Posts published in “Sports,Hockey”

Sochi (Russia), July 8 (IANS) Croatia halted valiant hosts Russia's splendid run with a 4-3 (2-2) win via penalty shootout at the Fisht Stadium here on Saturday to enter the FIFA World Cup semi-finals for the second time after a gap of 20 years.
Denis Cheryshev's 25-yard screamer in the 31st minute gave Russia the lead but Croatia pulled level through Andrej Kramaric's header in the 39th minute. Domagoj Vida gave Croatia the lead with a header in the 101st minute.

But Mario Fernandes found Russia's equaliser in the 115th minute to send the match to penalty shootout, in which Croatia prevailed to set-up a semi-final clash with England, who beat Sweden 2-0 earlier in the day in Samara.

The defeat leaves Russia with their best-ever performance since its breakaway from Soviet Union, which had its top show in FIFA World Cup history with a fourth-place finish in 1966 edition.

For Croatia, the win keeps their hopes alive of going further than their best ever show of a third-place finish which came in 1998.

The current generation is considered the country's second best after the class of 1998 and now they head in to the semi-finals with dreams full of becoming the finalists, at least.

Croatia are now also the first team to enter the last four stage of a World Cup after surviving two penalty shootouts.

Their first victory came over Denmark. And they indeed showed a lot of patience, throughout the match against a gutsy Russia, who kept coming back at them, even though the Croats were favourites on paper.

Croatia, playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation, brought in Kramaric in place of midfielder Macelo Brozovic expectedly had the more of the ball initially.

In the first 20 minutes, they also created couple of chances with crosses from right-back Sime Vrsaljko but striker Mario Mandzukic coulnd't be in right position to have a shot at goal.

A corner from the right saw a header from Ante Rebic fly over the cross-bar from close range after the ball met Dejan Lovren's header.

After a decent start, Croatia began only to keep the ball in the middle while trying to slow down the game.

Russia slowly grew with the game and took the lead out of nowhere, thanks to Cheryshev, who kocked down an aerial ball before playing one-two with Artem Dzyuba down the inside-left channel.

Receiving the return, Chereyshev took a touch inside to move into a pocket of space before curling thunderously into the top left corer from 25 yards to mark his fourth goal of the tournament.

Stunned by the goal, Croatia again had to be proactive. They got their equaliser eight minutes later in the 39th minute.

A goal-kick from Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic saw left-back Ivan Strinic head the ball to the left middle to Ivan Perisic, who then flicked it ahead to Mandzukic.

The striker saw the space on the left of the box before sending a low cross to Kramaric, who then bent down to steer a header pass goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev into the bottom right corner of the net.

Croatia upped the ante in the second half in order to take control of the match but Russia, playing with a very disciplined structure closed down the space well.

Ivan Perisic had a great chance to send Croatia 2-1 ahead but his drive was denied by the left post in the 60th minute after the ball fell on his feet at the penalty spot following a deep cross from left-back Strinic was brought into play by Kramaric and two defenders fumbled the ball inside the box.

Later, Madzukic and Aleksandr Yerokhin had their chances with headers from close range as the two teams seemed to lack creativity and went after aerial movements.

With no goal coming, the match went into 30-minute extra time.

In the 11th minute of the extra time, Croatia won a corner on the right following a counter-attack and Vida fought off his marker to send a slow header to the bottom right corner to give Croatia the lead.

However, Croatia's lead lasted only 14 minutes as Fernandes met a free-kick just from the edge of the box on the right with a header to beat Subasic as the match needed a penalty shootout to decide the winner.

During the tie-breaker, Brozovic gave Croatia the lead after Fyodor Smolov had his hot saved by Subasic. It became 1-1 when Alan Dzagoev scored and Mateo Kovacic flopped.

Fernandes sent the ball wide of the mark while captain Modric handed Croatia a 2-1 lead. In Russia's next two attempts, Sergei Ignasevich and Kuzyayev were successful but as did Vida and Ivan Rakitic to give Croatia a 4-3 triumph.

--IANS
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Wimbledon, July 8 (IANS) Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei earned the biggest win of her singles career on Saturday after upsetting world number 1 Simona Halep of Romania 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the third round of the Wimbledon tennis championships.
World number 48 Hsieh's come-from-behind win leaves Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, world number 8, as the last Top 10 player still left in the tournament, reports Efe.

"This year I have tried to enjoy more, not just tennis but life, food, strawberries and cream. I am really enjoying playing tennis, I just feel free on the court," Hsieh said following the match, which lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

Hseih was down 2-5 in the last set, but saved a match point then pushed back with a five-game winning streak to seal the win.

This was the fourth victory against a Top 10 player for Hsieh, 32, although the former women's doubles world number 1 had never before defeated a current singles world number 1.

Hsieh is set to play the last-16 round against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova, world number 33, who eliminated world number 15 Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Switzerland's Belinda Bencic, world number 56, upset world number 26 Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) to qualify for the fourth round.

Bencic, a former world number 7, earned her victory after 85 minutes against the last remaining Spanish player in the tournament, one of only four Spaniards who made it to the third round this year.

Three years ago, Suarez Navaro had beaten Bencic at Stuttgart in a clay-court duel, but the Swiss player emerged victorious on Wimbledon's grass.

Bencic, who staged a strong return to competitive play at Wimbledon after being sidelined for several months due to injury, will next face off against former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber of Germany, currently world number 10.

--IANS
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Madrid, July 8 (IANS) Spanish coast guards have rescued a total of 79 migrants, including three women and at least four minors, from the Mediterranean Sea.
At least 55 people were located in a migrant vessel of the Spanish-administered Alboran island, while another 24 people were discovered just off the Spanish coast on Saturday, Efe news reported.
Of the 55, two were women and at least four were minors.
They were to be taken to the town of Motril to receive attention from the Red Cross, while 24 others were taken to Malaga.
--IANS<br>pgh/

Sochi (Russia), July 8 (IANS) Croatia overcame hosts Russia with a 4-3 (2-2) win via penalty shootout at the Fisht Stadium on Saturday to enter the FIFA World Cup semi-finals for the second time after a gap of 20 years.
Denis Cheryshev's 25-yard screamer in the 31st minute gave Russia the lead but Croatia pulled level through Andrej Kramaric's header in the 39th minute.
Domajog Vida gave Croatia the lead with a header in the 101st minute.
But Mario Fernandes found Russia's equaliser in the 115th minute to stretch the match to penalty shootout, in which Croatia prevailed.
--IANS<br>pur/pgh/

Los Angeles, July 8 (IANS) Reality television star Kylie Jenner knows her body has "bounced back super fast" since welcoming her daughter in February, but says she has struggled with her share of post-baby body insecurities.
While answering some fan questions, the 20-year-old mother opened up about it, reports people.com.
"I feel like people think that I bounced back super fast, which I guess I did," said the "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star in a new video posted on her YouTube page, and added that "people can get the wrong idea on Instagram sometimes."
She said her body changed in significant ways.
"My b**bs are three times the size, which bothers me. I have stretch marks on my b**bs. My stomach isn't the same, my waist isn't the same, my bu**'s bigger, my thighs (are) bigger.
"And honestly, I'm finding I have to change my style a little because nothing in my closet fits me from before," added Kylie, who has named her daughter Stormi.
She wants to get back in shape and have "real abs", people.com reported.
"I know I can have a super fit body. And just for my health a" I want to do this. I want to feel good."
Watching her body go through changes at her age was "physically, mentally, and emotionally a challenge". But Kylie also found it to be a "beautiful thing".
"It was such a great pregnancy and birth. And I'm so happy. I would have done the same thing over again," she said.
--IANS<br>rb/pgh/

Gandhinagar, July 8 (IANS) Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel, OBC and Dalit leaders as well as legislators Alpesh Thakor and Jignesh Mevani reached the office of the Gandhinagar Superintendent of Police to court arrest in a trespass case against them.
But before they sat on a dharna on late Saturday evening, they demanded the SP declare the antecedents and the business of the person, who had complained against the three for illegal trespass in home, as part of their self-styled 'janata raid' against sale of illicit liquor in the state capital last Thursday.

They said they would not move from there till the senior officer agrees to their demand.

After the late-night drama, the Superintendent of Police eventually came out and admitted that the family was indeed into illegal sale of country-made liquor. Following this, everyone dispersed.

While the three had been claiming that liquor was sold there and even found a few pouches of liquor during their raid, Gandhinagar Police did not find anything there.

After the incident, the owner of the house, Kanchanben Makwana filed a police complaint, alleging that Thakore, Patel and Mevani, had entered her house without permission and "this was harassment".

Makwana claimed the alcohol 'found' at her home was planted by one of the supporters of the three before they entered her house in garb of carrying out a 'janata raid'.

"In her complaint, Kanchanben has said that she does not sell liquor and the two pouches recovered from her house were planted by the people who had entered her home," Virendrasinh Yadav, SP, Gandhinagar, said.

"The three leaders have arrived here, but police are investigating the case. Only after the investigations, we will make our further move," the police officer said.

The three have been booked under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 452 (assault or wrongful restraint), Section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), Section 193 (intentionally giving false evidence) and trespass.

If proven, the provisions in the law stipulate up to 7 years in jail. However, bail is possible at the police station level itself.

The three leaders had begun their 'janata raid' and announced they would carry out campaign against illicit liquor in the "dry state".

As part of their initiative and to prove their point, they carried out a 'janata raid' at Kanchanben's house, located at around 100 metres from the office of Gandhinagar SP and claimed to recover two pouches of liquor.

A large number of supporters, including Congress MLAs Kirit Patel and Dhavalsinh Rathod, were present outside the police station, in support of the three.

Later in the evening, Leader of Opposition, Paresh Dhanani also reached there.

"This is a failure of the BJP government whose police, instead of nabbing the culprits behind the illegal bootlegging, is trying to intimidate the social workers who are trying to wipe out the illegal trade of liquor. This is a message by them to intimidate the public by levying false charges against them," Dhanani told reporters.

--IANS
desai/pgh/

London, July 8 (IANS) Australia's Alex de Minaur, world number 80, was no match for Spanish tennis great Rafael Nadal, the world number 1, who defeated him 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 in Wimbledon's third round on Saturday.
With the win, Nadal ensured that he would keep the top spot of the ATP ranking upon its release following the tournament.
Having reached the round of 16, where he fell in 2017, Nadal will maintain at least a 50-point advantage in the ATP ranking over his main rival, Roger Federer of Switzerland, who is the defending champion and so will not add any points to his ranking from this year's tournament, Efe news reported.
At a match attended by Australian tennis legend Rod Laver and golfer Sergio Garcia, the Augusta Masters champion, second-seed Nadal displayed strength against his 19-year-old rival.
Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Nadal stormed to a 6-1 lead in just 33 minutes based on the strength of two service breaks, while remaining untouchable on serve, as he faced no break points during the opener.
Nadal's powerful forehand and his effectiveness on serve -- winning more than 80 per cent of the first and second serve put in play during the second set -- proved more than De Minaur could handle.
De Minaur squandered two break points during the second set, and conceded his own the same number of times to fall two sets behind.
With everything on the line, De Minaur forced Nadal into longer rallies, giving one of the trademark performances that have distinguished him as a promising young player.
Squandering a break point, De Minaur saw his serve broken once in the third set, which proved to be decisive.
Although the Australian fended off a match point, he was unable to save the second, with Nadal approached the net playing a backhand volley to seal the win.
In the next round, Nadal is to take on either Fabio Fognini of Italy, world number 16, or Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, world number 93.
--IANS<br>pgh/

Jaipur, July 8 (IANS) Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction here with beneficiaries of government welfare schemes a "flop show".
"Our PM was supposed to have a direct interaction with beneficiaries but he was shown clippings of beneficiaries in audio-video presentation. This could have been sent to Modi in a pen drive without wasting so much efforts, time and money... Can this presentation be called as dialogue?" asked the Congress leader.
Noting that around three lakh beneficiaries were called from distant locations of the state, and government functionaries worked overtime to get huge numbers while putting other work on hold and ignoring public petitioners, he said now the "tall claims of the government have fallen flat".
"The entire show which was organised with government funds was turned into a political event where funds worth crore of rupees were wasted," he said adding all constitutional limits were crossed in the presence of Governor Kalyan Singh.
"The government programme was turned into a political event. Both (Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara) Raje and Modi smashed all records in praising each other. Had they shown the same respect and regard for each other in last four years, the state wouldn't have been ignored the way it is," he said.
--IANS<br>arc/vd/qd<br>