Racist abuse overshadows 5-star England

Agencies
March 26, 2019

Podgorica, Mar 26: Raheem Sterling believes UEFA should punish alleged racist chanting aimed at England players in Monday's 5-1 win over Montenegro in Podgorica with a stadium closure.

Manchester City's Sterling celebrated the visitors' fifth goal by cupping his ears towards the home fans on a night when another impressive performance to start Euro 2020 qualifying by the Three Lions was overshadowed.

"I just want to show them you need more than that to upset us and stop us," Sterling told Sky Sports.

"It's 2019 now, I keep saying it. It's a shame to see this going on and we can only bring awareness to the situation.

"It's now time for the people in charge to put a real stamp on it because you can fine someone, but what is that going to do?

"You've got to make it a bit harder, punish fans that can't come to games. Do something that's going to make them think twice. If their team can't play with fans, it's going to be difficult." Sterling also tweeted a photo of his celebration with the message:

"Best way to silence the haters (and yeah I mean racists)." England manager Gareth Southgate said he heard racist chants aimed at Danny Rose and promised to report the issue to UEFA.

"There is no doubt in my mind it happened. We will make sure that is reported to UEFA because it's not acceptable," said Southgate. "We've got to make sure we support our players."

England among Euro favourites

On the field, the World Cup semi-finalists showed why they are among the favourites to be European champions next year.

Southgate's trust in youth was again rewarded as 18-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi, who is yet to start a Premier League game for Chelsea, shone on his full international debut, while Declan Rice, 20, was also handed his first England start.

"Fabulous performance," said Southgate on Hudson-Odoi. "With young players it is always up to them. You can see the talent, his application has been excellent. He's got to continue that."

England are not used to falling behind these days, but showed a resilience to bounce back after Marko Vesovic turned inside Michael Keane and curled past Jordan Pickford on 17 minutes.

Keane made amends for his earlier error with a commanding header from Ross Barkley's free-kick on the half hour mark to settle England's nerves.

Nine minutes later, Barkley applied the finishing touch after Hudson-Odoi's positive run into the box and shot which his club teammate turned in from close range.

Further goals from Barkley, Harry Kane and Sterling rounded off an excellent start to qualifying for England after a 5-0 thrashing of Czech Republic on Friday.

Sterling scored a hat-trick against the Czechs at Wembley, but also played provider here as his cut-back broke perfectly for Barkley to coolly side-foot home.

The Manchester City winger then led a rapid counter-attack with only Kane for company and squared for the England captain to tap home his 22nd international goal.

And after scoring just twice in his first 45 caps, Sterling now has six goals in his last four England games as he raced onto Jordan Henderson's through ball before slotting low past the goalkeeper.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Columbo, Jan 28: The Sri Lanka Cricket Board on Monday announced the 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Women`s T20 World Cup, slated to commence from February 21. The board also announced five standby players for the ensuing tournament.

The squad members are -- Chamari Atapattu (captain), Harshitha Madavi (vice captain), Anushka Sanjeewani, Hansima Karunaratne, Shashikala Siriwardene, Nilakshi De Silva, Ama Kanchana, Kavisha Dilhari, Udeshika Probodhani, Achini Kulasuriya, Hasini Perera, Sathya Sandeepani, Umesha Thimashini, Sugandika Kumari, Dilani Manodara.

The standby players are -- Sachini Nisansala, Prasadani Weerakkody, Oshadi Ranasinghe, Tharika Sewwandi, Inoka Ranaweera.

Sri Lanka will take on New Zealand in their opening encounter on February 22.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Manchester, Aug 9: Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler played knocks of 84 and 75 respectively as England gained an improbable three-wicket win over Pakistan in the first Test of the three-match series here at the Emirates Old Trafford.

England chased down a total of 277 on the fourth day of the first Test.

Chasing 277, England openers Rory Burns and Dom Sibley put on 22 runs for the first wicket, but Mohammad Abbas finally provided the breakthrough to Pakistan as he had Burns (10) adjudged leg-before wicket in the 12th over.

Skipper Joe Root came to the crease next, and he along with Sibley ensured that the side does not lose any more wickets before the lunch break, and England went into the lunch break at 55/1.

Sibley and Root eventually put up a 64-run stand, but their partnership was finally brought to an end by Yasir Shah as he dismissed Sibley (36) in the 36th over. Soon after, skipper Root (42) was also sent back to the pavilion by Naseem Shah, reducing England to 96/3 in the 39th over.

All eyes were on all-rounder Ben Stokes (9), but Pakistan's Yasir Shah sent him back to the pavilion in the 42nd over, and England was left in a spot of bother. Shaheen Shah Afridi, then also got among the wicket-taking charts as he scalped the wicket of Ollie Pope (7), reducing England to 117/5 in the 45th over.

Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler then got together at the crease, and the duo played in an aggressive manner to retrieve the innings for England. The hosts went into the tea break at 167/5, still, 110 runs away from the target with five wickets in hand.

Buttler and Woakes continued their march to frustrate the Pakistan bowling attack and the duo brought the target within the grasp of England. Both batsmen put up a stand of 139 runs, however, with just 21 runs away from the target, England lost the key wicket of Buttler (75) as Yasir Shah had him trapped in front of the wicket.

With England just needing four more runs for the win, Yasir Shah dismissed Stuart Broad (4), but in the end, Woakes and Dom Bess ensured England's win by three wickets.

For Pakistan, Yasir Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he scalped four wickets.

Earlier, resuming day four at 137/8, Yasir Shah (33) along with Mohammad Abbas (3*) and Naseem Shah (4) added 32 more runs to the overnight score to give England a target of 277 to win the first Test.

Stuart Broad was the pick of England bowlers as he scalped three wickets.

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News Network
March 30,2020

Lausanne, Mar 30: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Monday announced that the Tokyo Olympics 2020 will be 'celebrated' from July 23 to August 8 next year while the Paralympics Games will be held from August 24 to September 5, 2021.
"The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Paralympics Committee (IPC), the Tokyo 2020 organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Government of Japan today agreed on new dates for the games of the XXXII Olympiad, in 2021. The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be celebrated from 23 July to 8 August 2021. They also agreed on new dates for the Paralympic Games, which will be celebrated from 24 August until 5 September 2021," the IOC said in a statement.
Earlier, the Tokyo Olympic Games were slated to be held from July 24 to August 9, while the Paralympic Games were scheduled to be held from August 25 to September 6. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of the event.
IOC said the new dates are 'exactly one year' after those originally planned, giving the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the games maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape caused by the coronavirus.
"These new dates give the health authorities and all involved in the organisation of the Games the maximum time to deal with the constantly changing landscape and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement read.
"The new dates, exactly one year after those originally planned for 2020 (Olympic Games: 24 July to 9 August 2020 and Paralympic Games: 25 August to 6 September 2020), also have the added benefit that any disruption that the postponement will cause to the international sports calendar can be kept to a minimum, in the interests of the athletes and the IFs. Additionally, they will provide sufficient time to finish the qualification process. The same heat mitigation measures as planned for 2020 will be implemented," it added.
The IOC president Thomas Bach thanked all the International Federations (IF) for their support.
"I want to thank the International Federations for their unanimous support and the Continental Associations of National Olympic Committees for the great partnership and their support in the consultation process over the last few days. I would also like to thank the IOC Athletes' Commission, with whom we have been in constant contact," Bach said in a statement.
"With this announcement, I am confident that, working together with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the Japanese Government, and all our stakeholders, we can master this unprecedented challenge. Humankind currently finds itself in a dark tunnel. These Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a light at the end of this tunnel," he added.
IPC president Andrew Parsons said the new dates will provide certainty to the athletes.
"It is fantastic news that we could find new dates so quickly for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The new dates provide certainty for the athletes, reassurance for the stakeholders and something to look forward to for the whole world. When the Paralympic Games do take place in Tokyo next year, they will be an extra-special display of humanity uniting as one, a global celebration of human resilience and a sensational showcase of sport," Parsons said.
"With the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games 512 days away, the priority for all those involved in the Paralympic Movement must be to focus on staying safe with their friends and family during this unprecedented and difficult time," he added.

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