Rafael Nadal says the decision to destroy the evidence in the Operation Puerto doping case is "a mistake." "My opinion is that the ruling wasn't positive for anyone," the tennis great said on Friday. "The only ones that benefited were the ones who cheated. The ones that are hurt are Spanish athletes and sports in general."
In the verdict on Tuesday, the doctor at the heart of the doping ring, Eufemiano Fuentes, was found guilty and given a one-year suspended sentence for endangering the health of cyclists through blood doping.
Judge Julia Santamaria then cited privacy laws when ordering that the more than 100 blood bags seized by police seven years ago be destroyed. That meant anti-doping authorities cannot examine the evidence to try and identify more athletes who Fuentes helped to dope.
The judge's decision has been widely criticized by anti-doping organizations, who are looking at appealing. "The image this transmits to the world isn't the one we were hoping for," Nadal said. "I think it is a mistake that the names (of Fuentes' clients) are not known, but that is what happened. We will keep working so that sports stays clean and this doesn't happen again in the future."...
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08:14 AM, May 04, 2013
Mumbai: At a time when the independence of the CBI is being questioned, the police forces in most states continue to function under political influence. Former top police officers have taken on the Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil for direct interference in police transfers and postings in the state. More than three years after the then Home Minister P Chidambaram lamented the interference of the political executive in police transfers...
07:47 AM, May 04, 2013
New Delhi: World number one Lee Chong Wei faced a stiff challenge but in the end stamped his class to prevail over Kenichi Tago of Japan and claim the men's singles title at India Open Super Series badminton tournament on Sunday. Chong Wei took an hour and three minutes to overcome his world number nine Japanese opponent 21-15 18-21 21-17 in the summit clash at the Siri Fort Sports Complex....
08:16 PM, Apr 28, 2013
New Delhi: Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand bagged the women's singles title at the India Open Super Series badminton tournament after beating Juliane Schenk of Germany in straight games on Sunday. It was an upset victory as world number six Intanon got the better of world number four Juliane Schenk of Germany 22-20 21-14 in 45 minutes. In the opening game, the third seeded Thai initially committed a number of unforced...
06:52 PM, Apr 28, 2013
London: WikiLeaks has said it has secured a victory in Iceland's Supreme Court against the financial blockade imposed by Visa and MasterCard on donations for the secret-spilling site. Visa and MasterCard were among half a dozen major US financial firms to pull the plug on WikiLeaks following its decision to begin publishing about 250,000 US State Department cables in late 2010. WikiLeaks has claimed that the financial blockade led to...
06:54 AM, Apr 25, 2013
Monaco: Ninth-seeded Marin Cilic overcame a shaky serving performance to beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2 in the first round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday. Cilic looked set for an easier win after converting all three of his break points in the first set, before both players dropped serve three times in the second set. Cilic stepped it up in the third, hitting three aces...
08:52 AM, Apr 16, 2013
Washington: Unlike in the past, the latest tranche of secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks have not been leaked, but have been "legitimately obtained from a US government web site" and released in a user-friendly searchable format. These diplomatic cables about 1.7 million from the period of 1973-76 - now being dubbed as "The Kissinger cable" - were declassified by the US State Department in 2006 and since then...
12:15 PM, Apr 09, 2013
New Delhi: WikiLeaks returned to haunt the Congress party on Monday which trashed reports claiming that Rajiv Gandhi was a middleman for a Swedish aircraft company before entering politics but the Opposition demanded that the "truth" be made public. The Congress made it clear that the reports had no basis whatsoever, with party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi referring to the last line of the leaked WikiLeaks cable to emphasise that...
08:54 PM, Apr 08, 2013
New Delhi: CBI is likely to start questioning suspects this week in connection with its ongoing probe into alleged kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP helicopter deal. CBI sources said the agency is likely to call former Air Chief SP Tyagi and his cousins for questioning. They said that they are planning to question all the accused who are present in India, but did not elaborate on which suspects...
07:07 PM, Apr 07, 2013
Adelaide: A senior Swedish judge has described the sex crime allegations in his country against fugitive WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as "a mess." In a speech at Australia's University of Adelaide on Wednesday, Justice Stefan Lindskog, chairman of the Supreme Court of Sweden, listed legal obstacles to extraditing the 41-year-old Australian to the United States to face prosecution for exposing thousands of classified documents. Assange has taken asylum in the...
11:28 PM, Apr 03, 2013
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been confined to the Ecuadorean embassy in London since last June, is unlikely to be able to leave Britain before 2015. ...
07:51 PM, Mar 30, 2013
In its 148-year history, Julia Pierson became the first woman to be appointed as the director of the US Secret Service. ...
10:52 AM, Mar 29, 2013
Directed by Alex Gibney, the film features Julian Assange and Adrian Lamo as the principal characters. ...
12:20 PM, Mar 28, 2013
US President Barack Obama has appointed veteran agent Julia Pierson as the new Director of the Secret Service, making her the first female to head the elite commando unit responsible for the security of the first family. "Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first families, including my own,"...
09:35 PM, Mar 27, 2013
President Barack Obama on Tuesday chose veteran agent Julia Pierson as Secret Service director, the first woman to lead the male-dominated agency, a year after its reputation was tarnished by a scandal involving agents and prostitutes in Colombia. Pierson will replace Mark Sullivan, who retired in February and was in charge during the Colombia scandal - one of the worst in the agency's history. ...
12:32 PM, Mar 27, 2013
The best-of-five series will be played April 5-7 in Buenos Aires. ...
07:38 AM, Mar 27, 2013
Germany midfielder Draxler has been ruled out of Tuesday's WC qualifier against Kazakhstan while Sven Bender has joined the squad. ...
10:35 AM, Mar 24, 2013
Malaga must overturn a 1-0 scoreline from the first leg in Portugal last month if they are to oust the two-times European champions. ...
10:05 AM, Mar 12, 2013
CBI officials believe that Air Chief Marshal (retd) SP Tyagi accepted a bribe from his cousins to help AgustaWestland's entry into the tender process. ...
09:25 PM, Mar 08, 2013
