| T20 World Cup: Big guns set to boom in semifinal race |
COLOMBO, Sept 26: The World Twenty20 shifts to a higher gear in Sri Lanka on Thursday when the hot favourites begin an intriguing race for the semifinals in the Super Eights round.
The preliminary league, which ended on Tuesday, separated the men from the boys as lesser teams like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland exited the competition.
All eight seeded teams will c... |
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| Sharapova reaches quarterfinals of Pan Pacific |
TOKYO, Sept 26: Two-time champion Maria Sharapova overpowered Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 (5) to advance to the Pan Pacific Open quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Sharapova was coming off a tough, three-hour win over British qualifier Heather Watson on Tuesday, while Safarova advanced to the third round on a walkover.
Sharapova coasted through the... |
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| Dipika clears first hurdle at top WSA meet in New York |
Brooklyn, Sept 26: India’s top-ranked squash player Dipika Pallikal beat Maria Toor Pakay of Pakistan and cleared the first hurdle in qualifying for the main draw at the WSA Carol Weymuller Open Gold 50 event here.
World No.15 Dipika on Tuesday defeated her 52nd-ranked opponent in straight sets 11-8, 11-5, 11-3. She takes on local hope Latasha Khan Wednesday for a place in the mai... |
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| Juventus held by Fiorentina in Serie A |
Rome, Sept 26: Juventus stretched their unbeaten record in the Italian Serie A football to 44 games with a goalless draw against hosts Fiorentina.
The Viola, as Firoentina are known, gave the Old Lady, as Juventus are commonly callesd, a stern test as they had several penalty appeals turned down in the first half and Stevan Jovetic rattled the crossbar with a header, said a report. Fior... |
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| Women's World T20: South Africa thrash Sri Lanka in opener |
Galle, Sept 26: South Africa hardly broke sweat as they cruised past Sri Lanka in the ICC Women's World Twenty20 opener here on Wednesday. Setting a target of 80 runs, South Africa achieved victory in 17.2 overs with six wickets to spare. Wicketkeeper-batter Trisha Chetty (33) and Shandre Fritz (14) blazed away at the top, taking full advantage of the powerplay overs, even as Sri Lanka introduc... |
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| Windies bank on X-factor Sunil Narine |
COLOMBO,Sep 26: While Windies skipper Darren Sammy is happy that his team is through to the Super Eights, what makes him happier is the fact that West Indies are playing England next.
England struggled against India while playing spin, giving every opponent an opportunity to exploit this weakness. Sammy says he is now thinking: “If Harbhajan (who took four for 12 in that game at t... |
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| Clash against India a mini grand final: Hussey |
Colombo, Sept 26: Australia’s veteran batsman Mike Hussey feels that Friday’s Super Eights clash with India would be a mini-grand final in the World Twenty20.
Australia, who are yet to lift a World Twenty20 title, face a tall order in the Super Eights stage. First they take on India and then South Africa and Pakistan.
“The pressure and tension are only go... |
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| World Twenty 20: Women cricketers not at par with male counterparts |
Sydney, Sept 26: Australian women cricketers are not being paid at par with their men counterparts in the ongoing World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka.
While each male cricketer gets a daily allowance of US$100, female cricketers are getting a paltry $60. It doesn't stop here. In fact the men's champion team will get a prize money of $1 million while the women's team will get just $60,000,... |
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| Sanam Singh loses to Davydenko at Malaysian Open |
Kuala Lumpur, Sept 26: Former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko overpowered Sanam Singh of India to reach the second round of the Malaysian Open tennis tournament here on Wednesday. The 31-year-old Russian beat Singh 7-5, 6-4 to set up a second-round clash with Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin, who upset sixth seed Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 6-2 earlier in the day. In another second-round encounte... |
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| Santos signs teen for 50 million euros release fee |
Rio de Janeiro, Sept 26: Brazilian top-flight football club Santos has signed 16-year-old sensation Gabriel Barbosa to a three-year contract with a 50-million-euro release fee. The club announced onTuesday that it had beaten off interest from rival clubs in Brazil and Europe by signing the young star, known as Gabigol, said a report. “We are very happy because our family are Santos supporter... |
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| Teenager Dananjaya could stand in for injured Mendis |
Sri Lanka, Sept 26: Sri Lanka could turn to uncapped teenager Akila Dananjaya if spinner Ajantha Mendis fails to recover from injury in time for the World Twenty20 Super Eight game against New Zealand at Pallekele on Thursday. “He’s certainly very close to playing,” Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford said on Wednesday. Ford said the 18-year-old Dananjaya, who bowls four varieties of ... |
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| John Terry return inspires Wolves demolition |
LONDON, Sept 26: John Terry showed no signs of being affected by his battle to clear his name over allegations he racially abused Anton Ferdinand as the Chelsea captain led his side to a 6-0 demolition of Wolves in the League Cup third round on Tuesday.
Terry was playing for the first time since the Football Association opened their disciplinary hearing into charges the defender aimed r... |
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| Taufel appointed as ICC's umpiring manager |
Colombo, Sept 26: Australian Simon Taufel will step down from the elite panel after the World Twenty20 to take over the new role of umpire performance and training manager, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday.
ICC’s chief executive officer Dave Richardson said Taufel will now be involved in grooming the next generation of elite umpires. Taufel will be re... |
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| Man City and Everton suffer League Cup exits |
LONDON, Sept 26: Premier League champions Manchester City and in-form Everton were both sent packing from the League Cup on Tuesday, their respective managers paying the price for making wholesale changes to their starting line-ups for the third round ties.
City lost 4-2 after extra-time to top flight rivals Aston Villa with a completely different team to the one that started against Ar... |
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| No extra day for World Twenty20 semis and final |
Colombo, Sept 26: With rain playing spoilsport at most of the matches, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has not set aside reserve days for the semifinal and final matches of the World Twenty20.
Sources quoted an ICC media official saying that extra days have not been scheduled for the semifinals or the final in the event the games are washed out.
But the official ex... |
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| Tiger Woods accepts responsibility for US Ryder Cup woes |
MEDINAH, Sept 26: Tiger Woods may be the greatest golfer of his generation but at the Ryder Cup he has been Joe Average and on Tuesday accepted responsibility for the dismal US showing for the past 15 years.
During a period where Woods reigned supreme over the golf world winning 74 PGA Tour titles, including 14 majors, he has been unable to extend his dominance to the biennial competiti... |
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| SFL ropes in Mary Kom as brand ambassador |
MUMBAI, Sept 27: After its overwhelming success in three cities and a massive following on the internet since last year, the organisers of the Super Fight League (SFL) announced ‘Friday Fight Nights’ as the league’s next big move on Monday.
In a bid to popularise Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) among Indian masses, chairman of SFL, Raj Kundra, explained his plans to make the... |
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| MSP, Kerala storms in U-17 Subroto Cup final |
New Delhi, Sept 26: Egged on by a sizeable crowd at the Ambedkar stadium, MSP Higher Secondary School, Kerala recovered from an early deficit to beat Little Angel Paradise English School, Manipur on penalties 4-2 to become the first team from the State to qualify for the U-17 Subroto Cup final.
The Kerala boys, playing in their maiden semifinal, took time to find their feet and fell bac... |
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| India face China in U-16 Asian Championship |
Tehran, Sept 26: India take on China in their last Group D match Thursday and, as things stand at the moment, a win will take India to four points and a possible spot in the last eight of the U-16 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Championship. India have one point from two matches and unless Syria (two points) beat Uzbekistan (four points), the Indians will progress into the quarters. China s... |
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| Rushmi packs off Kyra at ITF meet |
Gulbarga, Sept 26: Former national champion Rushmi Chakravarthi turned the clock back to beat a 10-year younger but higher ranked third seed Kyra Shroff 6-3, 6-0 and enter the quarterfinals of the $10,000 ITF Gulbarga Open women's Futures tennis championship here on Wednesday.
There was nothing wrong that the 1157th ranked Rushmi could do and nothing right the 531st ranked Kyra could. R... |
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| Footballs made in India recalled in Australia |
Sydney, Sep 26: Around half a million children’s footballs will be recalled in Australia after two balls, believed to have been stitched by child labour in India, were found with needles in them.
The Australian Associated Press (AAP) said the footballs were used as part of a nationwide programme for children. Around 450,000 balls will be recalled.
The recall of the balls, ... |
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| Haryana through to quarters in National Hockey Championship |
Bangalore, Sept 26: Defending champions Haryana drew 2-2 with Maharashtra to confirm their entry into the quarter-finals of the senior Men’s National Hockey championship here on Wednesday.
Haryana, who won their previous three league matches, thus topped Pool A with an unbeaten record. India stars Bharat Chikkara and Sardar Singh scored for Haryana while Maharashtra replied throug... |
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