Gerrard retires from Eng duty
liverpool: England captain Steven Gerrard announced his retirement from international football today after making 114 appearances for his country. Gerrard, 34, led the national team at the World Cup where England bowed out in the group stage and the liverpool midfielder said he had “agonised” over the decision since returning from Brazil. “This has been a very difficult decision, one of the toughest I’ve had to make in my career,” Gerrard told the Football Association’s FATV. Gerrard, who made his international debut against Ukraine in 2000, trails just Peter Shilton (125) and David Beckham (115) on England’s all-time caps list. He appeared at three World Cup finals as well as three European championships and scored 21 goals for the Three lions. He captained England in Brazil and at Euro 2012.
Govt assures help to Dutee
New Delhi: The government today assured all possible help to sprinter Dutee Chand to participate in future sports events after the athlete from Odisha was last week excluded from the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games on the ground of high androgen level. “This is a very sensitive question. I assure the august House that our government will extend all possible help to this player to participate in future events,” Union Sports Minister Sarbnanda Sonowal told lok Sabha. He was responding after senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab raised the issue during zero hour. Drawing the government’s attention to Chand’s dilemma, Mehtab said due to a “sex test” conducted on her ahead of Commonwealth Games, “promising career” of the ace athlete had come to a “grinding halt”.
Brazil to name Dunga as coach
Rio De Janeiro: Brazil is set to name its new national team coach, with reports suggesting Carlos Dunga is likely to return to the post. Brazil will announce a coach on Tuesday to succeed luiz Felipe Scolari, who resigned after Brazil failed to win the World Cup — eliminated in a humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals. Reports say Dunga will get the job, although the Brazilian football confederation has declined to confirm the appointment. Dunga was the captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup-winning team, and coached the national team in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He was dismissed after Brazil lost 2-1 in the quarterfinals to the Netherlands. In his 60 matches as national team coach, Brazil won 42, drew 12 and lost six.
patrice Evra moves to Juventus
Turin: France left back Patrice Evra has completed a transfer from Manchester United to Italian champion Juventus. Juventus says it is paying United 1.2 million pounds ($2 million) but that the transfer price will increase to 1.5 million pounds ($2.5 million) if Juventus qualifies for the 2015-16 Champions league. The Turin club adds that it signed the 33-year-old, who spent the past nine seasons with United, to a two-year contract.
Pune to start player draft
Mumbai: Indian Super league on Monday conducted the ‘clubs sequence selection’, based on which the Central Domestic Player Draft will be organised over the next two days. Jefferson Slack, Vice President, Global Business Development, Football, IMG was entrusted with the responsibility of conducting the clubs sequence selection through a lot pick in presence of all the Hero ISl club representatives. Team Pune will be the first club among the six participating ones to make its best player selection from the list of 84 Indian best talents, when the action starts here on Tuesday.
`1 crore grant to Sania Mirza
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced a grant of Rs 1 crore to tennis star Sania Mirza for her training and coaching. “Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has announced a grant of Rs 1 crore to tennis star Sania Mirza, who is number five in the world (in doubles ranking), towards training, coaching and to meet other expenses to attend the US Open and other tournaments. “Chief Minister will present the cheque tomorrow,” a release from Rao’s office said here. Sania called on the Chief Minister on Monday.
U-23 team leaves for Czech rep
New Delhi: A 25-member Under-23 Indian football squad left for Czech Republic for a 19-day exposure tour in preparation for the Incheon Asian Games. The team, which will be based in Pilsen, will play three matches against three Czech clubs - Senco Doubravka, FK Most and TJ Domazlice. On their return, the team will play two friendies against Pakistan in Bangalore on Aug 17 and 20. Following that the team will travel to China for another exposure tour from Aug 25 to Sep 8.