Sports News: General

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) Top-ranked Brazil overpowered Japan in straight sets Monday to win the volleyball World Grand Champions Cup.

London, Nov.23 (ANI): Chelsea will try to steal Franck Ribery from under the nose of Real Madrid in the January transfer window.

New Delhi, Nov 23 (ANI): Indian hockey team coach Jose Manuel Brasa has expressed confidence about the team winning the Champions Challenge Tournament in Argentina next month.

Indian hockey coach Jose Brasa on Sunday said that he is confident that the Indian team would win the Champions Challenge tournament in Argentina next month. Indian team on Sunday left for a week's camp in Spain to prepare for the tournament beginning December 6.

Powerhouse China made a clean sweep of titles at the 19th Asian Table Tennis Championship, clinching top spots in all five individual categories besides bagging the team titles, at the UP Badminton Academy Hall on Sunday.

Tarun Dhillon was 10 when he met with a road accident two years ago. The mishap left his right leg partially affected. But Dhillon has forgotten the incident and moved on. ?The accident may have taken away my leg, but it could not take away my game,? he said.

The response was a faint smile when an acquaintance congratulated Gaurav Pratap Singh with the words: ?You nearly sank our hearts.? Watching the 25-year-old almost throw it away with back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th, the elderly gentleman may have skipped a few beats but the champion was clear as he strove to tide over the damage. ?I told myself, come what may I won?t give it away.

Thierry Henry said a World Cup qualifying replay between France and Ireland would be ?the fairest solution? to the handball controversy after the match.

London, Nov 23 (DPA) Roger Federer and Andy Murray started the ATP World Tour Finals after the tournament moved from China to Britain, with both earning opening group victories at the eight-man year-end showcase.

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) The International Cricket Council will send its anti-corruption unit to next year's under-19 World Cup to help protect the integrity of the game's future stars.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) The Associated Press will suspend coverage of cricket in Australia for the second consecutive international season because of a dispute over conditions for accreditation imposed by Cricket Australia.

DUNEDIN, New Zealand (AP) The ability of New Zealand's top-order batsmen to overcome a recent history of poor starts may decide a closely contested three-test cricket series against Pakistan beginning here Tuesday.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (IANS) Kamal Chawla, the 30-year-old from Bhopal, emerged India's unlikeliest hero as he qualified for the quarter-finals in the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker championship here Sunday that witnessed the ouster of Pankaj Advani along with other home hopes Manan Chandra and Aditya Mehta besides Yasin Merchant.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (PTI) Kamal Chawla kept India afloat by advancing to men's quarter-finals of the IBSF World Snooker Championship while Pankaj Advani, Yasin Merchant and all women players crashed out of the elite event here today.

London, Nov 22 (DPA) The future of the British Grand Prix is to be decided by December, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said Sunday.

Hamburg, Nov 22 (DPA) A betting expert of football's controlling body FIFA, Wolfgang Feldner, has described match fixing as dangerous as doping.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (PTI) Pankaj Advani suffered a shock defeat to crash out of the IBSF World Snooker Championship even as three others Indians including seasoned Yasin Merchant advanced to the pre-quarterfinals here today.

Hyderabad, Nov 22 (IANS) The last of the Indian challenge, represented by Chitra Magimairajan and Meenal Thakur, went up in smoke in the women's World Snooker championship here Sunday as both were beaten comprehensively in the quarter-finals.

Chikmagalur, Nov 21 (IANS) Gaurav Gill (co-driver Musa Sherif) of Team MRF Sunday clinched the Speed Indian National Rally Championship for the year 2009 by winning the Coffee Day Rally of Chikmagalur, the fifth and final round of the series that saw MRF achieving a 1-2-3 finish.

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) Putting behind all controversies, the Indian men's hockey team Sunday left for a week's camp in Spain to prepare for the Champions Challenge in Argentina from Dec 6.