Sport Comment: Hail Harry, back in the top flight like a returning Mitchell brother August 10, 2014 IT IS one of the inexplicable inexplicablenesses of modern life that it’s far easier to ask a politician a difficult question about multiple deaths in Gaza or Iraq than it is to ask a Premier League football manager about an injured player or a disappointing performance. They intimidate their inquisitors with steely, dismissive or just [...]
Celtic decline Legia request August 10, 2014 CELTIC last night dismissed suggestions from Legia Warsaw that they contest a one-off match to decide who enters the final Champions League qualifying round as “disappointing”. The Scottish title winners were reinstated into the competition at the expense of Legia, who beat them 6-1 over two legs last week, because the Polish side were found [...]
Drogba injury fright as Fabregas ensures Chelsea overturn deficit August 10, 2014 RETURNING striker Didier Drogba limped out of Chelsea’s friendly victory over Hungarian side Ferencvaros in Budapest last night and could be a doubt for the start of the new Premier League season. With Real Sociedad next up for Jose Mourinho’s side on Tuesday ahead of a campaign opener at top-flight new boys Burnley, strikes from [...]
Moores demands England make it 3-1 at Oval August 10, 2014 ENGLAND cricket coach Peter Moores has urged his players not to get carried away by successive victories over India and to finish the series with a flourish in this week’s final Test at the Oval. Saturday’s win by an innings and 54 runs inside three days at Old Trafford put England 3-1 ahead and capped [...]
Blythe and Swift upstage Wiggins in London-Surrey Classic August 10, 2014 BRITAIN’S Adam Blythe pipped childhood friend Ben Swift to win the RideLondon-Surrey Classic yesterday, as Sir Bradley Wiggins missed out on a capital hat-trick. NFTO’s Blythe and Team Sky’s Swift battled it out over the last 300m of the 200km race, which began in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and passed through Surrey before finishing [...]
FIFPro show support for Suarez as striker appears before Court of Arbitration for Sport August 8, 2014 FIFPro, the representative organisation for professional footballers, has denounced the four-month ban from all footballing activity handed to Luis Suarez by Fifa. The Barcelona forward was in Switzerland today to make an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the ban he was given the suspension for biting Italian Giorgio Chiellini [...]
Arsenal drawn against Besiktas in a Champions League qualifier worth £8.5m August 8, 2014 Arsenal have been handed a tricky tie against Turkish side Besiktas in a Champions League play-off worth £8.5m. The first leg of the Champions League group stage qualifier will be played in Istanbul on August 19-20, with a return leg at the Emirates taking place a week later on August 26-27. The Gunners will face a [...]
Make a ton and series is ours to lose, insists six-wicket Broad August 8, 2014 SIX-WICKET hero Stuart Broad believes England are just a century away from establishing an unassailable series lead after dominating day one of the fourth Test against India at Old Trafford yesterday. England made a mockery of losing the toss, reducing India to 8-4 under favourable overhead conditions before routing the tourists for just 152, with [...]
Oscar dropped baton of truth, says prosecutor August 8, 2014 PARALYMPIC superstar Oscar Pistorius cannot escape a conviction for the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, prosecutor Gerrie Nel told a South African court yesterday in his concluding remarks. Nel said Pistorius, the first double amputee to run at an Olympic Games, had presented two arguments on his defence that “can never be reconciled”. [...]
Westwood cards lowest Major round to head PGA leaderboard August 8, 2014 ENGLAND’S Lee Westwood matched his lowest ever round in a Major to share the lead with Americans Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer on six under par after round one of the US PGA at Valhalla yesterday. World No1 Rory McIlroy entered the tournament in prime form after wins at the Open and last week’s WGC-Bridgestone [...]