BOSTON: Tiger Woods was in danger of losing his five-year grip on golf`s world number one ranking to Phil Mickelson or Steve Stricker in Monday`s last round of the PGA Deutsche Bank Championship.Woods fired a two-under par 69 on Sunday to share 23rd place and trail leader Jason Day of

CARDIF: Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi blasted Yasir Hameed as being mentally a teenager but the batsman insisted he was duped by a newspaper over betting scam claims which eclipsed the team`s defeat to England.One-day skipper Afridi tore into Test batsman Hameed, who claimed he had done

LONDON: Former England captain Geoff Boycott said Monday that Pakistani cricket was repeatedly implicated in corruption scandals because authorities had not clamped down hard enough in the past.The no-nonsense Yorkshireman said the International Cricket Council (ICC) had failed to tackle

NEW YORK: Reigning champion Kim Clijsters rolled into the US Open quarter-finals on Sunday while third seed Venus Williams booked a date with French Open champion Francesca Schiavone to decide a semi-final spot.Belgian second seed Clijsters needed only 59 minutes to eliminate Serbian

NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal swept into the last 16 at the US Open on Sunday, but Andy Murray`s campaign came to a shuddering halt.Top seed Nadal swept past Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 as Spanish players dominated the top half of the draw, filling five out of eight places through into

NEW YORK: Roger Federer has warned Rafa Nadal that he must win the U.S. Open to stand any chance of being labeled as the greatest to ever play the game.Nadal has captured eight grand slam titles and time is on the 24-year-old Spaniard`s side as he bids to catch the record total of 16 won

CARDIFF: The British newspaper whose allegations of a betting scam have rocked the world of cricket said Saturday that a fourth Pakistan player was being probed over the claims, but declined to name him. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Pakistan`s coach refused to comment on

NEW YORK: Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and former world number one Maria Sharapova booked a fourth-round showdown with straight-set US Open triumphs on Saturday while Roger Federer cruised into the last 16 as well.Danish 20-year-old Wozniacki, last year`s US Open runner-up, routed Taiwan`s

LONDON: Kevin Pietersen has apologised for his furious reaction to England`s decision to leave him out of the one-day squads to face Pakistan.Pietersen was axed from the five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches after a poor run for England in an attempt to give him time to

NEW YORK: Ukraine`s Kateryna Bondarenko delivered the first major upset of the US Open on Tuesday by eliminating Chinese eighth seed Li Na 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to spoil historic hopes for Asia`s top-ranked player.Li, the highest Chinese seed in Grand Slam history, made her best Slam run into

ROME: Serie A giants Juventus made their 10th signing since the end of a disappointing campaign last term on Tuesday taking central defender Leandro Rinaudo on loan from Napoli for 600,000 euros.The 27-year-old - who signed for Napoli from Palermo in 2008 for 4.5million euros - will cost

NEW YORK: The US Open experienced one of its hottest days in recent years on Tuesday and it nearly burned off the title ambitions of fourth seed Novak Djokovic.The Serb, who was runner-up here in 2007 and a semi-finalist in the last two years, losing to Roger Federer on all three

SUNDERLAND: Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan completed his move to English Premier League club Sunderland for a club record fee of over 13 million pounds (15.7 million euros) on Tuesday.Gyan agreed a four-year contract with Steve Bruce`s side in a deal which shatters the club`s previous record

MADRID: Real Madrid`s World Cup winning right back Sergio Ramos said on Tuesday it was too soon to compare his side to their arch-rivals Barcelona with the Catalan team holding a two-point advantage after just one match.Real were held to a goalless draw at Real Mallorca on Sunday in their

ROVERETO: South Africa`s controversial women`s 800 metres world champion Caster Semenya flopped here on Tuesday as she could only finish seventh in a below par field.The 19-year-old only recently returned to action after being cleared following a controversial enquiry into her gender that

PARIS: Brazilian star Robinho`s nightmare two year stay at Manchester City came to an agreeable conclusion for both parties on Tuesday as he signed for Serie A giants AC Milan on a frenetic final day of trading as the transfer deadline comes into force on Wednesday. Robinho may have gone

MADRID: Barcelona`s talismanic defender Carles Puyol has pulled out of the Spain squad which will open its defence of its European title against Liechtenstein later this week due to a calf muscle injury, the Spanish football federation said on Tuesday.He will be replaced by Osasuna

MADRID: A double by Uruguayan star Diego Forlan inspired Atletico Madrid to an opening 4-0 victory over Sporting Gijon here on Monday in the Primera Liga.Forlan, who was named the best player of the World Cup finals where he scored five goals as Uruguay reached the semi-finals, scored his

MADRID: A double by Uruguayan star Diego Forlan inspired Atletico Madrid to an opening 4-0 victory over Sporting Gijon here on Monday in the Primera Liga.Forlan, who was named the best player of the World Cup finals where he scored five goals as Uruguay reached the semi-finals, scored his

ROME: Champions Inter Milan were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw away to Bologna in their opening match of the 2010/11 Serie A season on Monday.In a game delayed due to Inter`s European Supercup commitments in Monaco on Friday, the nerazzurri took 45 minutes to wake up and then despite