Sports

Zurich, Jan 12: Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi won an unprecedented fifth Ballon d'Or award in Zurich on Monday, with the Argentine reclaiming the prize from three-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Brazil striker Neymar, who plays alongside Messi at Barca, was also in the running to be crowned world player of the year after he was included on the three-man shortlist for the first time. Messi and

Coatzacoalcos, Jan 11: A bus carrying amateur football players and fans plunged into a river after careening off a bridge in eastern Mexico today, leaving at least 16 people dead, authorities said. Another 10 people were injured in the crash in the municipality of Atoyac in the eastern state of Veracruz, officials said. A preliminary investigation found that the bus was speeding, causing the

Jan 10: Zinedine Zidane got off to a flying start as Real Madrid coach when Gareth Bale hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday after a Lionel Messi treble had fired Barcelona to the top of La Liga. Zidane, a former Real and France midfielder who took over from the sacked Rafa Benitez on Monday, was given a hero's welcome by his adoring fans at the Bernabeu and the team

Geneva, Jan 9: Lionel Messi is favored to win the FIFA Ballon d'Or on Monday, ending Cristiano Ronaldo's two-year hold on soccer's top individual prize. Messi already has a 4-3 lead in their career duel for the annual FIFA prize but has recently been eclipsed by his great rival. That changed in 2015 when Messi inspired Barcelona to regain the Champions League title among five major trophies to

Brisbane, Jan 8: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued their stupendous run by clinching their 25th victory together to enter the final of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament here on Friday. The top-seeded Indo-Swiss duo defeated the Slovak-Russian combination of Andreja Klepac and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 7-5 to make the summit clash. Sania and Hingis

Chennai, Jan 8: A gutsy Ramkumar Ramanathan buried a sluggish start to eke out an inspiring win over Alexander Kudryavtsev and enter the men's singles quarterfinals of the Chennai Open here on Thursday. Wild card Ramkumar worked his way to a 3-6 6-4 6-4 win over higher-ranked Russian, who had entered the event as a Lucky Loser. He next plays world no.45 Aljaz Bedene, who defeated Luca Vanni 5-7 6

Kolkata, Jan 6: Former India football captain Baichung Bhutia on Wednesday said the national team can be among the top 10 countries in Asia in near future through developing strong U-15 and U-17 teams. "Through the under-15, under-17, we are going to develop so that within the next 10 to 15 years we can be one of the top 10 teams in Asia. Let's not talk about the World Cup and be unrealistic,"

Brisbane, Jan 5: Defending champion Maria Sharapova and top seed Simona Halep pulled out of the Brisbane International on Tuesday citing injuries, depriving the contest of two of its main drawcards. Sharapova withdrew from the season-opening event with a left forearm injury, saying it was a precautionary move ahead of the Australian Open later this month. "I hurt my forearm in practice a couple of

Lucknow, Jan 5: World No 2 Saina Nehwal notched up a comfortable straight-game victory in their Trump match over P C Thulashi in women's singles to guide Awadhe Warriors to a convincing victory over Delhi Aces in their Premier Badminton League (PBL) match in Lucknow on Monday. Olympic bronze medallist Saina, B Sai Praneeth and doubles pair of Bodin Issara and Cai Yun won their respective matches

New Delhi, Jan 4: Captain Sunil Chhetri played a pivotal role as India beat Afghanistan 2-1 in extra-time to win the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup for the seventh time on Sunday at Thiruvananthapuram. Chhetri scored the winner in the 101th minute as the score remained 1-1 in regulation time. Zubayr Amiri scored the first goal of the match in the 69th minute, but India's semi-final