“It’s been 16 years since I have made my international debut for India and I think it is the right time to move on. I would like to give youngsters an opportunity to prove themselves.”

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Veteran Indian batsman VVS Laxman announced on Saturday that he would be retiring from international cricket with immediate effect.

“It’s be...

February-March, 1994

An early taste for Australia

In his first outing with the India Under-19s, he averages 110.25 in three Tests against the visiting Australian U-19 team, which includes Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds

November 22, 1996

A promising beginning

On his Test debut, against South Africa in Ahmedabad, he makes a composed 51 in the...

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Olympic heroes, shooter Vijay Kumar and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt were on Saturday jointly recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country’s highest sporting honour.

The names of pistol shooter Vijay Kumar, who won a silver in the 25m rapid fire event at the London Olympics and Yogeshwar, who bagged a bronze in 60kg freestyle event, were...

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Senior most batsman Sachin Tendulkar feels that VVS Laxman’s void in the Indian team will be difficult to fulfil and he will miss the Hyderabadi stylist who announced his retirement with immediate effect.

“When I walk out to play in Hyderabad, I will feel a deep void. A void that can never be fulfilled. My dear friend, VVS Laxman...” Tendulkar tweete...

Kolkata, Aug 18: V.V.S. Laxman’s decision to quit international cricket has created an emptiness at the Eden Gardens - an iconic venue with which the stylish Hyderabadi’s love affair continued for over a decade.

In ten Tests, Laxman amassed 1,217 runs at the ground, including five hundreds and three fifties, and was always a darling of the cricket aficionados here who could ...

CINCINNATI, Aug 18: Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, who were on Saturday omitted from India’s Davis Cup team, have reached the semifinals of the ATP Cincinnati Masters with a hard-earned win over third seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

The sixth seed Indian pair recorded a 6-4, 3-6, 10-8 win over the Polish pair in the quarter-finals of the $ 2,825,280 hard court ...

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna on Saturday paid the price for their rebellious act ahead of the London Olympics as the AITA on Saturday dropped the duo from the Davis Cup team and instead chose youngsters for the next month’s tie against New Zealand.

Leander Paes and singles exponent Somdev Devvarman were not considered after they made themselves unavailable ...

LONDON, Aug 18: Alviro Petersen and Graeme Smith denied England an early breakthrough as they took South Africa to 33 without loss in their second innings at tea on the third day of the third Test at Lord’s on Saturday.

Petersen was 20 not out and Proteas captain Smith 13 not out, with the tourists now 27 runs in front.

South Africa, 1-0 up in the three-match series, only ...

Chennai, Aug 18: Hosts India 'A' came up with an inspired show to defeat Kazakhastan 3-1 in the eighth round of the Tata 14th IBCA Chess Olympiad for the Blind here on Saturday.

On the top table, Russia drew Ukraine 2-2 and now lead the table with 13 match points. Ukraine, Germany and Spain shared the second spot with 12 match points. A further point behind were India 'A' at 11 match po...

STOCKHOLM, Aug 18: Newly-crowned Olympic sprint king Usain Bolt was deliberately not invited to the Stockholm Diamond League meeting because the Jamaican commands too great an appearance fee, according to organizers.

Meet organiser Jan Kowalski told the Expressen tabloid: "We'd get to saturation point if he were to run every year.

"We had talks with him but we thought 'is it wor...

Djokovic, Del Potro set up Olympic rematch

CINCINNATI, Aug 18: World No 1 Roger Federer moved closer to a fifth ATP and WTA Cincinnati Masters crown on Friday as the Swiss star crushed American Mardy Fish 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to reach the semifinals.

Federer, seeking his sixth title of the year, was in regal form as he beat Fish for the eighth time in nine meetings. The America...

STOCKHOLM, Aug 18: Olympic 3,000m steeplechase champion Yuliya Zaripova clocked a season’s best time of 9min 05.02sec to win the event at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting on Friday.

The Russian finished ahead of Tunisia’s Habiba Ghribi, the silver medalist at the London Games, who timed 9:10.36, with Etenesh Diro Neda of Ethiopia running a personal best of 9:14.07 to tak...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 18: Brazil football star Kaka is reportedly being sought by Los Angeles Galaxy as a possible replacement for Englishman David Beckham.

Brazil’s Estado de Sao Paulo reported the American club had identified the Real Madrid midfielder as the ideal candidate to take over from Beckham as the club’s marquee player.

Beckham, 37, is understood to be unde...

KINGSTON, Aug 18: The Jamaica Anti Doping Commission (JADCO) has rejected claims by the former chief of the world anti doping agency (WADA), Dick Pound who suggested that the country’s athletes are not being properly tested for drugs.

JADCO has strongly defended Jamaica’s anti-doping programme after Pound said on an international television station that Jamaican athletes bel...

MANACOR, Aug 18: Rafael Nadal said he must fully recover from a nagging knee problem known as Hoffa’s syndrome before returning to competition and was a doubt for next month’s Davis Cup semifinal against the United States.

Spain’s world number three has not played since suffering a shock second-round Wimbledon defeat by lowly ranked Czech Lukas Rosol in June. He missed...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 18: Former Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho said he will put his friendship with Clarence Seedorf aside when the former AC Milan teammates meet in Brazil’s Serie A football championship on Sunday.

Ronaldinho’s Atletico Mineiro will be hoping to extend its lead at the top of the standings while Botafogo, the club Seedorf joined last month after ending his 10-ye...

MOSCOW, Aug 18: Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva intends to take part in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and is confident of winning the gold, her coach said on Friday.

“I think she felt frustrated from the competition in London, that’s why she took such a decision,” Isinbayeva’s coach Evgeny Trofimov said.

The 30-year-old world record holder won t...

MOSCOW, Aug 18: Russian grandmaster-turned-opposition activist Garry Kasparov, who supported the jailed Pussy Riot members, can be jailed over a clash with police where he allegedly bit a policeman.

Police said the 49-year-old Kasparov bit on the finger one of several officers dragging him away from a Moscow court where three Pussy Riot members were convicted on Friday over an anti-Krem...

MUMBAI, Aug 18: Indians are slowly but surely making their presence felt in the world’s most popular football league - English Premier League (EPL). After the acquisition of Blackburn Rovers by poultry giants Venky’s last year, the latest Indian to enter the EPL is Manu Sawhney, who is set to join Manchester United as director next month.

He is one of the three non-executive...

NEW YORK, Aug 18: USA Cycling sided against the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in its fight against seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong in a letter written to a US federal judge about their dispute.

The US sport governing body said it must back the International Cycling Union (UCI) claim that it has jurisdiction in the case and not USADA, which claims jurisdiction based on...

SEOUL, Aug 18: Reacting strongly to the match-throwing scandal that rocked the London Olympics, the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) dismissed head coach Sung Han Kook and women’s doubles coach Kim Moon Soo besides suspending four doubles players - Kim Min Jung, Ha Jung Eun, Kim Ha Na, and Jung Kyung Eun - for two years.

The players and the coaches have time until August 21 to ap...