New Delhi: Achanta Sharath Kamal failed to seal the fifth Olympic qualifying spot at the Asian Qualification Table Tennis tournament in Hong Kong on Saturday but he still has a chance for a London Games berth. Sharath Kamal lost 2-4 (12-10, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11) to Kim Song Nam of North Korea at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. By losing the match to the North Korean, whom he had beaten...
11:37 PM, Apr 21, 2012
Pakuranga: India came back from two goals down to hold New Zealand 3-3 in their last preliminary match of the second leg of Women's Four-Nation Tournament at Lloyd Elsmore Hockey Stadium here on Saturday. The goal scorers for India were strikers Rani, Vandana Katariya and Chanchan Devi Thokchom, while Katie Glynn, Cathryn Finlayson and Krystal Forgesson were on target for New Zealand, who led 2-1 at half time. The Kiwis...
09:44 PM, Apr 21, 2012
New Delhi: The Indian women's hockey team lost 1-2 to USA via a golden goal in the bronze medal play-off match to return empty-handed from the first leg of the four-nation tournament on Monday. Locked 1-1 at the end of the regulation time, India conceded a penalty stroke three minutes into extra time, which USA captain Lauren Crandall converted easily to pocket the bronze medal at the Harbour Hockey Stadium...
05:41 PM, Apr 16, 2012
For 28 years, only one generation of Indian cricket fans had known a certain joy. It was the jubilation of a surprise triumph, beating a ...
09:38 AM, Apr 02, 2012
New Delhi: Amit Kumar (55kg) and Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg) became the first set of Indian wrestlers to book their London Olympics berths by clinching a gold and silver medal respectively at the Asian Qualifying Tournament on Friday, even as the fancied Sushil Kumar (66kg) failed to make the cut in Astana, Kazakhstan. The finalists in each weight category in the ongoing event won tickets to the 2012 London Games and...
07:08 PM, Mar 30, 2012
New Delhi: Ritu Rani will lead the 18-member Indian women's hockey team in the double leg four-nation tournament in Auckland, New Zealand from April 12-22. Selection trials for the team were conducted at the Sports Authority of India centre, at Bhopal on Friday and Saturday, in the presence of Hockey India selectors Balbir Singh, BP Govinda and Syed Ali besides government observer Harbinder Singh. Midfielder Rani with 125 international caps...
12:42 AM, Mar 27, 2012
New Delhi: Gurbaj Singh, with 140 international caps to his name, has been named as the captain of the Indian hockey squad for the tri-nation tournament to be held in Lahore from April 9-13. Upcoming midfielder, Manpreet Singh has been named as Gurbaj's deputy. Apart from hosts Pakistan, India and Malaysia will be the other teams to participate in the competition. Selection trials for the team were conducted at SAI...
05:41 PM, Mar 19, 2012
Rotterdam: Top seed Roger Federer battled past Russian Nikolay Davydenko in an entertaining 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph on Saturday to reach the World Indoor Tournament final. The Swiss former world number one now faces third seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina who brushed aside second-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-1 in Saturday's first semi-final. Federer, who has admitted struggling with the surface and his rhythm, recovered after losing the...
09:14 AM, Feb 19, 2012
Rotterdam: Roger Federer extended his perfect record against Jarkko Nieminen to 13-0 as he reached the semi-finals of the ABN Amro World Tennis on Friday. The top-seeded Federer did not face a single break point as he won 7-5, 7-6 (2) for a 13th straight win over Nieminen of Finland in matches stretching back to 2002. The No. 3-ranked Swiss will face Nikolay Davydenko, who dispatched fifth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet...
05:08 PM, Feb 18, 2012
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The G V Raja football tournament which was revived in January 2010 after a gap of 25 years is again falling back to slumber. The District Football Association, on whose shoulder lies the responsibility of organising the tournament initiated in the name of the Colonel Goda Varma Raja of the Travancore royal family, is apparently least bothered about conducting the event. The tournament, which was first expected to roll...
08:39 AM, Feb 18, 2012
Rotterdam: Second-seeded Tomas Berdych advanced to the quarter-finals of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament on Thursday when Marcos Baghdatis retired with a leg injury in the fourth game. Also, third-seeded Juan Martin del Potro fired nine aces to advance with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Karol Beck of Slovakia. Baghdatis was injured in the opening games as Berdych raced to a 3-0 lead. A trainer strapped Baghdatis' calf and...
12:59 PM, Feb 17, 2012
Rotterdam: Top-seeded Roger Federer easily beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4 in the first round on Wednesday to sail straight into the quarter-finals of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament. Federer's second-round opponent Mikhail Youzhny withdrew with a foot injury, giving the Swiss star a place in the last-eight. The 16-time Grand Slam winner next meets Jarkko Nieminen, who overcame Lukasz Kubot 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (2). Federer is making his first...
01:08 PM, Feb 16, 2012
Rotterdam, Netherlands: Paul-Henri Mathieu fought back from a set down on Monday to upset fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the opening round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament. Sixth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine also went out in the first round, losing 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-2 to Lukasz Kubot of Poland. Mathieu, ranked 733 in the world after missing the entire 2011 season with a knee injury,...
04:36 PM, Feb 14, 2012
Rotterdam, Netherlands: Roger Federer says he was misunderstood and he did not blame Switzerland teammate Stanislas Wawrinka for their Davis Cup loss to the United States. In comments translated from French, Federer appeared to criticize Wawrinka's performances in the 5-0 first-round whitewash at the weekend. But speaking at a pre-tournament news conference on Monday at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Federer said there was no rift with...
04:34 PM, Feb 14, 2012
New Delhi: Brushing aside the controversy surrounding the exclusion of former India captains Rajpal Singh and Arjun Halappa from the team picked to play the Olympic qualifiers, the coach of the Indian mens hockey team - Michael Nobbs - says the team has been selected from the best available resources. Hockey India (HI) on Monday announced the squad of final 18, which didn't include the names of Rajpal and Halappa....
06:13 PM, Jan 31, 2012
Lausanne: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced that Singapore will take the place of the United States at the hockey Olympic qualification tournament, to be held in New Delhi from February 18-26. Singapore, currently ranked 41 in the world, were contacted to join the six-team men's qualification group after the United States unexpectedly pulled out of the event. The US took the decision decision to withdraw primarily due to...
09:49 PM, Jan 27, 2012
New Delhi: India's young woman squash sensation Dipika Pallikal's hopes of winning a sixth WISPA title went up in smoke when she lost her title clash against Natalie Grinham of the Netherlands in the Tournament of Champions in New York on Thursday night. Pallikal, playing her ninth match in 10 days, looked too tired and foot-weary as she lost 4-11 3-11 3-11 in 25 minutes while playing the biggest match...
06:02 PM, Jan 27, 2012
New Delhi: Dipika Pallikal became the first Indian ever to reach the summit clash of a Silver event when she clinched a three-set thriller against New Zealand's Jaclyn Hawkes to march into the final of the Tournament of Champions squash meet in New York on Thursday. Seventh seed Pallikal, India's top-ranked female player, overcame a spirited challenge from fifth seed Hawkes to prevail 11-5 14-12 11-9 in the first semi-final...
08:43 PM, Jan 26, 2012
Wijk Aan Zee (Netherlands): Asian champion P Harikrishna put up another sterling show to beat Illya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine and stretch his lead to a full point after the end of the ninth round of the 'B' group of Tata Steel Chess Tournament here. Taking his tally to an impressive seven points out of a possible nine, Harikrishna made his tactics work again and Nyzhnyk had no clue what hit...
01:33 PM, Jan 25, 2012
Melbourne: A day after a rare crack opened up, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal quickly restored diplomatic relations. Nadal had criticized Federer for his unwillingness to speak out on issues affecting the men's game, allowing others to "burn themselves" as they seek improved conditions for players. After joining Nadal in the second round of the Australian Open with a win on Monday, Federer said "things are fine" between the two...
06:54 AM, Jan 17, 2012
