Sports

Dubai, Feb 21: World number four Agnieszka Radwanska overcame a misfiring serve to beat Kazakh teenager Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Dubai women's tennis championships on Wednesday. The Pole, who received a first-round bye, lost three of her first four service games on an overcast centre court and she will need to improve if she is retain her Dubai title, with Petra Kvitova

Chennai, Feb 20: Australian captain Michael Clarke Tuesday sought to dismiss talks of his side's vulnerability against spin bowling, saying they would not be intimidated by the home team's slow bowlers in the high-profile Test series starting here on Friday. Addressing a press-conference after the team's training session, Clarke said he has got a side which can achieve success in India. "We will

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 20: FIFA's head of security today warned that the fight against match-fixing will ultimately flounder without the full support of governments across the world. Ralf Mutschke said he hopes a Singaporean businessman accused of heading a crime syndicate that made millions by betting on rigged Italian games will be brought to face the courts with the help of Singaporean authorities

New Delhi, Feb 20: Vandana Kataria struck twice as India beat Malaysia 3-0 to register their second consecutive win in the women's competition of the Hero Hockey World League Round 2 at the floodlit Major Dhyan Chand Stadium on Tuesday. Contrary to the final outcome of the game, the Indians were far from impressive against Malaysia today as they were expected to win big against a side which is

Karachi, February 19: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is likely to be recalled to the one-day squad for the forthcoming series against South Africa after a string of batting failures in the Test series. Sources close to the national selection committee said that Afridi, who was dropped for the one-day series in India after playing in just two T20 matches, would be picked for the entire

Karachi, Feb 19: Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq feels Pakistan were psychologically under pressure against South Africa and advised the national team players to stop being overawed by the world's number one Test team. "I firmly believe we were psychologically under pressure from South Africa since the start of the series. You look at the batting strike rate of our players and you can see they never

It's crunch time for MS Dhoni. Another series loss will almost surely result in the Indian captain losing the hot seat. For the prolific Michael Clarke, the challenge will be to get the best out of a less-than-formidable Australian side, arguably the weakest to tour India since Kim Hughes' men in 1979-80. Which skipper will have the last laugh? As individuals, they are as different as chalk and

Mumbai, Feb 18: Australia clinched their sixth Women's World Cup title after they comfortably defeated the West Indies by a huge margin of 114 runs in the final at the Brabourne Stadium here today. Needing 260 to win, the Caribbeans were bundled out for 145 runs in 43.1 overs, miserably failing to recover from Elysse Perry's early three-wicket burst. Batting first, Australia rode on Jessica

Cape Town, South Africa, Feb 17: Three wickets in three balls put South Africa firmly in command of the second test on Sunday as Pakistan collapsed on the fourth morning at Newlands. After Robin Peterson had bowled Sarfraz Ahmed at the end of the 65th over, Vernon Philander struck twice at the start of the 66th over to leave Pakistan’s second innings in disarray. Pakistan went to lunch on 157-8

Melbourne, Feb 17: Gautam Gambhir's exclusion from India's squad for the first two Tests against Australia is a "positive" development for the tourists, feels former cricketer Matthew Hayden. Hayden, who had a good tour of India in 2001, said Gambhir formed a "potent" opening combination with Virender Sehwag and the left-hander's exclusion will be a welcome relief for the Australian bowlers. "The