Sports

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

London, June 23: Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was given a life ban from English cricket on Friday for his involvement in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing case, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said. Westfield was given a five-year ban, although he will be able to play club cricket in the final two years of his suspension. In a statement an ECB disciplinary panel said: "We

Yuvraj Singh is renowned for his fighting spirit when the chips are down. He waged many successful battles and guided the Men in Blue to several scintillating victories and lifted his team-mates’ morale. Yuvi, who is back after undergoing chemotherapy for a rare tumour, is now on a mission to make a comeback into the Indian team. His target is to play at the Twenty20 World Cup, starting in Sri

Warsaw, June 22: Cristiano Ronaldo was the hero as Portugal beat an ultra-defensive Czech Republic 1-0 at the National Stadium on Thursday in their quarterfinal to qualify for the Euro 2012 semifinals. Ronaldo headed home a cross from Joao Moutinho 11 minutes from the end to set up a possible semifinal against either world champions Spain or France. It was just reward after another starring

New Delhi, June 21: The embattled All India Tennis Association (AITA) today claimed to have worked out a compromise formula to resolve the selection crisis for the Olympics by deciding to send two men's doubles teams for the event, pairing Leander Paes with a lower-ranked Vishnu Vardhan. Giving the decision, which it itself termed "unfair" on world number 7 Paes, AITA has allowed Mahesh Bhupathi