La Liga: Ronaldo scores treble as Real Madrid thrash Espanyol 6-1

February 1, 2016

Madrid, Feb 1: Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 29th hat-trick of the La Liga as Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid moved back to within four points of leaders Barcelona with a 6-0 thrashing of Espanyol on Sunday.

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However, Gary Neville’s terrible La Liga run since taking charge of Valencia continued with a 1-0 loss to Sporting Gijon on Sunday -- Los Che’s first home defeat since November 2014.

In keeping with their fast starts under new boss Zidane at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid raced into a 4-0 half-time lead with Karim Benzema and James Rodriguez’s first goal since November adding to Ronaldo’s double.

The three-time World Player of the Year sealed his latest La Liga hat-trick nine minutes from time before Oscar Duarte’s own goal ensured a repeat scoreline from when the sides met earlier this season.

“We all needed to work harder as a team and now we have a positive mentality,” Ronaldo told Canal Plus of Zidane’s impact.

“The pre-season wasn’t very good, there was a lot of travelling. Zizou has arrived with different ideas and we need to continue like this.”

Victory also moves Real just a point behind local rivals Atletico Madrid after their 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in a top-of-the-table clash on Saturday.

However, Barcelona also have a game in hand on both Madrid clubs.

“Our objective is to do our best in every game and get to the end of the season with the chance to win the league,” said Zidane.

“My expectations for the league are still high, it is not over.”

Real have now struck 41 goals in seven games at home since being thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona in November.

Zidane’s men again made a flying start as Rodriguez’s cross from the right picked out Benzema to take his tally for the season to 22 goals in 21 games after seven minutes.

Ronaldo hit five when the sides met earlier in the campaign and was among the goals once more as he doubled the lead from the penalty spot after being brought down by Enzo Roco.

Rodriguez’s deflected effort killed the game as a contest after just 18 minutes and Benzema could easily have made it four as he shot wide after a lovely one-two with Isco.

Ronaldo did get the fourth before the break with an audacious piece of skill to skip past Alvaro Gonzalez before blasting into the top corner on his left foot.

Madrid’s intensity dropped after the break with the points in the bag, but Ronaldo wasn’t to be denied another hat-trick as he nodded home Jese Rodriguez’s cross to register his 30th goal of the season.

And Duarte’s own goal rounded off the scoring from another dangerous Jese cross.

In contrast to Zidane’s comfortable start to life in La Liga, Neville’s Valencia nightmare continued as his winless streak stretched to eight games.

Antonio Sanabria’s penalty five minutes into the second-half handed Sporting their first away win since October as Valencia paid for missing a host of clear-cut chances, most notably through captain Alvaro Negredo.

Victory moves Sporting out of the relegation zone up to 16th with Valencia now just six points off the drop zone in 12th.

Yet, Neville denied his position was fast becoming untenable.

“You’re asking me about my position. I find this question ridiculous,” said the former Manchester United captain.

“It’s from you (the media), don’t put this onto the fans.”

Elsewhere, Sevilla maintained their chase of Villarreal for the fourth Champions League place with their 11th consecutive win at home in all competitions, 3-1 over bottom side Levante.

Celta Vigo missed the chance to move back up to fifth as they conceded a last minute winner to Las Palmas in a 2-1 defeat.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Kuala Lampur, Jan 9: Saina Nehwal and reigning world champion P V Sindhu produced dominating performances to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Sixth seed Sindhu notched up a commanding 21-10 21-15 victory over Japan's Aya Ohori in a pre-quarterfinal match lasting just 34 minutes. It was Sindhu's ninth successive win over Ohori.

The 24-year-old Indian, who won the World Championships in Basel last year, will take on world number 1 Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals after the Chinese Taipei shuttler got the better of South Korea's Sung Ji Hyun 21-18 16-21 21-10.

Saina, who had won the Indonesia Masters last year before going through a rough patch, dispatched eight seed An Se Young of South Korea 25-23 21-12 after a thrilling 39-minute contest to make the last eight.

This is Saina's first win over the South Korean, who got the better of the Indian in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year.

The two-time Commonwealth Games champion will next take on Olympic champion Carolina Marin.

Saina had defeated Lianne Tan of Belgium 21-15 21-17 in the opening round on Wednesday.

In the men's singles, India's challenge ended after both Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy crashed out in the second round.

While Verma lost to Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia 19-21 20-22, Prannoy was shown the door by top seed Kento Momota of Japan 14-21 16-21.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Melbourne, Mar 6: Experienced middle-order batter Veda Krishnamurthy believes that "destiny" is in favour of first-time finalist India to win their maiden ICC Women's T20 World Cup title provided they get a grip on their nerves in the summit clash against Australia on Sunday.

India will have a psychological advantage going into the final as they had stunned the defending champions by 17 runs in the tournament opener.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India reached the final on the basis of their unbeaten record in the tournament after their semifinal against England was washed out on Thursday.

Krishnamurthy, who was a part of the Indian team that finished runner-up to England in the 2017 Women's ODI World Cup, knows the pain of missing out on a world title.

"It's all about destiny, and I'm a big believer in destiny. I feel like this is the way it was meant to be. There is a joke going around that this World Cup is made in such a way that it's helping us, starting from the wickets to everything else," she was quoted as saying by the tournament's official website.

"Being in the final is just reward for the way we played in the group stages. There was an advantage to having won all our games with the weather not in our hands."

The team's first target of reaching the final having achieved, the 27-year-old player said the Indians now need to hold their nerves and remain focussed leading up to the big day on Sunday.

"We said the first aim was to get to the final and take it from there. We've crossed the first stage. We need to make sure we hold our nerves and we do what we need to do on the final day," she said.

India's recent rivalry with Australia has taken fascinating twists and turns, with Kaur's outfit chasing down 173 in their recent tri-series, then getting home by 17 runs in the T20 World Cup opener.

But all is not hunky-dory for Krishnamurthy on the personal front. Considered a great finisher, she has recovered from a series of single-digit scores in the tri-series to score 20 from 11 balls in a finishing role against Bangladesh.

Having amassed just 35 runs from four matches in the tournament so far, the Karnataka batter knows her role in the team.

"As an individual, the role given to me is very consistent in the last year. They've put the effort in the last year to keep me there and I've been supported by every individual, not just one or two. The entire team, with all the support staff, have shown faith in me," she said.

"I know coming into the World Cup, I would play a crucial role to finish the innings well, which I felt I was unable to do in the last World Cup in the West Indies," she added.

Krishnamurthy said specific roles have been set for every player of the squad and they all are trying to contribute as much as they can to help the team achieve its goal.

"I was very motivated to do my role and I've been working on that. It's not just me, all 15 players involved know what their role is," she said.

"I'm happy we're all putting in efforts and executing our role properly. Even if it's a smallish contribution of saving a couple of runs, it's all panned out really well."

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