ISL: Delhi Dynamos hold Pune 1-1

New Delhi

Delhi Dynamos dominated the proceedings but yet again played out a draw in a familiar show of their strikers missing chances galore in the Indian Super League. The hosts scored a late equaliser in their 1-1 draw against FC Pune City here today.

Lausanne

3 London Oly gold winners disqualified for doping 

The International Olympic Committee today stripped three Kazakh weightlifters of gold medals won at the 2012 London Games for doping. Zulfiya Chinshanlo, Maiya Maneza and Svetlana Podobedova were all caught in new testing of hundreds of samples from the London and 2008 Beijing Olympics. A weightlifter from Belarus who won a bronze medal was also disqualified by the IOC. Chinshanlo won the 53kg category in London, Maneza won the 63kg gold and Podobedova the 75kg contest.

Madrid

Ronaldo says he and Messi are not good friends 

Real Madrid’s star striker Cristiano Ronaldo has said he and his arch-rival Lionel Messi are not good friends. Having dominated the world footballer of the year selection over the past eight years and widely regarded as the two best players of the current generation, Ronaldo said they respect each other but can’t be termed friends. “There is a big mutual respect between myself and Messi,” said the 31-year-old. “The media like to make out like we have this big rivalry, but we don’t. It is not like we are good friends, but there is a mutual respect on both sides.” 

LONDON

Violence returns to haunt English football

Snarling football supporters pelted each other with ripped-up seats and coins at West Ham United’s game with Chelsea on Wednesday, in the very stadium where peaceful athletics fans cheered Britain’s Olympic heroes four years ago. The eruption of hooliganism, a phenomenon the English game hoped it had consigned to history, has worried the Football Association enough to launch an investigation. It will ask whether the scenes reflect a problem with the former Olympic stadium itself or are indicative of a wider malaise. The trouble was not on the scale of the violence that scarred English football in the last century, but its location is particularly sensitive for a sport keen to brand itself as forward-thinking and open to the whole family. — Agencies