Balotelli faces FA investigation
london: liverpool striker Mario Balotelli is facing an investigation from the English Football Association after a post on social media site Instagram was criticized for being racist and anti-Semitic. Balotelli uploaded a picture of the video game character Super Mario, with whom the Italy international shares a nickname, with text around the image including "jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew." The FA says "we are aware of it and we are looking into it." Under FA guidelines regarding social media, Balotelli could be suspended for five games if found guilty. Balotelli has since deleted the post and apologized on his Twitter account.
India blanked by Asian rivals Niagara falls: India, minus their top squash player Dipika Pallikal, was outplayed by Hong Kong 0-3 in their opening match of the WSF Women's World Team Championship. Anaka Alankamony played the first singles against 23rd-ranked Joey Chan. The Indian took Chan by surprise in the first game before her fancied opponent came back strongly to win 4-11, 11-1, 11-4, 11-9. India’s hopes were dashed when senior most player and world no.22, Joshana Chinappa, lost to ninth ranked Annie Au 3-11, 8-11, 8-11 in 24 minutes. liu Tsz-ling then beat Harshit Kaur Jawanda 11-2, 12-10, 11-5 in what turned out to be a one-sided Pool D tie. India had defeated Hong Kong on their way to a historic silver medal at the 2014 Asian Games.
Abhijeet holds Harikrishna
Doha: Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta continued with his fine form to hold much higher ranked P Harikrishna to an easy draw in the sixth round of Qatar Masters International open chess tournament. With his second straight draw against members of top-50 club, Gupta took his tally to four points out of a possible six along with Harikrishna and these two were joined by B Adhiban who scored his fourth victory on the trot to reach four points. There are as many as 12 players sharing the third spot on 4.5 points apiece and then the Indian trio of Gupta, Harikrishna and Adhiban share the 15th position now. Just three rounds remain in the strongest open tournament of the world.
Pele off intensive care
Sao Paulo: A Brazilian hospital says Pele has been taken off intensive care as his condition continues to improve. The Albert Einstein Hospital says on Tuesday that 74-year-old Pele is under “semi-intensive” care. He remains in the same room where he was transferred to five days ago to undergo kidney support treatment, and there is no need to monitor his condition as closely as before. The hospital says Pele remains off the hemodialysis treatment that was needed to support his only kidney, although another evaluation will be done on Wednesday. The three-time World Cup champion was hospitalized on November 24 after being diagnosed with a urinary tract infection that stemmed from a November 13 surgery to remove kidney stones.
avoid 2022 wc-olympics clash
london: IOC President Thomas Bach says he's convinced FIFA will keep its pledge to prevent the 2022 World Cup from clashing with that year's Winter Olympics, as soccer's governing body considers whether to move the tournament to January-February to avoid Qatar's summer heat. The 2022 Winter Olympics are expected to be held in February, with Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, the only candidate cities bidding for the games.
delhi-atk play goalless draw
New Delhi: Atletico de Kolkata inched closer towards clinching a semi-final berth as they played out a goalless draw with Delhi Dynamos in a 12th round encounter of the Indian Super league. The draw didn't harm the Kolkata outfit much as they now clawed back to second position in the league table with 18 points from 12 games. Dynamos on 14 points from 12 games are in fifth position and even two wins might not be enough to make the final-four cut.
Indian aces continue winning
Singapore: Indian Aces continued their impressive run in the inaugural IPTl with a commanding 30-11 win over UAE Royals on day one of the Singapore leg here on Tuesday. It was the fourth win for Aces in as many games in the competition that began last week in Manila. In women’s singles which saw World No. 5 Ana Ivanovic triumph over Kristina Mladenovic 6-2. The mixed doubles gave the crowd its first 5-5 tie-break, with the pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza prevailing over Kladenovic and Nenad Zimonjic in the five-minute shoot out to claim the set 6-5. Next up was men’s singles in which flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils outplayed reigning US Open Champion Marin Cilic 6-1.
Journalist XI lose to BCA
New Delhi: A brilliant unbeaten half century by Akash Rawal (54 not out) went in vain as Journalist XI lost to Burari Cricket Association in a T20 match here on Tuesday. The match was organised to promote 'Clean Burari Campaign' by BJP leader Manish Mishra. Chasing 146 runs posted by Journalist XI, BCA reached the winning total in just 16 overs after losing 6 wickets.