MONTREAL: Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic 6-2, 6-2 on Sunday in the Rogers Cup final, spoiling Raonic's bid to become the first Canadian winner in the event in 55 years.    Robert Bedard, the last Canadian to win what was then called the Canadian Open in 1955, was in attendance to see Nadal claim his third Rogers Cup title. The Spanish star also won in 2005 and 2008.    "To win here, I have to be playing my top level," Nadal said. "Very happy the way that I played almost every match in this tournament. Is very important for me, this title. Just very happy for everything."    Raonic was the first Canadian since the now 81-year-o

Islamabad: UAE will host the World Twenty20 Qualifiers scheduled to take place between 15 and 30 November, from which six of the 16 teams will progress to the main tournament in Bangladesh next year, with Ireland and Afghanistan favourites to qualify.   According to The Nation, the second placed team from group A will play the third from group B and vice-versa, the winners of which will continue on to the World T20 and the losers will await the winners of similar matches between the fourth and fifth placed teams from both groups to mount a second charge at qualifying.   The two winners of these matches will be the fifth and sixth Associate side to join the ten Test nations

India's series against Zimbabwe was, I'm afraid, a cry for help. Zimbabwe have been feisty in the past but now you pity them. Their cricketers have been, figuratively, beaten and bruised, they have been denied amenities and now, self-respect. Much like the land, its cricket has been abused and even though many fine players and proud cricketers have emerged from there, they no longer will because a fight without resources can only accomplish that much. Sadly by the time they take the field they no longer possess the weapons to compete. It needn't have been like this and Zimbabwe cricket is an illustration of the worries deeper than DRS in our game.   And so as a cricketin

The members of the National Cricket Academy sub-committee were in for a rude shock when it was intimated that the BCCI has lost a whopping Rs 50 crore on a dubious land deal and it is now mulling on initiating criminal proceedings against those involved in the mess. Such was the situation after the news was made official that the sub-committee couldn't discuss about filling up of vacant positions of support staff which were up for grabs.   The members of NCA sub-committee were today apprised that one Gurudutt Shanbagh, who is neither an employee of BCCI nor associated with any state associations signed documents on behalf of the Board with Karnataka Industrial Areas Development

Saina Nehwal started her campaign for an elusive medal at the World Championships with a crushing straight-game victory over lower-ranked Olga Golovanova of Russia in the women's singles competition of the prestigious event here.   London Olympics bronze medallist Saina, who had reached the quarterfinals of previous editions in 2009 and 2011, brushed aside Olga 21-5 21-4 in just 23 minutes to set up a clash with 15th seed Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk in the prequarterfinals on Thursday.   Saina has a 5-0 record against Porntip but the Indian will have to be on guard as past records do not count and such matches could turn out to be tricky sometimes.   Earlier

Star batsman Virat Kohli said the tips he picked up from skipper M S Dhoni in the West Indies proved beneficial for him while leading a young Indian team in Zimbabwe, where they inflicted a 5-0 series whitewash on the hosts.   Kohli had captained the Indian side in three One-dayers in the West Indies when Dhoni was sidelined after hurting his hamstring in the first match of the tri-nation series.   "He (Dhoni) is a guy who doesn't say much. But I keep talking to him about different situations and what I could do and how should I keep myself calm in pressure situations while captaining the side. It helped me chatting to him in the West Indies when he wasn't play

As early as his second attempt in the long jump competition of the 79th Railways Athletic Championships at the JLN Stadium, Kumaravel Premkumar was assured of a gold. The 20-year-old who had leapt a distance of 7.95m, however, had his hands on his hips as he glanced at the electronic scoreboard. Clearly he wasn't done for the day.   On his fifth and penultimate attempt Premkumar seemed confident. And he got what he was looking for. He rushed to check his distance on the scoreboard but had to wait.   Officials first checked his mark with the laser rangefinder, then double checked it, and then cross checked it once more with a measuring tape. Nearly a minute later, the sc

NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid has claimed that his comments on restoring the credibility of the game, after the recent IPL spot-fixing scandal, have been taken out of context.   "It is disappointing that my comments have been taken out of context by some sections of the media," Dravid was quoted as saying in a tweet posted by a cricket website, the website to which he gave the interview.   The website also urged the readers to wait for the full interview on Wednesday.   "A lot of conclusions and inferences have drawn from Rahul Dravid's quotes on credibility. Wait for the full interview," read the website's twitte

BANGALORE: Virender Singh never gets to hear the national anthem on the podium. But that hasn't stopped the 'Goonga Pehelwan' - as he is known in the wrestling circles - from winning India the only gold medal at the Deaflympics in Sofia ( Bulgaria) on Saturday.    For the deaf-mute wrestler from Delhi, who grew up training with Olympics silver medallist Sushil Kumar, this was his third straight medal in the Games.    Competing in men's 74kg freestyle event in the 22nd Summer Deaflympics, the 28-year-old Virender, who returned home on Monday night, defeated Oguz Donder of Turkey to defend his title. The bronze medals went to Hiavorh Adamian and Alek

Dubai: Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja on Sunday became the first Indian bowler to top the bowlers` chart in the latest ICC ODI Player Rankings after former captain Anil Kumble claimed the pole position way back in 1996.   Jadeja, who took five wickets in five matches during India`s recently-concluded ODI tour of Zimbabwe, has leapt four places to join West Indies` off-spinner Sunil Narine on top of the list.   This is the first time Jadeja is heading the bowlers` chart.   Kumble had topped the table for 11 matches in November-December 1996. Overall, Jadeja is the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev (March 1989), Maninder Singh (December 1987-November 1988) and Ku

NEW DELHI: Scam-tainted Suresh Kalmadi's association with any sports body has ended as he has lost the membership of the powerful Council of the International Association of Athletics Federation.   Kalmadi lost the IAAF Council membership after his defeat in the Asian Athletics Association's presidential election in Pune early last month to Qatar's Dahlan Al-Hamad.   The IAAF have now appointed Du Zhaocai, senior vice-president of the AAA and general secretary of Chinese Athletics Association (CAA), to its Council as one of Asia's representatives.   The website of the world athletics body no longer has the name of Kalmadi as member of its Council an

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: It could well be the beginning of the end for N Srinivasan. Finally, a pressure group within the BCCI rose to take on the defiant administrator and show him his place; it not only stopped him from returning as board president and destroying the body's credibility even more, but, in all likelihood, also scuppered his bid to seek a one-year extension at next month's annual general meeting.    The drama that unfolded on Friday resembled a game of chess with the opposition making all the right moves to counter Srinivasan, who seemed determined to return to the hot seat. It was apparent the Chennai strongman would face strong opposition from a clutch of wo

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh today rated Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar as "equals" because they played in different conditions and under different sort of pressures.   "I hate comparisons between players because it unnecessarily creates controversy. Both played under different pressure and for different teams. I would place them pretty much on equal terms," Waugh told reporters during an interaction organised by Brigade Orchards here.   Lara and Tendulkar were unbelievable players, who won games for their teams, playing under different conditions, Waugh said.   "Sachin was carrying on his shoulders amazing pressure of 1.3 billion

NEW DELHI: India continued their dominance over Zimbabwe as they thrashed the hosts by 9 wickets in the fourth ODI of the five-match series at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday.   Scorecard | Match In Pics   Chasing a meagre target of 145, openers Rohit Sharma (64*) and Suresh Raina (65*) both slammed half-century each to secure another massive win for India.   Tendai Chatara bowled out debutant Pujara, inflicting first blow on India after Zimbabwe were bundled out for 144.   Chatara struck in the 10th over and got rid of Pujara (13) at the score of 23.   Earlier, India continued their dominance in the series as they d

Colombo: Tillakaratne Dilshan narrowly missed a second successive century as Sri Lanka whipped South Africa by 128 runs here on Wednesday to wrap up the one-day series 4-1.   The hosts, already holding a decisive 3-1 lead, piled up 307-4 after electing to take first strike and then shot the Proteas out for 179 in 43.5 overs in the day-night match at the Premadasa stadium.   AB de Villiers played a captain`s knock of 51, but could not prevent South Africa from being condemned to their 13th defeat in 15 one-dayers on Sri Lankan soil.   The tourists were struggling at 137-8 when Ryan McLaren hit 29 and Aaron Phangiso an unbeaten 18 down the order to boost the total.

MELBOURNE: India's 1983 World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev feels the growing self belief of the Indian cricket team that they can win regularly outside their own borders could hold them in good stead to defend the 2015 World Cup title in Australia and New Zealand.   Indian sides have notoriously played like champs at home and chumps overseas, but Kapil thinks the country's triumph at this year's Champions Trophy in the United Kingdom could prove to be a pivotal moment on the road to the game's showpiece event in early 2015.   "I think recently it's happening, they start believing, it's the self-belief," Kapil said at the tournament launch

NEW DELHI: Former India Test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other cricketers were charged on Tuesday in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal, New Delhi police said.   Rajasthan Royals player Sreesanth and his teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were among 39 charged on Tuesday in the scandal, which has shaken the Indian cricketing world.   Former India captain Rahul Dravid, who led Rajasthan in the last edition of the Twenty20 league, was named a witness in the case.   Sreesanth, Chavan and Chandila are accused of taking money to concede a pre-determined number of runs in three IPL matches, the police said. They were arrested in May.

Defending champions India will take on arch-foes Pakistan in their opening match of the ICC cricket World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29. Placed in the relatively easy Group B, India, who won the 2011 event after    defeating Sri Lanka in the final in Mumbai, will start their title defence on February 15. Incidentally, India have never lost to Pakistan in any of their five World Cup clashes so far.   The Indians will complete their group fixtures against Zimbabwe at Eden Park, Auckland (on March 14). India will also play South Africa (in Melbourne on February 22), Qualifier 4 (in Perth on February 28), West Indies (

Ruta Meilutyte just keeps getting better. A surprising gold medalist at last year's London Olympics, the 16-year-old from Lithuania set the first world record of the world swimming championships Monday night — in the semifinals of the 100-meter breaststroke, no less.   Meilutyte will be an overwhelming favorite in the final Tuesday, but she considers the world record a bigger accomplishment than a gold medal. She nearly broke the mark during the morning preliminaries, then returned in the evening to go even faster.   The youngster touched in 1 minute, 4.35 seconds, beating thetime of 1 minute 4.45seconds set by American Jessica Hardy in 2009 at the end of the rubb

The International Cricket Council will announce the fixtures of the 2015 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand, simultaneously in Melbourne and Wellington on Tuesday.   "The pools, venues and fixtures of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will be announced simultaneously in Melbourne and Wellington at 0000 GMT (0530am IST) on Tuesday, July 30," the ICC said in a statement.   "The event in Melbourne will take place at Peninsula, Central Pier, 161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands, and will start, while Shed 22, Corner Taranaki St and Cable St, Wellington (opp. Circa Theatre), will host the event in Wellington," it added.   Besides C