A thrilling contest is on the cards Monday when India and Pakistan clash here at the Tony Ireland Stadium for a place in the semifinal of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Both India (2000, 2008) and Pakistan (2004, 2006) have won the title twice. Though India enjoys an overall 9-7 record against Pakistan in [...]

TOWNSVILLE: Medium pacer Ravikant Singh returned with a five-for as Indian colts thumped minnows Papua New Guinea by 107 runs to enter the quarterfinals of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, on Thursday. Ravikant produced a fine seam bowling display to bundle out Papua New Guinea for meagre 97 runs in 32 overs in pursuit of [...]

Luis Suarez scored in the 53rd and 58th minutes to lead Uruguay past Peru 2-0 on Tuesday and into the Copa America final. Uruguay, which reached the semifinals of last year’s World Cup, will be looking for a record-15th Copa America title in Sunday’s final against either Paraguay or Venezuela, which meet in the other [...]

Forty years ago George Harrison organised a concert for Bangladesh. Bob Dylan and Ravi Shankar played, and the Indian maestro teased his American audience by saying that since they liked his tuning up so much they were bound to appreciate his music.In those days Bangladesh was a new country beset by problems and its people [...]

New Delhi: Sachin Tendulkar has achieved just about every individual accolade in cricket and holds an almost divine status in India, where the TV audience soars every time he goes out to bat.However, his 21-year international career is missing one notable achievement: a World Cup title. That adds to the pressure on India, which is [...]

DOHA: The on-going Asian Cup has put the spotlight on Qatar after its controversial success in winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup, but a glaring lack of atmosphere and fans has done it no favours.According to documents published by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the energy-rich Gulf state earmarked 27 million pounds ($43 million) [...]

Saina Nehwal continued her giant strides, breaking through the ‘Great Wall of China’ with five international titles to become the world number two as Indian badminton rode on her success to rise in profile in a highly successful 2010. After a highly promising last year during which she won the Indonesian title, Saina proved once [...]

ICC World Cup NEW DELHI: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have joined hands with the aim of putting on a memorable World Cup as cricket’s showpiece event is played in South Asia for the third time.A hundred days ahead of the February 17 opening ceremony in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka, the International Cricket Council [...]

Johannesburg: Victories — and defeats — don’t come any tougher than this.Uruguay survived when Ghana missed a penalty kick at the very end of extra time, then won the shootout 4-2 after a 1-1 draw on Friday. The wild win sent the South Americans into the World Cup semifinals for the first time in 40 [...]

Johannesburg: Germany’s players chided Argentina for the second straight day on Thursday, with captain Philipp Lahm accusing their World Cup  quarterfinal opponents of being aggressive and provocative on the field.Lahm’s comments followed similar remarks by Bastian Schweinsteiger on Wednesday in which the midfielder said Argentina showed no respect for their opponents or referees.The German comments [...]

Johannesburg: Spain coach Vicente del Bosque believes his players are ready to make history: They can start by winning a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time.Surprisingly, Spain has never advanced to a semifinal match at a World Cup in four opportunities between 1934 and 2002.Standing in its way at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park on Saturday [...]

Potchefstroom: Fernando Llorente’s World Cup debut for Spain played a big part in turning around the team’s fortunes against Portugal.Llorente replaced the fading Fernando Torres in the 59th minute on Tuesday, and his introduction changed the dynamic of Spain’s attack.Four minutes later, David Villa scored the goal that sent the European champions into the quarterfinals [...]

Goalkeeper Justo Villar says his Paraguay lineup has a game plan to stop European champion Spain in the World Cup quarterfinals: “Don’t give them any space.” Villar, who turned 33 on Wednesday, plays for Valladolid in the Spanish league, so he has a good idea of what to expect in the quarterfinal at Ellis Park [...]

Johannesburg: Argentina striker Carlos Tevez says his hunger for a World Cup title is so great “I can’t even imagine not winning the cup.”Tevez has become a national hero at home after his two goals against Mexico set up a quarterfinal clash against Germany. He told Argentine newspaper Clarin that he could not bear to [...]

David Villa finished off a move of Spanish perfection to finally break down Portugal’s defensive wall on Tuesday and give the European champions a 1-0 win and spot in the World Cup quarterfinals. Villa scored his fourth goal of the tournament in the 63rd minute, while Cristiano Ronaldo again failed to inspire Portugal. A trademark [...]

Port Elezabeth: South Korea will try to apply lessons learned in its group-stage defeat to Argentina when it faces another Latin American opponent — Uruguay — in the round of 16 on Saturday.It’s the first of two second-round matchups pitting Asia against Latin America, the continents with the most to be pleased about at this [...]