MAN CITY’S DE BRUYNE OUT FOR THREE MONTHS

MANCHESTER: Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne will miss up to three months of action but will not need surgery after scans revealed the full extent of his knee injury, the Premier League club said on Friday.

De Bruyne, who came on as a substitute in City’s 2-0 victory over Arsenal in their first league match of the season , suffered the injury in training this week.

JOSE PRAISES POGBA

MANCHESTER: Jose Mourinho has broken his silence on his relationship with French World Cup winner Paul Pogba, insisting there is no disagreement with Manchester United’s record signing.

“The truth is we are together for two years and a couple of weeks and I’ve never been so happy with him as I am now,” Mourinho told reporters on Friday.

FIFA FINES ATLETICO

LAUSANNE: Spanish club Atletico Madrid have been fined, FIFA said on Friday, for signing a player to a contract that allowed third-party ownership, which is banned by world football’s governing body. The Spanish club must pay 52,000 Swiss Francs to the international football governing body for entering into a contract with the unnamed player.

HALEP THROUGH

CINCINNATI: Simona Halep overcame Ashleigh Barty in straight sets to set up a Cincinnati Open quarter-final against Lesia Tsurenko later on Friday.

World number one Halep triumphed 7-5 6-4 against Barty, who she beat en route to the Rogers Cup title last week, in one hour and 27 minutes to advance.

INDIA WIN HOCKEY WARM-UP GAME

JAKARTA: The Indian men’s hockey team crushed Bangladesh 7-1 in a practice match in Jakarta on Friday to enter the 18th Asian Games on a confident note.

India are the defending champions, having won gold in Incheon 2014, and will begin their campaign against hosts Indonesia on August 20.