One of the most favourite activities of Christmas is decorating the Christmas tree. From England to Lebanon, here are some of 2016's most over-the-top Christmas trees.
Sweden goalkeeper Patrik Carlgren saved two penalties as they beat Portugal 4-3 in a shootout following a 0-0 draw in the Euro Under-21 Championship final.
Australia reached a second successive Davis Cup final when Alex de Minaur overpowered Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4 6-3 after Alexei Popyrin beat Otto Virtanen 7-6(5) 6-2 to earn the 28-time champions a 2-0 win over Finland on Friday.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic entered the semifinals in men's doubles while another Indian Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau lost 5-7, 3-6 to the 10th-seeded British-Australian pair of Jamie Murray and Casey Dellacqua in the mixed doubles pre-quarters at the Wimbledon Championships in London on Thursday.
'We demand that Russia be held accountable for distorting the concept of genocide to justify aggression. We ask the court to immediately order Russia to cease hostilities and schedule a hearing next week'
The 32-year-old midfielder retired from international football because of persistent injury, the Czech soccer federation said.
Rediff.com brings to you the gold medalists on the fifth day of the competition at the London Games.
In both the matches, Sathiyan staged a strong fightback after losing the first two games.
Russian referee Valentin Ivanov punished Nedved for little more than incidental contact with Danish winger Jesper Gronkjaer.
Lonato Shotgun Worlds: India's male trap shooters disappoint on Day 1
The Czech has now won eight consecutive games at the Caja Magica and will face wildcard Sorana Cirstea or Caroline Garcia in the last 16.
He has not played since the last group game against Czech Republic when he picked up a groin injury.
Here are some shots of top-class action from the Winter Games...
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi easily advanced to the quarter-finals of the US $ 2,615,000 Cincinnati Masters tournaments along with their respective partners. The sixth seeded pair of Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic defeated Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and Rogier Wassen of Netherlands 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. Meanwhile, Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles got a walkover from Czech pair Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
Eighth seed Barty joins 1969, 1970 and 1973 champion Margaret Court and 1971 winner Evonne Goolagong-Cawley on the list of Australian women who have lifted the trophy here in the professional era.
India's Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova defeated unseeded pair of Canada's Gabriela Dabrowski and Spain's Maria Jose Martina Sanchez 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 to enter the Toray Pan Pacific Open final, in Tokyo on Friday.
Thousands of guest sat at the table set up on the famous Charles Bridge in Prague on Tuesday sharing food and drinks they had brought from home.
The top-seeded Indian team of Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Purav Raja moved into the men's doubles quarter-finals of the Bengaluru Open after prevailing over Croatia's Borna Gojo and Bulgaria's Dimitar Kuzmanov, in Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
In the second round, Anand lost the first of the two-game mini-match to Rapport with black pieces. The second game ended in a draw with the Indian playing with white pieces.
World number four Nikolay Davydenko returned to action on Saturday when he teamed up with Igor Andreev to give Russia a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup quarter-final against the Czech Republic on Saturday. Russian captain Shamil Tarpishchev had left out Davydenko from Friday's singles after he flew in late to Moscow following his triumph in Miami last weekend.
Five-time world champion Mary Kom, who got a direct entry into the 48kg category semi-finals due to the small size of the draw, defeated Ukraine's Hanna Okhota in the semi-finals to be assured of at least a silver.
Argentina came back from the brink to snatch a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic in Saturday's final and capture the World Team Cup for the third time.
Divij Sharan and Purav Raja will make their first ever appearance at a Grand Slam as the Indian duo qualified for the Wimbledon men's doubles event.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza entered the second round of the mixed doubles at the Australian Open after a hard-fought 6-2, 6-4 victory over sixth seeds Kveta Pleschke and Pavel Vizner of Czech Republic in Melbourne on Friday.
Sumit Nagal staged a grand recovery to get the better of Jason Jung of Chinese Taipei 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 and book his place in the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open ATP Challenger in Chennai on Thursday.
When Netherlands striker Robin van Persie put away a spectacular diving header against world champions Spain on a balmy afternoon at last year's World Cup it set them on the way to a 5-1 win and the promise of glory.
The Indo-Czech pair went down in the Tennis Masters Cup semi-finals to third seeds Simon Aspelin of Sweden and Austria's Julian Knowle in straight sets on Saturday.
In wet conditions, Jamaica's six-time Olympic gold medallist clocked 20.13 seconds -- well outside his 19.19 world record -- to beat American Isiah Young, reports the BBC.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic is the top seed in the men's draw which includes five-times US Open champion and 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer as seventh seed - his first time the Swiss has been placed outside the top three in a Grand Slam in over ten years.
Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky has signed a long-term contract with Arsenal for an undisclosed fee
In the women's event, India's D Harika drew with Nino Bastiashvili (Georgia) to move up to four points. She is in joint third place with six others.
Mauro Zarate grabbed an 86th-minute winner as Argentina triumphed in the world Under-20 championship for the sixth time, coming from behind to beat the Czech Republic 2-1 on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo's inspirational form at Euro 2012 has boosted flagging Portuguese self-confidence during a tough time for the country which is struggling to cope with massive debt and painful austerity measures.
Chelsea will be without captain John Terry for Saturday's Premier League match at home to relegation-threatened Wigan Athletic as the centre back has an inflamed knee, manager Rafael Benitez said.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic advanced to the third round, beating Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Filippo Volandri of Italy.
Croatia fans who caused trouble during their team's Euro 2016 match against the Czech Republic on Friday were "sports terrorists" and had no place in football stadiums, the Balkan nation's coach told a news conference. The supporters threw flares on to the pitch and fought among themselves in one section of the Stade Geoffroy Guichard, forcing the Group D game to be interrupted for several minutes while officials and players appealed for calm. "We were exposed to the terror of hooligans who have no place in sports arenas and I sincerely hope they will be identified and brought to justice," said Cacic.
