are making their debut in the local top flight.
The Shillong Sports Association, the organisers of the league, have decided this year to introduce a new shorter, snappier format where the SPL will be played over one leg, with each team playing all the others once.
The club that secures first place at the end of the 45 matches will be crowned SPL champions and the second-placed team will be the runners-up.
With nine matches per team, this means that every single one is absolutely vital and the clubs will need to bring their A-game right from the start of what promises to be an exciting season.
Relegation will apply as normal to the SPL – the bottom two teams from the league will drop down to the First Division in 2026.
The top six teams will progress to the new SSA Super Cup – the SPL champions and runners-up will qualify directly, while teams in positions 3 to 6 will first battle it out in playoffs before proceeding to the main event, which will feature two semifinals and a final.

Madrid, Aug 5: Barcelona has opened a disciplinary proceeding against Marc-André ter Stegen saying the goalkeeper refused to sign a medical report about his back injury, according to a person with knowledge of the proceeding.
The person who spoke to the The Associated Press on Tuesday did not want to be named because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
The club needed Ter Stegen to sign the report so it could be sent to the Spanish league in order to clear some salary-cap space and more easily register other players without breaching financial fair play rules.
But the club and the goalkeeper are at odds about the recovery time for the surgery that took place last week to deal with recurring lower back ailments.
Ter Stegen said ahead of the surgery that the recovery time would be about three months. The club did not give an official timetable for the recovery process, saying only that the operation was “successful” and that “his recovery will determine when he can return.” Depending on the length of the recovery process, Barcelona could clear a percentage of Ter Stegen’s salary from its cap, making more room to add other players to the squad.
The club signed Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García in June. Its other goalkeepers are veteran Wojciech Szczesny and Iñaki Peña.
The league has to evaluate the report before approving the official time of recovery.
Ter Stegen, one of the team’s captains, did not immediately speak publicly after Barcelona said it opened the disciplinary proceeding. He and the club had been expected to meet to discuss the situation in the coming days.The 33-year-old German goalkeeper missed nearly all of last season because of a tendon rupture in his knee, and in 2023 he missed about two months because of another back operation. (AP)

New Delhi, Aug 5: India will be one among the seven hosts in the AFC U-17 Asian Cup football qualifiers, scheduled to be played from November 22 to 30.
The Arena in Ahmedabad will be the venue for all matches. The draw for the qualifiers will take place on August 7.
The 38 Countries participating in the qualifiers will be drawn into seven groups (three groups of six teams and four groups of five teams each).
The group winners will qualify for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026, joining nine participating AFC teams in the FIFA U17 World Cup Qatar 2025, who have already directly qualified for the tournament.AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey said: “It is a matter of great pride for India to be among the hosts of the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers, and I am particularly pleased to see Ahmedabad take centre stage.“I sincerely hope that India qualifies for the AFC U17 Asian Cup, which serves as the gateway to the FIFA U17 World Cup, and take another important step forward in Indian football’s long-term development pathway.” Gujarat sports minister Harsh Sanghavi said: “It’s an opportunity for the state to showcase its love for the beautiful game, its world-class hospitality, and our rising football culture. Hosting a prestigious event such as this will position Ahmedabad on the Asian football map.”
The 38 teams competing in the qualifiers have been divided into six pots based on the seeding and pot allocation principle, which takes into account the team’s performance in the last three tournaments (2025, 2023, and 2018).
While India are in Pot 2, they will be placed in an additional Hosts Pot for the purpose of the draw to ensure all hosts are drawn in separate groups. China PR, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic, and Jordan are the other six hosts that cannot be drawn into India’s group. Pots for the AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers Draw: Pot 1: Australia, Yemen, IR Iran, Oman, Thailand Pot 2: Afghanistan, Malaysia, Iraq, Bangladesh, Laos, Kuwait Pot 3: Singapore, Bahrain, Philippines, Turkmenistan, Palestine Pot 4: Syria, Mongolia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Brunei Darussalam Pot 5: Nepal, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Maldives, Timor-Leste, Lebanon Pot 6: Macau, Sri Lanka, Pakistan Hosts Pot: China PR, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic, Jordan.
With the qualifiers serving as a crucial stepping stone towards the prestigious AFC U-17 Asian Cup and potentially the FIFA U-17 World Cup, all eyes will be on India — both as host and contender. The spotlight on Ahmedabad not only marks a significant milestone for Gujarat’s sporting aspirations but also reinforces India’s growing stature in Asian football. (PTI)

London, Aug 5: Not much was expected out of Shubman Gill and his team when they landed in England roughly two months ago. Five fiercely fought Tests later, the relatively inexperienced bunch not only exceeded expectations, it also gave a fine blueprint for the future.
In the words of two captains, Gill and his rival number Ben Stokes, 2-2 is probably a fair result after a 45-day slugfest. The two games that India lost, the series-opener at Leeds and the third Test at Lord’s, could have easily gone the other way around but those are the learnings that the players would take back home.
The times Gill and his men looked down and out, specifically Lord’s, Old Trafford and The Oval, they refused to give up and on two occasions made a gladiatorial comeback that would aptly sum up the spirit of this team.
PTI looks back at the iconic moments of the series and the contributions of the players who came of age during the series or are returning home wiser.

Captain Gill’s giant impact

Young leaders would dream of what Gill managed to achieve in his first series as Test captain. Having not done well in English conditions during past outings, there was a major question mark over his abilities as a batter, not to forget as captain.Gill needed to earn the respect of the dressing room and he did that with a stellar 147 in his first innings of the tour.Having made a few technical and mental adjustments, Gill took his game to the next level and what followed was a double hundred and a hundred in the emphatic win at Edgbaston.
Gill had his issues against the incoming ball but he found a way to deal with them. After the low returns at Lord’s, Gill came up with his most significant knock of the tour — a match saving 103 in Manchester. In the end, he aggregated a staggering 754 runs in 10 innings.
Gill came of age as a batter but as captain, he knows he remains a work in progress.
On Monday, he was lauded for keeping the fielders in the deep with England nine down and 17 runs away from the target. He also kept it simple by not taking the new ball when the old one was aiding Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.

Siraj throws workload management out of window

Mohammed Siraj, the only fast bowler on either side to play in all five Tests, fittingly took the final wicket of the series at The Oval and ended up as the leading wicket taker with 23 scalps.
With the peerless Jasprit Bumrah not around for two Tests due to workload management, Siraj rose to the occasion. Like opposition captain Ben Stokes, he put his hand up when a few extra overs needed to be bowled to maintain pressure.
Questions over Bumrah’s fitness will remain and his future in the longest format is unclear. But trust Siraj to be around to nurture the new crop of pacers.
In the words of bowling coach Morne Morkel, India need a batch of five to six fast bowlers to be ready for the physically punishing assignments of England and Australia.

Ravindra Jadeja excels

Jadeja’s exploits flew under the radar when the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were around. With the superstars now retired, Jadeja had to make up for the inexperience in the batting department.
With 516 runs in the middle order including five fifties and a rearguard hundred at Old Trafford, the 36-year-old ended up having a series to remember.In case of a collapse, Jadeja stood in the middle like a rock, averaging the highest among the Indian batters with four not outs in the series.

Tempers flare: Last over on day three at Lord’s

The series will be remembered for its highly competitive nature. The first two Tests were played in a relatively incident-free environment but with stakes getting higher, on-field tensions between the two team added to the spice.
The most significant of those moments was Jasprit Bumrah’s final over at Lord’s on day three.
Captain Shubman Gill asking Zak Crawley to grow some **** and the whole team sarcastically clapping at the England opener for delaying the proceedings will forever be talked about in the context of India-England rivalry.
On-field tensions became the norm after that incident including at Old Trafford where Stokes showed his frustration at India choosing to bat in the mandatory last 15 overs of the day despite draw being the only possible result.
Pant and Woakes’ iconic acts of bravado What also lifted the profile of the series was the iconic acts of heroism from Rishabh Pant and Chris Woakes. (PTI)

Chennai Grandmasters

Chennai, Aug 5: India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi will face tough competition from seasoned compatriot Vidit Gujrathi and Netherland’s top player Anish Giri during the expanded third edition of the Chennai Grandmasters chess tournament, starting here from Wednesday.
The event, which carries a winner’s purse of Rs 1 crore, will be competed for the first time over nine rounds in classical round robin format across Masters and Challengers segments.
The tournament, which was played over seven rounds in the previous two editions, will see participation from 19 Grandmasters and will offer crucial FIDE Circuit points.
The points will be vital for securing a spot in the 2026 Candidates Tournament, just like it helped eventual world champion D Gukesh to enter the Candidates.
Erigasi, who has broken into the elite 2800 FIDE rating club, will also face strong challenge from promising Nihal Sarin and Germany’s 20-year-old Vincent Keymer, who was Gukesh’s second during last year’s World Championship. But his toughest competitor will be Giri, who brings a wealth of experience and a super-solid style that makes him one of the tournament favourites.
Apart from the established names, India’s Pranav V and Karthikeyan Murali too are capable of effecting some stunning results.
As for the format, the latest edition marks a significant expansion, growing into a 20-player event split into two distinct 10-player sections: the Masters and the Challengers.
This new structure provides a direct pathway for rising stars to compete at the highest level, with the Challengers winner earning a guaranteed spot in the 2026 Masters.
Meanwhile, the Challengers section features some equally exciting talents in D Harika, who was a part of the gold winning women’s team at the 45th Chess Olympiad last year.
R Vaishali, Harshvardhan GB, Abhimanyu Puranik experienced Grandmaster Adhiban Baskaran, who is known for his aggressive style, will also be in contention. (PTI)

CINCINNATI, Aug 5: Novak Djokovic pulled out of the Cincinnati Open on Monday for what officially was listed as a “non-medical” reason, meaning he will head to the US Open without having played a match in about 1 1/2 months.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t competed since losing in the Wimbledon semifinals to eventual champion Jannik Sinner on July 11.
That straight-set defeat against Sinner at the All England Club came two days after the 38-year-old Djokovic took what he described as a “nasty” and “awkward” fall in the last game of his quarterfinal victory.
Djokovic clearly was compromised against Sinner and unable to move at his best; he received treatment on his upper left leg from a trainer.
Djokovic’s withdrawal from Cincinnati follows his decision to sit out the Toronto Masters that concludes this week.
He cited a groin injury for that absence.
His previous event before Wimbledon was the French Open, where he also lost to Sinner in the semifinals.
Djokovic will have no hard-court tournament preparation before the US Open singles competition begins on August 24.
He has won four championships at Flushing Meadows, most recently in 2023. That was also his most recent Grand Slam trophy. (AP)

Toronto, Aug 5: Top-seeded Alexander Zverev rallied to defeat No. 18 Alexei Popyrin of Australia 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 on Monday to reach the semifinals of the National Bank Open.
Zverev, the 2017 tournament champion, will face either No. 11 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia or No. 26 Alex Michelsen of the US.
Zverev, a German who is ranked No. 3, advanced to his 75th ATP Tour semifinal. He is looking for his 25th tournament title and eighth in an ATP 1000 Masters tournament.
The other quarterfinals are Tuesday. Second-seeded Taylor Fritz will take on No. 6 Andrey Rublev of Russia, while No. 4 Ben Shelton is slated to meet No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia. Both semifinals go Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s title match.
Popyrin took the first set when his gentle backhand volley after a long rally grazed the top of the net and dropped for the winning point – much to the delight of his fans, including one with an inflatable yellow kangaroo.
Zverev responded by immediately firing a ball completely out of Sobeys Stadium in frustration, but quickly regrouped to go up 2-0 in the second set.
Popyrin grabbed a break of his own before holding serve at 4-4. Zverev, who won the Canadian title in Montreal eight years ago when he defeated childhood idol Roger Federer, took a 5-4 lead and then again broke his opponent to even the match.
Ousted at the quarterfinal stage of last year’s tournament, Zverev got another break to go up 2-0 in the third set before serving out the match.
The 28-year-old, who lost to top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the final at this year’s Australian Open and made the French Open quarters, improved to 4-0 all-time against Popyrin, including a third-round victory at the Paris Olympics. (AP)

Montreal, Aug 5: Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko advanced to her first career WTA Tour semifinal with a 6-4, 6-2 win victory over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro on Monday night at the National Bank Open.
Two days after ousting No. 1 seed Coco Gauff in just 62 minutes, there was no letdown for the 18-year-old from Toronto.
After taking a back-and-forth – and error-filled – first set, Mboko was broken in a sluggish start to the second set but broke back in the fourth and sixth games to take a 4-2 advantage.
Mboko is the first Canadian to reach the WTA 1000 event’s semifinals since Bianca Andreescu’s title run in 2019. She’s also the youngest woman to reach the semis since Belinda Bencic’s 2015 win in Toronto.
Mboko will face Elena Rybakina, who led Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 2-1 when the Ukrainian was forced to stop playing because of an apparent arm injury.
Rybakina, the No. 9 seed from Kazakhstan, converted three of her 10 break-point chances in the quarterfinal matchup at IGA Stadium. The players shook hands at the 54-minute mark before the 24th-seeded Kostyuk exited the court in tears.
After the third game, Kostyu’s trainers wrapped her forearm in medical tape.
In a breakthrough year, Mboko has surged from outside the top 300 to a career-high No. 85. That number is projected to climb to at least No. 55, according to WTA live rankings.
After two injury-plagued years, Mboko – who had shown promise as a junior – opened the season with a 22-match win streak and captured five titles on the lower-tier ITF Tour.
The Canadian then qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the French Open, reaching the third round, before stunning 25th-seeded Magdalena Frech in the first round at Wimbledon. (AP)