| Rediff Sports |
| • Saina Nehwal to get Khel Ratna award |
| India's badminton ace Saina Nehwal will be conferred with the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's highest sporting honour, it was announced on Friday. |
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| • Ferrari have no number two, says Massa |
| Felipe Massa denied that he has become Ferrari's number two driver and said on Thursday he is out to win in Hungary this weekend. |
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| • Business as usual for birthday boy Alonso |
| Fernando Alonso shrugged off criticism of his Ferrari team tactics and made clear it was business as usual at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Thursday. |
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| • CVC refers Delhi Games project to CBI |
| The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) lifted the hood just a little off the 2010 Commonwealth Games projects to find several cases of corruption and inefficiency by almost all the government agencies related to the event. |
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| • Robinho begs Manchester City to let him quit |
| Brazilian striker Robinho is reported to have begged Manchester City to let him quit Eastlands so he can make his loan move to Santos permanent. |
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| • I'm a Barcelona fan, I'm a club member: Fabregas |
| Cesc Fabregas is torn between staying with Arsenal or moving back to Barcelona and has said he is still in real doubt over where his future lies. |
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| • 'Maradona deserved a more graceful farewell' |
| The end of Diego Maradona's tenure at the helm of Argentina's national team has dealt a hard blow to his fans, even though his performance as coach was a far cry from his genius as a player. |
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| • Sharapova, Bartoli reach Stanford quarter-finals |
| Holder Marion Bartoli advanced to the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-4 win over former world number one Ana Ivanovic, while Maria Sharapova also advanced to the last eight. Russian Sharapova, a three-times Grand Slam winner, beat Belarus's Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-3 while Maria Kirilenko defeated sixth seed Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-3. |
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| • Hughes succeeds Hodgson as Fulham manager |
| Mark Hughes, out of a job since being sacked as Manchester City's boss last December, was named as English Premier League club Fulham's new manager on Thursday. The former Wales and Manchester United striker, 46, succeeded Roy Hodgson, who moved to Liverpool earlier this month. |
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| • Liverpool, Juventus start off with wins |
| Liverpool and Juventus, forced into the indignity of beginning their season in the Europa League qualifying rounds, both won 2-0 away on Thursday as European club football ventured into deepest Siberia. |
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| • Tintu Luka shines in Asian All-Star athletics |
| Legendary P T Usha's protege Tintu Luka stole the limelight on the first day of the Asian All-Star Athletics meet with a personal best timing to win the gold medal in women's 800 metres, in Delhi, on Thursday. Luka bagged the gold with an effort of 2 minutes 01.24 seconds and bettered her earlier best of 2:01.61, which she clocked in May at the National Open in Kochi. |
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| • Injury-time goal gives Goa victory |
| Substitute Cavin Lobo scored an injury-time goal to help reigning champions Goa pip Karnataka 1-0 and begin their title defence positively, in the quarter-final league of the 64th National Football Championship, for the Santosh Trophy, at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Thursday. |
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| • Irregularities observed in CWG-related works |
| An inspection by the Central Vigilance Commission has found serious discrepancies like award of works at higher rates to bidders, poor quality of construction and grant of work to ineligible agencies in different Commonwealth Games-related construction works being carried out by various departments in Delhi. |
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| • Mike Tyson becomes a vegan |
| Boxing legend Mike Tyson has become a vegetarian, it was reported on Thursday. |
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| • 'After CWG, India should bid for Olympics' |
| Impressed with India's preparedness for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, five-time Olympic gold medallist rower Sir Steve Redgrave on Thursday said the country should take forward the legacy of the October 3-14 mega event and bid for the Olympics in future. |
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| • Indian football team scores on Portugal tour |
| The Indian national football team beat Portuguese third division side Desportivo das Caldas 4-1 in their first practice match on their two-month training tour of Portugal. |
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| • Gill claims 16 of 18 CWG venues 'complete' |
| The continuing construction work might present a grim picture but Sports Minister M S Gill today asserted in the Parliament that 16 of the 18 venues for the Commonwealth Games are "complete". |
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| • Beckham could return to training in August: Arena |
| David Beckham could be back in training by the end of August, his LA Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said on Wednesday. |
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| • Somdev ousted from ATP Farmers Classic |
| Somdev Devvarman suffered a second successive defeat against Serbia's Janko Tipsaveric to crash out of the ATP Farmers Classic. |
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| • 'Day hockey matches in CWG crazy, disrepectful' |
| The Indian hockey team's former technical adviser and current Australia coach Ric Charlesworth lambasted the Delhi Commonwealth Games organisers, calling them "crazy" and "disrespectful" for scheduling matches in the middle of the day. |
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| • Lemaitre and Abeylegesse grab track golds |
| Christophe Lemaitre underlined his standing as the fastest European with victory in an astonishing 100 meters final at the continent's championships on Wednesday. |
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| • Baghdatis shakes off losing run to triumph in L.A. |
| Third-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis had low expectations for this week's LA Open but gave himself a welcome boost by beating American wildcard Ryan Sweeting 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the second round on Wednesday. |
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| • Monaco signs 10-year extension for F1 race |
| Monaco has signed a 10-year contract extension for its Grand Prix only weeks after Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone suggested the sport could live without the showcase race. |
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| • Negi signs off with draw in Biel Chess Festival |
| Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi ended his disappointing campaign with a draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagarave of France in the ninth and final round of the Young Grandmasters tournament, a part of the 43rd edition of the Biel chess Festival. |
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| • Bolt to face Gay and Powell in Stockholm |
| Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt and top sprint rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will meet for the first time this year in a 100 metres showdown at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting next week. |
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| Updated: 30 minutes ago |
