[hockey] India Survives A Scare To Defeat Canada

India scored a goal 4 minutes before the fulltime to win the second test against Canada in the 7-test super series in Victoria. The match ended 4-3 when Sandeep Singh converted a penalty corner at the 66th minute. Before that India took lead three times but but just to lose it within minutes. After an interesting first half when the teams were tied at 3-3, the second half seemed to go barren when Sandeep Singh drag flicked India out of trouble near the end.
The Indians started scoring at the 4th minute when Amir Khan hit the board. Wayne Fernandes put Canada at par at the 20th minute by converting a penalty corner but Shivendra Singh regained the lead for India at the very next minute. Canada got a penalty stroke at the 23rd minute and Rob Short converted to make them at par again. Two more penalty corner conversion by Dhanajoy Mahadhik for India at 32nd minute and Taylor Curren at the 35th minute increased the scoreline for both teams.
Canada did a good comeback after the first match where they were outplayed by the Indians and lost 2-0 at the same venue. The teams will meet again on 14th at Surrey.

[hockey] India Defeats Canada 2-0 In The First Match Of 7-Test Super Series

India defeated Canada 2-0 by the goals of Tushar Khandekar and Sandeep Singh on both the halves in the first match of the 7-Test Super Series. Indian played with confidence and dominated the game throughout. They were rewarded with the first goal at the 27th minute when Tushar Khandekar scored. India doubled the lead 4 minutes from the full time when Sandeep Singh converted a penalty corner.
The teams will play the next match on 11th October at the same venue of Victoria in British Columbia.

[football] I-League: Kolkata Biggies Lose, Chirag United, Churchil Brithers Among Winners

Both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan lost their sceond round match of the ONGC I-League. East Bengal lost their away match to Mahindra United 2-3 after drawing against Pune FC last week. While Mohun Bagan faced second straight defeat after they lost to JCT 1-2 at the home ground. The match saw a penalty claim from Mohun Bagan goal scorer Branco Cardozo being turned down by the referee and then the Mohun Bagan players almost attacked the official which saw their captain Deepak Mondal getting a yellow card. Within five minutes Deepak got another yellow for a reckless tackle and was sent off. The team had to play the 10 minute of injury time with ten men.
Chirag United defeated Mumbai FC 2-1 with their new signing Edmilson shining in the match. Churchil Brothers shrugged off their disappointing start in Mumbai with a home win over Viva Kerala 2-0 but the match saw two of their players being sent off.

Matchweek 2: Results:


Churchil Brothers 2-0 Viva Kerala
goals: (R Vashum 5', Odafa okolie 28')
RC: Odafa Okolie


Mahindra United 3-2 East Bengal
goals: (Muritala 30', 42', NP Pradeep 78') (Alvito 24', Yakubu 64')


Dempo 1-1 Salgaocar
goals: (Roberto Mendes Silva 48') ( Eneke Ikenwa 7')


Pune FC 0-1 Air India
goals: (Ravinder Singh 19')


Sporting Club de Goa 0-1 Shillong Lajong FC
goals:(Boithang Haokip 16')


Mohun Bagan 1-2 JCT
goals: (Branco Cardozo 82) (Penn Orji 47', Baljeet Singh Saini 56')
RC: Deepak Mondal


Chirag United 2-1 Mumbai FC
goals: (Edmilson 7', 14') (Vincent 65' P)

[hockey] Canada-India 7-test Series Starts Today

Indian hockey team will play a 7-test series against Canada starting from today. The series, being held in Canada, is seen as the preparation for the Champions Challenge Trophy to be held in December and then the World Cup in 2010. The teams will play 7 matches to be held on 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 22nd and 24th of October. The first two matches will be played in Victoria and then the teams will shift to Surrey.
India and Canada have played 26 matches till date in which India has won 16, Canada 8 and 2 matches ended as draw. The biggest margin for the teams is 4-1 for Canada (world cup 1998) and for India it is 5-1(in 1988 olympic games) and 7-3( in 10-nations meet in Australia in 1979). However, India have won all of the last 6 matches between them with the last loss coming in 1999. Canda have scored 44 goals while India 63.

[hockey] Baljit Singh Returning Back to India

Indian hockey goalkeeper Baljit Singh will be on his way back to homeland after having three surgeries in his damaged right eye. Now the cosmetic surgeries are to be done and the sports ministry thinks that can be done with same efficiency and at a low cost in India in  some reputed institute like AIIMS.
Baljit Singh was seriously injured during a golf ball practice before the Europe tour of the hockey team. It was feared he might never regain his vision in that eye. But the ministry of sports took the initiative to take him to the US and get the required surgery done. It is believed that a total expenditure of rs 5 lakh has been made yet and the sports ministry ensures that they will put their best effort to help the player to regain the full vision in his eye.

[football] Italy Captain Cannavaro Failed Dope Test

Italy captain and Juventus player Fabio Cannavaro failed in a dope test before the team's world cup qualifying match against Ireland. However, Cannavaro is already banned from this match for yellow cards. Though he is likely to play in the next match against Cyprus on 14th.
His club Juventus claims it was due to a cortisone injection used due to a bee sting the player suffered recently. However, the Italian Olympic Council will start an investigation on the case and try to find out whether he had a prescription for the same.
Cannavaro was shown to be taking a performance enhancing drug before the 1999 UEFA Cup final which his club Parma won 3-0. The video was shown in an Italian tv channel in 2005. However, the substance he took was not banned by Italian laws at that time.
Now it remains to be seen whether the club can convince the investigators of their claim or the player has to face some punishment.

[tennis] Serena Poses Nude For Sports Magazine

Suddenly this blog seems to have got a lot of glamour content. A look at the blog currently may make people think this is a fashion blog or something like that. But if so much glamour comes to the sports all of a sudden nothing can be done. Now the thing is about world no 1 Serena Williams, who posed nude for a sports magazine recently. Now the word 'controversy' seems to have become the best friend of the American babe. After the much publicised abuse of the line umpire that saw her paying a hefty fine, her unsportsmanlike conduct seems to have invited the ire of people up in the order who claim they may ban the best player in the world now from playing in the Australian Open due to the controversies surrounding her.
However, this stand seems dubious as nowhere they did mention that a tennis player cannot pose nude. Tennis can not be separated from fashion at the current situation and posing nude for a certain magazine does not mean such a big thing.

[football] Bollywood Hottie Shilpa Shetty Interested In Buying An Indian Football Club

In an unexpected news that would cheer the football fans in India, bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is reported to be interested in buying an Indian football club. Shilpa and her boyfriend Raj Kundra own the IPL team Rajsthan Royals.
Shilpa and Kundra have met AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco to get some informations about the projects that are going on in football and the general football structure.
Even if it is a publicity gesture, as many purists may fear, this development is really a boon for Indian football. More input of glamour and money will attract Indians more towards the Indian football again and if Shilpa takes the project and becomes successful, that will attract other big names towards this game. We, the football fans, have nothing to lose from here. We get to see the glamour queen in our own field and if something better develops that is more than we expected.

The Blog Is Back

After a certain 15 days of no activity here finally the blog is back for the regular coverage everything that happens in the world in football, tennis and hockey. Before going to the latest news, let us just look at what we missed in these days.
Football:  As usual the news about this beautiful game is more than anything else in the thing that matters for us and we really missed a lot of action in these days.
La liga is going with Barcelona and Real Madrid looking red hot in the first 5 rounds when Sevilla came to show their stand here by defeating Real Madrid in the sixth game. Barcelona is still on a rampaging run and Real and Sevilla follow closely with a defeat each. Valencia has a decent run till now and are now in the top 5. Atletico Madrid showed they may come back to form with a win that puts them at 14th. However Villareal is still at the 19th position with 3 draw and 3 losses in 6 games. Xerez is closely following them at 2 points.
English Premier League is showing more competition with Manchester United drawing against Sunderland, Liverpool losing to Chelsea and Chelsea losing to Bolton a week before. Chelsea leads the pack being closely followed by Manchester United but Manchester City can knock their city rivals a close knock if they win tonight. Tottenham Hotspurs are showing they really plan to stay in the top with their good performance except two big matches against Chelsea and Man U. However they are the only club in the top six two have played 3 top teams with their first day win over Liverpool. If you look at the competence EPL is best placed currently but the performance of the top teams are really not convincing enough to think of repeating their results in last two years in the Champions League. However the English teams seem to have been lucky in the UCL and it is to be seen how much they can do this time.
Serie A is also at an interesting stage with leaders Sampdoria giving way to Inter Milan to reclaim their lead and Juventus closely following the two. AC Milan's woes are not showing any sign of withering away and it is to be seen when they can make their way back to the top half of the league.

Tennis:  The US Open final started with a dominance of Roger Federer but at the end Juan Martin Del Potro shined with a win. Kim Clijsters made a great comeback winning the women's championship defeating Serena Williams that ended in a controversial foot foul call and Serena's angry response. Leander Paes defeated Mahesh Bhupathy in the final of the men's doubles partnering Lucas Dlouhy. However, Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrot broke Indian hearts twice defeating Mahesh Bhupathy and Liezel Hueber in semifinal and then Leander Paes and Cara Black in the final. Some of the Indians must have been disappointed after the women's doubles final also as the partners of the Indian legends Cara Black and Liezel Hueber teamed up just to lose to Serena and Venus Williams.

Hockey: Indian team is going to Canada on a 23 day long tour where they will play a seven match series against the hosts. The coach Jose Brasa is now giving more stress on the basics as he feels Indian players are great in tougher things but not very good in the basics.

[tennis] Roger Sets Djokovic Date In Semis

Roger Federer defeated 12th seed Robin Soderling to reach the semifinal of the men's singles of the US open. It is the third time Soderling struggled to the Federer obstacle in a Grand Slam after he lost in the French Open and Wimbledon. Roger will face 4th seed Novak Djokovic who defeated Fernando Verdasco.

results:
Roger Federer,1 d Robin Soderling,12 : 6-0, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6).
Novak Djokovic,4 d Fernando Verdasco,10 : 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

[tennis] US Open: Women's Semifinal Lineup Ready

The Women's semifinal lineup of the US Open is now ready with Serena Williams facing Kim Clijsters and Yanina Wickmayer facing Caroline Wozniacki.
quarter final results:
Kim Clijsers d Na Li,18 : 6-2, 6-4.
Serena Williams,2 d Flavia Pennetta,10 : 6-4, 6-3.


Yanina Wickmayer d katerina Bondarenko : 7-5, 6-4.
Caroline Wozniacki,9 d Melanie Oudin : 6-2, 6-2.

[tennis] Its Paes vs Bhupathi In Men's Doubles Final

A share of the US Open men's doubles is coming to India for sure. The Indian stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi reached the final of the men's doubles with their respective partners. Paes and Dlouhy defeated Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) in the first semifinals and Bhupathi and Knowles defeated Andy Ram and Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-2.
Paes is in the final of the mixed doubles also with Cara Black. The second seeded pair defeated Su-Wei Hseih and Kevin Ullyet 6-2, 3-6, [10-5] in the semifinal match. However, top seeded pair of bhupathi and Liezel Hueber lost the semifinal match against Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrot 3-6, 4-6.

The mixed doubles partners of Paes and Bhupathi, Cara Black and Liezel Hueber are playing in the women's doubles together and are in the semifinals defeating Nuria Lagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. The top seeded pair will now meet Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, who are seeded 3rd.

[tennis] US Open: Murray Becomes The Biggest Casualty In Fourth Round

Second seeded Andy Murray became the biggest and most surprising casualty in the men's section of the US Open when he lost to Marin Cilic 5-7, 2-6, 2-6. The men's event was so far much predictable with only Andy Roddick's loss being the only big surprise so far (Taking current form of Soderling, his win over Davydenko was not shocking news.). However, Andy Murray, who currently is seeded two displacing the dominance Roger and Rafa for so long wasn't expected to lose by many a people. In another match, Jo Wilfried Tsonga lost his match to Tommy Robredo. Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro got past their opponents more easily.

Earlier, Nikolay Davydenko lost his fourth round tie against Robin Soderling when he had to retire from the match while trailing 5-7, 6-3, 2-6. However the other matches of the fourth round on the first day did not bring out any surprise as Federer and Djokovic got easy wins and Roddick-killer John Isner could not produce any more giant killing performance when he lost to Fernando Verdasco.

Results of all the matches of the men's fourth round ties:
Roger Federer,1 d Tommy Robredo,14: 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Novak Djokovic,4 d Radek Stepanek,15 : 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Robin Soderling,12 d Nikolay Davydenko,8 : 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. Davydenko retired.
Fernando Verdasco,10 d John Isner : 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.


Rafael Nadal,3 d Gael Monfils,13 : 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
Marin Cilic,16 d Andy Murray,2 : 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Fernando Gonazalez,11 d Jo-Wilfried Tsonga,7: 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-4.
Juan Martin Del Potro,6 d Juan Carlos Ferrero,24 : 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

[tennis] US Open: Kuznetsova Follows Venus And Others To Exit

Svetlana Kuznetsova joined the other top seeded players in the women's section to go out in the fourth round of the US Open. Kuznetsova was defeated by Caroline Wozniacki in high intensity match. Nadia Petrova, who seemed to be in sublime form till the earlier round was defeated by American teenager Melanie Oudin.

Earlier, third seed Venus Williams was defeated by comeback girl Kim Clijsters in the fourth round of the US Open. Clijsters won the match 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. However, the other Williams, Serena, got past her opponent Daniela Hantuchova 6-2, 6-0. Serena is the only player seeded in top eight remaining in the quarter finals. Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva also lost her match to tenth seed Flavia Pennetta.

Following is the complete result of fourth round. Winners' names are at first.

Fourth Round Results, Women's:
Kim Clijsters d Venus Williams,3  : 6-0, 0-6, 6-4
Flavia Pennetta,10  d Vera Zvonareva,7 : 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0.
Serena Williams,2 d Daniela Hantuchova,22 : 6-2, 6-0.
Na Li,18 d Francesca Schiavone,26: 6-2, 6-3.
Katerina Bondarenko d Gisela Dulko : 6-0, 6-0.
Melanie Oudin d Nadia Petrova,13 : 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-3.
Caroline Woniacki,9 d Svetlana Kuznetsova,6 : 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).
Petra Kvitova d Yanina Wickmayer : 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

[tennis] Bhupathy and Paes in Third Round of Both Men's and Mixed Doubles With Respective Partners

Mahesh Bhupathy and Leander Paes reached the third round of the US Open in both Men's doubles and Mixed Doubles events. Mahesh Bhupathy and Mark Knowles, the 3rd seeded men's doubles pair, defeated Jesse Levine and Ryan Sweeting 7-5, 6-2 in the second round match. Bhupathy also won the mixed doubles match, where he is top seeded paired with Liezel Hueber and they defeated Jill Craybas and Eric Butorac 6-3, 6-3.
Leander Paes won the men's doubles match over Nicolas Almagro and Ruben Ranirez Hidalgo 6-2, 6-3 in the second round pairing with Lucas Dlouhy to form the 4th seeded pair. Paes and Cara Black, seeded second in the mixed doubles won over Flavia Pennetta and Dusan Vemic 6-4, 6-4.
Sania Mirza's tour of US was over when she lost her mixed doubles match partnering with Daniel Nestor against Carli Gullickson and Travis Parrot 1-6, 4-6. She lost her singles and women's doubles matches earlier.
Indian hope in junior boys' section, Yuki Bhambhri, who is top seeded, won his first round match against Jordan Cox of the US 6-2, 6-1.

[tennis] US Open: Roddick Loses Third Round Tie

Fifth seed American Andy Roddick became the first big casualty in the US Open when he lost the third round match to fellow American John Isner 6-7 (3), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (5). Roddick lost two tiebreakers in the 3 hours and 51 minutes long match. The men's side of the US Open paid enough respect to the seedings as there are as many as 24 seeded players in the last 32 stage of the tournament and Roddick was the first player seeded in top 16 to be ousted.
On the second day of third round, Giles Simon retired from the match while trailing 6-1, 4-6, 6-7(5), 0-1 and became the second top 16 player to exit.
The following is the full list of the players who exit in the third round. The names in the bracket are the respective winners and the players in bold are the top 16 seeded players losing out.

Third Round Exit Men's:
Lleyton Hewitt, 31 (Roger Federer, 1)
James Blake, 21 (Tommy Robredo, 14)
Andy Roddick, 5 (John Isner): 7-6(3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6(5)
Jesse Witten (Novak Djokovic, 4)
Tommy Haas, 20 (Fernando Verdasco, 10)
Sam Querrey, 22 (Robin Soderling, 12)
Phillip Kohlschreiber, 23 (Radek Stepanek, 15)
Marko Chiudinelli (Nikolay Davydenko, 8)
Nicolas Almagro, 32 (Rafael Nadal, 3)
Taylor Dent (Andy Murray, 2)
Daniel Koellerer (Juan Martin Del Potro, 6)
Giles Simon, 9 (Juan Carlos Ferrero, 24) : 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 1-0 Simon retired
Julien Benneteau (Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7)
Thomas Berdych, 17 (Fernando Gonzalez, 11)
Jose Acasuso (Gael Monfils, 13) Acasuso retired in third set
Denis Istomin (Marin Cilic, 16)


**Only two persons in the last 16 are from outside top 16 seeded players.

[tennis] US Open: Safina, Sharapova Fall In Third Round

In the biggest surprise of the US Open so far, top seed Dinara Safina lost her third round match to Petra Kvitova 4-6, 6-2, 6-7 (5). Safina who survived scare in the previous two rounds could not get through this time and her loss in the Grand Slam will again provoke the debate about the ranking system of tennis. Sharapova also lost her third round match to Melanie Oudin. The Women's section has already seen 14 of the seeded players getting ousted in the first two rounds and the tradition continued in the third round too.
Following is the complete list of the players ousted in the third round (seeded player are in bold)

Third Round Exits in Women:
Magdalena Ryberikova (Venus Williams, 3)
Vania King (Daniela Hantuchova, 22)
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Serena Williams, 2)
Kirsten Flipkens (Kim Clijsters)
Aleksandra Wozniack (Flavia Pennetta, 10)
Victoria Azarenka, 8 (Francesca Schiavone, 26): 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Maria Kirilenko (Na Li, 18)
Elena Vesnina, 31 (Vera Zvonareva, 7)
Maria Sharaopova, 29 (Melanie Oudin): 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
Dinara Safina, 1 (Petra Kvitova): 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (5)
Jie Jheng, 21 (Nadia Petrova, 13)
Sorana Cirstea, 24 (Caroline Wozniacki, 9)
Sahar Peer (Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6)
Sara Errani (Yanina Wickmayer)
Yaroslava Shvedova (Gisela Dulko)
Anastasia Radionova (Katerina Bondarenko)


**only 7 of top 16 seeds are in the las 16 round of US Open.

[football] World Cup Qualifier Europe: Status After The Matches On 5th September

Of the 53 nations participating in the World Cup qualifier from Europe 13 teams will qualify for 2010 world cup. The nine group toppers will have direct entry and eight best second placed team will play off with each other to get the four other place.


Group 1:
The group 1 seems to have become the grave of a strong team. With Denmark leading at a safe distance and Hungary following it seems difficult that both Portugal and Sweden will get through this round to qualify for the World Cup 2010. Today's matches were most important with the top two meeting next two. Sweden did something to claim a position with a win over Hungary but Portugal let Denmark go with draw. With only three matches remaining and Portugal and Hungary meeting each other twice it seems Denmark and Sweden are the favourites now.
Today's Results:
Denmark 1-1 Portugal
(Bendtner 42') (Liedson 86')


Hungary 1-2 Sweden
(S Huszti 79' P) (O Melburg 8', Z Ibrahimovic 90')


Group Standings:
Denmark: 17 (7)
Hungary: 13 (7)
Sweden: 12 (7)
Portugal: 10 (7)
Albania: 6 (8)
Malta: 1(8)


Group 2:
Switzerland looks favourite from this group to top the group. The fight for the other position is between Greece and Latvia with a match between them to be held on 10th October. However, Latvia's match against Switzerland may on 9th September may change the course of the group if Latvia manage to win. Still the favourites to qualify from this group are Switzerland and Greece looking at the schedule and form. Israel seems to be out of race but may spoil the party of Switzerland on the last match when they meet on 14th October.
Today's Results:
Maldova 0-0 Luxembourg


Israel 0-1 Latvia
(K Gorkss 60')


Switzerland 2-0 Greece
(S Gritching 83', M Padalino 88')


Group Standings:
Switzerland: 16 (7)
Greece: 13 (7)
Latvia: 13 (7)
Israel: 9 (7)
Luxembourg: 5 (7)
Maldova: 2 (7)


Group 3:
Though currently Slovakia looks favourite to get the direct qualification spot from this group, this is the most open group after the 7th round. The surprise in the group is Czech Republic, who are down at fifth position. But the situation will be more complicated after the next round of matches when Czech Republic plays minnows San Marino and the top four meet each other. The Czechs will look to increase the goal difference against San Marino who have let in 37 in the previous 8 matches scoring only one and will hope that the other matches end in draw. However they will still be left with two tougher matches against Poland and Northern Ireland. Nothing can be said about this group at least before ninth September.

Today's Results:

Poland 1-1 Northern Ireland

(M Lewandowski 80') (K Lafferty 38')

Slovakia 2-2 Czech Republic

(S Sestak 60', M Hamsyk 73' P) (D Pudil 68', Milan baros 83')

Group Standings:

Slovakia: 16 (7)

Northern Ireland: 14 (8)

Poland: 11 (7)

Slovenia: 11 (7)

Czech Republic: 9 (7)

San Marino: 0(8)

Group 4:

Germany and Russia are clear favourites in this group. Unless Finland does something dazzling in the last three rounds, these will qualify. The important match will be on 10th October when Germany and Russia meet each other to decide who will have to play the play off.

Today's Results:

Azerbaijan 1-2 Finland

(E Mammadov 49') (M Heikkinen 74', P Pasanen 86')

Russia 3-0 Liechtenstein

(V Berezutski 17', R Pavlyuchenko 39' P, 45' P)

Group Standings:

Germany: 19 (7)

Russia: 18 (7)

Finland: 13 (7)

Wales: 9 (7)

Azerbaijan: 1 (7)

Leichtenstein: 1 (7)

Group 5:

Spain sitting clear on top of the group with seven wins in as many matches and with their current form it seems improbable that second placed Bosnia will be able to overturn the lead. However, Bosnia themselves have the danger of being ousted by Turkey whom they meet on ninth September. Bosnia will have to play in form Spain in their last match in which they have a very less chance of getting any point. However, unless they lose the home match three days later to Turkey they will get the second place in the group.

Today's Results:

Armenia 0-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

(S Ibricic 6', Z Islamovic 73')

Turkey 4-2 Estonia

(T Sanli 30', 73', S Yildrim 37', A Turan 63') (V Voscoboinikov 7', K Vassiljev 53')

Spain 5-0 Belgium

(D Silva 41', 68', D Villa 49', 85', G Pique 50') *David Villa missed a penalty at 28'

Group Standings:

Spain: 21 (7)

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 15 (7)

Turkey: 11 (7)

Belgium: 7 (7)

Estonia: 5 (7)

Armenia: 1 (7)

Group 6:

England is at the top of the pool and will not be thrown out unless they lose two and draw one of their last three matches. However, that is not impossible as they have to face Ukraine and Croatia in the next two matches. The survival of these two teams depend on the result if their match against England. They are virtually at the same position and if they have same result against the topper of the group, goal difference may come into play. England have, however, won all their matches so far and it is expected that they will qualify without much hassle. 

Today's Results:

Ukraine 5-0 Andorra

(A Yarmolenko 19', A Milevsky 45', 90' P, A Shevchenko 73' P, E Seleznyov 90' P)

Croatia 1-0 Belarus

(I Rakitic 24')

Group Standings:

England: 21 (7)

Croatia: 17 (8)

Ukraine: 14 (7)

Belarus: 9 (7)

Kazakhstan: 3 (7)

Andorra: 0 (8

Group 7:

Serbia topping this pool is looking set to finish in the top two in this group. France are in the second position but will be tested by Serbia and Austria in the next two matches. Any bad result in these two matches may take Austria as the second spot and leave France out.

Today's Results:

Austria 3-1 Faroe Islands

(S Maierhofer 1', M Janko 16', 59' P) (A Olsen 83')

France 1-1 Romania

(T Henry 48',  Escude 56' OG)

Group Standings:

Serbia: 18 (7)

France: 14 (7)

Austria: 10 (7)

Lithuania: 9 (7)

Romania: 8 (7)

Faroe Islands: 1 (7)

Group 8:

Italy are leading the group and even though they have to face Ireland and Bulgaria in the next two matches, it seems the current world champions will not be out from the group stage of the qualifying round. However, a chance remains that both Ireland and Bulgaria defeat Italy in the next to matchdays and take the top two positions. The other matches remaining for the teams are not going to make any big difference. A win for Bulgaria over Italy on ninth will open the group for all the three teams.

Today's Results:

Bulgaria 4-1 Montenegro

(R Kishishev 45', D Telkiyski 49', D Berbatov 85' P, V Domovchiski 90') (S Jovetic 9')

Georgia 0-2 Italy

(K Kaldze 57', 67' OG)

Cyprus 1-2 Ireland

(M Elia 30') (C Doyl 5', R Keane 85')

Group Standings:

Italy: 17 (7)                                                                                                                                                

Ireland: 16 (8)

Bulgaria: 11 (7)

Cyprus: 5 (7)

Montenegro: 4 (7)

Georgia :3 (8)

Group 9:
The Netherlands, in this group, is the only team sure of qualifying at the top of the table. In this group with five teams, the Dutches have won all their 7 matches so far. The fight for second position is between Scotland and Norway. Though Scotland is leading Norway by 3 points, they have to face the Netherlands in their last match while Norway will face Macedonia and if either of them win and Scotland lose, Scotland will lose the second position due to their worst goal difference. In that case even the second position holder may lose out as it seems they will be worst among all the group runners up. The fate of the group will be final on ninth September.

Today's Results:

Scotland 2-0 Macedonia

(S Brown 56', J Mcfadden 81')

Iceland 1-1 Norway

(E Gudjohnson 29') (J Riise 10')

Group Standings:

Netherlands: 21 (7)

Scotland: 10 (7)

Norway: 7 (7)

FYR Macedonia: 7 (7)

Iceland: 5 (7)

[tennis] Kakuta Case Inspire More Complaints Against Big Clubs

The decision of the DRC of the FIFA on the Kakuta case to punish both the player and the club involved has inspired a few more complaints from the small clubs against the big ones. The first one to come was again for Chelsea when French amateur club ASPT Marsseille reported that they are consulting lawyers on whether they can complaint against the Londoners on the transfer of 11 yr old Jeremy Boga in October 2008. The French player played with the club for five years before the transfer. It is believed the gifted player was followed eagerly by some of the big French clubs. Chelsea are blamed of luring the parents of the player with money, car and residence in London. If this case is launched, they may be in a deeper trouble as they already face a hefty fine and a ban of two entire and consecutive transfer periods.
The other complain to be lodged is against the premier league rivals Manchester United. French club Le Havre has reported to the FIFA against them on their acquisition of their teenage starlet Paul Pogba. The French club complained that the Red Devils got the attention of the prodigious talent paying astronomical sum to his parents.
Ther decision of FIFA has attracted the attention of the small club who had earlier left any hope on their players. Some of the cases may not be strong enough to stand on the court. It may be that the clubs are trying to get some benefits from the FIFA's ruling on the case. However , it can't be denied that the ruling has gave some confidence to the victimised small clubs that they can get justice. UEFA president Michel Platini is very much against such a deal involving the small kids. And after the DRC has given some path breaking decision punishing Chelsea, there may be something to fear for the English giants now.

[tennis] Sania Out Of Women's Doubles

The top Indian women tennis player was shown the exit door in the women's doubles of the US Open. Sania and her partner Francesca Schiavone, seeded 14th in the tournament were upset by Gisela Dulko and Sahar Peer 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Sania was ousted of the singles event in the second round by Flavia Pennetta and now her US Open dream hangs on the mixed doubles where she has qualified for the second round with partner Canadian Daniel Nestor.
The other Indian in the doubles event, Mahesh Bhupathy went to the second round with his partner Liezel Hueber defeating Vania King and Marcelo Melo. The top seed Indian-American pair won the match 7-5, 6-0. Mahesh is third seeded in the men's doubles with Mark Knowles and are already in the second round.
Leander Paes is also in the second round of both men's and mixed doubles with Lucas Dlouhy(seeded 4) and Cara Black (seeded 2).

[tennis] US Open: Women Continue To Surprise

After dumping out six of the 32 seeded players in the first round including Ana Ivanovic, the women at the US Open continued to surprise the viewers in the second round. Fourth seed Elena Dementieva, fifth seed Jelena Jankovic and 11th seed Amelie Mauresmo are the most important names on the long list of big names that took the exit door in the second round. Following is the list of seeded and famous players to go out in the second round.

Second Round Exits:
Men's:
Juan Ignacio Chela (Lleyton Hewitt)
Mikhail Youzhny (Marco Chiudinelli)
David Ferrer, 18 (Jose Acasuso): 6-3, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
Viktor Troicki, 30 (Julien Bennateau)


Women's:
Amelie Mauresmo, 17 (Aleksandra Wozniak) : 6-4, 6-0
Marion Bartoli, 14 (Kim Clijsters) : 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Sania Mirza (Flavia Pennetta, 10) :6-0, 6-0
Ana Chakvetadze (Vera Zvonareva, 7) : 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
Samantha Stosur, 15 (Vania King) : 7-5, 6-4
Anabel Medina Garriguess, 20 (Kirsten Flipkens): 6-4, 6-1
Agnieska Randwanska, 12 (Maria Kirilenko ) :6-4, 2-6, 6-4
Jelena Jankovic, 5 (Yaroslava Shvedova) :6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(6)
Elena Dementieva, 4 (Melanie Oudin) :5-7, 6-4, 6-3
Alona Bondarenko, 30 (Gisela Dulko) :6-4, 6-0
Patty Schnyder, 19 (Sara Errani) :7-5, 6-2

[hockey] Nine Teams Already Qualified For The 2010 World Cup

Nine of the twelve spots for the 2010 world cup hockey to be held in India are already decided. The event being held from February 28 to March 13 in New Delhi will have India as they are the host. The other eight teams to have qualified for the event are Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and England. The rest three spots will be decided by the three qualifying events to be held later this year which will have teams like Pakistan, Argentina, New Zealand and Belgium in the fray.

The participating teams for the qualifying events are as follows.
Lille(France, oct 31 to nov 8): Pakistan, Japan, France, Poland, Russia, Italy(as a reserve team).
Ivercargill( New Zealand, nov 7 to 15): New Zealand, Scotland, Malaysia, Austria, Scotland, Wales.
Quilmes(Argentina, nov 14 to 22):  Belgium, Argentina, Ireland, the US, the Czech Republic, Chile.

[football] Big Blow To Chelsea From FIFA

Chelsea suffered a big blow when the governing body of world football FIFA ruled a shocking decision to ban them from the next two transfer windows. The ruling means they will not be allowed to register any player in the winter and summer transfer windows of 2010.
FIFA ruled this verdict regarding a complaint from French first division club Lens about a breach of contract by French youth player Gael Kakuta after his transfer to London giants Chelsea. The Dispute Resolution Centre of FIFA found Kakuta guilty of breaking contract with Lens and Chelsea of inducing  him in doing so. DRC has decided a fine of 780,000 euros fine for which both the player and the club are liable.
Kakuta will be suspended from playing any official match for the next four months and Chelsea will be banned from registering any player, nationally or internationally, in the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification. They will also pay a fine of 130,000 euros to Lens.
Kakuta is a member if the France U-19 squad at present and has played both for Chelsea youth and reserve team. He was the highest scorer for the Chelsea youth team in his first season.
Chelsea is furious with this unprecedented decision forced upon them and are going to appeal against it to FIFA.

[tennis] Somdev Goes Down Fighting to Kohlschreiber

Somdev Devvarman  went down to Phillip Kohlschreiber in the second round of the US Open, but not before he gave a scare to the 23rd seeded German. Kohlchreiber won the match 6-3, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. In the battle that went two hours and forty eight minutes long, Somdev did a great comeback when she won the third set 6-0 and looked set to upset the German. However he could not retain the tempo in the next set where he lost 2-6 to concede the  match. Somdev matched the highly ranked German shot by shot and won 111 points to 116 of the opponent.
Sania Mirza won her women's doubles match after conceding her singles match to Flavia Pennetta. Sania and Francesca Schiavone, the 14th seed pair won their match against Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Renata Voracova 5-7, 7-5, 6-1.
Mahesh Bupathy won his men's doubles match combining with Mark Knowles against James Corretani and Lovro Zovko. The 3rd seeded pair from India and Bahrain won the match 6-3, 6-4.
Leander Paes also proceeded to second round in both men's and mixed doubles with partners Lucas Dlouhy and Cara Black respectively. The 4th seed in men's doubles, Paes and Dlouhy won 7-6(11), 7-6(4) against Victor Hansecu and Gabriel Trifu. Paes and Black, seeded second in mixed doubles, won over Patty Schnyder and Wesley Moody by 6-4, 3-6, [11-9].

[tennis] US Open: First Round Exits

The first round of the US Open did  bring about a few major surprises. The most important being the loss of former world no 1 Ana Ivanovic in the women's section. However a players who were expected to be going for a few more rounds were shown the door in both categories. Following is the list of the seeded and famous players who were shown the exit door (all the matches may not be termed as setbacks).

First Round Exit:
Men's:
Victor Hansecu, 28 (John Isner)
Paul Henry Mathieu, 26 (Mikhail Youzhny)
Dmitry Tursunov (Marc Gicquel)
Igor Kunyitsin (Olivier Rochus)
Dudi Sela (Kevin Kim)
Ivo Karlovic, 27 (Ivan Navarro)
Stanislas Warwinka, 19 (Nicolas Lapenti)
Igor Andreev, 29 (Jesse Witten)
Janko Tipsarevic (Florent Serra)
Nicolas Massu (Fernando Gonzalez, 11)
Juan Monaco (Juan Martin Del Potro, 6)
Marat Safin (Jurgen Melzer)
Jeremy Chardy (Gael Monfils, 13)


Women's:
Vera Dushevina (Venus Williams, 3)
Kaia Kanepi, 25 (Kai-Chen Chang)
Sybille Balmer, 28 (Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez)
Jelena Dokic (Kirsten Flipkens)
Ai Sugiyama (Samantha Stosur, 15)
Ana Ivanovic, 11 (Katerina Bondarenko) : 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9)
Alisa Kleybanova, 27 (Petra Kvitova)
Virginie Razzanno, 16 (Yanina Wickmayer)
Agnes Szavay, 32 (Sahar Peer)




** The numbers after the players denote their seeding in this US Open. The names in the parentheses are the players who defeated the previous player.

[tennis] Sania Mirza Thrashed By Pennetta In The Second Round

Sania Mirza crashed out of the US Open in the second round when she lost the tie against tenth seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 0-6, 0-6. Sania was completely outplayed in the match where she won only 3 of her 15 first serves and could not save any of the 6 break points that she faced in the match. She came close to break a serve only twice in the full match. Earlier she defeated Olga Govortsova in the second round. Sania' challenge in the US Open is now restricted to the women's doubles and mixed doubles where she partners with Fransesca Schiavone and Daniel Nestor respectively.

[football] Barcelona Starts Season With Solid Win And Two Injuries

Barcelona started their la liga campaign this season with a convincing win over Sporting Gijon in the Nou Camp. The Blaugranas won the match 3-0 even without the service of Messi, Iniesta, Henry and Yaya Toure. Iniesta is still recovering from the injury received at the end of the last season and Messi is in Argentina to be with his national team that is preparing for the important World Cup Qualifier match against Brazil  to be held this saturday. Henry and Toure were rested by the coach.
The young striking duo of Pedro and Bojan combined well in attack with new buy Zlatan Ibrahimovic. That paid off at the 18th minute when Bojan scored with a header. At the 40th minute Kieta scored the second goal for the Catalans when he headed in a cross from right off Dani Alves . In the Second half Ibrahimovic scored his first goal for Barcelona when he headed a cross again from Dani Alves.
However, in the almost perfect match for the Blaugranas, where they scored from headers and won without the pillars of the team, the injury of Bojan and Maxwell will be a headache for coach Pep Guardiola. It is expected that Mawell will recover soon but Bojan may take 15-20 days to recover from the the thigh injury. Bojan may miss the Champions League tie in Inter and the league match against Atletico Madrid and Getafe.


View the complete la liga table here

La Liga Table

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	Points	GS	GD
1	Getafe	1	1	0	0	3	4	+3
2	Barcelona	1	1	0	0	3	3	+3
3	Malaga	1	1	0	0	3	3	+3
4	Valencia	1	1	0	0	3	2	+2
5	Mallorca	1	1	0	0	3	2	+2
6	Real Madrid	1	1	0	0	3	3	+1
7	Real Zaragoza	1	1	0	0	3	1	+1
8	Athletic Bilbao	1	1	0	0	3	1	+1
9	Villareal	1	o	1	o	1	1	o
10	Osasuna	1	o	1	o	1	1	o
11	Almeria	1	0	1	0	1	0	0
12	Valladolid	1	0	1	0	1	0	0
13	Espanyol	1	0	0	1	0	0	-1
14	Deportivo la coruna	1	0	0	1	0	2	-1
15	Tenerife	1	0	0	1	0	0	-1
16	Sevilla	1	0	0	1	0	0	-2
17	Xerez	1	0	0	1	0	0	-2
18	Racing Santander	1	0	0	1	0	1	-3
19	Atletico Madrid	1	0	0	1	0	0	-3
20	Sporting Gijon	1	0	0	1	0	0	-3

After matchweek 1. As on 31st august 2009