Sports

London, Nov 1: New Zealand cemented their status as the greatest team in rugby history when they overwhelmed Australia 34-17 at Twickenham on Saturday to become world champions for a record third time, and the first nation to retain the Webb Ellis Cup. Tries from Nehe Milner-Skudder and Ma'a Nonu had the All Blacks cruising 21-3 early in the second half before Ben Smith's yellow card opened the

Bilbao, Oct 31: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri in the fourth round of the Bilbao Masters final chess tournament here. After three draws coming under different circumstances, Anand suffered a typical case of chess blindness and his opening blunder cost him dearly against Giri who used the opportunity well. For the records

Singapore, Oct 31: The world number one women’s doubles team of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis continued their rampaging form and extended their monster winning streak to 20 matches in a row after reaching the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore on Friday. Mirza and Hingis, top seeds in Singapore, took just 90 minutes to get past the challenge of fourth-seeded Timea Babos of Hungary and

Paris, Oct 29: European football supremo Michel Platini insisted that he remains the best man to lead scandal-hit FIFA despite currently being suspended from the sport. The French legend, one of seven candidates to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, believes that his experience as a player, coach and administrator far outstrips any of his six rivals. "In all modesty, I am the best-placed to

Paris, Oct 29: Profiles of the seven candidates for the FIFA presidency confirmed by football’s governing body on Wednesday: PRINCE ALI BIN AL HUSSEIN: The 39-year-old brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah was a member of his country’s special forces, specialising in parachute jumps. The prince was on the FIFA executive from 2011 until this year when he first challenged Sepp Blatter for the presidency

New Delhi, Oct 28: Stretching himself against an injury prone body, Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt on Tuesday said that the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be his last appearance at the quadrennial extravaganza and he is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to sign off with a gold medal. "Rio will be my last Olympics and I am extremely keen to sign off with a medal. I am all focussed on

Singapore, Oct 27: Top tennis combine of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis got off to a winning start at the year-ending $7 million WTA Finals, being played on the hard courts of the Singapore Indoor Stadium here. The Indo-Swiss pair took just an hour and 15 minutes to defeat American sixth seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-4, 6-2 in the red group of the round robin league format on Monday

Bilbao, Oct 27: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign with a draw against Dutchman Anish Giri in the first round of Bilbao Masters Final chess tournament in Bilbao. Anand enjoyed the better prospects for quite some time in a rather off-beat position resulting from a Ruy Lopez but Giri was up to the task in defending, although the Dutchman conceded in the post game chat that he

Zurich, Oct 27: A Washington-based human rights group denounced Sheikh Salman`s bid for FIFA President on Monday (October 26), saying the Bahrani football official was involved in human rights abuses following the wave of pro-democracy demonstrations that swept that country in 2011. "We believe that he should not be allowed to run for the presidency of FIFA, primarily for his role in the crackdown

Mexico City, Oct 26: Deepika Kumari bagged her fourth silver medal in five years at the 'Archery World Cup Final' after going down to Korea's Choi Misun here. Eyeing her first gold medal in five attempts at the showpiece season-ending event, Deepika won her quarters and semifinals easily but lost 2-6 against the reigning world number one and top-seeded Misun yesterday. India thus concluded their