Sports Shorts: Kolkata derby ends in goalless stalemate

Defending champions Mohun Bagan dished out a dominant display but were held to a goalless draw by East Bengal in the high-voltage derby of the Calcutta Football League Premier Division A here on Sunday.

Mohun Bagan, undoubtedly, were the superior team with Joseba Beitia brilliantly leading the attack in a 4-4-1-1 formation but V P Suhair let the team down missing a couple of sitters in what was the season's first Kolkata derby at the Saltlake Stadium.

East Bengal midfield looked unorganised especially in the first-half but their defence manned by Marti Crespi did not give any chance to their arch-rivals to come out with a point.

East Bengal now have seven points from four matches to occupy fourth place in the table.

The defending champions, on the other hand, are languishing in the relegation zone at ninth spot with five points from four outings in the 12-team standings.

A fortnight ago, Suhair had scored an extra-time brace at the same venue to guide Mohun Bagan to the Durand Cup final but he seemed to have a bad day in office on Sunday.

The best chance Suhair got was in the hour's mark when he found himself at the handshaking distance of East Bengal goal but only to shoot wayward.

Then again in the 43rd minute, Suhair surged in with East Bengal defence nowhere in sight as he attempted a grounded shot from inside the box but it went straight to East Bengal goalkeeper Lalthuammawia Ralte.

Alexander Romario could have killed the game in the 91st minute after he received a curling cross from Beitia but he failed to find the back of the net.

The earliest chance Mohun Bagan got was in the 15th minute when captain Gurjinder Singh's header from a swinging freekick by Beitia went outside the far-post.

It was an end-to-end action in the second half with East Bengal pressing the attack but a goal eluded them as well.

In the 59th minute, Ralte found himself in the close range but could not connect well with Debjit Majumder out of position.

Moments later, Mohun Bagan had their best chance in the first hour's play but Suhair missed the target just in front of the goal.

It was Ashutosh Mehta who gave a fine low cross from the right which needed a simple tap-in but Suhair squandered the sitter.

With 20 minutes left on the clock, East Bengal coach Alejandro Menendez brought on his key players, Jaime Santos and Bidyasagar Singh, but they too failed to make any impact.

In the second half stoppage time, Beitia once again set it up with a curling cross but substitute Alexander Romario failed to make it count in what was their last chance. 

Canada's De Grasse powers to 100m win in Berlin

Canadian Andre De Grasse ran down South African Akani Simbine to win the 100 metres in his fastest time of the year at Berlin's ISTAF meeting on Sunday.

De Grasse, the Olympic 100m bronze medallist, came on strong in the final 30 metres to take a confidence-boosting victory in 9.97 seconds. Commonwealth Games champion Simbine was second in 9.99.

"This was like a comeback for me," said De Grasse, who missed the 2017 world championships with a hamstring injury that lingered last year.

"These were my last 100m before the world championships and this race gives me a good time before I race in Doha."

Olympic 110m hurdles champion Omar McLeod of Jamaica also ran his best time of the year to take victory in a time of 13.07 seconds.

The men's pole vault brought together the three top medal contenders for Doha with American-born Swede Mondo Duplantis edging U.S. world champion Sam Kendricks on misses as both cleared 5.80m in windy conditions. Poland's Piotr Lisek was third at 5.70m.

Germany's women ran the fastest 4x100m relay of the season, 41.67 seconds, and the host nation's Gesa Krause shattered the world best in the infrequently run women's 2,000m steeplechase, clocking 5.52.80, nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous mark.