Author: News Desk

New Delhi, Nov 6 (IANS) Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has sacked the entire staff of the National Cricket Board following a dismal 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup campaign and has appointed an interim committee led by Arjuna Ranatunga. The 1996 World Cup-winning captain Ranatunga will be joined by three retired judges in the seven-member interim committee.This decision to sack the cricket board followed the resignation of the board’s secretary, Mohan de Silva, who stepped down on Saturday as fans protested in front of its headquarters.The sports minister has appointed an interim committee until the upcoming Sri Lanka Cricket…

Kolkata, Nov 6 (IANS) South Africa coach Rob Walter heaped praise on India, calling them a ‘hell of a team’, ‘very balanced’ and ‘highly skilled’ after the visitors received a 243-run thrashing from the hosts’ in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup league match at the Eden Gardens.Propelled by birthday boy Virat Kohli’s 49th ODI century, putting him equal with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, along with a fine 77 from Shreyas Iyer, India posted 326/5 after electing to bat first. In reply, Ravindra Jadeja took 5-33 as South Africa were bowled out for 83 in 27.1 overs.“I mean, they’re a…

Luton (UK), Nov 6 (IANS) Luis Diaz scored an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Liverpool denied Luton Town a first home win in the Premier League. Tahith Chong’s 80th-minute goal had Luton on course for a historic victory but substitute Diaz scored deep into injury time to give Liverpool a 1-1 draw.The Colombian stepped off the bench and headed in Harvey Elliott’s cross in the 95th minute to earn the Reds a point at Kenilworth Road.Diaz’s goal was Liverpool’s 24th and final shot of a fantastic match, with Darwin Nunez accounting for nine of Liverpool’s attempts,…

Cancun (Mexico), Nov 6 (IANS) Worl no 2 Iga Swiatek of Poland defeated No.1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 WTA Finals, setting up a summit clash with Jessica Pegula. The 22-year-old Swiatek has dropped a total of only 19 games in Cancun, the fewest by any player to reach the WTA Finals championship match since Justine Henin in 2007.She has now won a total of 67 matches this year, equaling her marvelous 2022 campaign.The Pole is also the youngest player to reach the WTA Finals championship match since Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka in 2011.If Swiatek wins Monday’s championship match against…

Paris, Nov 6 (IANS) World no 1 Novak Djokovic eased past Grigor Dimitrov to claim a record-extending seventh ATP Masters 1000 title at Paris Masters. Djokovic delivered a typically resilient all-around performance to clinch a 6-4, 6-3 triumph, becoming the first player to win 40 Masters 1000 crowns on Sunday.The win means World No. 1 Serbian will now head to the season-ending ATP Finals on an 18-match winning streak, dating back to his Wimbledon final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, ATP Tour reports“Its incredible. To be able to win it after quite challenging circumstances for me this week. Basically, coming back…

New Delhi, Nov 6 (IANS) With Pakistan beating New Zealand on Saturday and Australia winning their match against England on the same day, the race to the semifinals of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 is more interesting than ever. Pakistan were down and out before they found the rhythm and defeated Bangladesh and New Zealand respectively to crawl back in the semifinal race of the World Cup.India and South Africa both have qualified for the semifinals, hence the result of Sunday’s match has not affected the scenario for the other teams who are still eyeing for the…

Madrid, Nov 6 (IANS) Espanyol has sacked coach Luis Garcia in the wake of the Friday’s 2-2 draw at home to Eibar. The result leaves the Barcelona-based outfit fifth in the Spanish second tier league LiLiga Hypermoton with 24 points from 14 games, three behind second placed Sporting Gijon, Xinhua reports.In a statement to explain the decision, the club owned by the Chinese ‘Rastar Group’ with Chen Yansheng as President, explained that “the results in recent matches, have led us club to take the decision with the only and clear objective to achieve promotion.”Former player, Luis Garcia joined Espanyol in…

Kampala, Nov 6 (IANS) Hosts Uganda are the champions of the regional Victoria Rugby Cup 2023.The Uganda Rugby Cranes defeated arch-rivals Kenya 21-20 in a hotly contested final match of the competition played at the Kings Park Arena in Bweyogerere on Sunday.The Kenya Simbas began the match strongly, scoring two tries through Joel Inzuga, while Jone Kubu added one of the conversions to take a 12-0 lead.But the home team, capitalizing on the strong home support, later fought back to score two penalty conversions with team captain Ivan Magomu to make it 6-12. Uganda went into the break leading 13-12…

Beijing, Nov 6 (IANS) The exciting 2023 Chinese Super League (CSL) concluded on Saturday after an intense battle spanning just under seven months. The top three finishers were Shanghai Port, Shandong Taishan, and Zhejiang FC, while Dalian Pro and Shenzhen FC faced relegationThe season was characterized by fierce competition for both the title and survival, although there was room for improvement in terms of overall quality, Xinhua reports.TWISTS AND TURNSWith the strongest squad, Shanghai Port kicked off the season radiating a distinct aura of strength. At their peak, Shanghai enjoyed a 17-point lead over Shandong. However, as the competition neared…

Bengaluru, Nov 6 (IANS) Over two billion cyber attacks were blocked in the third quarter (Q3) this year, 70 per cent of which (more than 1.6 billion) originated from India, a report showed on Monday.This figure reflects a sharp increase of 70 per cent in the frequency of cyber attacks on Indian websites during the third quarter as compared to the second quarter this year (which recorded 947 million attacks), according to the report from Indusface, a TCGF II (Tata Capital) funded application security software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.Notably, the healthcare sector, where 100 per cent of its sites faced bot attacks,…