Okazaki stunner hands Leicester a 5-point lead but Ranieri is in denial
LEICESTER: Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri said he was still refusing to look at the Premier League table despite his team re-establishing a fivepoint lead by beating Newcastle United 1-0.
Shinji Okazaki’s stunning 25th- minute overhead bicycle kick gave Leicester a hardear ned 1- 0 win at the King Power Stadium on Monday and left them needing 20 points from their final eight games to complete one of the most improbable title triumphs in the history of European football.
“I don’t look at the table. I look at the next match — Crystal Palace,” he said.
“Never we speak about the title. Every time we speak about our performance, how we enjoy the football and helping our team- mates. I’m very proud when I say everyone helps each other.”
BENCIC FALTERS
INDIAN WELLS: Swiss seventh seed Belinda Bencic was stunned by Slovakia’ s Magdalena Rybarikova while for mer champion Ana Ivanovic was also sent packing in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in California.
The 97th-ranked Rybarikova beat the powerful Bencic 6- 4, 3- 6, 6- 3 while Czech Karolina Pl isko va dumped former Serbian world number one Ivanovic 6-2, 6-0 in 49 minutes.
ANAND LOSES
MOSCOW: Viswanathan Anand suffered a setback in the FIDE Chess Candidates Tournament as he lost to Russia’s Sergey Karjakin in the fourth round in Moscow on Tuesday.
Playing with white pieces, Karjakin opted for an unusual variation of Reti Opening and Anand struggled to find a concrete plan to counter his moves.
He was saddled with two weak pawns and played passive defence to lose after 42 moves.