Adrian Mutu netted twice to push Fiorentina up to fifth in Serie A with a 3-1 win at Bologna on Monday.
This was Apurvi's second ISSF World Cup gold of the year followed by a world record score in New Delhi in February.
Chile, Austria, Croatia, Israel, Romania and the Netherlands secured places in the World Group of the Davis Cup for 2009 after completing playoff victories in the reverse singles on Sunday.
Victor Hanescu mercilessly crushed India's hopes to make the Davis Cup World Group as he knocked out Prakash Amritraj in the first reverse singles to give Romania an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match playoff tie in Bucharest on Sunday.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka was forced out of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham with a foot injury on Wednesday shortly after defending champion Ana Ivanovic suffered a shock defeat.
Rafael Nadal survived a spirited early attack from American Sam Querrey on Friday, before beating the Davis Cup debutant 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening semi-final rubber in Madrid.
Romania's CFR Cluj shocked AS Roma 2-1 on their Champions League debut on Tuesday but there were no surprises for Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona or Inter Milan who all won their opening group games.
Sergio Ramos equalled Iker Casillas's record of 167 appearances for Spain on an emotional night at Sporting Gijon's El Molinon stadium, which paid tribute to the late Spain and Sporting forward Quini before kickoff.
Former Davis Cup player S P Mishra, manager of the team in the tie against Japan in April, has been appointed non-playing captain for the World Group play-off match against Romania in September.
How the teams stand in the European Football Championship.
CFR Cluj will create the upset of the season if they avoid defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday and help stop last season's beaten finalists advancing to the last 16 of the Champions League. Chelsea have already failed to beat Cluj in the competition having drawn 0-0 in their first meeting in Group A in Romania in October.
Serena Williams shook off the rust and a feisty challenge from Serbia's Ana Ivanovic to open the defence of her WTA Finals title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the opening match of the elite eight-player tournament on Monday.
India's M C Mary Kom (46kg) re-asserted her status as the world's most successful woman boxer, clinching an unprecedented fourth successive gold medal, but India failed to retain the team crown at the fifth AIBA World Championships in Ningbo City, China, on Saturday. In a repeat of the previous World Championship final in New Delhi, the 25-year-old Indian out-punched Romania's Steluta Duta for a 7-1 verdict to grab India's only gold medal at the event.
France coach Didier Deschamps was more than just relieved after his team scored two late goals to beat a stubborn Albania team 2-0 on Wednesday and reach the second round of Euro 2016.
Spain go into the quarter-final against Italy on a roll, looking to extend their unbeaten run to 20 games after winning all three group matches.
Girondins Bordeaux ended the unbeaten Champions League run of surprise package CFR Cluj with a 1-0 win over the Romanian side.
The Champions League burst into life on Tuesday with 36 goals in eight matches, including 24 in just three games, to equal a competition record.
Italy and France face the unpalatable prospect of being eliminated from Euro 2008 on Friday.
Defending champion Serena Williams is the top seed in the women's draw. The American will be looking to equal Steffi Graf's Open era record by sealing a 22nd Grand Slam triumph.
Spain, Germany and England all chalked up victories in their qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup on Saturday.
Substitute Lionel Messi scored two late goals, including one in stoppage time, to lead 2006 winners Barcelona to a 2-1 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday. Last season's runners-up Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw at surprise packages CFR Cluj, who were playing in Romania's third division just six years ago.
Romania coach Victor Piturca dropped Dinamo Bucharest striker Florin Bratu on Wednesday when he named his final 23-man Euro 2008 squad.
Former world number one Novak Djokovic showed signs of a return to form with an impressive 7-5, 6-4 victory over Japan's Kei Nishikori in the opening round of the Madrid Open on Monday.
Somdev Devvarman expresses confidence of a good showing ahead of India's Davis Cup match against Romania.
Mahesh Bhupathi on Thursday tipped Prakash Amritraj and new kid on the block Somdev Devvarman as ideal players for India's upcoming Davis Cup tie in Romania.
The Indian youngster took world No 18 Spaniard Nicolas Almagro to three sets before bowing out in the first round of the Euro 370000 BCR Open in Bucharesh.
With an eye to the large and growing market for their products, Indian auto component and tyre companies are making a beeline to set shop in Europe (especially Eastern Europe). Just last month Apollo Tyres announced that it was setting up a euro 200 million green field venture outside Hungary. And Delhi based Amtek Auto will set up a production base which will come in to operation in 2009 in Romania.
Andy Murray overcame a sluggish start to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu on a bad Tuesday for French players. The fourth-seeded Briton was 2-1 down in the opening set after dropping serve in the third game but he woke up to take four games in a row. He clinched victory when Hanescu netted a forehand on the fourth match point.
China upstaged a hobbling United States team to surge to their first gymnastics women's team title at the Olympics.
Bigger than ever, the European Championship kicks off in Paris next month with a four-week feast of football that promises to elevate the game above the corruption scandals and security fears that have overshadowed its build-up.
World Cup winners Italy and runners-up France were in danger of tumbling out of Euro 2008 at the group stage.
Netherlands qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 with a 4-1 win over France which left the hopes of the World Cup runners-up hanging by a thread on Friday.
National Geographic's new travel photography competition is entering its third week and is attracting stunning pictures from across the globe. Some of the jaw-dropping pictures show the famous "Firefall" of Yosemite National Park to a sunset at the Taj Mahal. The annual competition is accepting entries until May 3 at 12pm and asks for pictures in three categories: nature, cities and people.
Serbian Jelena Jankovic battled into the second round of the French Open with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Romania's Monica Niculescu on Monday.
Schuerrle hits treble for the world champs; Lewandowski helps Poland thrash Georgia
India's agriculture sector is heading for doom. And, if the government is not doing anything to change its faulty subsidy policy, the disaster may happen too soon.
Juan Martin del Potro's summer renaissance continued on Monday as the unseeded Argentine advanced into the US Open quarter-finals when Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem quit their match with an injury.
Comparing the effects of foster care with institutional child-rearing, the research took IQ tests and found that the foster children scored an average of 81 in comparison to 73 among the children brought up in an orphanage. On the other hand, children grew up in their biological families had an average IQ of 109 at the same age.
Roger Federer cruised into the quarter-finals of the Estoril Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Romania's Victor Hanescu in a match played in the rain on Thursday. The world number one will next meet the winner of a match between unseeded Portuguese players Joao Sousa and Frederico Gil.
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