India (Ind) VS Sri Lanka (SL)

Colombo: Battle for the Compaq Cup triangular series final will be held between India (Ind) and host Sri Lanka (SL) on September 14 at R Premadasa stadium in Colombo.

New Zealand were out of the contest following two consecutive defeats in the series.

However, India will take on Sri Lanka in the last league match of the Compaq Cup series today.

Team India started off their international match campaign after two months of break on a winning note. Skipper MS Dhoni and his brigade crushed out Black Caps by six wickets on September 11.

In the absence of star players like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan, Indian team performed superbly against Kiwis. Team Indian pacers were looked very accurate in line and length against New Zealand. Left hand pacer Ashish Nehra was adjudged ‘Man of the Match’ for his splendid bowling performance. Nehra took three wickets against New Zealand.

As per as batting is concerned, Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar has portrayed his superb class against New Zealand and was highest scorer too. Sachin’s classic shots against Kiwis were enough reply to his critics.

However, it is always a tough task to beat Sri Lanka in their home turf. But ‘Team India’ will try to maintain its winning streak against Sri Lanka today.

Once again toss will play a crucial role here at Premadasa. The team who wins the toss should go for bat first.

Match: 3rd ODI Compaq Cup 2009 Ind vs. SL
Venue: R Premadasa
Timing: 14.30 hrs (IST)
Live Commentary: http://www.samaylive.com

Both the team will not disturb the winning combination.

Teams (Probables)

India: MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh and Ashish Nehra.

Sri Lanka: Kumara Sangakkara, TL Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, TT Samarweera, Thilina Kandamby, Angelo Mathews, Nuan Kulaeskara, Thilan Thusara, SL Malinga, Ajantha Mendis.

source

Olympiakos To Offer Allen Iverson $10 Million

The latest rumors out of the Euro-basketball world is that the Greek basketball club Olympiakos is set to offer Allen Iverson a 2-year deal worth an estimated $10 milllion. That deal would be the same proposed offer that Nate Robinson recently turned down and would be about equal to the NBA’s mid-level exception that NBA teams are offering him.

I’m sure Iverson’s feelings of not being wanted by any NBA squad might put this Olympiakos offer into serious consideration. If he accepted, Iverson would be an instant star overseas and would push Josh Childress’ European stardom back to just being that dude on the court with the ‘fro.

source

Tour De France 2009 Overall Standings after Stage 8

Tour De France 2009 Standings.

Daily I will bring you the update of every Tour De France 2009 stage as well as the General Classification Standings.

Tour De France 2009 Overall Standings after Stage 8

1. NOCENTINI Rinaldo AG2R-LA MONDIALE 25h 44′ 32″
2. CONTADOR Alberto ASTANA + 00′ 06″
3. ARMSTRONG Lance ASTANA + 00′ 08″
4. LEIPHEIMER Levi ASTANA + 00′ 39″
5. WIGGINS Bradley GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM + 00′ 46″
6. KLÖDEN Andréas ASTANA + 00′ 54″
7. MARTIN Tony TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC + 01′ 00″
8. VANDE VELDE Christian GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM + 01′ 24″
9. SCHLECK Andy TEAM SAXO BANK + 01′ 49″
10. NIBALI Vincenzo LIQUIGAS + 01′ 54″

source

Euroleague 2009-10

The Euroleague 2009-10 season has begun! This morning, the Euroleague announced the groupings for the ten-game competition this autumn. Naturally, the pools are totally enticing and some great fodder for watercooler discussions for months. (Heck, they’ll have to be.) The groups look like this:

Group A
Regal FC Barcelona Montepaschi Siena Cibona Zagreb Fenerbahce Ulker Zalgiris Kaunas ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne

Group B
Olympiacos Piraeus Partizan Belgrade Unicaja Efes Pilsen Istanbul Lietuvos Rytas (qualifying team TBD)

Group C
CSKA Moscow Tau Ceramica Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv Virtus Roma Union Olimpija Ljubljana (qualifying team TBD)
Group D
Panthinaikos Athens Real Madrid Armani Jeans Milano Asseco Prokom BC Khimki Moscow region EWE Baskets Oldenburg

Over the next few days, BallinEurope.com will take a more in-depth look at each group, team by team, but for now … Oh, the questions! Oh, the speculation! Which bunch could become known as the “Group of Death,” A or C? How much damage can Zalgiris Kaunas do against the generally bigger teams in Group A? How much would Greek fans dig seeing either Maroussi Athens or Aris Thessaloniki – the teams meet in the first round of the qualifying tournament and draw the winner of Le Mans-ALBA Berlin – in that Group B with Olympiacos?

And finally, how long is it before the season starts?

source

Tour De France 2009, Stage 4

Tour De France 2009 Standings.
Daily I will bring you the update of every Tour De France 2009 stage as well as the General Classification Standings. Will Lance Armstrong capture his 8th title as he returns. In the process of writing Lance Armstrong is just 0.18 seconds behind the leader Fabian Cancellara.

Tour De France 2009 Standings After Stage 4

Standing Rider Gaps
1. CANCELLARA Fabian
2. ARMSTRONG Lance + 00′ 00″
3. CONTADOR Alberto + 00′ 19″
4. KLÖDEN Andréas + 00′ 23″
5. LEIPHEIMER Levi + 00′ 31″
6. WIGGINS Bradley + 00′ 38″
7. ZUBELDIA Haimar + 00′ 51″
8. MARTIN Tony 76 + 00′ 52″
9. ZABRISKIE David + 01′ 06″
10. MILLAR David 56 + 01′ 07″

source

Wimbledon – Day 10

Day 10 at Wimbledon 2009 will host the Women’s Singles Semi-finals. The top 4 seeds of the tournament are playing in the Women’s Singles Semifinals. Two of them are from United States and the other two are from Russia which means that this year’s Wimbledon final will be an All-American or All-Russian final.

Dinara Safina vs Venus Williams

Dinara Safina is World No. 1 and was the finalist in both Australian Open and French Open this year. Her opponent Venus Williams has won the Wimbledon title 5 times and is a two-time defending champion. Safina and Venus have played against each other 3 times, with Venus winning two times.

Serena Williams vs Elena Dementieva

World No. 2 Serena Williams is a two time Wimbledon Champion. Elena Dementieva has reached the semifinal last year at the Wimbledon. Serena Williams holds a record of 5-3 against Elena Dementieva.

source

Wimbledon, Mens, Singl

What happened: Roger Federer neutralized Ivo Karlovic’s huge serves to reach the Wimbledon semifinals and move a step closer to a record 15th Grand Slam championship. Andy Roddick, Andy Murray and Tommy Haas completed the final four.

The streak: With his 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (5-3) victory, Federer reached his 21st consecutive semifinal at a Grand Slam tournament and extended his winning streak to 17 matches.

“I love the record I have of reaching so many semifinals in Grand Slams in a row — 21 is quite a number,” Federer said. “It shows how consistent I’ve been.”

It was Federer’s ninth win in 10 matches against Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Up next: Federer’s next opponent will be Germany’s Haas, who upset fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3, to advance to his first Wimbledon semifinal. Haas, 31, was the oldest player in the quarters, while the 22-year-old Djokovic was the youngest.

Match of the day: Roddick outlasted 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (3-1), 4-6, 6-4, in the most competitive quarterfinal. Hewitt battled back from two sets to one down, before Roddick broke for 5-4 in the fifth and then served out the match.

Stat of the day: 64 — aces in the Roddick-Hewitt match, 43 for Roddick.

Britain’s hope: Murray swept Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2, to reach his first Wimbledon semifinal and keep alive his bid to become the first British player to win the men’s title since Fred Perry in 1936.

Overheard: “I’ll give it my best shot,” Haas said of his semifinal matchup with Federer. “There’s not much he can’t do. He’s obviously the favorite to win the title. I’m going to go out there and try to annoy him a little bit and see what happens.”

source

Italian swimmer disqualified when her hi-tech skinsuit bursts open at the rear

It’s the wardrobe malfunction to end them all.

Italian Olympic swimmer Flavia Zoccari was forced to sit out a championship race at the Mediterranean Games yesterday after her bathing costume burst open in a very unfortunate place.

Flavia, 22, was wearing the controversial £318 top-of-the-line Jaked J01 swimsuit when disaster struck at the Games in Pescara, Italy…

She burst into tears as she was forced to stand down from her race.

Jaked boasts that the full-body swimsuit – complete with back hinge – is ‘more than skin’.

However the aerodynamic costume has been the subject of controversy after it was banned by FINA (the International Swimming Federation) earlier this year because it gave swimmers wearing it an unfair advantage.

FINA lifted the ban on the swimsuit a month later, in June of this year, after Jaked, which sponsors the Italian national swim team, protested the ban.

Zoccari – who is nearly six feet tall – later apologised for the embarrassing incident.

source

French Open Men’s Final 2009: Federer vs. Soderling

vs

The French Open men’s final 2009 match between #2 Roger Federer and #23 Robin Soderling is set to start in about a half an hour. Coverage starts at 9:00 a.m. EST on NBC.

It’s been a great tournament so far with some amazing upsets and big comebacks. Especially for Soderling who knocked off #1 Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. Nadal was considered an automatic for the finals since he had won the last four French Open tournaments but Soderling was able to eliminate him in four sets. Ranked 23rd, Soderling was also able to beat #10 Nikolav Davydenko and #12 Fernando Gonzalez to reach the finals. He had to comeback from down 4 – 1 in the fifth set against Gonzalez in order to advance.

Federer on the other hand is no surprise. He was expected to make it far into the tourney and challenge for the title. However in order to get to the finals he had to make a couple incredible comebacks. In the fourth round he was down two sets to none before he clawed his way back to win three straight sets and advance to the quarterfinals. In the semifinals he got in a hole again, digging himself a deficit of two sets to one against #5 Juan Martin Del Potro. Again he was able to show some resolve and win two straight sets to advance to the finals.

It sets up to be a great match-up for the championship. I am flipping back and forth on who I want to see win. Federer on one hand has never won the French Open and this would complete his career Grand Slam. But I always like to see the underdog win, and it would be great to see Soderling win over the #2 ranked player after already beating the #1 ranked player. I think I’ll be rooting for Soderling.

source

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Orlando Magic in NBA FInals 2009

VS.

Both clubs caught their stride at the end of their respective conference finals. Each snowballing with momentum, we’re bound to have a colossal collision between these two giants.

After dismantling the Nuggets, the Lakers are back in the championship round, but staring into the eyes of new adversaries. Though questioned and criticized by critics in their series against Houston and Denver, Phil Jackson and Kobe pulled out victories, telling everyone in the basketball world, “we know we’re doing”.

Dwight Howard, sick of the media hyping the Kobe/Lebron NBA finals showdown, took it upon himself to erase the Cavaliers from the playoff picture in game six. 40 points and 14 rebounds later, he and the Magic find themselves somewhere the team hasn’t been in over a decade. Here in new territory, Superman and crew get to prove to the world just how hungry they are.

Many people out there won’t give Orlando much of a chance at winning this series, and for good reason; the Lakers are battle tested, more experienced, and have pieces that the Cavs didn’t have to take down the Magic.

Bynum and Pau Gasol are very capable on both ends of the court. While on defense, Stan Van Gundy won’t be able to cheat off of them to focus on Kobe without paying a price. The Cavaliers did not make the Magic pay for doubling Lebron, but if SVG implements a similar strategy for Kobe, don’t expect the same outcome. One glaring problem for the Magic is the Lakers’ size down on the block. With Pau and Bynum are on the floor at the same time, I doubt Lewis playing power forward will suffice defensively speaking. Additionally, if Phil runs plays for his big men early and often, Howard is in danger of getting into early foul trouble. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not SVG decides to play Gortat and Howard together more often for matchup purposes.

That being said, the Magic can also impose their will on offense if they take the initiative. Playing Rashard at PF allows them to stretch the floor (with Turkoglu, Howard, Lee, and Alston filling the other four spots), drawing Gasol out of the paint. This gives Dwight some room in the middle to execute some post moves, and get Bynum in foul trouble. When the double team comes, Howard knows the kick out to one of his open shooters. If the Magic can consistently hit from behind the arc, then they’ve got a shot at winning this thing.

For this reason, I think Phil Jackson will choose not to play Gasol and Bynum at the same time, instead opting to have Odom play big minutes at the 4. Kobe, Ariza, and Odom are going to give Orlando’s wing-men lots of trouble on defense, and have more than enough offense ability between the three of them keep Orlando defenders honest while the Lakers have the ball.

Much of this battle will be dependent on the coaches. Both teams have multiple options, and it really comes down to how the coaches choose to adjust based on what’s happening.

VS.

source