Paes-Stepanek advance to third round of US Open

The sixth seeded pairing defeated Chinese Taipei's Yen Hsun-Lu and Czech Republic's Jiri Vesley 7-6 (3) 6-3 in a contest which lasted an hour and 23 minutes.
   
In the intensely contested opening set, both the teams exchanged a break of serve and were guilty of committing an equal number of unforced errors.
   
Lu and Vesley, however, gave away easy points by committing as many as four double faults, eventually falling short in the tie-breaker.
    
But Paes and Stepanek dominated the second set, clinching two break points and being distinctly better on their second serve.
   
The sixth seeds will next take on the winners of the match between 11th-seeded Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez and the Dutch team of Robin Haase and Igor Sisling.
   
In the junior competition, Ojasvinee Singh entered the second round of qualifiers after beating local favourite Alexandra Sanford 6-3 6-2.

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Van Gaal says ‘record signing’ Di Maria won't provide instant fix to Untied’s woes

The Dutchman was speaking after United's humiliating 4-0 loss at third-tier Milton Keynes Dons in the League Cup second round had compounded their terrible start to the campaign.
              
"I think that he (Di Maria) can contribute and that is very important but we don't have to expect that from tomorrow our world has changed," Van Gaal told a British channel after the Argentina international signed for 59.7 million pounds (USD 98.77 million).
              
"He has to adapt to the culture of England, the culture of the Premier League and the philosophy of Manchester United,” he added.
              
"He shall contribute very much in our way of playing. He is a creative player. I can change the system with Di Maria. He can play as a winger and he can also play in midfield," he said.
              
The experienced Van Gaal has yet to fashion a win during his three competitive matches in charge of United this season.
              
Their thrashing by MK Dons followed a 2-1 defeat against Swansea City, United's first opening day loss at home since 1972, and a 1-1 draw against Sunderland in the Premier League.
              
Van Gaal praised the reaction he got from the Old Trafford faithful during the reverse to Swansea and urged them to remain patient as he looks to reshape his struggling team.
              
"(The fans) have to believe in our philosophy," he said.

"We are building up a team that you cannot make in one month or even one year. It (Tuesday's defeat) is very disappointing but I hope they shall maintain their confidence in the club, and in our philosophy because that philosophy takes time,” he added.
              
"We know exactly what we are doing. We have lost in the Capital One Cup, and so tonight (Tuesday) has cost us the chance of a trophy, and that is disappointing,” he further said.
              
United's next game is a trip to promoted Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.

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Sharath Kamal, Amalraj shine in table tennis

Kamal and Shamini Kumaresan defeated Malaysian combo of Ying Ho and Chee Feng Leong 11-5 11-8 11-8 in the third round.
   
They had spanked Uganda's Paul Moody Mutambuze and Ludia Magandlen Natunga 11-4 11-4 11-4 in the second round.
   
Amalraj and Madhurika Patkar too made it to the next round after beating Dexter St Louis and Reann Chung of Trinidad and Tobago 11-4 11-9 9-11 11-4.

They had earlier beaten another Trinidad and Tobago pair Aaron Wilson and Catherine Spicer 11-4 11-8 11-9.
   
In men's doubles, Sharath and Amalraj thrashed Simasiku Kalaluka and Friday Ng'andu of Zambia 3-0 (11-6 11-4 11-3).
   
In women's singles, Manika Batra thrashed New Zealand's Annie Yang 11-5 11-3 11-6 11-6, while Madhurika Patkar defeated Sri Lanka's Ishara Madurangi 12-10 11-9 11-6 and Shamini Kumaresan eked out a 11-3 6-11 11-4 9-11 11-9 8-11 11-7 win over Ganiat Ogundele of Nigeria.
   
However, Soumyajit Ghosh and Poulomi Ghatak went down fighting 2-3 (11-9 10-12 11-8 1-11 8-11) against England's S Walker and K le Fevre in the third round mixed doubles match.

The duo had beaten Tabish Khurshid and Abeera Sheikh 11-8 11-5 11-4 in the second round.
   
Soumyajit, though, teamed up with Harmeet Desai to defeat Trinidad and Tobago's Yuvraaj Dookram and Aaron Wilson 3-0 (11-6 11-7 11-6) in men's doubles second round.
   
Batra and Sanil Shetty too failed to cross the third round after they were outsmarted by Tengteng Liu and Karen Li 11-6 12-10 11-8.

The Indian pair had earlier trounced Trevor Farley and Sherrice Felix of Barbados 11-2 11-5 11-3 in the second round.

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Chess Olympiad: Top stars missing but Indian team in 'high spirit'

Anand, having last played the event in 2004 in Spain, is giving it a miss again and the second-highest rated ever and fast climbing P Harikrishna is also not playing this time.
   
However the team has in-form Parimarjan Negi, who had a good show in the just concluded Politiken cup, and B Adhiban, who won the Biel Masters open just a few days back, in addition to M R Lalith Babu and S P Sethuraman who all, on their day, are formidable opponents. Sasikiran at 33, is the oldest member in the team.
   
Seeded 19th among a record participation of 179 countries this time, the Indian team can do better than its billing provided Sasikiran, Negi and Adhiban remain at the top of their game.
   
The Indian women team will again miss the services of top star Koneru Humpy who has not been a part of the chess Olympiad for some time now. Humpy is getting married just a few days after the Olympiad.
   
Dronavalli Harika will be the star among the Indian eves that came up with a flourish to finish fourth last time in the biennial event. Seeded fifth this time, the team comprises Tania Sachdev, Mary Ann Gomes, Eesha Karavade and Padmini Rout. There are 139 teams in women’s competition.
   
The chance of an encore for the Indian eves or bettering their performance will heavily rely on the performance by Harika and Tania Sachdev, who had won a personal bronze medal for her performance last year.

The Russian team starts as the rating favourite in the open section while in the women’s, its China that has the highest average rating. The event will be played on FIDE’s Swiss system. For every win, a team will get two match points and one in case of a tied result.
   
It will also be the first daylight Olympiad as the sun does not set in Tromso in the present period.

Less than 2000 KMs from the North Pole, Tromso has been the starting point for the Polar expeditions for more than 200 years now.
   
The focus will be chess though and the presence of most of the top stars of the world makes it a unique event.

World Champion Magnus Carlsen will be the biggest star representing the local team. Also present will be Vladimir Kramnik and Sergey Karjakin for Russia, Levon Aronian for Armenia and Veselin Topalov for Bulgaria.
   
Among the women, Judit Polgar of Hungary will be cynosure of all eyes playing in the open section.

Yifan Hou, the women's world champion will don the first board for China while new import Kateryna Lahno will play under the Russian flag for the first time.

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'Returning' Serena on song in WTA return at Stanford

The American world number one, playing for the first time since her third-round singles exit at Wimbledon, showed no sign of illness or rust as she rolled to victory over the 45th-ranked Czech in 64 minutes.
   
After enjoying a first-round bye, the top seed punched her ticket to the quarter-finals of the WTA hardcourt tournament where she'll face the winner of Thursday's second-round match between former world number one Ana Ivanovic and Canadian qualifier Carol Zhao.
   
Williams has captured titles at Brisbane, Miami and Rome in 2014, but she has failed to add to her tally of 17 Grand Slam singles titles and the US Open offers her last chance this year to do so.
   
After falling in the third round of singles play at Wimbledon, Williams looked wobbly in a second-round doubles match from which she and her sister Venus eventually retired.
   
Since then Serena had withdrawn from a tournament in Bastad but she said this week her time off had helped her recover from a virus and she showed no ill-effects on Wednesday.
   
"She had a really good serve," Williams said of Pliskova, who kept the first set close but finally surrendered the frame when Williams broke her in the final game.   

Williams broke again in the second game en route to a 3-0 lead in the second and broke Pliskova to love to close out the match when the Czech belted a forehand long.
   
Williams saved all three break points she faced in the match and fired nine aces.
   
"I think I played really well," Williams said.

"I'm on the right path. I'm excited and I'm looking forward to my next match,” she added.

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England game was dream come true, says Suarez

"I have been thinking about this, it was something I dreamed about happening quite a lot," he told reporters.

             

"I'm enjoying this moment, because of all I suffered, the criticism I received. So there you go," he said.

             

Suarez scored with a clever first-half header and struck the winner five minutes from time with a trademark powerful shot to almost certainly eliminate England from the tournament.

             

"Before the game too many people in England laughed about my attitude over the last few years," he said. "This is a very good time for me. I want to see what they think now,” he added.

             

"It was one of the best games I've played. It's an amazing moment for me. Maybe a few days ago I thought this wouldn't be possible," he said.

             

The controversial Liverpool striker had knee surgery last month and missed the opening game against Costa Rica, so he was also keen to pay tribute to his doctor Walter Ferreira.

             

"If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here," Suarez said.

             

Recalling his winning goal, Suarez, who has served lengthy bans in England for racially abusing and biting opponents, said he wanted to dedicate it to those people who had stuck with him.

             

"When I saw the ball I closed my eyes and kicked it for all the things I went through, for the people that supported me," he said, his voice cracking. "And it went in.

             

"Nobody could have imagined a match like this," the 27-year-old said.

             

Uruguay joined Italy and Costa Rica, who play on Friday, on three points at the top of the group.

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ICC investigations into corruption critical, says Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar, who bid adieu to the game last year after playing 200 Test matches, said the ICC's probe into corruption into cricket are "critical for the game".
   
"I think the concerned people are taking really important steps because it is critical for the game to make sure that the spectators watch a fair competition," Tendulkar told reporters here.
   
Tendulkar was referring to the ongoing investigations by the ICC, the contents of which, including some testimonies of players, were leaked to the media leading to a furore.
   
The 41-year-old, who is here on a promotional tour, was also all excited about picking up his bat for the first time after retirement for an exhibition match in which he wouldb play with West Indian legend Brian Lara.
   
Tendulkar and Lara would turn up for the Marylebone Cricket Club XI to mark the MCC's 200th anniversary.  The Tendulkar-led team will take on a World XI captained by former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne in an ODI match on July 5.
   
"We (himself and Lara) played for the same team and we had a wonderful partnership. So I'm hoping for another one this time," he said.
   
"It's always been a joy to play against him. I loved watching Brian scoring runs against other nations, not India," Tendulkar said.
   
The Indian said Singapore can be a force to reckon with in international cricket.
   
"I don't see any reason why not... whenever we played here in Singapore, the response was really good," said Tendulkar.
   
"As a cricketer I feel proud that various nations are taking initiatives in constructing state-of-the-art stadiums and making sure that every measure is taken to globalise the game," he said.

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We partied all night after IPL triumph, says KKR's Shakib Al Hasan

"We partied the whole night. I reached to my room at 3.30 am, but they (teammates) called me to rejoin the celebrations, so I went came back to my room at 5 am," KKR all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan told mid-day.

"I needed to pack my bags as I had to catch a flight to Mumbai to attend the Ceat Awards, so I ended up lying on my bed for just half-an-hour," the Bangladeshi added.

Manish Pandey's 50-ball 94 ensured KKR emerged champions for the second time. Batting first, Kings XI Punjab scored a massive 199-4 — thanks to Wriddhiman Saha's brilliant 115. In reply, KKR chased the target with three balls to spare.

'A prefect chase'

"The 2012 triumph will be the most memorable because we won the title for the first time. This time we won nine matches at a stretch including the final. We can't believe it," said the 27-year-old.

Shakib felt KKR always had control of the game. "Although we lost wickets, we never got bogged down with the pressure of chasing 200. I would say it was a prefect chase — 10 runs an over. We never fell short till the 19th over," he said.

Shakib heaped praise on man-of-the-match Pandey: "When I look back at the initial part of the tournament, we lost four of the first six games. But once we started winning, we began dominating. As far as the final goes our major batsmen scored runs, but we could chase such a big score because of one man - Manish Pandey. He should have got a 100," he said.

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Pele's son sentenced to 33 years in prison for money laundering

Edinho, who played as a goalkeeper for his father's former club Santos, served a jail sentence for drug trafficking between 2005 and 2006. At the time, he admitted to being a drug addict but denied trafficking charges.
             
He was found guilty of money-laundering on Friday by a judge in the beachside city of Praia Grande. Four other men accused of being part of the same gang received similar sentences.
             
Edinho, whose real name is Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, is expected to appeal against the judge's decision but must hand over his passport to the authorities. He may be preventively arrested while a higher court considers his appeal.
             
Edinho, 43, currently works as a goalkeeping coach for Santos. His lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
             
Pele, widely regarded as the best footballer of all time, helped Brazil win the World Cup three times. Brazil is hosting this year's World Cup from June 12-July 13.

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