Barclays Premier League: April fools Liverpool

Liverpool looked like a bunch of April fools as they were outperformed by Newcastle at the Sports Direct Arena. A brace from January signing Papiss Demba Cisse was enough to secure victory for the Magpies, who are still feasibly in with a chance of qualifying for the Champions’ League.

Date: 1^st April 2012

Venue: Sports Direct Arena

Attendance: 52,363

Score: 2-0

Scorers: Cisse (19,59).

Yellow Cards: Perch, Tiote, Cisse; Flanagan, Shelvey, Carroll.

Red Cards: Reina.

Super Eight T20 Cup Sialkot Stallions Won

Sialkot Stallions defended their title of the Faysal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup defeating Karachi Dolphins by an impressive margin of eight wickets here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Chasing a rather difficult target of 168, captain Shoaib Malik and Haris Sohail hit unbeaten half-centuries to help the Stallions complete the victory in 18.5 overs.

Summarised Scores:

Sialkot Stallions 170-2 (Shoaib Malik 62*, Haris Sohail 55*)

Beat

Karachi Dolphins 167-8 (Khalid Latif 81*, Raza Hasan 4/33) by 8 wickets

Man of the Match: Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail

Batsman of the Tournament: Khalid Latif

Bowler of the Tournament: Raza Hasan

Wicket-keeper of the Tournament: Shakeel Ansar

Fielder of the Tournament: Shoaib Malik

Diego Maradona blasted fans as “cowards”

Diego Maradona blasted fans as “cowards” on Thursday after he rushed from his dugout to the stands to rescue his girlfriend from an ugly confrontation, media reports claimed. The Argentine legend had just seen his Al Wasl team lose 2-0 to Al Shabab in the UAE league when players’ wives and girlfriends had to be escorted out of the Al Mamzar stadium. The trouble started, according to the Gulf News, when Ciel, a Brazilian striker who had scored one of the goals, was targeted by Argentine supporters amongst Maradona’s entourage. Al Shabab fans then unleashed insults in the opposite direction with Maradona’s partner Veronica Ojeda and the girlfriend of Al Wasl player Juan Mercier caught up in the melee. As wives and girlfriends were escorted to their cars, Mercier’s girlfriend tripped and fell down the stairs. “Some people are cowards. They only attack women and have no courage to confront men,” Maradona told www.gulfnews.com. “This is the first time I am upset with the fans. If they are angry with me they should know that I did it (climbed the stands) for my wife because someone was calling her names. They shouldn’t be angry with me they should be angry with the people who did this. They are cowards, not real fans.”

China women win gold to complete sweep

China completed cleansweep of gold medals at world team table tennis championships on Sunday. Their women s team also beat defending champions Singapore 3-0 in Sunday s final. China's male team had earlier beaten hosts Germany 3-0. After the men had downed hosts Germany 3-0 earlier in their final, the Chinese dragon roared again as the women s team took revenge for their defeat in the world team final two years ago in Moscow with victory over Singapore. China s Ding Ning put her side ahead in the opening match with a 3-1 win over Feng Tianwei, while compatriot Li Xiaoxia also had few problems in her 3-1 win over Wang Yuegu. It fell to Guo Yue to seal victory and she dominated Li Jiawei with a 3-0 win in straight games. It was the Chinese women s 18th gold medal at the world team championships and their 2010 defeat was the only time they have lost a world team final since 1991. Overall, China have won 36 gold medals in both the men s and women s world team championships since the tournament was first held in 1926. The world championships doubles as an Olympic qualifier with London places up for grabs for the highest-ranked nation from each of the six continents and China are the defending champions in both the mens and womens events.