London: Four-time champion Serena Williams overcame windy conditions and a gritty 65th-ranked opponent on Monday to pull out another three-set victory and reach the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, where she will meet the defending champion Petra Kvitova who ousted Francesca Schiavone on Monday. The sixth-seeded American won the last three games of the final set to beat Kazakhstani wildcard Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, in cool and gusty conditions on Court...
07:42 PM, Jul 02, 2012
Le Touquet, France: India made little work of France here in the second friendly hockey Test, beating the hosts 4-0 to sweep the two-match series. But as the Indian men's hockey team leaves France to cross the border into Spain for a triangular series before the Olympics, coach Michael Nobbs expects his side to not relent and up their scoring rate leading up to the London Games. Nobbs termed the...
07:19 PM, Jul 02, 2012
Paris: France is looking for a new coach after Laurent Blanc turned down a new contract offer, and former World Cup-winning captain Didier Deschamps is touted as the favorite to replace him. Blanc stepped down on Saturday after a European Championship campaign that ended in the quarterfinals and with his players again being questioned about their behavior. Blanc informed the French Football Federation of his decision following lengthy negotiations with...
10:52 AM, Jul 01, 2012
Lille: Indian hockey team's preparations for next month's Olympic Games began on a confident note with a 8-2 route of France in the first of the two friendly matches here on Thursday. India led 3-2 at the half-time after the home side had taken an early lead. SK Uthappa scored the equaliser with a field goal while Sandeep Singh's penalty corner strike gave India a 2-1 lead. Gurvinder Singh Chandi...
10:01 PM, Jun 29, 2012
London: Actor-director Clint Eastwood's daughter Francesca has landed her first major movie role in her boyfriend Tyler Shields' directorial debut. Shields has already signed actress Abigail Breslin for thriller Final Girl, about a group of teenage boys who pick on the wrong girl as their last victim to initiate into their pack, reported Contactmusic. The 18-year-old is now set to embark on a tough training regimen to prepare for the...
06:24 PM, Jun 29, 2012
Lille: India kicked off their pre-Olympic European tour with a thumping 8-2 win over France on Thursday, and though coach Michael Nobbs was upset with the performance of his boys in the first half, overall he was satisfied considering the team was still acclimatising to the conditions. "Well, this was our first game and it was to acclimatise to [the] European conditions. We had two debutants, [Pradhan] Somanna and Nitin...
05:44 PM, Jun 29, 2012
Paris: France pulls the plug on the Minitel this weekend, a home-grown precursor of the Internet which brought online banking, travel reservations and even sex chats to millions a decade before the World Wide Web. In a country where resistance to all things "Anglo-Saxon" runs deep, the Minitel evokes both pride at French technological prowess and regret that the country failed to capitalise on the commercial online network, launched in...
05:06 PM, Jun 29, 2012
Krakow: Top Italian daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has apologised for printing a cartoon portraying black Italy striker Mario Balotelli as King Kong. Media reports said Balotelli's agent Mino Raiola had reacted with fury at the depiction, which comes after the 21-year-old has battled racism in his homeland and abroad for years. The cartoon of the Manchester City forward on top of London's Big Ben swatting away footballs was meant...
06:32 PM, Jun 27, 2012
Paris: France midfielder Samir Nasri on Tuesday issued an apology for insulting a journalist after his team was knocked out of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals by Spain last Saturday. "Too many untruths circulate at the moment. May the fans, and the children in particular, know that I regret sincerely that my words may have shocked," he said on his Twitter feed. Nasri, who was a second-half substitute in France's 2-0...
05:10 PM, Jun 27, 2012
London: French international striker Olivier Giroud has joined Arsenal on a long-term contract, the Premier League club said on Tuesday. The 25-year-old completed a medical at the club on Monday and had agreed terms, with his contract officially starting on July 1, Arsenal added on their website. "The completion of the transfer is now just the subject of formal processes," added the north London club, who finished third in the...
03:31 PM, Jun 26, 2012
Warsaw: France are unlikely to feel psychologically inferior to holders Spain when they meet in their Euro 2012 quarter-final on Saturday, having never lost to the world champions in a competitive game. The French have won five and drawn one of their six competitive meetings with their neighbours, meaning Spain will need a first in Donetsk if they are to stay on track to become the first team to win...
11:26 AM, Jun 23, 2012
Den Bosch, Netherlands: Kim Clijsters withdrew from the Unicef Open before the semi-finals on Friday because of a stomach muscle strain, saying she did not want to jeopardise playing in her last Wimbledon before retirement. Clijsters' physiotherapist, Sam Versleghers, said the 29-year-old Belgian felt the injury on Thursday during her tough two-set quarterfinal against Francesca Schiavone. The announcement came just hours before Clijsters was due to play Urszula Radwanska, who...
10:50 AM, Jun 23, 2012
Luxembourg/Madrid: Independent auditors said Spanish banks may need up to 62 billion euros in extra capital, to be filled mostly by a euro zone bailout, after Spain's medium-term borrowing costs spiralled to a euro-era record on Thursday. Euro zone finance ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss how to channel up to 100 billion euros in aid to Spanish lenders weighed down by bad debts from a burst property bubble. Madrid's...
10:14 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Milan: AC Milan have agreed to sign Chievo defender Francesco Acerbi and Genoa's Guinea midfielder Kevin Constant, the Serie A club said in a statement, but midfielder Clarence Seedorf is leaving after 10 years with the Rossoneri. Milan, who lost their Italian league title to Juventus in May, are swelling their ranks having let several older players leave including Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzaghi, Gianluca Zambrotta and Mark van...
09:07 AM, Jun 22, 2012
Donetsk: Tensions are creeping into the French camp at the European Championship, with the players involved in a "heated" bust-up following the team's 2-0 loss to Sweden. France, who were hit by internal strife at the 2010 World Cup, capitulated against the Swedes on Tuesday and would have lost more heavily if goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had not made several saves. Although the defeat did not prevent France from advancing to...
09:35 AM, Jun 21, 2012
Toulouse (France): A man claiming to be a member of al-Qaeda has taken several hostages in a bank in the southwestern French city of Toulouse, a police union source said on Wednesday. The source said the man had fired a shot and could be holding up to four people. The Interior Ministry was not immediately available to comment. In March, an al-Qaeda-inspired gunman shot dead three soldiers, a rabbi and...
04:25 PM, Jun 20, 2012
Never before has France coach Laurent Blanc been seriously criticised for the on-field performance of his side, so it seems somewhat churlish to hammer the boss after the end of an unbeaten 23-match streak. It is impossible, however, to overlook the coach's decisions during the miserable 2-0 defeat to Sweden. Was Blanc foolishly lured into believing that Tuesday's opponents would be overly relaxed? No " that is not his style....
12:28 PM, Jun 20, 2012
Donetsk: From the moment Poland's Robert Lewandowski scored the opening goal of the tournament with a brilliant header against Greece, Euro 2012 has served up one great moment after another during a thrilling group stage. Superb goals have followed, including Mario Balotelli's volley against Ireland, German Mario Gomez's first strike against the Netherlands and Jakub Blaszczykowski's stunning equaliser for Poland against Russia. The quality remained until the end with Zlatan...
10:12 AM, Jun 20, 2012
Bangalore: The Bangalore Police on Tuesday seized the passport of the French diplomat, who has been accused by his Indian wife of raping their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. The abuse began in 2010, claimed the diplomat's wife, when their daughter was a mere toddler aged one. Pascal Mazurier was arrested on Tuesday morning after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) gave a clearance, saying the diplomat did not enjoy any immunity. The...
12:40 PM, Jun 19, 2012
Bangalore: The French diplomat accused of raping his three-and-a-half-year-old daughter was arrested on Tuesday morning. The arrest came after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that Pascal Mazurier did not enjoy any diplomatic immunity, and that the Bangalore police could arrest him. The accused has now been taken for a medical check up and will be produced in court later in the day. The French Consulate on Monday issued...
08:57 AM, Jun 19, 2012
