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Australian Open set to welcome Serena, Naomi; unvaccinated players might be unwelcome
World’s top women tennis players including American superstar Serena Williams, Japan’s Naomi Osaka are likely to feature in the Australian Open 2022, while US Open champion Emma Raducanu is all set to feature in the main draw for the first time in her career. The players must be fully vaccinated to take part in the tournament, according to tournament director Craig Tiley.
Xavi calls for unity and effort ahead of his debut as Barca coach
Club legend Xavi Hernandez will make his debut as FC Barcelona manager on Saturday against the local rivals Espanyol at the Camp Nou. The former midfielder only had a limited squad to prepare for the match as many of the first team stars were busy with their international teams. Xavi has been busy solving Barca’s long standing off-field problems since his arrival as a head coach from Qatari side Al-Sadd.
Augsburg upset Bayern 2-1 in Bundesliga
Bayern missed to open the score in the early minutes of the clash when youngster Omar Richards came closer to break the deadlock. Augsburg responded well to Bayern’s early missed chances and started playing with pace and did not allow Bayern to settle in the match. Mads Pedersen in the 23rd min gave Fuggerstadter a well-deserved opening goal when Andi Zeqiri's good build-up work and cross into the box allowed him to hammer home the lead into the top right corner.
Three coaches set for debut as Premier League returns to action
Steven Gerrard's debut after leaving the Glasgow Rangers for Aston Villa will probably attract most of the attention as he looks to end the run of five defeats that cost Dean Smith his job.
'Where is Peng Shuai?: Tennis world seeks answer from China over the missing star player
Top tennis stars like Japan's Naomi Osaka, men's World No, 1 Novak Djokovic, former women's world No. 1 Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Jule Georges, Petra Kvitova, and Coco Gauff joined the social media campaign by posting material on their social media handles that included some texts on the photographs of the chinese player. Djokovic extended support to the social media campaign by posting the statement by the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) along with a picture of the player.
2nd T20I: India beat New Zealand by 7 wickets; take unassailable 2-0 series lead
A superb bowling performance by debutant Harshal Patel (2/25) and spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (1/19), Axar Patel (1/26) helped India restrict New Zealand to 153/6 in 20 overs. Glenn Phillips (34 off 21) was the top-scorer for the Black Caps, who didn't get the momentum after the Powerplay.
Former Australia captain Kim Hughes slams CA, Head insists on knowing more about Tim Paine case
On Friday, Paine sensationally stepped down from being the Test skipper as his controversial chats with a one-time Cricket Tasmania female employee from 2017 were made public. In a hastily-arranged press conference at Hobart, a sobbing Paine announced the decision but insisted on playing in the upcoming Ashes series.
Our bond is beyond the game and will always be: Virat Kohli leads in paying tribute to AB de Villiers
De Villiers, who represented Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) before joining RCB, has finished his IPL career as the sixth highest run-getter with 5,162 runs in 184 matches at an average of 39.70 and strike rate of 151.68. It also includes three centuries and 40 half-centuries, with the best of 133 not out coming against Mumbai Indians in 2015.
Indonesia Masters: Prannoy, Sindhu, Srikanth advance to quarterfinals
Pulling the biggest upset of the day, the 2014 Indonesia Masters winner Prannoy beat Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 14-21, 21-19, 21-16 in an intense one hour 11 minutes men's singles second round match. Down and out in the first game, the Indian shuttler made a stunning comeback to defeat the World no 2. It was Prannoy's first victory in six attempts against Axelsen. He will now face compatriot and former world No 1 Kidambi Srikanth in the quarterfinals.
Ind v NZ: Prioritising rest, taking mind off the game, key to manage yourself in tight schedule: Rachin Ravindra
While replying to a question from IANS in a virtual interaction on Thursday, Ravindra said, "There's quite a tightly jammed schedule, especially with the T20 World Cup happening for those guys. But I think it's about managing that and understanding you might not be able to get as many training sessions in there as you would like. But prioritising your rest and doing what takes your mind off the game and also remember that there's a series."
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