Sports

London, Dec 13: Former world champion Viswanathan Anand outclassed Frenchman Andrei Istratescu to jump to sole lead at the halfway stage of the preliminaries of the London Chess Classic in progress here at the Olympia. On what turned out to be another fine day as black, Anand came up with some brilliant planning, sacrificed an exchange and romped home without much ado to almost seal a place in the

Centurion, Dec 13: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is hopeful his squad will learn from their defeat against South Africa in the just-concluded One-day series in time for the first of two Test matches at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on December 18. The Indians lost the ODI series 2-0 after rain prevented the tourists batting in the third match on Wednesday which was subsequently

Dubai, Dec 12: Star batsman Virat Kohli lost his top position to AB de Villiers while most of his teammates, barring skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, also slipped in the latest ICC one-day rankings issued on Thursday after the 0-2 series loss to South Africa. India, in fact, dropped two ratings points but held on to the top spot with 120 ratings points despite the 0-2 loss in the three-match series

New Delhi, Dec 12: Former India pace bowler S. Sreesanth tied the knot with a girl from the Jaipur royal family at the famed Guruvayoor Sree Krishna temple in Kerala on Thursday morning. Sreesanth started his new innings in his tumultuous life on Thursday morning as he ties knot with the Jaipur princess Bhuveneshwari aka Nayan from the royal Shikhavat family. The marriage took place at Guruvayoor

Centurion, Dec 12: Quinton de Kock notched up his third successive hundred while his captain A B de Villiers also struck a century as South Africa wriggled out of a tight spot to post an imposing 301 for 8 in their third and final cricket one-dayer against India here today. Opening batsman de Kock smashed nine fours and two sixes for his 101 off 120 balls to become the third South African and

Wellington, Dec 11: Manager of the West Indies cricket team Richie Richardson says the regional side has lost its warrior spirit and the desire to be the best in the world. "As soon as you get on the [bus] you need to be ready. The opposition needs to know you're serious and ready for business," CMC quoted Richardson saying in an interview with New Zealand website, stuff.co.nz. "You put on your

New Delhi, Dec 8: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan on Saturday said recently-retired Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar was lucky to have never faced the ferocious West Indies pace attack of '70 and '80s. While delivering a lecture on leadership at an All India Management Association function here, Imran said facing the likes of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and

Johannesburg, Dec 6: A livid Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni squarely blamed his bowlers for the crushing loss in the opening ODI against South Africa, saying that their bad performance left the batsmen under pressure. The Indian bowlers were hammered by South Africa, who posted 358/4 before dismissing the visitors for 217 in 41 overs on Thursday. "Overall I think it was a bad

New Delhi, Dec 6: In a landmark development for Indian football, the country was today awarded the right to host the 2017 Under-17 FIFA World Cup by the world governing body of the game in its executive committee meeting in Brazil. India was chosen as the host country for the mega event by the FIFA executive committee in its meeting at Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. South Africa, Ireland and

Karachi, Dec 5: As the ugly face of match-fixing has re-surfaced, former Pakistan Test pacer Sarfraz Nawaz today demanded an inquiry into the national team's recent defeats against minnows Zimbabwe and South Africa. Nawaz also demanded that Pakistan's former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar be investigated by anti-corruption unit for his recent comments about some unnamed Pakistani players with reference