Sports

Quito, Oct 11: Lionel Messi scored a brilliant hat- trick as Argentina sealed their place at the 2018 World Cup with a 3-1 victory over Ecuador here. Barcelona superstar Messi single-handedly rescued Argentina's World Cup hopes as the South American giants came from behind to win in Quito. Romario Ibarra had given Ecuador a shock lead after only 38 seconds but Messi struck twice inside the opening

Guwahati, Oct 10: Australia skipper David Warner won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the second Twenty20 International against India, here today. The visitors have included Marcus Stoinis in their playing XI in place of Dan Christian while India are changed. India are leading the series 1-0. Teams: India: Virat Kohli (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni, Kedar

Dhaka, Oct 10: The Indian men's hockey team will take on Japan as they open their campaign in the Asia Cup 2017 here at the Maulana Bhashani National Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday. Though India are clear favourites for the title and interestingly also have the backing of the local crowd who welcomed the team with loud cheers during their practice match on Monday against Oman, they need to bring

Alexandria, Oct 9: Mohamed Salah scored from a penalty kick deep into injury time to send Egypt to the World Cup and end a near 30-year wait for Africa’s most successful team. Salah scored both Egypt’s goals in a 2-1 home win over Republic of Congo in the penultimate round of qualifiers in Africa on Sunday. Egypt qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1990 and Salah’s powerful left

Melbourne, Oct 9: Test batsman Usman Khawaja has said being racially vilified when he was growing up in Sydney led him to support other countries rather than back Australian sports teams. The Pakistan-born 30-year-old said in a blog post that racial abuse was widespread on the playing field during his junior days and blamed it for curtailing the sporting ambitions of a number of his overseas-born

Wellington, Oct 9: The International Cricket Council (ICC) is set to approve plans for its long-awaited World Test Championship at a meeting in New Zealand this week, it was reported today. The sport's governing body has argued for years that a Test championship is needed to boost the five-day format's popularity as crowds and television viewers flock to the big- hitting Twenty20 version of the

Berlin, Oct 9: Midfielder Leon Goretzka netted twice as Germany routed Azerbaijan 5-1 on Sunday to make history with a perfect World Cup qualifying record of 10 wins in as many games. The reigning world champions had already sealed their ticket to Russia last Thursday with a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland and finished their qualifying campaign in Kaiserslautern with a 10th straight victory. This is

Ranchi, Oct 8: The new playing condition rules laid down by the ICC have left Indian and Australian cricketers confused after it was applied in the rain-hit first Twenty20 International here. Australian opener Aaron Finch said it was strange that the rules were "mixed and matched" for the T20I series, while his Indian counterpart Shikhar Dhawan too admitted of being "unaware" of the changes

New Delhi, Oct 8: Centenarians are expected to take life easy. But 101-year-old Man Kaur would rather throw a javelin or a shot put, hit the gym, eat like an athlete - and win a race. Dubbed the 'Miracle from Chandigarh', she shot to fame after winning the 100-metre sprint at the World Masters Games in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this year. Kaur was recently in the news after she was denied a

Oct 8: Opener Shikhar Dhawan believes the right blend of youth and experience makes India a formidable side and it would be great if they can emulate the past success of five-time world champions Australia. After a comprehensive 4-1 victory in the ODI series, India extended their dominating run in the T20Is with a nine-wicket win over Australia in the opening game on Saturday to take a 1-0 lead in