Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen elected Badminton World Federation president Kuala Lumpur: Badminton's world governing body (BWF) will create a separate commission to deal with match-fixing problems, Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen said after being elected president on Saturday. Denmark's 1996 Olympic men's singles gold medallist Hoyer Larsen beat Indonesian Justian Suhandinata to claim the role after an election at the BWF headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The 47-year-old, the only European to win a badminton gold at the Olympics, will replace South Korea's Kang Young-joong who vacated the post after eight years at the helm.

"Badminton has been in my heart for my whole life and therefore I cherish this opportunity," Hoyer Larsen said. I am really looking forward to work with the staff and my council members in order to deliver for the future... so that we are fulfilling the task that had been set by Dr. Kang."

Hoyer Larsen will have four years to revive the sport, which came under fire at last year's London Olympics when four women's doubles pairs from South Korea, China and Indonesia deliberately played to lose their matches in order to get a more favourable draw....more    
03:59 PM, May 18, 2013

Sharath stretches world No.5 Timo Boll in World TT
by IANS
Paris: Sharath Kamal took a game off World No.5 Timo Boll before going down 1-4 in the men's singles second round at the World Table Tennis Championships here, ending the Indian challenge in the mega event. Germany's Timo Boll got the better of Sharath 9-11, 12-10, 11-1, 11-5, 11-2 in a round of 64 match Thursday night. The two paddlers play for the same club in Germany, Borussia Dusseldorf. Sharath,...  
08:32 PM, May 17, 2013

Underworld involved in spot-fixing in IPL 6: Police New Delhi: Indicating an underworld connection to the spot-fixing scandal in Indian Premier League (IPL), Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said on Thursday details of involvement of bookies and players started coming out while underworld elements were being investigated in March. "We started investigating the bookies in April. Our teams were present at the IPL grounds," he told CNN-IBN. Underscoring the seriousness of the scandal, in which three Rajasthan Royals...  
08:37 PM, May 16, 2013

FIFA says Sao Paulo stadium will be ready on time Sao Paulo's World Cup stadium will be ready on time, FIFA said on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after warning the city it could lose the right to stage matches because of delays in building the new arena. Soccer's governing body said it had reached a settlement with stadium owners Corinthians the day after the two parties were involved in a public disagreement. Corinthians president Andres Sanchez said there had...  
12:29 PM, May 16, 2013

Sharath Kamal advances to round two at World TT New Delhi: Achantha Sharath Kamal advanced to the second round of men's singles while all his Indian team-mates bowed out of individual events at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris on Wednesday. Sharath Kamal registered a 11-7 11-5 8-11 11-8 5-11 11-9 win over Spain's Carlos Machado in his first singles encounter and will now take on world number five Timo Boll of Germany in the second round. Anthony...  
10:22 PM, May 15, 2013

Top seed Ding in Round 2 of World TT
by IANS
Paris: Top seed and defending champion Ding Ning of China breezed past Dederko Zhenhua of Australia 4-0 to reach the second round of the World Table Tennis Championships here Wednesday. Ding, also the London Olympics silver medallist, beat the 220th-ranked Dederko 11-6, 11-2, 11-5, 11-3, reports Xinhua. Third seed Li Xiaoxia, who beat her teammate Ding to win the gold in London, also advanced with a victory over Ruta Paskauskiene...  
08:44 PM, May 15, 2013

World TT: Soumyajit, 3 women paddlers enter main draw New Delhi: India's Mouma Das, K Shamini and Madhurika Patkar have entered the main draw of the women`s singles event while Soumyajit Ghosh too made the cut in the men's competition at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. In the second preliminary round, Das got the better of Rheann Chung of Trinidad and Tobago 4-1 to secure her place in the main draw. K Shamini defeated Sovenia`s Manca Fajmut...  
03:01 PM, May 15, 2013

Men's hockey team camp to commence in Bangalore from May 16 New Delhi: The national men hockey team's core probables will start their training camp at the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre (NSSC), Bangalore on Thursday to prepare for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-final) to be held at Rotterdam, Netherlands from June 13 to 23. The camp will be on till June 4. Indian men's team performed well at the recently-concluded preparatory tour to The Netherlands, where it had defeated...  
04:59 PM, May 14, 2013

Indian paddlers off to good start at World Table Tennis Championships New Delhi: Indian paddlers got off to a good start with Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai and Sanil Shetty winning their respective first rounds matches of the men's preliminary qualification event at the World Table Tennis Championships in Paris. Indian women paddlers too had an easy qualification group and they progressed to the preliminary round of the singles event. Mouma Das, K Shamini, Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggrawal won their respective...  
04:16 PM, May 14, 2013

Sanjay Dutt urges court to allow him to surrender before jail Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in 1993 bomb blasts case, on Tuesday urged a designated TADA court in Mumbai to allow him to surrender before Yerwada jail in Pune instead of giving himself up before the special court. Judge GA Sanap, hearing the actor's application, asked CBI to file a reply and posted the hearing on Dutt's plea on Wednesday. Public prosecutor Deepak Salvi appeared for the Government and...  
03:29 PM, May 14, 2013

Japanese agency offers funds for Lucknow Metro project
by IANS
Lucknow: The Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) has offered the Uttar Pradesh government financial assistance for the Metro rail project and a host of other projects, including the Agra-Lucknow expressway, officials said Tuesday. JICA sought details of the projects at a meeting with Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani Monday. The World Bank has already expressed its willingness to give funding for the Lucknow Metro rail and Agra-Lucknow expressway projects. Both these...  
11:21 AM, May 14, 2013

Anand to face Nakamura in round four of Norway Chess tournament Bryne, Norway: Fresh from a brilliant victory against Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, world champion Vishwanathan Anand will next take on Hikaru Nakamura of United States in the fourth round of Norway chess 2013 Super Tournament. The three rounds for Anand have been contrasting so far. It was a sedate start with an easy draw as white against Levon Aronian of Armenia and then kind of a moral victory when Anand gave...  
12:18 PM, May 12, 2013

Indian paddlers gear up for World TT Championship New Delhi: On a high after the best-ever medal haul at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships, nine Indian paddlers - five men and four women, will be leaving on Saturday for the World Championships in Paris starting on Monday. Men's team will be led by Achantha Sharath Kamal while Mouma Das, who grabbed a silver and three bronze medals in the just concluded championships, will spearhead the women's challenge. Reigning...  
02:14 PM, May 11, 2013

Melbourne to host 2013 Golf World Cup Australia's Royal Melbourne Golf Club will host this year's edition of the World Cup of Golf, which has been played in China since 2007, the tournament's promoters said on Saturday. Mission Hills Group, which has hosted the tournament five times in China, said the 57th edition would be held in Melbourne in November to ensure it maintained its global status. "Mission Hills recognises the need to maintain the tournament's prestigious...  
01:58 PM, May 11, 2013

Lionel Messi biopic being developed ahead of World Cup London: Lionel Messi's life story is set to hit the movie screens in time for the 2014 World Cup. Epic Pictures Group says it is financing and developing a Rocky-style film after buying the rights to dramatize a biography about the Barcelona soccer star. The Beverly Hills-based company says the biopic will chart Messi's rise from a modest background in Argentina and how he "overcame his physical shortcomings to become...  
06:48 PM, May 10, 2013

Holland tour helped us identify weaknesses: Sardar Singh New Delhi: Indian hockey captain Sardar Singh says the recent tour of the Netherlands has helped the team identify its weaknesses ahead of the World League Round III to be held next month. "It was a good tour and Roelant Oltmans, Indian Hockeys director high performance, made it sure that we got to play against best clubs. We have learnt a lot on this tour . In fact we have...  
05:30 PM, May 10, 2013

NZ tour on, India face non-stop nine months of cricket New Delhi: The Indian cricket team will have its hands full with non-stop cricket for nearly nine months, starting this December, which hardly leaves them with any time away from the game. After months of uncertainty, the tour to New Zealand next year is back on track, leaving virtually no rest period for MS Dhoni's men. CNN-IBN has learnt that after prolonged negotiations between the respective cricket boards ended months...  
05:15 PM, May 10, 2013

Lin Dan gets World Championships wildcard
by IANS
Kuala Lumpur: Four-time champion Lin Dan of China will defend his World Championship title in August, courtesy a wildcard given by the the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Thursday. The BWF's Committee of Management (COM) for the World Championships voted unanimously to award the legendary men's singles player a wildcard for the Aug 5-11 event to be held in Guangzhou, his homeland. Exercising its prerogative to nominate a wildcard entry in...  
04:25 PM, May 09, 2013

Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu retain rankings
by IANS
New Delhi: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu retained their women's singles rankings in the list released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday. Saina is currently at No. 2 while Sindhu, with her win in Malaysia last week, stayed put at 13th. Parupalli Kashyap is the highest ranked Indian male shuttler at World No. 11 while RMV Gurusaidutt pipped Ajay Jayaram to be the second best Indian...  
04:17 PM, May 09, 2013

Suarez escapes punishment for alleged punch Uruguay forward Luis Suarez has escaped a sanction for allegedly punching an opponent during the World Cup qualifier against Chile, the country's football federation (AUF) said in a statement. Soccer's governing body FIFA opened an investigation after Argentine referee Nestor Pitana missed the incident which happened as Suarez tussled with Gonzalo Jara as they lined up for a corner during Chile's 2-0 win in Santiago. "The matter in question does...  
03:40 PM, May 09, 2013