Atletico de Kolkata beat Kerala Blasters 1-0 to become ISL champions

December 21, 2014

ISL champions

Mumbai, Dec 21: The Indian Super League trophy will go to the traditional and most passionate home of Indian football as Atletico de Kolkata edged past Kerala Blasters 1-0 in the final here today, bringing the curtains down on what proved to be a successful inaugural event.

Mohammad Rafique scored the most-important goal in the dying minutes to help Atletico de Kolkata emerge triumphant at the DY Patil Stadium.

It was an exciting finish to the new league as the two teams battled it out for 90 minutes before Rafique found the target in the fourth minute of added time.

Just when it looked like the match would enter into extra time, substitute Rafique drove a header home in the last minute of the stoppage time off a corner kick by Jakub Podany.

Rafique, who came on in the 74th minute, slotted it to the left bottom corner leaving Sushanth Matthew, Sandesh Jhingan and Kerala goalkeeper David James shocked.

Even though Rafique starred with his deciding goal, custodian Edel Bete was the hero for

Atletico de Kolkata with his sensational saves.

The southern outfit started well as they created a good chance in the fifth minute. Former Newcastle United striker Michael Chopra and Iain Hume played well to enter the box but Josemi cleared the ball with a tackle to deny them an opportunity to go one up.

Six minutes later Ishfaq Ahmed took a good left foot shot but it was blocked by the ATK custodian Edel Bete.

The Sourav Ganguly co-owned ATK had a chance in the 25th minute when Arnal Llibert sent the ball through to Mohammed Rafi, but Nirmal Chettri made a last-ditch tackle to deny the forward from entering the box.

Chettri earned a yellow card for his wild tackle but Podany's free-kick from just over 20m sailed over the post.

Llibert tried to slide the ball past Kerala Blasters' marquee player-cum manager James in the 35th minute, but the English shot-stopper showed great reflexes and blocked the shot with an acrobatic effort.

Two minutes later, the Sachin Tendulkar co-owned Kerala Blasters had the opportunity to take the lead when Michael Chopra was clipped by Ofentse Nato while trying to go for the goal.

It earned his side a free-kick but Hume's superb shot was saved by a brilliant effort by the Cameroonian Bete.

Starting the second half the Kerala outfit created a couple of good scoring chances. Stephen Pearson tried to cross the ball off Ishfaq Ahmed's pass but Bete pouched it with a good dive.

Ishfaq then, a minute later, made a terrific run to pass the ball inside the box, but Pearson's shot was wide from the post. Kerala still created another chance in the 52nd minute when Chopra tried to steer Hume's volley, but ATK's custodian pulled out another great save to maintain a clean sheet.

Three minutes later, Chopra combined well with Forcado to feed the ball to Hume, but the Scottish-born Canadian Hume delayed taking a shot and allowed the ATK defenders to push the ball away.

It clearly wasn't Chopra's night. He missed a sitter in the 83rd minute after doing all the requisite hard work. Collecting the ball from Hume, he took a couple of touches to edge past the defenders, but Bete dived to the left to pull off another stunning save.

Atletico de Kolkata skipper Luis Garcia started on the bench and Spanish forward Arnal Llibert was drafted in his place in the starting 11.

The winners became richer by Rs 8 crore, while the runners-up pocketed Rs 4 crore. League toppers Chennaiyin FC and FC Goa, the two semi-finalists, received a cash prize of Rs 1.5 crore each.

The Hero of the League award went to Blasters' Hume, while the Golden Boot was won by Chennaiyin FC's Brazilian recruit Elano Blumer. Sandesh Jinghan was named Emerging Player of the League while scorer of the title clash, Rafique was declared Hero of the Match.

Both the team owners, Ganguly and Tendulkar, came to cheer their teams along with spinner Harbhajan Singh and tennis veteran Leander Paes.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Melbourne, Jan 23: Sania Mirza's return to her first Grand Slam after a two-year break was cut short on Thursday when the former world number one was forced to retire midway through her first round match in women's doubles at the Australian Open due to a calf injury.

India's Mirza, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, took a break from the game after the China Open in October 2017 and gave birth to her son a year later.

The 33-year-old made a winning return to the WTA Tour at this month's Hobart International with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok, picking up her 42nd WTA doubles title and the first since winning the women's doubles in Brisbane in 2017.

Mirza said she strained her calf muscle in her right leg during the Hobart final.

"It just got worse in the match. It was bit of a bad strain, but I had a few days off," she told reporters. "So I obviously had to try to do whatever I could to try to get on the court.

"It felt okay when I went on the court, but it was tough to move right. I just felt like I'm gonna tear it or something pretty bad."

Mirza won her first Grand Slam in mixed doubles at the Australian Open in 2009 and also bagged the women's doubles in 2016.

Mirza always believed there was tennis left in her which inspired her comeback, she told Reuters on Sunday.

She had already pulled out of the Australian Open mixed doubles, where she was to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna.

Mirza and Kichenok were trailing the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu 6-2 1-0 on Thursday when the Indian had to call it quits due to the injury.

"As a tennis player you want to compete, it is the Grand Slam. If it's any other tournament, you would probably take a call and be like 'I don't want to risk it'," she said.

Mirza, who is married to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, said she would take two weeks to recover and was hoping to play at next month's Dubai championships.

"When you play a professional sport, injuries are really part of it. And it's something that you have to accept," she said. "Sometimes the timing is really not ideal, it's tough that it happened in a Grand Slam, or just before a Grand Slam."

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News Network
February 11,2020

Dubai, Feb 11: Two Indian players-- Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi -- and three Bangladeshis have been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for involvement in the quarrel just after the U-19 cricket World Cup summit clash in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Sunday.

Akash and Bishnoi and three Bangladeshi players -- Md. Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan -- were found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after a few players from both sides nearly came to blows after Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win their maiden U-19 World Cup title.

"Five players have been found guilty of a Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Support Personnel ... (they) were charged with violating Article 2.21 of the code, whilst Bishnoi received a further charge of breaching Article 2.5," the ICC said in a statement.

"All five players have accepted the sanctions proposed by ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Match Referee Graeme Labrooy," it added.

A near brawl broke out after Bangladesh’s historic win over India in the final. The Bangladesh players were aggressive during the Indian innings with lead pacer Shoriful Islam frequently sledging the Indian batsmen.

As soon as the match ended, Bangladeshi players rushed into the playing area.

"India's Akash accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years," the ICC said.

Compatriot Bishnoi accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of five suspension points, which equates to five demerit points.

"Bishnoi also accepted a level 1 charge of breaching Article 2.5 for a separate incident during the match, where he used language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter following the dismissal of Avishek Das in the 23rd over," said the ICC.

"For this he received a further two demerit points meaning seven demerit points will remain on his record for the next two years."

Bangladesh's Towhid Hridoy accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of ten suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Shamim Hossain accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Rakibul Hasan accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of four suspension points, which equates to five demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

All charges were levelled by on-field umpires Sam Nogajski and Adrian Holdstock, third umpire Ravindra Wimalasiri as well as fourth umpire Patrick Bongni Jele. Level 3 breaches carry a minimum penalty of four suspension points and a maximum penalty of 12 suspension points.

The suspension points will be applied to the forthcoming international matches the players are most likely to participate in at either senior or U-19 level. One suspension point equals a player being ineligible for one ODI or T20I, U-19 or A team international match.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Colombo, Jul 5: Sri Lanka batsman Kusal Mendis was on Sunday arrested for knocking down a pedestrian while driving, police said.

Mendis hit a 74-year-old man, killing him in the wee hours, in the Colombo suburb of Panadura.

He is to be produced before a magistrate later today, police said.

The 25-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has represented Sri Lanka in 44 Tests and 76 ODIs. Mendis was part of the national squad which had resumed training after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Sri Lanka's international assignments, including a tour by India, have been cancelled due to the pandemic.

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