Caroline Wozniacki's first match since losing the world No.1 ranking ended dramatically on Wednesday at the Dubai Championships when opponent Anna Chakvetadze collapsed on court while serving for the second set.

Adding to the woes of the common man who is reeling under high prices of veggies like Onion, cooking oil prices have surged by upto 62 per cent in last one year, hurting the household budget of consumers.

The World No.1 Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki will begin their Australian Open campaign as the top seeds in the men's singles and women's singles respectively.

Second seeded Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta went down fighting to Sipke Ernst of Holland while Dejan Bojkov of Bulgaria annexed the crown in the Groningen International open chess tournament which concluded in Groningen (The Netherlands), on Friday.

Former world junior champion and second seed Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta beat Daniel Naroditsky of United States in quick time to jump to joint third spot after the fourth round of Groningen International open chess tournament.

Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov told reporters to stop voting for him after being named Bulgaria's Footballer of the Year for a seventh time on Monday.

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov would be happy to stay with Manchester United until the end of his career, the player's agent said on Saturday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand will have to do better than Magnus Carlsen of Norway if he wants to retain his top ranking at the London Chess Classic.

Bulgarian authorities are to investigate claims of possible match-fixing in eight soccer matches over the last year, said the parliamentary commission chief for education and sport.

World champion Viswanathan Anand pulled off a fine victory over Etienne Bacrot of France to finish second in the Pearl Spring Chess tournament in Nanjing on Saturday.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in the ninth and penultimate round of the Pearl Spring Chess tournament Nanjing on Friday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand played out a draw with Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria to remain in joint-second after end of the eighth round in the Pearl Spring Chess tournament in Nanjing, China, on Thursday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand salvaged a draw from a losing position against Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the seventh round to occupy joint-second spot in the Pearl Spring Chess tournament in Nanjing, China.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand struck back with vengeance and outclassed Wang Yue of China with black pieces in the sixth round of the Pearl Spring Chess tournament.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand was held to a draw by Vugar Gashimov of Azerbaijan in the fifth round of the Pearl Spring Chess tournament Nanjing, China on Sunday.

Leaving out Tania Sachdev proved a costly mistake as India's medal hopes went up in smoke when the women's team lost to second seed China in the 10th and penultimate round of the Chess Olympiad in Khanty Mansiysk, Russia.

World number two Grandmaster Koneru Humpy will represent India in the FIDE Women's world blitz chess championship finals to be held in Moscow, Russia on September 17 and 18.

After morale boosting victories against Bulgaria and Switzerland, England skipper Steven Gerrard has said the Three Lions are still a distance away to be a great team.

Wayne Rooney, hit by media claims about his private life, struck his first international goal for almost a year to set England on the way to a 3-1 win away to Switzerland in their Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday.

France received chilling notice that the road to post-World Cup redemption will be long and hard when they lost 1-0 to Belarus in Paris on Friday, while Portugal threw away two points in a frantic 4-4 draw at home to Cyprus. England and Italy were able to start repairing their reputations with contrasting wins in their first Euro 2012 qualifiers and Spain swatted away Liechtenstein 4-0 with an ease befitting their status as world and European champions.

European heavyweights France, England and Italy get the chance to put their disappointing World Cups behind them on Friday as they kick off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaigns on a night for fresh starts.

England coach Fabio Capello hardly looked on Thursday like someone supposedly hanging on by the thread of two Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Litex Lovech striker Ivelin Popov's hopes of joining English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers were dashed after an application for a work permit was rejected by the British government.

England coach Fabio Capello said he regretted the way he announced the end of David Beckham's international career but added he still had a good relationship with the former captain who would make a top manager one day.

Wayne Rooney ended his five-month goal famine for Manchester United while Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season despite their incredible scoring spree being partially stemmed by Stoke City.

Bobby Zamora struck twice as Fulham thrashed League Two Port Vale 6-0 on Wednesday to reach the third round of the English League Cup.

'Anybody who has seen a photo of Anand playing will see an Indian flag beside him. And, when he wins, the national anthem is played. What more proof do you need about Anand's nationality?'

Jermain Defoe could play in Tottenham Hotspur's Champions league playoff against Swiss club Young Boys on Wednesday despite being booked in for groin surgery that will rule him out of England's forthcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Unfazed by the controversy surrounding his nationality, World chess champion Viswanathan Anand looked cheerful as he arrived to a grand reception at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Defending champion Lin Dan of China and top-seed Malaysian Lee Chong Wei advanced to the second round after notching up straight-set wins over their rivals in the World badminton Championship in Paris on Monday.

Yuki Bhambri and Arjun won a silver medal each in tennis and discus throw respectively as Indians returned their best medal haul of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games on the seventh day of the competition in Singapore on Saturday.

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand will be out of action until the end of September, manager Alex Ferguson said on Friday. The England captain, 31, missed the recent World Cup after suffering knee ligament damage on the first day of training in South Africa.

Woman wrestler Pooja Dhanda won India's first medal at the Youth Olympic Games while shuttlers Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy kept themselves in contention after the second day in the inaugural event in Singapore. After beating three opponents without conceding a point, Pooja lost 1-3 to Baatarzorig Battsetseg of Mongolia in the final and had to settle for a silver in the 60kg freestyle category.

France's completely new team lost 2-1 to Norway in a friendly on Wednesday with the ghosts of World Cup controversy and failure also hanging over England despite Steven Gerrard's brace in a 2-1 win over Hungary.

World chess champion Viswanathan Anand joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest, which already has all time great Indian sportspersons like Geet Sethi, Prakash Padukone, P T Usha and Leander Paes, to give a boost to Olympic medal hopefuls.

Christophe Lemaitre's fairytale European championship continued when he completed a sprint double on Friday and the Olympic stadium finally came to life as the hosts celebrated their first medals. Spain had to wait a little bit longer than anticipated for their first gold of the championships when Russian Yuliya Zarudneva spoilt the script by beating world champion and home favourite Marta Dominguez in the steeplechase final.

Having defended his World Championships title two months back, Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has set his eyes on regaining FIDE number one spot by the year end.

Six-times champion and top seed Roger Federer lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Czech Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Wednesday. The defeat means Federer will be absent from the men's final for the first time since 2002 when he lost in the first round.

Serena and Venus Williams' stranglehold of women's doubles was ended at Wimbledon on Wednesday when the American sisters were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina.

Serena Williams was left all alone trying to crush an unlikely uprising on Wimbledon's hallowed lawns on Tuesday as sister Venus and Kim Clijsters suffered shock defeats in the women's quarter-finals.