Sacked in 2013, Hanif returns as Pakistan hockey coach

Karachi

Pakistan’s celebrated hockey Olympian Hanif Khan has returned to the national squad as its manager and head coach nearly two-and-a-half years after he was sacked from the same role by the national hockey federation. Hanif was sacked in July 2013 after Pakistan had failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. “The PHF had insulted and ridiculed me by sacking me without informing me. The PHF is not an institution for honourable people to work with,” Hanif had said after his ouster. But today the new PHF set up announced that Hanif would be the manager and chief coach of the national senior team with Qamar Ibahim as coach. Hanif was the captain of the gold-winning team in the 1984 Olympics.  

Thiruvananthpuram

Afghanistan beat Maldives 4-1 in SAFF Cup 

Already through to the semifinals, Afghanistan thrashed Maldives 4-1 to top their group and remain on course for their second consecutive title in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup here today. India, who topped Group A, now play Maldives in the semifinals on December 31, while Afghanistan take on Sri Lanka. The final will be played on January 3. Omid Popalzay (34th and 54th) struck twice while Faysal Shayesteh (20th) and Ahmad Hatifie (51st) scored once each for Afghanistan.  

chennai

Paes to team up with Granollers in Chennai Open 

Veteran Indian tennis star Leander Paes will team up with Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the men’s doubles at the upcoming ATP Chennai Open and the duo has been seeded second for the event starting, January 4 in Chennai.  In the previous edition Paes and Raven Klaasen had ended runners-up.

Manchester

Real Madrid wants to sign de Gea next season

Spanish football club Real Madrid wants to sign Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea next season, a club spokesman said. The 25-year-old was heavily linked with the Spanish giants last summer but the move failed to materialise and de Gea penned a four-year contract with United which reportedly has a 36 million pound release clause. “Real Madrid will not attempt to sign David de Gea in the January window. But the club is proposed to sign him in the summer for next season,” a club spokesman was quoted as saying.

London

Chelsea can still finish in top four, insists Willian

Struggling Premier League champions Chelsea can still eke out a top-four finish this season and qualify for the Champions League, according to winger Willian. Interim manager Guus Hiddink last week said a top-four finish was “mathematically possible” but Chelsea dropped more points on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with Watford to drop 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur. “This situation is difficult for us,” Brazilian William told the British media. “But I think we can go and win game by game and finish the league in the top-four.” The four-time league winners are in 15th place, having lost nine of their 18 Premier League games this season, which cost the manager Jose Mourinho his job earlier this month.

Kolkata

Soham, Manushree win national sub-junior TT titles 

Gujarat's Manush Shah beat statemate Soham Pandya 4-0 and Maharashtra's Manushree Patil defeated North Bengal's Nikita Sarkar 4-3 to clinch the sub-junior boys’ and girls’ singles titles, respectively, at the 77th cadet and sub-junior National Table Tennis Championships. Earlier, Vishwa Deenadayalan beat Delhi’s Payas Jain to win his first cadet boys’ singles gold. What Payas couldn't do, Lakshita Narang did for Delhi, blanking out qualifier Ambika Gupta from Uttar Pradesh 4-0 in the cadet girls’ final. Manush and Soham claimed the sub-junior doubles title to make it a very profitable outing for themselves and Gujarat. — Agencies