After two weeks of increasingly exciting football in South Africa, some huge names are out: Italy and France. Some smaller ones -- most notably Slovakia -- have triumphed against the odds to win a second round place.
Little-known 21-year-old Andrej Martin of Slovakia created the biggest upset in the Singapore ATP Challenger, upsetting Asian Games gold medalist and top seed Somdev Devevarman of India to enter the semi-finals on Friday. On a cloudy day at the Kallang Tennis Centre, the 177-ranked Martin outpaced Somdev to register a 6-3, 6-4 win in 85 minutes.
Canada's Milos Raonic pounded 17 aces to end the winning run of second seeded and Commonwealth gold medallist Somdev Devvarman and create the biggest upset of the day in the $1,25,000 Tashkent Challenger, on Thursday. The 155-ranked Raonic beat the 95th ranked Somdev 6-4, 7-6(3) in an hour and 18 minutes.
Wales will need to defend deep if they are to stifle England captain Wayne Rooney's influence on their European Championship clash on Thursday.
Andy Murray's thoughts turned to a baby sparrow accidentally killed by brother Jamie moments after reaching the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki's preparations for the Australian Open suffered a major setback when she was knocked out of the Sydney International in her first competitive match of the year on Tuesday.
Losing striker Jamie Vardy to Arsenal could spark an exodus of players from Leicester City, former defender Gerry Taggart has said, adding that the move could be catastrophic for the Premier League champions. Arsenal tabled a bid for Vardy before he left for the European Championship in France with the rest of England's squad on Monday, according to British media reports. The 29-year-old was the joint second-highest scorer in the English top-flight last season and Arsenal's bid comes at an uncomfortable time for England, whose manager Roy Hodgson has banned players' agents from the team hotel in Chantilly to avoid his players being distracted. "If Vardy goes then one or two others might want to leave as well," Taggart, who made over 100 appearances for Leicester, told the BBC. "For the good of the whole team and the club it is important Vardy stays."
Sania Mirza and her Italian partner Maria Elena Camerin entered the doubles quarter-finals of the Tashkent Open with a straight-set win over Lyudmyla and Nadiya Kichenok, in Tashkent on Wednesday.
Young Libertad striker Rodolfo Gamarra was a surprise inclusion in Paraguay's 23-man World Cup squad on Monday.
IMAGES from Day 6 of the French Open, at Roland Garros, on Friday.
Round up of the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
The Natural History Museum's annual competition and exhibition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year has been the longest-running and most prestigious nature and wildlife photography competition that has been recognising the world's best nature photography every year since 1965.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi advanced to the semi-finals while Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi sealed a quarter-final berth in the Valencia Open.
Rafael Nadal extended his astonishing winning run on clay to 42 consecutive sets as he reached the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Slovakia's Martin Klizan.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, with five goals each, head the list of the goal scorers at the 2010 World Cup.
Olympian Achanta Sharath Kamal notched up the biggest title of his career when he clinched the US Open Table Tennis Championships crown, beating Keineth Thomas of Slovakia at Michigan.
Father Time finally caught up with poor old Italy on Thursday when they were deposed as world champions after suffering a dramatic and shocking 3-2 defeat at the hands of World Cup debutants Slovakia.
Brazil meet Portugal in a mouth-watering finale to the World Cup group matches on Friday after holders Italy were knocked out in a humiliating defeat by tournament debutants Slovakia. The miserable display by Italy, four times world champions, followed the earlier shaming of 2006 losing finalists France, who like their European neighbours finished the first round at the bottom of their group.
Paraguay qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup despite being held to a goalless draw by a well-organised New Zealand in their Group F match on Thursday.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi refused to accept he had omitted more talented players from his squad after the uninventive world champions were held to a surprise 1-1 draw with New Zealand on Sunday.
The teams that have qualified for the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy have been seeded third at the men's doubles event of the US Open and the Indo-Czech pair will open its campaign against Czech-Slovakia combo of Martin Damm and Filip Polasek.
French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and her fellow Russian Elena Dementieva won their opening round matches at the Sydney International Sunday, one of the major lead-up events to the Australian Open.
Caroline Wozniacki's New Haven Open title defence and final warmup for the US Open opened smoothly on Wednesday with a clinical 6-4, 6-1 second round win over Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova.
Chanting protestors interrupted Shahar Peer's second round match at the Auckland Classic on Wednesday before the Israeli advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-0 victory over Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.
Wayne Rooney celebrated his 100th England cap by scoring a penalty to lead his team to a 3-1 win over Slovenia in a Euro 2016 Group E qualifier at Wembley on Saturday which only came to life after halftime.
David Beckham became England's most capped outfield player when he won his 109th cap as a halftime substitute in the friendly against Slovakia at Wembley on Saturday. Beckham, 33, beat the previous record of 108 caps he shared with the late Bobby Moore, England's 1966 World Cup-winning captain.
All you must know about soccer's return to action after coronavirus
India's young assured themselves a medal by entering the semi-finals of the Junior Asian Table Tennis Championships in Bangkok for the first time in the history of the game. The entry to the last-four stage has not only assured the four-member Indian team a bronze medal but also a straight entry into the World Junior Championships, to be held in Slovakia in December.
With the win, the defending gold medallists avoided a possible quarter-final clash with Russia, and will instead play the winner of Latvia versus Switzerland qualification game.
India's Divij Sharan failed to carry on his giant killing form and finished runner up in the Nigeria ITF event, losing the final against fourth-seed Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia in three sets in Lagos.
Somdev Devvarman struggled past Alex Bogolomov Jr. in three sets to book a quarter-final berth in the singles event of the ATP Challenger event in Aptos, USA.
Lifting of restrictions on these dual use technologies is one of the major areas of focus of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he meets US President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday.
India's Achanta Sharath Kamal came up with a splendid performance to shock top seed Li Ching of Hong Kong and win the Egypt Open Table Tennis Championships in Cairo on Sunday. The sixth seeded Indian Olympian won 11-5,11-6,14-16,12-10,11-9 to claim his second successive title in as many weeks, having won the US Open last Sunday, beating Keineth Thomas of Slovakia in Michigan.
Netherlands striker Robin van Persie's petulant reaction to his substitution in their World Cup second-round victory on Monday could be the first hairline crack in the united front so far presented by the squad.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi stormed into the quarter-finals of the doubles competition of the Wimbledon with an impressive straight set victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in London on Monday.
The Netherlands advanced to a second-round meeting with Slovakia in ominous style on Thursday when they beat Cameroon 2-1 to make it three wins out of three and secure top spot in Group E. After wins over Denmark and Japan, the Dutch were already assured of progress and the victory secured with goals by Robin van Persie and Klaas Jan Huntelaar guaranteed top spot.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi took full responsibility for their humiliating World Cup group stage exit on Thursday, saying he had not trained the team well enough.
