Punting on Ponting

Business Standard

The World Team Championship ended with Russia retaining the title. Sitting on a one-point lead, a last round win against Israel clinched gold. The top seeded Russians did it comfortably with 3-1. Russia won 7 matches, drew 1 and lost 1 (to Greece) to log 15 matchpoints.

CHESS #622

After creating a flutter by threatening to quit game, Abhinav Bindra today said he will not make an &ldquo;emotional decision&rdquo; and will decide future course of action after giving it a good thought.

'Won't make an emotional decision'

Press Trust of India

Alexei Shirov kicked off his Corus campaign with a spectacular run of four straight wins. Sharing second spot behind him are the troika of Hikaru Nakamura, Magnus Carlsen and Vassily Ivanchuk who all have 3 points. Anand and Kramnik are among a pack on 2, with four draws each.

With only a few spots left on the 2010 Formula One driver&rsquo;s grid, the race is at a critical stage and one of the drivers hoping to take home a point, or in this case a race seat is Indian driver Karun Chandhok.

An expensive road trip

A little known football club from Shillong reached the Federation Cup final this year, and now the Lajong boys have fans talking.

It's a goal!

A concoction of politics and sport leaves a bitter aftertaste.

Wicket games

The beautiful game is turning ugly thanks to the exorbitant sums of money involved.

Money for kicks

Style, rather than substance, is the talking point of women&rsquo;s tennis.

Fashion invasion

It&rsquo;s been coruscating chess at Corus. First, Shirov threatened to run away, with 5 straight wins. Then he faltered, losing to Nakamura and Anand. Meanwhile Carlsen and Kramnik met in a fateful encounter that Kramnik won. Nakamura ,who was challenging for first place, fell back after successive losses to Kramnik and Karjakin.

CHESS #623

Quarterfinals at the World Cup. Just five of the top ten seeds are still in contention. Gelfand (No:1) is tied with Jakovenko (9) while Ponomariov (7) is tied with Gashimov (2) after the first game. Svidler (3) appears to be on his way out against Malakhov (22) and Karjakin (12) looks set to eliminate Mamedaryov (13) after Malakov and Pono won their first games.

CHESS #616

There&rsquo;s always been a glut of sporting events when it comes to luxury and lifestyle brands&rsquo; association. While cricket attracts one and all, golf and polo are two sports which have been supported by luxury brands in a big way. More so golf as it gets corporate support &mdash; both big and small &mdash; throughout the year. Golf is probably the only sport, apart from cricket, where the sponsorship money has increased in the past one year.

Green economy

Tiger Woods was leading the perfect life. The world&rsquo;s number one in a rich man&rsquo;s sport, with looks that blended the most politically correct aesthetics, a bunch of top-dollar endorsements, and clean and stable life outside the golf course.

Woods in the woods

GELFAND AND Ponomariov have drawn game one in the four-game World Cup finals. At stake is a spot in the Candidates. Top seed Gelfand has had a much smoother passage to the finals. Seventh seeded Ponomariov had to fight harder. In the semis, Gelfand beat Sergein Karjakin, 2-0 in nomal time while Ponomariov won a hair-raising tiebreaker after losing the first game to Vladimir Malakhov.

Chess #617

Mahesh Bhupathi was one of the best Indian tennis players of the decade. Aabhas Sharma finds out what made him such a success, on and off the court.

The perfect partner

A dip in Ronaldinho&rsquo;s performance looks temporary.

Return of the star

The surge of moralising about the golfer&rsquo;s personal life, in a society like that of the USA, is baffling.

Taking Woodstock

TOP SEED Boris Gelfand edged Ruslan Ponomariov to take the World Cup and a place in the next Candidates. Gelfand held his nerve after the four normal games were drawn without much excitement. Gelfand won the second rapid tiebreaker and lost the fourth. Then, he won the second blitz, lost the third and finally won the fourth and last blitz game.

Chess #618

Since that fateful August morning which added a golden chapter to the history of Indian sport, Abhinav Bindra has been taking it easy. He hasn&rsquo;t taken part in any event and has enjoyed a long break. But that was till now. In Germany now, training as hard as ever, Bindra is looking forward to returning to competitive action. &ldquo;There were thoughts of walking away from the sport, but the urge to compete comes from within, and here I am doing what I love most,&rdquo; says the 27-year-old. He says that he didn&rsquo;t want to force himself on the sport and that&rsquo;s why the idea of quitting did cross his mind in the last 16 months.

Shooting star

Sunil Gavaskar has always maintained his defiance. Not on Virat Kohli&rsquo;s misfield, though.

The curious case of Kohli

THIS YEAR will be remembered as the beginning of the Magnus Carlsen era. Carlsen is not yet world champion. In fact, he can&rsquo;t be, earlier than 2011-12. However, the world championship looks inevitable, even if it's tempting fate to say it.

CHESS #419

Other Sports: Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Other Sports News: Latest News from Olympics Games, Volleyball, Badminton | Business Standard

Get the latest news headlines of other sports category such as Badminton, Chess, Volleyball, basketball and other Olympic Games with live coverage on Business Standard.

Page 816 - Other Sports News