Euro 2016: Robin van Persie scores own goal, Dutch fail to qualify

October 15, 2015

Paris, Oct 15: The Netherlands, finalists at the 2010 Fifa World Cup, failed to qualify for the 2016 Euro Championships on Tuesday, while Croatia and Turkey took the final automatic qualifying spots.

Euro 2016

The Dutch needed to beat the already-qualified Czech Republic in Amsterdam and hope Turkey lost at home to already-qualified Iceland in Konya to salvage third place in Group A and a spot in next month’s play-offs. But in the end neither happened, with the 1988 European champions going down 3-2 to the Czechs, their third loss in four qualifiers under Danny Blind, while Turkey beat Iceland 1-0.

Pavel Kaderabek of Hoffenheim put the Czechs ahead and Josef Sural doubled their lead, before the away side had Marek Suchy sent off for chopping down Memphis Depay as he raced through on goal two minutes prior to half-time.

However, Robin van Persie, who came off the bench in the first half to win his 101st cap, inexplicably headed into his own net in the 66th minute to make it 3-0. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Van Persie scored at the other end to reduce the deficit but by that point the damage had been done and the Dutch will miss a major tournament finals for the first time since the 2002 World Cup.

The Dutch have not failed to qualify for a European Championship since 1984, when the finals were also played in France.

“I have no intention to step down. I’m going to carry on with my work because I’m under contract until 2018 and I believe in this team,” Blind, who replaced Guus Hiddink in July, said afterwards. “Am I the one to blame? I now have to analyse that,” he continued. “The results weren’t good. I won only one match (out of four since taking over).”

Turkey, meanwhile, had Gokhan Tore sent off 12 minutes from time against Iceland but had third place in the bag thanks to events in Amsterdam.

They went one better, though, as Selcuk Inan’s brilliant free-kick on 89 minutes saw them win their game. And that, coupled with a 1-0 win for Kazakhstan in Latvia -- secured by an Islambek Kuat goal -- allowed Fatih Terim’s side to progress automatically as the best third-placed side.

It made for agonising viewing for Hungary, who had been poised to progress as the best third-placed side. Now they must come through the play-offs -- the draw is on Sunday -- next month if they are to reach a first major finals since the 1986 World Cup.

Bosnia in play-offs

Elsewhere, Croatia clinched qualification from Group H as a 1-0 win in Malta allowed them to snatch second place in the section behind Italy, at the expense of Norway. Norway had started the day two points clear of Croatia but were beaten 2-1 by already-qualified Italy in Rome, despite Alexander Tettey of Norwich City putting the visitors ahead.

Alessandro Florenzi equalised for Italy before Southampton’s Graziano Pelle struck the late winner, while Croatia beat Malta thanks to a solitary Ivan Perisic goal, leaving Norway to settle for a play-off place.

The other game in Group H saw Bulgaria end a disappointing campaign with a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in Sofia, with Mihail Alexandrov and Dimitar Rangelov on target.

Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina secured third place and a play-off spot in Group B with a dramatic 3-2 victory in Cyprus.

Haris Medunjanin had put the Bosnians ahead but captain Constantinos Charalambides equalised for the hosts in Nicosia and Nestor Mytidis put them ahead. Nevertheless, Medunjanin made it 2-2 just before the break and Milan Djuric got the winner for the Bosnians midway through the second half.

Belgium secured top spot in the group, and with it moved to the top of the Fifa world rankings, after beating Israel 3-1 in Brussels. Dries Mertens, Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were all on target for Marc Wilmots’ side before Tomer Hemed got one back towards the end.

And Wales celebrated securing their historic first qualification for a major tournament since 1958 by easing past Andorra 2-0 in Cardiff with star duo Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale getting their goals.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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News Network
January 17,2020

Jan 17: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza cruised into the women's doubles final of the Hobart International with her Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok here on Friday.

Sania and Kichenok sailed past the Slovenian-Czech pair of Tamara Zidansek and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3) 6-2 in the semifinal contest that lasted one hour and 24 minutes.

The fifth-seeded Indo-Ukrainian combination will lock horns with second seeds Shuai Peng and Shuai Zhang of China. The Chinese pair got a walkover after Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens and Alison Van Uytvanck conceded the other semifinal match because of injury.

While Sania and Kichenok had to fight hard in the opening set, the second set was a cakewalk for the combination.

The first set was a tough contest between the two pairs, bringing the tie-breaker into the equation after it was level at 6-6.

In the tie-breaker, Sania and Kichenok upped their game by a few notches to outsmart their opponents and take the lead.

The second set was a no-contest as Saina and Kichenok broke their opponents thrice -- in the second, sixth and eighth game -- to easily pocket the set and a place in the summit clash.

Saina and Kichenok got 11 break chances out of which they converted four, while their opponents utilised two out of the five break chances that came their way.

The 33-year-old Sania is returning to the WTA circuit after two years. During her time away from the game, she battled injury breakdowns before taking a formal break in April 2018 to give birth to her son Izhaan. She is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Before the ongoing event, Sania last played at China Open in October 2017.

A trailblazer in Indian tennis, Sania is a former world No.1 in doubles and has six Grand Slam titles to her credit.

She retired from the singles competition in 2013 after becoming the most successful Indian woman tennis player.

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April 12,2020

Mumbai, Apr 12: Always eager to share his vast knowledge and experience, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has interacted with 12,000 doctors on sports injuries.

In his over two decade long illustrious career, Tendulkar suffered many health issues, the most prominent being the tennis elbow injury.

The veteran of 200 Tests and 463 ODIs, got to know through one Dr Sudhir Warrier, an orthopaedic surgeon, that several young doctors across the country were utilising the lockdown time to effectively gain knowledge on sports injuries through live webinars.

A session on sports injuries was held on Saturday and Tendulkar, knowing that his experiences will help these doctors, volunteered to be a part of it.

Tendulkar, accordingly, interacted with around 12,000 doctors, who attended the session.

It is reliably leanrt that the 46-year-old legend said he was grateful to the medical fraternity for their service.

During the session, the young orthopaedic doctors got to know how the requirements and treatment outcomes of athletes are different from regular patients, sources said.

Dr Warrier moderated the session with Dr Nitin Patel, physiotherapist, who has worked with Indian cricket team and IPL franchise Mumbai Indians.

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