Eight-time champion suffer fifth successive defeat

London, Aug 7 : Belgium struck thrice to hand India their fifth consecutive defeat in the preliminary league of the Olympic men’s hockey competition here on Tuesday.

Goals by veteran Jerome Dekeyser (15th), Gautier Boccard (47th) and Tom Boon (67th) set up Belgium’s second win which lifted them to third positi...

Kohli hits 68, Dinda takes 4

Pallekele, Aug 7: After a thumping 4-1 win in the ODI series, India continued their dominance over Sri Lanka as they thrashed the hosts by 39 runs in the one-off T20 match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Chasing a modest 156, Sri Lanka were bundled out for just 116 conceding an easy victory to the visitors.

LEEDS, Aug 7: Kevin Pietersen enjoyed rare success as a bowler and Stuart Broad took five wickets, as England gave South Africa some anxious moments before the second Test ended in a draw at Headingley on Monday.

The result means South Africa go into the third and final Test at Lord’s on August 16 with a 1-0 lead, with England needing to win to prevent South Africa from taking ove...

New Delhi, Aug 7 : Leading mobile handset manufacturer Karbonn Mobiles has signed up as the title sponsor of Champions League Twenty20 starting with the fourth edition of this marquee tournament due to be held in South Africa later this year. Karbonn Mobiles signed the deal today with ESPN STAR Sports, the commercial partners of Champions League Twenty20.  

As part of this deal, Ka...

DUBAI, Aug 7: Veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar and pace spearhead Zaheer Khan are both occupying 12th spot to be the highest-placed Indian cricketers in the latest ICC Test batsmen and bowlers rankings list.

While Tendulkar is the only Indian in the top-20 of the batting list, Zaheer has company in the form of spinner Pragyan Ojha, who held on to his 20th spot, in the bowling chart.

Olympic diary

London, Aug 7: From being non-existent at the first modern Olympics to being nearly half of the total competitors in current edition, women athletes have come a long way and the London Games are surely abuzz with women power.

From the inclusion of women’s boxing and allowing women to be represented in every Olympic sport, to 16-year-old Chinese swimmin...

HYDERABAD, Aug 7: The enormity of her achievement has gradually started sinking in but for Saina Nehwal, who is ‘jumping with joy inside’, it still feels like a dream that she stood on podium, receiving an Olympic medal.

The Indian badminton queen, as she is known now in media, returned home to a rousing reception, following her historic feat in London Olympics, where she wo...

London, Aug 7: The spotlight will be on the diminutive M C Mary Kom as she attempts to create history by becoming the first Indian to reach the final of the boxing event of Olympic Games when she takes on Nicola Adams of Great Britain in what promises to be a high-voltage contest on Wednesday.

The five-time world champion Mary has already assured at least a bronze medal for India, which...

LONDON, Aug 7: India’s star pugilist Vijender Singh crashed out of the middleweight category as he lost by 13-17 to Uzbekistan’s Abbos Atoev in the quarterfinal at the Excel Arena on Monday.

The Beijing Games bronze medallist wasn’t really impressive during his last eight bout against an opponent whom he had beaten 7-0 in the Asian Games final at Guangzhou two years ba...

London, Aug 7: India’s triple jumper Renjith Maheshwary crashed out of the London Olympics, failing to qualify for the finals with a ‘No Mark’ at the Olympic Stadium here on Tuesday.

Renjith, India’s sole male representative in the event, was shown the red flag in all three of his attempts as he each time over-stepped his take-off.

The Indian was the only...

London, Aug 7: The outstanding Kirani James added an Olympics gold to his fast-growing resume by racing to a personal best time to win the men’s 400 metres in dominating fashion at the London Games here on Monday night.

The 19-year-old clocked 43.94 seconds - a new national and Caribbean record - as he brushed aside his field to storm to the finish unchallenged, CMC reports.

Hyderabad, Aug 7: Disheartened by a streak of losses last year, Saina Nehwal wanted to stop playing badminton, revealed Pullela Gopichand, the London Olympics bronze medallist's coach.

"Saina came up to me the day after she lost to Tine (Baun) in Denmark. (She was) crying (and) her eyes (were) swollen, she came to me and said 'Bhaiya it is not happening for me. We need to do something. ...

Bolt gets through prelims in a breeze

LONDON, Aug 7: Usain Bolt opened defense of his Olympic 200-meter title with a comfortable win in the opening round on Tuesday, easing up over the final 80 meters to finish in 20.39 seconds.

The Jamaican, who won the 100 meters on Sunday night in an Olympic-record 9.63 seconds, will race again on Wednesday in the 200 semifinals. The f...

LONDON, Aug 7: American Jennifer Suhr foiled Russian Yelena Isinbayeva’s bid for a historic hat-trick of women’s pole vault titles by claiming a nip-and-tuck Olympic competition in rainy conditions on Monday.

Suhr eventually claimed gold after registering a best of 4.75 metres having come into the competition at 4.55m.

Cuban Yarisley Silva claimed silver with 4.75m, ...

London, Aug 7: Russia’s pole vault queen Yelena Isinbaeva said on Monday the bronze she won at the London Games was a sign she must shelve her plans to retire.

Isinbaeva, a double Olympic champion and 28-time world record setter, came off a subpar season and sixth place at the 2011 world championships to clinch third place in Monday’s Olympic final, which was won by America&...

LONDON, Aug 7: World champions Australia outplayed Pakistan 7-0 today to ease their passage into the semifinals of the Olympic Games men's hockey competition, while The Netherlands also stormed into the last four stage with an all-win record after spiking South Korea 4-2.

The Australian victory dashed Pakistan's hopes of making the semifinal after 12 years, while the second semifinal sp...

London, Aug 7: Britain’s Alistair Brownlee slogged to Olympic gold in the men’s triathlon Tuesday, with his brother Jonny taking the bronze.

Brownlee, the reigning world champion, becomes the first Briton to win the swim, cycle and run event.

He takes Britain’s gold medal haul to 19, equalling the Beijing total with several days of competition remaining.

London, Aug 7: Singapore won the bronze medal in table tennis women’s team event of the London Olympic Games on Tuesday, beating South Korea 3-0. This is the second bronze medal Singapore won in table tennis in London. Feng Tianwei won the bronze medal in women’s singles six days ago.

Feng beat South Korea’s Kim Kyung-Ah (11-8, 11-9, 4-11, 13-11) in the opening match. ...

London, Aug 7 : Dominican athlete Felix Sanchez won his second gold medal on Monday night at the 2012 London Olympic Games in the 400-meter hurdles.

This was the comeback of “Super Felix” who dominated the race with immense authority, and though injuries had weighed him down for several years, he had now returned in great form to win with a season-best time of 47.63 seconds....

London, Aug 7: China’s Feng Zhe won the Olympic gold in the men’s parallel bars here on Tuesday.

Zhe, the 2010 world champion who also took team gold with China, scored 15.966 for an impeccable routine with a high difficulty level of 7.0.

Marcel Nguyen from Germany took silver with 15.800 points for 6.8 difficulty mark. This was his second silver at the Games after t...

London, Aug 7: Dorian van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands won the Olympic windsurfing medal race Tuesday, clinching the regatta gold he had already guaranteed in style.

Van Rijsselberge coasted to first place after winning six of the first nine races, topping the standings in the RS-X sailboard class.

Nick Dempsey of Britain took the silver, with Poland’s Przemyslaw Miarcz...

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 7: Brazilian medal hopeful Marilson Gomes admits he is “fighting to control his anxiety” ahead of Sunday’s Olympic marathon.

Gomes knows he must keep his emotions in check before the 42.195 km event through the streets of London.

“To compete on the last day of the Olympics is special, even more so because this is the event that officia...

London, Aug 7: Sprint legend Usain Bolt has admitted to being under pressure to defend his men’s Olympics 100 metres title in London.

Shortly after storming to victory in a new Olympic record 9.63 seconds at the London Games Sunday, Bolt said he had been worried and had discussed his strategy going forward with coach Glen Mills, CMC reports.

“I was really under a lot...

London, Aug 7: Chinese athletics star Liu Xiang crashed out of the Olympic men’s 110 metres hurdles as he hit the first hurdle of heat 6 at the London Games here Tuesday.

It was the second time Liu failed in the first round at the Olympics. Four years ago in Beijing, he withdrew at the last moment due to a foot injury.

He won the gold in Athens 2004. IANS

London, Aug 7: While Usain Bolt is probably the most popular man in the world this week, Ashley Gill was a fraction away from making himself the most unpopular man on the planet.

And why is that, one may ask, along with: And who is Andy Gill? Gill was the man who threw a bottle on the track just behind the blocks as Bolt and company began their historic 100 metres race on Sunday.