A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday.
World junior chess champion GM Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan clinched the Dubai Cup.
The Indian woman GM beat Maka Purtseladze of Georgia and moved to joint-second position after the penultimate round in the World Junior Girls' Chess Championship.
In a disappointing sixth round for Indians at the World Junior Chess Championships, the Delhi lad, Tania Sachdev and D Harika were beaten.
Eriksson said he had no problems with Beckham continuing as England captain.
Triple world champion Lewis Hamilton said he still has "the utmost respect" for Formula One title rival Sebastian Vettel after accepting a public apology from the Ferrari driver on Thursday.
India's Viswanathan Anand played out an easy draw against Evgeny Tomashevsky of Russia in the sixth round to remain static in third spot in the 10th Tal Memorial Chess tournament, in Moscow.
Balraj settled for a silver after narrowly losing his 76kg freestyle bout against Russia's Batyrbek Tcakulov as the Indian grapplers returned with two medals from the Cadet World Championship which concluded in Zrenjanin, Serbia.
World No 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan, current World Cup winner Levon Aronian and India number two Harikrishna shared the lead with two points apiece.
P Harikrishna drew with GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan in the first game for the third place match
Lakshaya and Kismat Chopra along with Manavaditya Singh Rathore on Thursday bagged the team bronze in the Men's Trap event as India ended their campaign at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup with a total of 24 medals to grab the second place in the overall standings. India finished with a total of nine gold, five silver and 10 bronze medals as the year's second and final Junior World Cup concluded in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
The Indian ace won the third game and drew the fourth, in the eight-game Mainz Rapid World Championship.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
India's return to Formula One will have to wait until at least 2016, by which time a new race in Azerbaijan could also be on the calendar, commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Wednesday.
He flew to Dubai from Kerala on Febraury 23, bought a cycle, took a ship to the port city of Bandar Abbas, the capital of Hormozgan province on the southern coast of Iran, before embarking on his cycling odyssey to Russia.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Grandmaster Gabriel Sargissian of Armenia won the Abu Dhabi Chess festival, finishing half a point ahead of four rivals.\n
IM Elisabeth Paehtz of Germany and GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan won the girls' and boys' title respectively at the World Junior Chess.
Vinesh wins bronze, Pooja in line for second medal
Speaking exclusively to Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com, the Haryana-based wrestler shed light on the latest reports of Asgarov testing positive and Sakshi Malik's bronze medal feat at the Rio Olympics.
Star India grappler Vinesh Phogat won her second consecutive gold in 53kg
P Harikrishna opted for a quick draw with tournament leader Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan.
Top seeded Shakhriyaz Mamedyarov strengthened his position at the top in the World Jr. chess, maintaining a ghalf point lead.
Pop star Lady Gaga sang John Lennon's Imagine sitting at a flower-covered piano as the inaugural European Games.
Draws ruled the roost in the 8th round as players were only willing to consolidate their position in the Dubai International Chess Championship.
The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning in January 2014.
The England captain will not face disciplinary action after telling a newspaper he deliberately got himself booked in a World Cup qualifier against Wales.
The world junior champion finished sixth following a draw with Lenier Dominguez of Cuba in the ninth and final round of the Dos Hermanas International Chess tournament.
The Liverpool midfielder fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot in the Premier League match against Manchester United.
On Wednesday Wayne Rooney will line up alongside Owen as World Cup qualifying Group Six leaders England tackle Azerbaijan in Newcastle.
GMs S S Ganguly and Harikrishna finished eighth and ninth respectively.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) stormed into the quarter-finals, while the experienced Manoj Kumar (64kg) entered the last-16 stage in the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament after notching comprehensive victories in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Kasimdzhanov, playing black, easily split points with the second seed in the first game of the World chess championship final.
Top seed GM Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria drew his first game against GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan in the semi-final of the World Chess championship.
