NEW DELHI: Riding on the explosive opening stand between Dwayne Smith (62) and Aditya Tare (35), Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals by 4 wickets to enter the IPL 6 final at the Eden Gardens. Mumbai will face twice champions Chennai Super Kings in the summit clash on Sunday. Chasing 166-run target, Smith scored quick-fire 44-ball 62, which included two sixes and six fours, to lead the Mumbai run chase.

PARIS: Roger Federer hailed Rafael Nadal's barnstorming return to duty as "amazing" on Friday before turning his attentions to his own ironman efforts which see him playing in a 54th consecutive Grand Slam. Nadal, bidding for an unprecedented eighth French Open title, is the overwhelming favourite, having won six titles in eight finals since resuming his career after a seven-month injury lay-off.

NEW DELHI: The raging spot-fixing saga in the IPL turned murkier Thursday with controversial Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf being withdrawn by the ICC from next month's Champions Trophy in UK for his alleged role in the scandal which is growing bigger by the day. A week after the sensational arrest of India paceman S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals team-mates on charges of spot-fixing, Rauf's pull-out from the June 6-23 Champions Trophy added a new twist to the fast unfolding drama.

NEW DELHI: The Union Law Ministry is mulling a new anti-fixing legislation after the latest scandal in the Indian Premier League with three Rajasthan Royals cricketers arrested for spot-fixing and other under the scanner, Sports Minister Jitendra SIngh said in Delhi on Thursday. “We are in touch with the Home Ministry and the Law Ministry to work out the law. We will consult the Attorney General before moving forward,” said Singh.

NEW DELHI: Rajasthan Royals will face Mumbai Indians in IPL Qualifier 2 after Brad Hodge's onslaught helped them beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4-wickets in their Eliminator match at Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi. Brad Hodge (54* off 29) completely destroyed the Hyderabad bowling attack with the help of 2 boundaries and 5 stunning sixes. Hodge's stupendous innings resurrected the Rajasthan Royals run chase and his 45-run partnership with Sanju Samson for the sixth wicket kept the Royals in conten

KOZHIKODE: Kerala Cricket Association secretary T C Mathew said they have the same stand as that of the BCCI in the spot fixing case. The KCA will support the investigation of the BCCI. Addressing reporters here, Mathew said they will neither support nor oppose Sreesanth arrested in the spot fixing case.

In his first public statement since his arrest last week, Sreesanth has denied any wrongdoing. Sreesanth and his two Rajasthan Royals team-mates, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, who were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing, were remanded on Tuesday by a Delhi court to a further five days in police custody and charged by Delhi Police under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with criminal breach of trust and is a non-bailable offence.

New Delhi: The scandal-hit IPL on Tuesday suffered yet another blow with the Sahara Group-owned Pune Warriors India withdrawing from the cash-rich event due to BCCI's decision to encash the team's bank guarantee following a prolonged financial dispute.

NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings sealed berth in the finals of sixth edition of the Indian Premier League by thrashing Mumbai Indians by 48 runs in the first qualifier at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police on Tuesday said that S Sreesanth - accused of spot-fixing in IPL match spent Rs 1.9 lakhs on clothes in a single day in Mumbai ahead of his team's match at the Wankhede on May 15. The former Rajasthan Royals' player was arrested on the night of the 16th.

GUNTUR (Andhra Pradesh): Kerala vaulters ruled the roost with Mariya Jaison winning the gold medal with a new height of 3.20-metre in the 10th National Youth Athletics Championships here Sunday. On the second day of the meet, Jaison eclipsed the previous mark of 2.82m held by state-mate Sinju Prakash. However, Mariya could not succeed in her attempt to break Sinju`s national mark of 3.30-metre.

CHENNAI: Rajasthan Royals will file a criminal complaint against its three cricketers arrested for spot-fixing even as a rattled BCCI said it would follow the rulebook before handing down punishment to the tainted trio, while unveiling measures to check corruption in the IPL.

DHARAMSALA: Kings XI Punjab produced an all-round show as they ended their Pepsi Indian Premier League campaign on a winning note with a 50-run humiliation of Mumbai Indians on Saturday. Riding on fine half centuries from Azhar Mahmood (80) and Shaun Marsh (63), Punjab pocketed a big total of 183 for four after being put in to bat and then shot Mumbai out for 133 in 19.1 overs at the picturesque HPCA Stadium.

NEW DELHI: Already under fire over spot-fixing controversy, Rajasthan Royals faced another embarrassment on Friday as they lost their last IPL encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 23 runs to stay third in points table. Chasing a meagre 137, Rajasthan Royals were restricted to just 113/9 by Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium. After a brisk 40-run opening stand, Rajasthan Royals lost wickets at regular intervals.

ROME: Novak Djokovic can't seem to find any consistency on clay courts. And with French Open less than 10 days away, he will enter Roland Garros on the back of two early losses. The top-ranked Serb wasted a chance to serve out the match and was beaten 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 by sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych in the Italian Open quarterfinals Friday. It's the second consecutive week that Djokovic has struggled, having also lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Madrid Open, where he was bothered

NEW DELHI: Former captain Sunil Gavaskar on Friday suggested that BCCI should approach senior players such as Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni to bring about improvements in system so that youngsters could be stopped from going astray. "What the BCCI can do is to ask the guys on the ground, guys like Dhoni, Tendulkar, Kumble and Dravid. They should come together because they know what was exactly happening on the ground

MUMBAI: One of the bookies arrested, and named as Amit Kumar, is actually Amit Singh, a former Rajasthan Royals player who was released by the franchise last year.

KOLKATA: Former India captain, Sourav Ganguly on Thursday said the three cricketers accused of spot-fixing should be "banned" for life if found guilty. Stunned by the spot-fixing scandal that has thrown the cash-rich Indian Premier League into a massive crisis, Ganguly said: "I am disappointed and angry at what has happened. If found guilty they should be banned for life."

HYDERABAD: Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid was "shocked" and "distressed" after three of his players, including pacer S Sreesanth, were arrested for their alleged involvement in spot-fixing in the on-going IPL. "I am shocked, disappointed and distressed by the events that have resulted in the arrests last night and this morning," Dravid said on Thursday on the eve of their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

LONDON: David Beckham, who starred for Manchester United, Real Madrid and England's national team before heading to the United States and Paris, is retiring. The news was confirmed Thursday by England's Football Association. The midfielder played his first game for Manchester United in 1992 and eventually rose to become captain of England's international team for more than 50 games, including several World Cup tournaments. He appeared in 115 matches for the squad.

NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry Thursday asked Indian Premier League authorities to hand deterrent punishment to three cricketers allegedly involved in spot-fixing if they are found guilty and said the Board should ensure that such unethical incidents do not happen in future.

MUMBAI: Dismayed at their player Ankit Chavan's alleged spot-fixing role in the Indian Premier League for which the Rajasthan Royals player has been arrested with two other teammates, Mumbai Cricket Association called for severe action against him if found guilty.

NEW DELHI: Sports Minister Jitender Singh addressing a press conference on Thursday said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has decided to pave the way to lift ban on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Indian sportspersons will soon able to join the Olympics.

If Rajasthan Royals have been the sly foxes of the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League 2013, Mumbai Indians have been the elephant in the jungle. Mumbai might be a touch predictable at times, and work to a set plan, but when it does come off, they end up trampling whoever is in their path. On Wednesday (May 15), Rajasthan fought hard in the first half to keep Mumbai down to 166 on a belter of a batting surface,

NEW DELHI: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne today agreed to India’s re-entry into the Olympics fold after the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) agreed to hold fresh elections.

NEW DELHI: After setting a challenging 169, Chennai Super Kings restricted Delhi Daredevils to just 135/9, securing a comfortable 33-run victory at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Tuesday. The thumping victory placed Chennai on top of the table. Except skipper David Warner, no Delhi batsmen stood firm against the Chennai attack. Albie Morkel finished with an impressive figure of 3/32 while Mohit Sharma, R Ashwin and Dwayne Bravo claimed two Delhi wickets each.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court directed Chennai Corporation to de-seal three stands with 12,000 seats in M A Chidambaram Stadium for Tuesday's IPL match between Chennai Super kings and Delhi Daredevils.

MUMBAI: Kieron Pollard hit eight sixes off 27 balls, apart from two fours, and finished on an unbeaten 66 to engineer the most remarkable turnaround for Mumbai Indians on Monday night.