Sports

London, June 26: Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams suffered her worst All England Club defeat in 15 years on Monday, but draw cards Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova powered into the second round. Williams lost 6-1, 6-3 to 79th-ranked Russian Elena Vesnina in what was the 32-year-old's first opening round loss since her 1997 debut. But the former world number one -- the

Chennai, June 26: Australian great Dennis Lillee on Monday recalled his first meeting with Sachin Tendulkar and said on a lighter note that he did the game a "favour" by rejecting the batsman when he went to the MRF Pace Foundation with an ambition to become a fast bowler in the late 80s. Hoping to become a pacer, Tendulkar went to the MRF Pace Foundation in 1987. But his ambitions were crushed by

Cape Town, June 26: South African police are investigating rape charges against members of New Zealand's junior rugby team after they lost to South Africa in the Junior World Championship, a police spokesman said Monday. “We are investigating a case after a 22-year-old Cape Town woman alleged she was raped,” said national police spokesman Vish Naidoo. “It is alleged the rape took place during the

New Delhi, June 25: “Seeing Leslie Claudius, I feel as if I have become younger by 10 years,” said V. Baskaran, captain of the 1980 Moscow Olympics gold medal winning Indian hockey team. Baskaran put into perspective the interaction of some legendary Olympic gold winners with the London Olympics-bound Indian team members at a function organised by Hockey India (HI), here on Sunday. “It is good for

Kiev, June 25: England's penalty curse struck again here Sunday as Italy advanced to the semi-finals of Euro 2012 with victory in a shoot-out after a tense quarter-final duel finished 0-0 following extra-time. The Italians will face Germany in the semi-finals in Warsaw on Thursday after England's campaign came to a bitterly familiar end with their sixth defeat in a penalty shoot-out in seven

Former Pakistan speedstar Shoaib Akhtar believes Twenty20 cricket has caused immense damage to Pakistani cricketers affecting their techniques and also posing fitness issues for players. "I think T20 cricket has not been good for our players and their techniques have been affected negatively and too much of T20 cricket is also posing fitness issues for them," he told reporters in Lahore. The

Bangalore, June 24: Anju Bobby George is eyeing an Olympic spot. But the former World championship bronze medallist is waging a battle against both time and fitness. The lanky 35-year-old long jumper with a personal best of 6.83 metres, will test her injured ankle, which pushed her return to serious contention by a few weeks, at the Hyderabad Inter-State athletics championship next weekend. Anju

Hyderabad, Jun 23: BCCI chief and India Cements Managing Director N Srinivasan today appeared before the CBI here for the second time this week for questioning in connection with a disproportionate assets case filed against YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy. A senior CBI officer said, "He (Srinivasan) is being questioned in the Jagan assets case." The Central agency had on Monday last quizzed

London, June 23: Three-time world footballer of the year Lionel Messi told The Times on Saturday that he will retire from football the day he feels he is no longer having fun. The 24-year-old Argentinian - who scored 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona last season, breaking the European club record of 67 goals set by Bayern Munich's Gerd Mueller in 1972-73 - hinted that for him the fun was going

Known as a person of few words whose cricketing bat does all the talking, Sachin Tendulkar today said that he would not indulge in shouting in the Rajya Sabha as he would make his point across in a polite way. Tendulkar, who recently took oath as a Rajya Sabha member, said that he would express his views politely and not indulge in shouting to make his point, a practice adopted by many