Our Portfolio

Mumbai: Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal Wednesday gave a stunning twist to the raging dope scandal by saying that many athletes and weightlifters had told her in the past that they knowingly consume banned drugs.

"I also know many athletes and weightlifters who themselves tell me that "we take it"," Saina told reporters during a promotional event for Titan watches here.

India was rocked by doping scandal recently with eight top national athletes who got training in National Institute of sports (NIS) failing dope tests.

There were also reports that banned drugs were widely available in chemist shops near the NIS in Patiala.

Asked if she was aware about the availability of banned drugs at medical stores, the world number six said, "I don’t know whether it is available or not. I don’t take it."

Saina, however, felt that lack of awareness about medicines was the major reason behind athletes testing positive for banned drugs in the country.

"It’s really sad they don’t know what they are taking.

I’m sure everyone knows WADA rules, its very common. They have a website which mentions which medicines are banned and which are not. I think its just that they don’t know. Many athletes and weightlifters are not very educated so whatever their coaches give they take that," she said.

(more…)

The World No.1 is dating Maria Francesca Perello who is from his hometown Mallorca. Take a look at some images of the stunning Spanish beauty in these images.

Rafael Nadal and Maria Francesca Perello met when they were in school. While Rafa is 25, his girlfriend is 23 years old.
Source: MSN

Check out the story of the Wimbledon final that squarely belonged to Novak Djokovic

It was a spectacular day for the newly crowned World No.1 tennis player, Novak Djokovic as he hammered past favourite Rafael Nadal to win his maiden Wimbledon title and his second grand slam title of the year 2011. The final was a grand affair and had the cream of world sport assemble in London to watch the big match of the year. Check out the story as it unfolded at the All-England Club

Quiet start

The first nine games of the final went to serve and both players were doing it very good with their first serves. But, with Djokovic serving first in the match, there was always pressure on Nadal to stay in the hunt.

Source: MSN

Ace badminton star from Hyderabad Jwala Gutta, who shot into headlines last year for his alleged affair with former Indian cricket captain and Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin, got separated from her husband Chetan Anand, another top seed badminton player.

The family court in Hyderabad on Wednesday granted divorce to Jwala and Chetan, after making all attempts to counsel them and keep them together.

The couple applied for divorce in August 2010 and both of them have since been living separately. The 27-year-old Jwala, a top-seeded mixed doubles player ranking 10 in the world badminton rankings, had a love marriage with Chetan Anand on July 17, 2005. All was well with them till early 2010 when differences surfaced between the two, following the reports about Jwala’s alleged link-up with Azharuddin.

Though Jwala denied the reports of her affair with Azhar, it was an open secret in the badminton circles that both of them were moving closely together. Both of them were spotted together at the badminton academy in Hyderabad, where Azhar used to drop her and pick her up after practice sessions. That naturally anguished Chetan, who remained separately from Jwala since then.
Source: Greatandhra

She will now meet Sabine Lisicki of Germany for a place in the final. In the other semifinal Petra Kvitova will take on Victoria Azarenka.

Wimbledon: Maria Sharapova’s coach called it "a statement."For exactly one hour of excellence, Sharapova played — and sounded — exactly the way she did when she was a teenager, when it seemed nothing could stop her.

Those powerful-as-ever groundstrokes cut through the grass, landing right where she wanted. Those solid-as-ever service returns flummoxed her overmatched opponent. And those loud-as-ever shrieks bounced around Centre Court, its retractable roof shut to keep out the rain.

Simply put, Sharapova dominated 24th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 Tuesday to reach the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time since 2006 — back in the days before she needed surgery to repair her right shoulder and dealt with doubts about the future of her career.

"I would have loved for it not to have taken that long, but I’m not complaining. It’s the road that you sometimes have to take. It’s not always straight; there are a lot of zigzags. A lot of time, you feel like it’s a dead end," said Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at age 17 at Wimbledon in 2004.

(more…)

LONDON (Reuters) – Defending champion Serena Williams saved four match points before losing 6-3 7-6 to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in the fourth round at Wimbledon on Monday.

The American, seeded seventh after serious health problems, struggled throughout against the ninth-seeded Frenchwoman, making a succession of unforced errors on Court One.

Bartoli took the first set on her sixth set point and she continued to move the 13-times grand slam champion ruthlessly around the court to move to the brink of victory.

She had three match-points in the 12th game of the second set but Williams showed all her battling qualities and great composure to save them and force a tiebreak.

Bartoli continued to serve strongly and she earned another two match points, the first of which Williams saved with an ace, but the Frenchwoman took the second to take the tiebreak 8-6.

"Beating Serena is a dream come true, she is one of the greatest champions of the open era," Bartoli said in a televised interview.

"It was not easy mentally but I did it and I am very happy. She is very imposing. If you look at her it is difficult to handle the pressure so I was just trying to focus on my own game."

Source: Yahoo

The batting ace who is a big fan of Swiss tennis star had a long chat with the latter at SW 19.

London: It takes a lot to bowl over Sachin Tendulkar as bowlers around the world would confess but tennis ace Roger Federer managed to do it just by his knowledge of cricket when the two legends caught up during the Wimbledon here.

Tendulkar, a self-confessed Federer fan, met the winner of 16 Grand Slams at the All England Club after the world number three beat David Nalbandian to advance to the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Tendulkar chatted for an hour with the Swiss and posed with him for the shutterbugs.

"Spent an hour with Roger Federer chatting on the balcony of Wimbledon Royal box. What a humble guy! And by the way he knows a lot about cricket!!" Tendulkar later tweeted.

The two reportedly also had dinner together after Federer’s match.

Federer too talked about his meeting with Tendulkar on his facebook page.

"Today was a special day, played a good match and had the chance to catch up with the great indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar," read the status message on his facebook page.

Source: MSN

Mid-June when the Wimbledon championships take flight, tennis fans and celebrities flock from all corners of the globe to witness the action on the grass courts of SW 19. This year we spotted Sachin Tendulkar, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen accompanied by their wives at Wimbledon. MSN India brings together all these images and more from the oldest Grand Slam tournament.

Look who’s here!

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is introduced to the Centre Court crowd on the sixth day of the 2011 Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the All England Tennis Club.

Source: MSN

The American dropped the first set, before getting her act together, to defeat the Romanian in three sets.

Defending champion Serena Williams recovered from a poor start to defeat Simona Halep 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday and move into the third round of Wimbledon, staying on course for a fifth title.

After dropping the first set, Williams regained her renowned intensity and powerful shot-making to dominate the rest of the way on Court 2. The winner of 13 Grand Slam singles titles is still searching for her form after a yearlong absence because of injuries and health issues.

From 4-2 in the second set, the seventh-seeded American won eight out of the last nine games to re-establish her supremacy.

It was the fourth consecutive three-setter Williams has played since returning last week at the Eastbourne grass-court tournament. She had been out for nearly a year after two foot operations and blood clots in her lungs.

Source: MSN

40-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm gave the five-time champion a tough fight , but ran out of steam to lose 7-6, 3-6, 6-8.

Wimbledon: Five-time champion Venus Williams rallied to outlast Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-7 (6), 6-3, 8-6 in nearly three hours Wednesday to advance to the third round at Wimbledon played under the Centre Court roof.

With rain delaying play on the other courts at the All England Club, Williams and the 40-year-old Date-Krumm produced great shot making under the sliding roof.

Williams relied on her big serve at the key moments to overcome a gutsy challenge from the Japanese player, who was the second oldest woman to reach the second round here in the Open era after Martina Navratilova.

After Date-Krumm hit a backhand passing shot wide to lose her serve on match point, the two players received a standing ovation from the 15,000 spectators.

Source: MSN