Viswanathan Anand turns 40 today. On the occasion, the chess ace has just one wish -- that the sport be included in the Olympics. Join us in wishing the king of the 64 squares board a very happy birthday and all the best for the coming year.

Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi was awarded the 2009 Ballon D'Or, French magazine France Football said on its website on Tuesday. The 22-year-old became the first Ballon D'Or winner from Argentina, eclipsing runner-up and last year's winner Cristiano Ronaldo by a record 240-point margin.

Viswanathan Anand had to be content with second place in the World Blitz Chess Championship after scoring 28 points, three behind the winner, Magnus Carlsen, of Norway.

An injury time goal from Lukas Podolski rescued a 2-2 friendly draw for Germany against Ivory Coast on Wednesday, the home team's first game since last week's suicide of keeper Robert Enke.

Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatov hopes to break his country's goal-scoring record in Wednesday's friendly against Malta after recovering from a knee injury.

Liverpool had two players sent off and suffered a sixth loss in seven games with a 3-1 defeat at Fulham on a Saturday of red cards in the Premier League.

France must get past Ireland to reach the 2010 World Cup finals after they were drawn together on Monday for next month's two-legged European playoffs. Portugal, who scraped into the playoffs by winning their last three Group One fixtures to seal runners-up spot, face Bosnia, Euro 2004 champions Greece tackle Ukraine and Russia will play Slovenia.

Romania's Marian Dragulescu outclassed Olympic champion Zou Kai to pick up his fourth floor exercise title at the world gymnastics championships on Saturday.

A Bulgarian third division match was abandoned after only four minutes when injuries left an already depleted team with only six players on the pitch.

India's Ramesh Kumar created history by winning the bronze medal in the freestyle 74kg category at the World Wrestling Championship in Herning, Denmark.

Italy moved within a point of World Cup qualification after superb goals from Fabio Grosso and Vincenzo Iaquinta sealed an entertaining 2-0 win over Bulgaria in Group Eight on Wednesday.

England and Serbia will clinch their places in next year's World Cup if they win their qualifying matches on Wednesday while three other European countries can also qualify if results go their way.

World champions Italy and Euro 2008 winners Spain took determined steps towards World Cup qualification with victories on Saturday but France and Portugal are struggling after being held to disappointing draws. Nobody was in a position to join already-qualified Netherlands in securing a place at the finals in South Africa next year but Spain can make a provisional booking after seven wins out of seven following a 5-0 home thrashing of Belgium.

Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro came under fire from Jose Mourinho on Thursday after annoying the Inter Milan coach with his career advice for teenage fullback Davide Santon.

World champions Italy could lead a procession of as many as seven European countries into next year's World Cup in South Africa over the next few days.

Maria Sharapova made a stylish return to the US Open when she walloped Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-0 to reach the second round on Tuesday.

Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju were the first Indians to enter the quarter-finals in the World Badminton Championships, even though it was curtains for Chetan Anand in the men's singles, in Hyderabad, on Thursday.

The Miss Universe 2009 pageant is fast approaching on August 23. In a countdown to D-Day, we'll be introducing you to all 84 contestants from around the world.

Celtic and Arsenal will meet each other for a place in the Champions League group stage after being drawn together in the final qualifying round at the draw Friday.

Their battle for survival has actually made them more reliable and brought better customer service to the industry.

Catch Fardeen Khan and Genelia D'souza in this song.

Ahead of Foreign Minister S M Krishna's maiden visit to Australia, India has said it was still concerned over the safety of its students studying in the country, though New Delhi did not want the issue to 'infect' bilateral relations. Hoping that the attacks on Indian students will not affect the Indo-Australian relationship, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said that the matter will only die down when the attacks stop or become rare.

Govinda wishes Sanjay Dutt on his 50th birthday.

Illegal Asian betting syndicates are swooping down on English football and the Premiership and other English leagues could be susceptible to match rigging, the bane of football the world over, a top investigative journalist warned at an international sports conference in England.

The orange-clad army of Dutch fans can start booking flights for South Africa after the Netherlands became the first European nation to qualify for next year's World Cup finals with victory in Iceland on Saturday.

European champions Spain completed a year on top of FIFA's world rankings while the Netherlands moved up to second place for the first time in almost four years when the latest list was released on Wednesday.

The title race in Europe's top leagues remained tense at the weekend with Inter Milan losing at Napoli and Liverpool keeping the pressure on Manchester United. VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich both lost in Germany and Barcelona were held at Valencia but Olympique Marseille went five points clear.

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has jumped one place to the eighth spot, while a place in the finals of the Indian Open Super Series catapulted the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju to the elite top 10 bracket.

European champions Spain continued to set the standard on Saturday when they along with Italy, Germany and the Netherlands took a significant stride towards next year's World Cup finals. Spain, FIFA's top-ranked team, beat Turkey 1-0 in Madrid to stretch their unbeaten run to 30 matches and make it 15 points out of 15 in Group Five before they travel to Istanbul for the return fixture on Wednesday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand missed chances galore in the blindfold game against Chinese Wang Yue and had to be content with an overall joint-second finish in the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Nice, France. Anand, however, maintained supremacy in the rapid section as he tied with Levon Aronian of Armenia and Gata Kamsky of the United States.

A rare queen blunder against Russian Alexander Morozevich cost World champion Viswanathan Anand dearly as he went down in the blindfold game and lost the lead in the 10th and penultimate round of Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Nice. The Indian ace drew the return rapid game and remained in contention for top honours even as Levon Aronian of Armenia jumped in to sole lead at the expense of Chinese Wang Yue by a 1.5-0.5 margin.

World champion Viswanathan Anand crushed Vladimir Kramnik in the blindfold section and romped home with a 1.5-0.5 victory in the crucial eighth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament, in Nice, France on Monday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand defeated Sergey Karjakin of Ukraine 1.5-0.5 to jump into joint lead after the seventh round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament in Nice, France on Sunday.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand outclassed Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan 2-0 in the sixth round of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Nice, France on Saturday.

World champion Viswanathan Anand struck form in the rapid game to beat Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk 1.5-0.5 in the fifth round of the Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Nice on Friday. Anand slipped a bit in the blindfold game after getting a few chances but came back strongly to stir tactical complications in the return game and post victory.

Top seed Grandmaster Koneru Humpy scored a thumping victory over former World champion Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria and was helped by other results to come back in the joint-lead at the end of the 10th round of the IS Bank Atatyurk Women's Grand Prix chess in Istanbul on Thursday. The Indian ace joined Zhao and Yifan in the lead on 7.5 points out of a possible 10.

World champion Viswanathan Anand played out draws with Levon Aronian of Armenia in the fourth round of Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess tournament in Nice.

Top seeded Grandmaster Koneru tried her best but could not breach Zhao Xue's defence and drew a tense game to remain joint third after the ninth round of the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess event in Istanbul.

World champion Viswanathan Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen and went down 0.5-1.5 in the third round of Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Nice. Anand lost the blindfold game with white pieces and did not get a chance to recover in the rapid. With this defeat, the Indian slipped in the standings and stands joint sixth in combined, joint fifth in rapid and joint sixth in blindfold.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand survived some anxious moments in the blindfold game before registering a thumping victory in the rapid to register a clinical 1.5-0.5 victory over Gata Kamsky in the second round of Amber blindfold and rapid chess tournament in Nice.