Sports

Mumbai, Jan 1: The revamped Premier Badminton League (PBL), commencing here tomorrow with hosts Mumbai Rockets taking on the Saina Nehwal-spearheaded Awadhe Warriors, is to experiment with a new concept - Trump match - that's expected to keep the interest till the end of a tie. The League, revived after a gap of two years following a successful inaugural Indian Badminton League in 2013, has

Chennai, Jan 1: Stanislas Wawrinka eked out the "biggest win" of his career when he downed Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2015 French Open and the Swiss champions says, staying mentally strong is always key against the Serbian giant. Looking back at that final in which he struck 59 winners, almost twice as many as Djokovic, the Swiss player still relishes the win. "For sure winning Roland

Dec 30: Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt shone at the Beijing World Championships, but athletics was later mired in a shocking doping-linked corruption scandal that plunged the Olympics' number one sport into crisis. Bolt bagged an unprecedented fifth treble gold medal haul at a global championship in the Chinese capital in August, suitably in the same Bird's Nest stadium where his career took

Dubai, Dec 28: Star football player Lionel Messi won the best player of the seventh edition of the Globe Soccer Awards here on Sunday, and FC Barcelona took home the best club prize. "It is difficult to choose one moment as we were winning wherever we played," said Messi, who travelled from Argentina to attend the ceremony. "It has been a fabulous year for me and for the entire club," he added. FC

Dec 27 : Lewis Hamilton won his third drivers' world title in virtually untouchable fashion in 2015, but in a year of pressures and problems both he and his Mercedes team ended the season looking anxiously at their rivals. The 30-year-old Briton, who lost his focus and his dominant speed in the closing three races to his team-mate Nico Rosberg, won the championship with a month to spare. His

Dec 27: International referee from India, Ashok Kumar has been selected for officiating in the Rio Olympics next year. This is the first time in the in the Indian wrestling history that a referee from India will be officiating at the Olympic Games. A total of 50 referees, including supervisors and instructors, have qualified for the Olympics. The United World Wrestling (UWW) has picked nine

London, Dec 25: Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney declared that he and his team-mates are "fighting" to save the job of embattled manager Louis van Gaal. British media reports claim Van Gaal is on the brink of the sack after a run of six games without victory and he stormed out of his weekly press conference on Wednesday after criticising the speculation about his job. But despite rumours of

London, Dec 23: The formidable pairing of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis was on Tuesday named as Women's Doubles World Champions by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in recognition of their stupendous success in season 2015. Hingis is an ITF World Champion 15 years after last being named World Champion in singles in 2000. Sania and Martina joined forces in March this year but proved a

New Delhi, Dec 22: Eight-time champions India have been clubbed alongside title holders Germany and world no.2 Netherlands in Pool B at the men's hockey competitions of 2016 Rio Olympics. Besides, Germany and Netherlands, the team Sardar Singh and his men defeated en-route to the bronze medal in the Hockey World League Final earlier this month, other teams in world ranked seventh India's pool are

Dec 22: The bans have been imposed by Fifa's ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert for a "disloyal payment" of €1.8 million in Swiss Francs made to Uefa president Platini in 2011, signed off by outgoing Fifa president Blatter. He and Platini both claimed the payment was made following a verbal agreement between the pair when the Frenchman worked for Blatter from 1998 to 2002 though not paid until nine