| Bindra, archers, lifters enter Olympic Village |
London Olympics 2012
LONDON, July 17: Beijing Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was the first Indian shooter to enter the London Olympic Games Village along with the 10-member archery squad and a four-member weightlifting squad.
The archers and the lifters entered the Games Village first while Bindra joined them a little later, on Monday evening.
“They h... |
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| Indian wrestlers are capable of winning medals: Sushil |
Sonepat, July 17 : Doing an encore in London is not something that Sushil Kumar wants to lose his sleep over, but the Beijing Olympics bronze medallist has assured to put in the hard yards to ensure a podium finish in the upcoming Olympics.
"I don't want put any unnecessary pressure on me by thinking about the medal. It will hamper my performance in the Olympics. If you think about meda... |
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| Australia's medal count to fall in London! |
Sydney, July 17: Australia’s medal tally from Beijing Games to London will be bad to worse, a new study has revealed. A study conducted by the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, in the US, says Australia will win fewer Olympic gold medals, and fewer medals overall, than it did at either Beijing, Athens or Sydney. The study, however, predicted that host nation Britain can hope for a goo... |
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| Top-6 finish will be good for Indian hockey team: Oltmans |
LONDON, July 17: Dutch legend Roelant Oltmans, one of the most successful hockey coaches in the world, feels a semifinal berth at London Olympics will be fantastic for the Indian team but a more realistic finish would be in top eight.
“Sure a top-six will be great, but I am not too sure about a semifinal finish,” said Oltmans, who is here at the Olympics, not as coach of the... |
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| Kenya eyes seven golds |
Nairobi, July 17 :Kenya are looking at seven gold medals from the 48 athletes they are sending to the London Olympics. Of the 43 track and field athletes, two boxers, two swimmers and one weightlifter, there are seven events in which the Kenyans can strike gold.
In the last Olympics in Beijing, Kenya won six gold medals, all in middle and long-distance running events, thereby making it ... |
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| Teenager Soumyajit aims to create a flutter |
New Delhi, July 17: Teenager Soumyajit Ghosh knows he is not India’s best table tennis player to have qualified for the London Olympics. But now that he has, the Silguri-born paddler thinks if he can pull off an upset, it would make his Olympic debut worthwhile.
Like 18-year-old boxer Shiva Thapa, Ghosh had set his sights on the 2016 Olympics. But the 19-year-old realised his drea... |
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| Obama backs 1992 USA team in Olympic debate |
WASHINGTON, July 17: American President Barack Obama waded into the USA Olympic basketball debate on Monday, saying the 1992 Dream Team with Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley would have beaten the 2012 Olympic team.
Obama said on Monday he remembers a 1992 gold-medal winning USA team that looked unstoppable from the very first game.
“I got to go with the original Dream Te... |
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| Star to watch... |
Yelena Isinbayeva
Russian Yelena Isinbayeva manages to combine grace and power in the pole vault to devastating effect, soaring higher and higher since setting her first world record of 4.82 metres in Gateshead in 2003. Since then she has steadily raised the bar to 5.06 metres, considerably higher than one of London’s famous red double decker buses, claiming five world titles and the Ol... |
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| Del Potro dreams of Olympic medal |
Buenos Aires, July 17: Argentinean tennis star Juan Martin Del Potro says bringing home a medal from the London Olympics would be as good as winning a Grand Slam tournament.
In an interview with local daily Clarin Monday, the World No. 9 said: “Undoubtedly, to win a medal would be a great achievement, a marvellous, beautiful and historic achievement ... considering the quality of ... |
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| Brazil to play three strikers |
Rio de Janeiro, July 17: Brazilian coach Mano Menezes has confirmed plans for attacking with three strikers at the London Olympics’ football competition.
Menezes said forwards Neymar, Hulk and Leandro Damiao would all start in Brazil’s Olympic warm-up friendly against Britain at Middlesbrough Friday, Xinhua reports.
The trio featured in Brazil’s Olympic team in... |
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| London chief plays down transport woes |
LONDON, July 17: London Olympics chief organizer Sebastian Coe on Tuesday played down talk of transport problems at the Games after a US athlete complained of a nightmare journey across the British capital.
Two-time world 400 metres hurdles champion Kerron Clement said that on the first day of arrivals on Monday, the bus ferrying him and his US teammates from Heathrow Airport to the Ath... |
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| We have to keep sentiments aside for Pakistan series: Dhoni |
NEW DELHI, July 17: Keeping sentiments aside, Team India will prepare itself for the three-match ODI series with Pakistan that is scheduled to be held in December later this year, said Indian skipper MS Dhoni after the end of the two-day camp in Chennai ahead of the Sri Lanka tour.
"Now that the series has been announced, we will be ready for it," he said. "As professional cricketers th... |
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| Red-hot Serena shifts focus to Olympics |
CARLSBAD, July 17: While Stanford champ Serena Williams shifts her focus to the London Olympics, runner-up Coco Vandeweghe is poised to continue her breakthrough season at this week’s WTA Carlsbad event.
Williams, who earlier this month won her fifth Wimbledon crown, beat the 20-year-old Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3 for her second straight WTA Tour title at the Stanford tournament.
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| India-Pakistan series bigger than Ashes: Afridi |
KARACHI, July 17: Praising the efforts of the two countries' cricket boards in reviving bilateral series, former Pakistan skipper and all-rounder Shahid Afridi said the popularity of India-Pakistan series is bigger than the Ashes.
Besides Afridi, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said that fans from both sides of the border are always eager to watch cricket matches between the two arch-riv... |
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| Kiprop eyes gold at London Games |
Nairobi, July 17: World 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop will briefly interrupt his training to compete at the Monaco Diamond League Friday to gauge himself before moving on to London for the Olympics. Four years ago, Kiprop settled for silver at the Beijing Olympics, having been edged out by a devastating sprint by Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain. But this time in London he will have a good chance o... |
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| We can't stop Kalmadi from attending London Olympics: IAAF |
NEW DELHI, July 17: Suresh Kalmadi might be facing intense pressure from various quarters to cancel his London Olympics trip, but the International Athletics Federation said that it is not going to stop him from attending the IAAF Council meeting in the British capital.
IAAF Deputy General Secretary Nick Davies said that the world body does not see anything wrong in Kalmadi attending it... |
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| India go down to Egypt in semis |
DOHA, July 17: Title favourites and top seeds Egypt overwhelmed India 3-0, but not before surviving a tough fight in the semi-finals of the World Junior squash team championship here on Tuesday.
Egypt now take on second seeded Pakistan who prevailed over third ranked England 2-0 in the other semi-final.
Bidding for a 10th final in 11 editions of the championship, Egypt wer... |
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| Narine undermines NZ as Windies win series 4-1 |
BASSETERRE, July 17: Mystery off-spinner Sunil Narine’s fifer bowled West Indies to a 20-run victory over New Zealand in the fifth and final One-Day International and with it to wrap up the series 4-1.
The right-armer, adjudged Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series, finished with five for 27 from his ten overs as New Zealand, chasing 242 for victory, were dismissed for 221 off th... |
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| Fedrigo beats Vande Velde to stage 15 win |
PAU, July 17: French rider Pierrick Fedrigo gave the hosts their fourth win of the Tour de France when he beat American Christian Vande Velde to win the 158.5 km 15th stage between Samatan and Pau on Monday.
Race leader Bradley Wiggins of Britain and the main peloton came over the finish line nearly 12 minutes behind a five-man breakaway that had fought hard to form in a frantic opening... |
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| ManU most valuable sports franchise |
NEW YORK, July 17: Manchester United is the most valuable franchise in sports at $2.23 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s annual survey.
The English Premier League team, owned by the same American family that owns the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is ranked on top thanks to lucrative global sponsorship deals.
Second is Real Madrid, at $1.88 billion. The New York Y... |
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| Bruno Senna awarded Lorenzo Bandini Trophy |
GROVE, July 17: Williams’ Formula One driver Bruno Senna collected the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy in the picturesque town of Brisighella, Italy, awarded to him for showing great promise at the beginning of his racing career.
In front of a large crowd of enthusiastic grand prix fans, the presentation ceremony on Monday saw Bruno presented with the trophy given in the memory of Lorenzo ... |
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| 9-year-old Australian offered contract by Barcelona |
MELBOURNE, July 17: Spanish giants Barcelona have recruited an Australian nine-year-old who made an instant impact with the club.
Zak Gilsenan was offered a contract when he was spotted by Barcelona and was asked to trial with the club. He stood out during a holiday coaching camp run by top English Premier League Tottenham Hotspur in Australia earlier this year.
Zak has made an ... |
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| Blatter moves to clarify World Cup 'buying' comments |
ZURICH, July 17: FIFA President Sepp Blatter set out to mend his relationship with Germany on Tuesday by clarifying comments which appeared to suggest the country could have “bought” the right to host the 2006 World Cup.
The 76-year-old Swiss wrote a letter, explaining that what he was trying to say in an interview published on Sunday was that World Cup hosting decisions wer... |
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| Messi, Ronaldo head 32-man field for UEFA award |
NYON, July 17: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are two of the obvious candidates. Leslie Davies, though, may raise a few more eyebrows.
UEFA has announced a 32-player list for its Best Player in Europe award in the 2011-12 season with a surprize name among the superstars.
Davies, a midfielder for Welsh Premier League club Bangor City, was nominated by a panel of journalists d... |
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| Casillas unsure who to back for Ballon d?Or |
MADRID, July 17: Spain and Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas has admitted that he has no idea who he is going to back for this year’s Ballon d’Or. The 31-year-old goalkeeper has been touted as a major contender for the award himself, having led La Roja to glory at Euro 2012, just six weeks after lifting the Liga title with Los Blancos. However, his club-mate Cristiano Ronaldo is also i... |
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| Bin Hammam suspended by AFC |
KUALA LUMPUR, July 17: Former Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam has been suspended by the governing body after an internal audit revealed more wrongdoings from the Qatari official. Bin Hammam is banned from all football-related activity for life for alleged corruption and bribery in the race for the 2010 Fifa presidential elections, in which he was running against Sep... |
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| Internacional wants record fee for Oscar |
PORTO ALEGRE, July 17: Internacional president Giovanni Luigi has admitted that Chelsea target Oscar could be sold in the summer. Luigi revealed on Friday that the Blues had enquired about Oscar’s availability and stated that the two clubs remained far off in terms of a deal for the 20-year-old, with the Premier League club understood to have offered €25 million. The Internacional chief... |
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| West Ham wants 'out of favour' Man U striker Berbatov on loan |
LONDON, July 17: Newly promoted West Ham United would try to sign Manchester United’s stylish striker Dimitar Berbatov, who has publicly expressed desire to leave, on loan after they failed to capture Liverpool striker Andy Carroll. Berbatov has made open his desperation to quit the Reds in search of regular first-team football next season, but United have taken out an option to extend his c... |
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