'We aren't playing well and we can't blame the coach, as the players are the ones who have to perform on the pitch'
Arsene Wenger played down an incident that led to the arrest of a Southampton fan after his Arsenal side went down 2-0 on the south coast on Thursday.
An injury time goal from Lukas Podolski rescued a 2-2 friendly draw for Germany against Ivory Coast on Wednesday, the home team's first game since last week's suicide of keeper Robert Enke.
The Indian challenge in the ATP Paris Masters tennis tournament ended after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, along with their respective partners, crashed out of the doubles event following unexpected second-round defeats.
The second seeded Indo-Czech pair beat the German-Belgian combination 2-6, 7-6(6), 10-7 in the semi-finals of the US $1,619,500 hard court event.
Her protege Tintu Luka has already broken the two-minute barrier in 800m and legendary P T Usha feels the best is yet to come for the 21-year-old who can be a bet for an Olympic medal that eluded the former track-queen in the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
With Somdev Devvarman qualifying for the singles event, all the members of the Indian Davis Cup team are now set to compete in the $1,619,500 Dubai Tennis Championships, beginning in Dubai on Monday.
On a mixed day for India, defending champions and third seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out but Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi entered the men's doubles second round of the US Open in New York.
Leander Paes kept himself in contention for twin titles after making the quarter-finals of both men's doubles and mixed doubles events at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Rafa Nadal dispelled any concerns over his fitness and form at the Australian Open with an impressive second-round win over Slovakia's Lukas Lacko on Wednesday.
Indian shuttlers Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhat and Anand Pawar advanced to the second round of the men's singles at Bitburger Open badminton tournament in Germany on Wednesday.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy had to be content with a runner-up finish at the ATP Brisbane International event after the top seeded duo lost the summit clash to Marc Gicquel and Jeremy Chardy in straight sets.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy on Friday earned a shot at the title of the season opener ATP Brisbane International event after overcoming a second set lapse against Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in Brisbane.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy advanced to the semi-finals of the doubles event of the ATP Brisbane International after getting a walk over from the local pair of Ashley Fisher and Stephen Huss on Thursday.
Criticisms from all corners for FIFA's new video technology
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dloughy moved into the semi-final of the men's doubles and were joined by Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas.
Tottenham Hotspur maintained their push for a Premier League top-four finish with a well-deserved 2-0 home win over struggling London rivals West Ham United on Monday.
Friday's showdown will be the 40th meeting between the duo with Rafael Nadal leading 24-15 and 10-3 in Grand Slams.
Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi took contrasting routes to the doubles quarter-finals in the Internazionali BNL D'Italia tennis tournament in Rome on Thursday. Third seeds Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy swamped Ivo Karlovic and Dusan Vemic 6-1, 6-1, while fourth seeded Bhupathi and his Bahamian teammate Mark Knowles survived some torrid moments before beating unheralded Simon Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 2-6, 10-3.
Werder Bremen snatched a 1-1 draw at VfB Stuttgart thanks to Anthony Ujah's second-half equaliser in a relegation derby of former German champions on Sunday to stay one point above the relegation zone.
Arsenal striker Lukas Podolski scored twice in the opening half-hour as the Premier League leaders romped to a 4-0 win over third-tier Coventry City in their FA Cup fourth round tie at the Emirates on Friday.
Sania Mirza reacted with delight at her being recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, describing it as the "most amazing" development.
Unfazed by the early exit from ATP World Tour Finals, ace Indian tennis player Leander Paes on Saturday said he and his doubles partner Lukas Dlouhy had a fantastic year winning two Grand Slam titles and hoped to come back stronger next season.
Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy rounded off their disappointing campaign at the season ending World Tour Finals with their third successive defeat in London on Friday.
Indian ace Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy suffered a straight-set defeat against American Byran brothers Bob and Mike to be out of contention for a semi-final spot in the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action in La Liga.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy's chances of making the knockout stage of the ATP World Tour Finals' doubles event suffered a jolt after they were handed a straight-set defeat by debutants Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach in their opening Group B match in London on Monday.
Croatia captain Darijo Srna says he is ready to play against the Czech Republic at Euro 2016 on Friday following the death of his father. Srna's father passed away during Croatia's opening 1-0 Group D win over Turkey on Sunday and the right back rejoined the squad after travelling home for Monday's funeral. "It is a very difficult moment for me and my family and after talking to them, I decided to return to France," he told a news conference on Thursday ahead of the match in St Etienne.
Teenager Joel Matip made a dream Bundesliga debut on Saturday, heading in Schalke 04's equaliser to help his team draw 1-1 at Bayern Munich and remain in fourth spot, four points off the pace.
Real Madrid star forward Cristiano Ronaldo has beaten Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the first time to clinch La Liga's best player award among a hat-trick of awards he won at the Spanish top flight's annual gala.
The ace cueist, the only Indian in the fray in the men's category, proved too good for Alex Borg of Malta in a 6-0 victory to improve upon his showing at the last championship when he was ousted in the quarter-finals in Bengaluru by Yan Bingtao 4-6 of China.
La Liga champions Barcelona slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat at struggling Leganes and Real Madrid were resoundingly beaten 3-0 by Sevilla on Wednesday as Spain's two biggest clubs lost on the same day for the first time since January, 2015.
Italy midfielder Antonio Candreva gave a dazzling performance as he scored a penalty and set up a second goal in a 2-0 win over Finland in their fast-paced final Euro 2016 warm-up in Verona on Monday. The 29-year-old winger coolly converted a 27th-minute spot kick after being brought down and delivered an inch-perfect cross for Daniele De Rossi to head home midway through the second half. Thriving on the right flank in an adventurous 3-4-3 formation, Candreva was a handful for the visitors throughout the evening, showing blistering pace as well as neat footwork. With their coach Antonio Conte fielding a three-pronged attack of Stephan El Shaarawy, Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza, the Italians pressed high and hard to keep the Finns on the back foot from the start.
The Indian 4x400m women's relay team, led by Jauna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Anilda Thomas and MR Poovamma, clocked 3.31.39sec to win the gold medal at the PTS Athletics Meeting in Samorin, Slovakia. Only 16 countries are eligible to compete in the relay events of track and field at the Rio Olympics, and as a result of their performance in Slovakia last night, India has improved its 4x400m women quartet's world ranking to 15th position which is a step towards that goal. As per the IAAF regulations, the 2016 OG qualification standards has to be attained between the period, January 1, 2016 to July 11, 2016. The Samorin performance is the Indian relay quartet's second fastest timing and improves its average from two-fastest races to 3:30.24sec.
The Indian women 4x400m relay quartet of Jauna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Anilda Thomas and M R Poovamma enhanced its Rio Olympic Games qualification chances by winning a gold medal at the PTS athletics Grand Prix with an impressive timing of 3:31.39.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Real Madrid's trophy aspirations could well depend on how well they cope with an injury crisis that sees Gareth Bale and Luka Modric in the treatment room.
Marco Asensio's strike earned Real Madrid a 1-0 win over Espanyol to send them top of La Liga and Thomas Lemar scored his first goal for Atletico Madrid in a 2-0 victory at Getafe on Saturday.
Winning the Grand Slam title on physically demanding red clay is 'special' says Indian tennis ace Leander Paes, who clinched his third French Open men's doubles trophy with Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy.
Fourth seeds Paes and Lukas Dlouhy rallied to a three-set win against Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Fabrice Santoro of France.
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