What a remarkable turnaround it was by the Three Lions in Kolkata! England clinched their maiden FIFA U-17 world title, beating Spain comprehensively. Catch all the glimpses of England's historic win and the celebrations that followed.

It was a historic night for the Three Lions in Kolkata. What followed their maiden U-17 world title win, were some great bit of celebrations. Here are some of the best moments.

The line-up for the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 is complete! Hosts Russia are joined by Germany, Australia, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal and finally Cameroon. Tournament of Champions. Dream of Fans. FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 17 June - 2 July

The format of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup remains a 16-match tournament. As it has been for the seven previous editions, eight teams will compete in two groups of four, ahead of semi-finals and final.

Five different nations have lifted the FIFA Confederations Cup: Argentina, Denmark and Mexico (once), France (twice) and Brazil (four times).

The next swimming world championships, scheduled for summer 2021 in Japan, have been pushed back until May 2022 following the postponement of the Olympic Games, the sport's governing body said Monday. The world championships were due to be held in Fukuoka next year from July 16-August 1 but will instead take place from May 13-29 in 2022, the international swimming federation (FINA) said in a statement.

The 2020 Olympic Games were delayed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will now run from July 23-August 8 in 2021. "After liaising with the relevant stakeholders and receiving feedback from them, we have no doubt that the decision taken will provide the best possible conditions for all participants at the championships," said FINA president Julio Maglione. "At a time of unprecedented uncertainty, FINA hopes the announcement of these dates will allow for some clarity in planning for all concerned." The world aquatics championships also feature diving, open water swimming, synchronised swimming and water polo.

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After a series of doodle honouring coronavirus warriors, Google launched a new series since April 27 where they have been urging people to stay home and play games amid the COVID-19 crisis. Today, google shared an interactive doodle featuring the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.

It’s day 2 of our throwback #GoogleDoodle series...

Today, crickHIT for 6 in our 2017 Doodle game celebrating cricket! 🏏🦗#GoogleDoodle → https://t.co/hokoBrGUtO pic.twitter.com/NSFpjSmbjg

— Google Doodles (@GoogleDoodles) April 28, 2020

The doodel features the letter G where a person can be seen donning a Chef's hat as he uses a rolling pin in place of a bat while the letter E shows another person ready to bowl to the batsman like a bowler. When one hovers over the final doodle, it shows the message, "Stay and play at home with popular past Google Doodles: Cricket (2017).

The game provides you a virtual experience of playing cricket at a stadium

Once clicked on the animation, google takes the user to a game where one can play cricket on a pitch. The 2017 ICC Champions Trophy doodle was originally shared to celebrate the launch of the ICC Champions Trophy. the interactive feature gives you the surreal feeling of being in a stadium while playing the sport.

Explaining the motive behind launching the 10 game series to be played at hime, Google said, "As Covid-19 continues to impact communities around the world, people and families everywhere are spending more time at home. In light of this, we're launching a throwback doodle series looking back at some of our popular interactive Google Doodle games!"

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Former England and Liverpool goalkeeper David James is convinced that the Reds should be crowned English Premier League (EPL) champions if the 2019-20 season is called off due to the Coronavirus pandemic. It will be Liverpool's first title in 30 years, after narrowly missing out to
Manchester City by one point last season.

The Premier League was suspended in March after Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for COVID-19.

Liverpool (82 points from 29 games) lead second-placed Manchester City (57 points from 28 games) by 25 points at the top of the points table and are almost certain to clinch the title. Some experts feel that the season should be declared null and void but James, 49, felt that would be unfair on Liverpool. "If they [Premier League] can get games played behind closed doors and finish the remaining fixtures (92 games), the league cannot be cancelled or declared null and void. If, unfortunately, the season does not finish, then Liverpool deserve to be crowned EPL champions as they have earned enough points to claim the crown," James, a football expert panellist on Sony Pictures Sports Network, told mid-day on Tuesday.

Statistical solution

James, who made 53 appearances for England (1997 to 2010), called for the use of algorithms to decide the EPL winner, but said not all clubs may agree here. "The league's organisers should be on the lines of what they do in a cricket match to check the probability of who will be the winner. I believe OPTA (British sports analytics company), who collect statistics in England, have made a statistical prediction of the final EPL table, declaring Liverpool the winner," explained James, who played for the Kerala Blasters (2014) in the franchise-based Indian Super League before graduating to their manager-cum-player in 2018. "Teams which can't secure their Champions League position or fear relegation, would rather see this season declared null and void," he added.

David James

With football across UK suspended indefinitely, the handsomely-paid EPL players have come under pressure to take pay cuts. "The idea of pay cuts is to help the EPL clubs survive. From a business point of view, they need to generate revenue for survival," James explained.

Survival of clubs

"Despite the huge amount of money earned by the clubs from TV rights, right now the money is not being paid due to the lack of televised games. The huge amount wage bill and lack of revenue can break the backs of some clubs. So, pay cuts are vital from the business operations level and to sustain the clubs," said James, who also played for Manchester City from 2004 to 2006. European football too has come to a standstill with the Euro 2020 postponed to next year while the Champions League fixtures are suspended too. European football's governing body UEFA are planning to hold matches in August, but James felt they could do so in the pre-season period next year to avoid a pile-up of fixtures.

"Euro 2020 won't have much effect on the footballing calendar as it is held in summer. But for the Champions League, UEFA should consider a possibility of creating a mini tournament during the domestic pre-season next year to ascertain a winner, rather than hastily conducting the tournament now, leading to a pile-up of matches," said James, who held the EPL record for most clean sheets (169) until Petr Cech (202) surpassed it in 2015.

Fans can visit the official Facebook page of Sony Pictures Sports Network, @SonySportsIndia and watch ‘Sony Ten Pit Stop’ to catch David James from 5.00 PM on April 22, 2020

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A German team practises mallakhamb with coach Uday Deshpande

In a TEDx Gateway talk held in 2017, 65-year-old Uday Deshpande talks of how he started learning mallakhamb at Shivaji Park's Samarth Vyayam Mandir (SVM) at the age of three. The passion for the sport, which has its origins in Maharashtra, gripped him so much, he says, that he even stuck to his daily regime on the day of his wedding. As the audience laughs, Deshpande moves on to talk about what he returned to the sport — spreading its awareness not just to other Indian cities across 29 states, but globally as well. He rattles off a statistic: in the last 25 years more than 2,500 foreigners from 52 countries have learnt mallakhamb.

His passport — which thanks to the several added visa pages has increasing so much in girth that it is a candidate for bariatric surgery — bears signs of his visits to countries like USA, Singapore, Nepal, Germany, France, Austria, Hong Kong. And now, says Deshpande, the director at SVM who also coaches there, all this effort is going to culminate into the first mallakhamb world championship to be held at Shivaji Park, next February. Speaking to mid-day from his Shivaji Park office, keeping a stern eye on the practice sessions on the grounds, Deshpande announces proudly," Mallakhamb is ready to go the next mile. France and Germany in fact, have mallakhamb federations in their countries. We need to now harness that exposure into a competition." The championships — to be held under the auspices of the newly-formed Vishwa Mallakhamb Federation (VMF) — will be held between February 16-17 2019. Deshpande, the secretary of VFM, says all the details of the organisation of the event are being taken care of by SVM officials.

Uday Deshpande

And 15 countries have already announced their participation. Dr (PhD) Neeta Tatke, administrative secretary, SVM, whose thesis was on the mental benefits of the sport, says, "A competition is one way to kindle curiosity, sustain the sport and watch it grow. We also need to increase participation at home." For Tatke, GenNext will take a shine to the rope and pole, "if we have national and world champions here, nurtured and made in our backyard. For instance, see the boost tennis and badminton got in India. This is because with the Saina Nehwals, Sania Mirzas and P V Sindhus, young Indians have role models to look up to. We need to create that in mallakhamb. Competition is one way to do so."

A couple of years ago, when Deutschland came to Dadar, the German mallakhamb team given an Indian experience by Samarth volunteers. After their morning mallakhamb practice, Samarth members taught the Germans, Lezim (a Maharashtrian folk) dance, they learnt to play the flute and even dabbled in Warli painting. This time, organisers say that at the World Championships, there will be a food court at the venue and an exhibition centre outlining the history of mallakhamb.

Ruth Azenberger, German mallakhamb coach — who started learning mallakhamb when she was eight years old, in 2004, and then received the Mallakhamb Trainers Certificate in 2012 from the University of Mumbai and Mallakhamb Federation of India — says, "We are thrilled to be a part of the competition and show what we have learned for the last 15 years." Azenberger adds that the final mallakhamb team will be selected in September.

Shreyas Mhaskar, trustee, SVM and former national Mallakhamb champion adds, "Mallakhamb's origins are Indian, so it is natural that India hosts the debut World Championship." Officials say that, "we also have plans of how to make this a more equitable field for all nations. We are going to negate the obvious advantage India will have, with its long tradition of mallakhamb with a few surprises in rules that we will not divulge now." Ambition is expensive. The committee says they are earmarking R2 crore expense overall and are now hunting for sponsors. Yet, to zero in on that elusive one with deep pockets, the organizers are holding on to their dream because they have the courage of conviction, or when it comes to mallakhamb, like the practitioners that should be courage of their contortions.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is 'exploring all options available' to them to complete the World Test Championship amid the coronavirus pandemic. "We are continuing planning for ICC events as they are but given the rapidly evolving situation as a prudent and responsible measure we are also undertaking a comprehensive business contingency planning exercise," a source within ICC told ANI. "This includes exploring all options available to us based on a range of scenarios connected to the pandemic," the source added.

The source further added that as of now, no decision has been taken. The coronavirus pandemic has taken a huge toll on sports all across the globe and cricket also had to bear the brunt of the deadly virus as several series have been postponed owing to COVID-19. In the ongoing World Test Championship, a total of 71 Test matches will be played across 27 series over two years. The championship began on August 1 last year when Australia faced England in Ashes.

The top two teams will then contest in the ICC World Test Championship final in June 2021 in the UK. Currently, India hold the top spot on the World Test Championship table with 360 points followed by Australia and New Zealand with 296 and 180 points respectively.

The second ICC World Test Championship will run from July 2021 to June 2023.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

OECD Secretary-General shares the OECD’s perspective on the current economic outlook, as well as his views on the economic situation of Slovenia and the key challenges that this country has to confront to achieve a stronger, cleaner and fairer growth.

New South Wales were crowned the inaugural Champions League T20 winners after they snapped Trinidad & Tobago's fairytale campaign with a 41-run victory in a high-voltage summit clash on Friday. it was a battle between Caribbean flair and...

Match facts

Deccan v Bangalore, third-place playoff, Mumbai
Saturday, April 24
Start time 2000 (1430 GMT)

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