Madrid draws at Villarreal 2-2 before Champions League final

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Madrid draws at Villarreal 2-2 before Champions League final

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, and Gareth Bale celebrates after Ronaldo scored against Villarreal during a Spanish La Liga match, at the Ceramica stadium in Villarreal, Spain, on Saturday, May 19, 2018. Photo: Associated Press

BARCELONA: Real Madrid showed Liverpool its strengths and weaknesses a week before their Champions League final.

Madrid squandered first-half goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in drawing at Villarreal 2-2 on Saturday in its last match before attempting to win Europe’s most coveted trophy for a third year in a row.

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane aligned what could be his starting 11 for the final against Liverpool, except for giving 20-year-old son Luca Zidane his competitive debut in goal.

Zidane left striker Karim Benzema on his bench in favor of starting Ronaldo and Bale alone up front and playing Francisco “Isco” Alarcon along with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos as playmakers in front of holding midfielder Casemiro.

Madrid showed the same dominant form that has taken it to another Champions League final in the first half at Villarreal.

But after Ronaldo and Modric were replaced by Benzema and Lucas Vazquez with half an hour remaining, Zidane’s bunch displayed the same complacency and faulty defending that scuttled its Liga title defense months ago.

The draw in the final round meant Madrid finished the Spanish league in third place behind Atletico Madrid and champion Barcelona.

Bale opened the scoring with a solo effort in the 11th minute, and Ronaldo headed in a superb cross by Marcelo just after the half-hour mark.

Fifth-place Villarreal outplayed the visitors in the second half and leveled through goals by substitutes Roger Martinez in the 70th and Samuel Castillejo in the 85th.

“We played a very, very good first half, with determination, scoring goals, but the second half was the exact opposite,” Zidane said. “The important thing is that we didn’t have any injuries and can now rest well for next weekend. We are only thinking about winning the final.”

Bale, who struggled for most of the season to make Zidane’s first-choice 11, has finished the season strong and appears to have earned a spot in the Champions League final.

His opener against Villarreal, created when he let Modric’s pass run through as he spun around his marker, was his 14th goal in the last 10 rounds.

“Gareth has never given up,” Zidane said. “He has trained well. Nothing has changed. The only difference is that now he is scoring.”

Ronaldo’s goal was his 26th in the league. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi leads the competition with 34.

Castillejo snatched the draw after he raced behind Marcelo to receive a lobbed pass from Rodrigo Hernandez. Luca Zidane, who normally plays for Madrid’s reserve team in the third divison, stopped his initial chipped shot but Castillejo slotted the rebound into the open net.

Saudi Arabia midfielder Salem Al Dawsari made his Liga debut as a second-half substitute for Villarreal.

ASPAS MAKES HIS CASE

Iago Aspas made the most of his last chance to show Spain coach Julen Lopetegui that he deserves a spot on his World Cup squad.

The striker scored twice to lead Celta Vigo’s 4-2 win over Levante, taking his season tally for the league to 22, the most by a Spanish player.

Aspas was regularly chosen by Lopetegui during World Cup qualifying.

Celta announced after the match that coach Juan Carlos Unzue will leave the club and break his contract by mutual agreement.

OTHER RESULTS

Uruguay striker Christian Stuani scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season to lead Girona’s 2-1 win at Las Palmas.

Leganes fought back while playing with 10 men for over an hour to beat Real Betis 3-2 in a farewell of coach Asier Garitano, who won’t stay on after a good season for the modest Madrid club.

Wissam Ben Yedder gave Sevilla a 1-0 win over Alaves, and Loic Remy converted a penalty for Getafe to beat Malaga 1-0.

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Written by Siddhartha Pokharel This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/madrid-draws-at-villarreal-2-2-before-champions-league-final/ under the title “Madrid draws at Villarreal 2-2 before Champions League final”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Rimal, Koju win titles

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Kathmandu, May 19

Tribhuvan Army Club’s Hari Kumar Rimal and Nepal APF Club’s Kanchhi Maya Koju won the Kantipur Runner Half Marathon here today.

In men’s category, Rimal clocked one hour, nine minutes and two seconds to finish first, while his teammates Hom Lal Shrestha (1:09:16) and Tikaram Katuwal (1:10:09) came second and third respectively. In women’s section, Koju completed the distance in one hour, 21 minutes and 28 seconds, while Santoshi Shrestha (1:23:43) of Dhading came second and APF’s Binda Dhanke (1:25:23) was third. Winners Rimal and Koju received Rs 50,000 along with Runner Kite Plus scooter each.

In 5km race for corporate and media, Ajay Tamang, Rup Lal Budha Magar and Sher Bahadur Tharu claimed top three positions in men’s category, while Laden Pradhan, Lina Regmi and Sajal Pradhan were top three athletes in women’s section.

In men’s wheelchair race, Lal Bahadur Tamang of TAC, Prem Bahadur BK and Mohan Bahadur Basnet bagged top three positions respectively, while Lali Tamang, Rajani Rai and Jhakri Tamang did so in women’s section.

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Written by Nikki Hamal This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/rimal-koju-win-titles/ under the title “Rimal, Koju win titles”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Three Star, NDA thru

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KATHMANDU: Three Star Academy, New Diamond Academy, Bijeshwori Gyan Mandir and Paramount School advanced to the semi-finals of the first Chandragiri Deputy Mayor Cup School-level Girls’ Volleyball Tournament here at the New Diamond Academy courts on Saturday.

Three Star defeated St David’s School 21-25, 25-21, 25-11, while NDA thrashed Kanya Mandir 25-11, 25-4. Similarly, Bijeshwori outplayed Gyansuda Academy 25-10, 25-12 and Paramount saw off Springdale 25-8, 25-16. A total of 10 teams are competing in the event organised by Chandragiri Municipality Committee of Madan Bhandari Sports Academy.

Top four teams of the league-cum-knockout event will get Rs 45,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Similarly, the best player, best spiker, blocker, server, defender and setter will also receive cash prizes. — HNS

The post Three Star, NDA thru appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

Written by Nikki Hamal This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/three-star-nda-thru/ under the title “Three Star, NDA thru”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Thibaut Courtois stands tall to grant Antonio Conte a glorious swansong | David Hytner

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Gutsy backs-to-the-wall show delivers a triumphant end to Italian’s stormy season – and perhaps his Chelsea tenure

Antonio Conte remained in a state of agitation. The Chelsea manager had seen Eden Hazard put his team in charge of the FA Cup final with a first-half penalty but he did not celebrate. Instead, he continued to chew the ear of the fourth official, Lee Mason. Conte wanted a red card to be shown to the Manchester United defender Phil Jones, for what he felt had been a last-man foul on Hazard.

It seemed to sum up what has been a slog of a season for Conte – even at the good moments, he could have gripes. It has had the feel of one long argument between him and the club and there was the unmistakable end-of-era impression for him at Wembley.

Continue reading…
Written by David Hytner at Wembley This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/may/20/thibaut-courtios-antonio-conte-chelsea-fa-cup-final under the title “Thibaut Courtois stands tall to grant Antonio Conte a glorious swansong | David Hytner”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Barcelona vs Real Sociedad: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview

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Ernesto Valverde will lead his team for the final time this season as the title-winners close their Liga season at home to Sociedad

Written by This news first appeared on http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/news/barcelona-vs-real-sociedad-tv-channel-live-stream-squad-news–preview/13xv4com9g381170rp4d7lnihc under the title “
Barcelona vs Real Sociedad: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview
“. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Barcelona Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Real Sociedad

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Everything you need to know ahead of the champions’ last Primera Division clash of the season, which takes place at Camp Nou this weekend…

Written by This news first appeared on http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/news/barcelona-team-news-injuries-suspensions-and-line-up-vs-real-sociedad/fyqg1pfwoxw1ztbq8eovtw80 under the title “Barcelona Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Real Sociedad”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Price of precious metals declines by over 1pc

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Kathmandu, May 19

The price of precious metals slipped by over one per cent in the trading week between May 13 and 18.

The improvement in treasury of western nations weighed on the gold price, according to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association (FeNeGoSiDA).

“Strengthening of the dollar coupled with news of US central bank hiking interest rates thrice this year also caused the bullion price to fall,” the federation said in a statement.

As per the price rate published by FeNeGoSiDA, gold was priced at Rs 59,300 per tola on Sunday. Its price dipped by Rs 100 a tola to be traded at Rs 59,200 per tola on Monday and remained same the next day.

On Wednesday, bullion price fell by Rs 500 a tola to Rs 58,700 per tola.

The price of the precious yellow metal fell by Rs 300 a tola to Rs 58,400 per tola on Thursday and was unchanged on Friday, the last trading day of the week.

FeNeGoSiDA had fixed the rate of silver at Rs 775 a tola and its price was stable the next day. Over the next two days, however, the grey metal dipped by five rupees per tola each day to be traded at Rs 770 a tola on Tuesday and Rs 765 per tola on Wednesday. Silver was traded at the same rate for the rest of the week.

In neighbouring India, gold discounts widened due to sluggish demand amid high local rates, Reuters reported

In the overseas market, gold prices have corrected but in the local market prices are still elevated due to a depreciating Indian rupee, Ashok Jain, proprietor of Mumbai-based wholesaler Chenaji Narsinghji, told the news agency.

The Indian rupee has fallen more than six per cent so far in 2018, having plunged to its lowest in 16 months this week.

In top consumer China, demand for physical gold improved, with premiums of $8 to $9 an ounce being charged over the benchmark price, versus $6 to $8 last week.

The post Price of precious metals declines by over 1pc appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

Written by Nikki Hamal This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/price-of-precious-metals-declines-by-over-1pc/ under the title “Price of precious metals declines by over 1pc”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Benchmark index marginally down

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Benchmark index marginally down

Kathmandu, May 19

The country’s sole secondary market managed to limit its loss to 8.80 points or 0.65 per cent to 1,339.65 points in the trading week between May 13 and 17, owing to Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) rebounding in the second half of the week.

“The movement of the market in the coming days will depend on the government’s budget,” said Ambika Prasad Poudel, president of Nepal Investors’ Forum. “The government will be introducing its policy and programme on Monday but I think it will not include anything that will affect the stock market and we will have to wait for the budget to see which direction the share market will take,” he added.

Since Sunday was a public holiday as the country celebrated Bhoto Jatra, the stock market was open from Monday only. The benchmark index had opened at 1,348.45 points on Monday and dropped by 10.28 points to close at 1,338.17 points by the end of the day. The market was down on Tuesday by another 4.32 points.

The local bourse reversed course thereafter, gaining 4.16 points on Wednesday to land at 1,338.01 points. It went up marginally by 1.64 points on Thursday.

Meanwhile, sensitive index was down by 2.29 points or 0.8 per cent to rest at 282.3 points in the review week. Similarly, the float index also declined by 0.75 point or 0.76 per cent to 96.7 points.

In the review period, four subgroups witnessed gains while six subgroups landed in the red zone.

The trading, manufacturing and hotels subgroups saw gains of above one per cent and others sub-index saw gains of below one per cent. Meanwhile, microfinance, hydropower, insurance and banking sub-indices saw losses of below one per cent and development banks and finance subgroups witnessed losses of above one per cent.

In the review week, the finance subgroup led the pack of losers, dropping by 11.94 points or 1.81 per cent to rest at 647.67 points. Likewise, the development bank subgroup shed 25.88 points or 1.64 per cent to land at 1,545.22 points and banking sub-index dipped by 10.66 points or 0.92 per cent to land at 1,147.3 points.

Meanwhile, the insurance sub-index went down by 53.81 points or 0.76 per cent to end the week at 6,957.95 points. Similarly, hydropower sub-index also decreased by 10.72 points or 0.64 per cent to 1,655.74 points and microfinance sub-index fell by 9.39 points to 1,733.54 points.

Meanwhile, trading sub-index led the group of gainers, rising by 3.72 points or 1.88 per cent to settle at 201.34 points. Likewise, manufacturing subgroup ascended by 30.94 points or 1.35 per cent to close at 2,319.13 points. The hotels subgroup, meanwhile, surged by 24.75 points or 1.26 per cent to 1,982.01 points and others sub-index also went up by 5.25 points or 0.7 per cent to rest at 751.47 points.

Altogether, 2.32 million shares of 176 companies worth Rs 1.08 billion were traded through 14,026 transactions during the week. The traded amount was 45.96 per cent less than total weekly turnover of the previous week, which was recorded at
Rs two billion. In the previous week, 4.81 million shares of 181 firms had changed hands through 29,319 transactions.

In terms of weekly turnover, Siddhartha Bank was at the top with Rs 70.18 million. It was followed by Womi Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha with Rs 45.95 million, Siddhartha Insurance with Rs 30.04 million, Standard Chartered Bank with Rs 27.69 million and Nepal Life Insurance with Rs 27.44 million.

In the review period, Siddhartha Bank was also the leader in terms of number of shares changing hands with 211,000 of its shares being transacted. In terms of number of transactions, Nepal Investment Bank was the forerunner with 652 transactions.

NEW LISTINGS

Company Type Unit
Deprosc Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Bonus 969,793.66
Miteri Development Bank Bonus 1,197,069.44
National Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Bonus 203,560.00
Pokhara Finance Rights 983,682.74
Prabhu Bank Rights 21,199,321.00
Premier Insurance Bonus 695,397.00
Samata Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Bonus 63,200.00
Shine Resunga Development Bank Bonus 2,757,231.00
Srijana Finance Bonus 982,800.00

Source: Nepse

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Written by Nikki Hamal This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/benchmark-index-marginally-down/ under the title “Benchmark index marginally down”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Foreign currency reserves depleting

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Kathmandu, May 19

The government needs to be a bit more cautious about skyrocketing imports that have depleted foreign currency reserves as remittance has plummeted and transfer of foreign funds, including foreign direct investment, is also low.

Nepal Rastra Bank had said the country’s reserve position till mid-April was sufficient to cover imports for 9.7 months.

“The situation is not so alarming. However, a stronger US dollar vis-à-vis Nepali currency and stagnant remittance growth could pose a threat,” said Nara Bahadur Thapa, executive director of NRB.

As traders tend to harbour the general perception that import duties will be hiked in the new fiscal budget, they raise their imports in the last few months of the fiscal. Imports also become dearer when the US dollar appreciates. Along with appreciation of the US dollar, the price of petroleum products follow an upward trend in the global market.

“While it is difficult to curb imports, the government must adopt precautionary measures in relation to rampant imports when the foreign currency reserve is insufficient to cover import for at least eight months,” Thapa reiterated.

The country imported goods worth Rs 876.29 billion in the first nine months of this fiscal, which was a 20.6 per cent growth compared to the same period last fiscal. The country also recorded trade deficit of Rs 816.55 billion, a growth of 21.7 per cent. “There is potential of import growth as construction and reconstruction activities have gathered pace,” according to traders.

However, sources for generating foreign exchange reserves are not strong. Growth of remittance, on which Nepal has been relying since long to make its foreign exchange reserves robust, retarded to 5.6 per cent in the nine months of this fiscal compared to 6.3 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

In the first nine months of the fiscal, the country received Rs 540.38 billion from remittance, Rs 59.73 billion from exports, Rs 14.41 billion was transferred as foreign direct investment and Rs 50.3 billion through travel component tourism.

However, the sum of foreign exchange income was Rs 664.82 billion whereas trade deficit was Rs 816.55 billion, which experts term ‘unsustainable deficit’.

Forex Reserve
Month Reserve size Import cover (based on import growth)
Mid-July $10.49bn 11.4 months
Md-August $10.54bn 12 months
Mid-September $10.56bn 11.4 months
Mid-October $10.64bn 11.2 months
Mid-November $10.62bn 11.6 months
Mid-December $10.57bn 11 months
Mid-January $10.51bn 10.6 months
Mid-February $10.21bn 9.8 months
Mid-March $10.13bn 9.7 months
Mid-April $10.22bn 9.7 months

Source: Nepal Rastra Bank

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Written by Sandeep This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/foreign-currency-reserves-depleting/ under the title “Foreign currency reserves depleting”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.

Kingfisher launched

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KATHMANDU: United Breweries Ltd, one of the leading beer companies in Asia, in association with Yeti Brewery, has announced the launch of its flagship brands, Kingfisher Premium and Kingfisher Strong in Nepal.

United Breweries’ foray into the Nepal market is part of their plan to bring the ‘Good Times’ to the consumers in Nepal, and accelerate the brand’s growth and market share across new territories, as per a media release. United Breweries Ltd is a joint venture with the global beer leader Heineken NV.

Kingfisher Premium and Strong will be present across all retail outlets in Nepal. Kingfisher Premium 650ml bottle is priced at Rs 275, while the 500ml can is priced at Rs 210. Kingfisher Strong 650ml bottle is priced at Rs 235 and 500ml can is priced at Rs 180. — HNS

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Written by Nikki Hamal This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/business/kingfisher-launched/ under the title “Kingfisher launched”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
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