Liverpool's Sadio Mane marked his return from injury with a late goal to break Norwich City's resistance and secure a 1-0 win on Saturday to extend his side's Premier League lead to 25 points.
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.
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.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
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.
Sania Mirza reacted with delight at her being recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, describing it as the "most amazing" development.
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.
Criticisms from all corners for FIFA's new video technology
Fourth seeds Paes and Lukas Dlouhy rallied to a three-set win against Yves Allegro of Switzerland and Fabrice Santoro of France.
Celebrate the Legend's 80th birthday by recording a song on Rediff IShare.
Leander Paes won the battle of Indians as well as his 10th Grand Slam title after defeating old pal Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles in the US Open men's doubles final along with his partner Lukas Dlouhy.
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 men's doubles final at the US Open will be a showdown between former partners Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi. Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy avenged the defeat they suffered in last year's final by beating Bob and Mike Bryan in the men's doubles semi-finals on Wednesday, while third seeds Bhupathi and Mark Knowles easily beat fifth seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the other semi 6-4, 6-2.
Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles entered the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open after beating Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia and Michael Llodra from France in the quarter-finals of the tournament.Earlier, Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the semi-finals, beating seventh seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Leander Paes is seen with wife Rhea Pillai and daughter Aiyana in a New York restaurant.
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.
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.
'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'
Champions VfL Wolfsburg surged back from a goal down to beat Cologne 3-1 on Saturday to stay top of the Bundesliga after two matches.
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.
Robbie Keane scored twice to help Tottenham Hotspur claim a 3-0 victory over Hull City in the final of the Premier League's Asia Trophy on Friday.
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.
French Open champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy fell at the first hurdle in the men's doubles at Wimbledon, losing to James Blake and Mardy Fish on Thursday. The third seeded pair, who was losing semi-finalists at the championships last year, were handed a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 drubbing by the unseeded Americans.
Drawn against each other in the opening round of the clay-court championships, Paes will team up with Russia's Nadia Petrova, while Bhupathi will partner China's Jie Zhang.
Leander Paes and Lucas Dlouhy staged a magnificent recovery to beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie and Belgium's Dick Norman and win the men's doubles title at the French Open in Paris on Saturday. The third seeded Indo-Czech pair turned in a solid display after losing the first set to emerge 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 winners over their unseeded opponents in the final that lasted a hundred minutes.
Leander Paes kept the Indian challenge alive at the French Open. Partnering Lukas Dlouhy, he advanced to the men's doubles semi-finals on Monday after a thwarting a late challenge from fifth seeds Bruno Soares of Brazil and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe. The Indo-Czech duo won 6-2, 7-6(5) to set up a meeting with either top seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada/Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia or Russians Igor Kunitsyn/Dmitry Tursunov in the semi-finals.
Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi moved through to the Australian Open mixed doubles final after a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 win over the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova and Lukas Dlouhy in Melbourne on Friday.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy edged past the local pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3), 6-3 to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals at the French Open on Saturday.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles thrashed Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach 6-3, 6-1 to enter the final of the men's doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday. They meet second seeded Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, who beat the fourth seed pair of Leander Paes/Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-3 in the other semi-final.
A tired and weakened Germany got their Asian Tour got off to a lacklustre start when they were held to a 1-1 draw by a young China team in an international friendly on Friday. Showing the clear effects of a gruelling season, Germany needed an equaliser from Lukas Podolski to cancel out Hao Junmin's opener and avoid an embarrassing defeat to the Chinese, who are 95 places below them in the FIFA rankings.
Indian players had a brilliant day at the Australian Open amid soaring temperatures, Leander Paes advancing to the men's doubles semi-finals and Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza also making the last-four stage in the mixed doubles in Melbourne on Wednesday. Paes and Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, beat unseeded Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-6(5), while Sania and Bhupathi beat Canadians Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-4, 10-5.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sailed into the second round of the French Open men's doubles with a straight-sets win over locals Sebastien de Chaunac and Benoit Paire in Paris on Wednesday night. The third seeds won 6-1, 6-3 and set up a clash with another unseeded duo, James Cerretani and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian-American pair defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Ivan Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in another first round match.
Leander Paes and his partner Lukas Dlouhy entered the quarterfinals of the euro 2,750,000 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco, defeating unseeded Spaniard duo of Albert Montanes and Tommy Robredo in a match tie-breaker.
Here are five talking points from the weekend's action in La Liga.
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.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy crashed out of the Miami Masters after a shocking straight sets defeat at the hands of the unseeded Czech-Slovak pair of Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in the men's doubles second round. The Indo-Czech combine went down 3-6, 3-6 in the just over an hour. In a match that was surprisingly lop-sided, the fourth seeds were left to rue missed opportunities, as they frittered away three break-points in the first set itself.
Friday's showdown will be the 40th meeting between the duo with Rafael Nadal leading 24-15 and 10-3 in Grand Slams.
India's top ranked player Somdev Devvarman and number two Prakash Amritraj have been awarded wildcards for the men's singles main draw at the $ 450,000 ATP Chennai Open to be held at the SDAT, Nungambakkam Stadium, from January 5-11 next year.
