WASHINGTON: US second seed Andy Roddick was eliminated by France`s Gilles Simon while Czech top seed and Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych struggled into the ATP Washington Classic quarter-finals on Thursday. Simon, sidelined nearly three months by a right knee injury, ousted Roddick

TOKYO: Japan will host Paraguay in a friendly match in September, the Japan Football Association said on Friday, just over two months after the South American side knocked them out of the World Cup.The association also said Japan will take on arch rivals South Korea the following

AKRON: Tiger Woods carded his career worst score at Firestone, a shocking four-over-par 74 in the opening round at the Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday.Woods has dominated the World Golf Championships event, winning it seven times at Firestone Country Club, but he was completely off

BERLIN: Bayern Munich have rewarded Germany international Thomas Mueller, top scorer at the World Cup with five goals, with an improved two year contract extension, the Bundesliga champions announced.The new deal ties Mueller to Bayern until 2015.The 20-year-old`s starring role in helping

LONDON: Cesc Fabregas has confirmed he will stay at Arsenal this season after conceding he won`t get his wish to rejoin Barcelona.Fabregas met Arsene Wenger before the World Cup to ask the Gunners boss to let him move to Spanish champions Barca.But the Spain midfielder, who quit the Nou

  IRVINE: Michael Phelps won the 100m butterfly at the US swimming championships on Thursday, nabbing the 50th national title of his career with a time that put a smile on his face. Phelps clocked 50.65sec, fastest in the world this year, and said he was pleased with the effort a day

  SYDNEY: The chief of the Federation of International Cricketers` Associations on Friday called for the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) to be applied throughout all Test series. The referral system is being used in a Test series in Britain for the first time during the current

COLOMBO: India`s renowned batsmen were handed a stern challenge to secure a series-levelling win in the final Test after Sri Lanka fought hard with both bat and ball on Friday.India, set a victory target of 257, ended the rousing fourth day`s play on 53-3 in their second innings,

Chicago: Landon Donovan and Tim Howard are among 14 players from the USA`s FIFA World Cup™ squad named for next Tuesday`s friendly against Brazil in New Jersey. More than 55,000 tickets have already been sold for the Americans meeting with the five-time FIFA World Cup champion at the

COLOMBO:Defiant batting by India`s tailenders and twin blows by part-time spinner Virender Sehwag left the third and final cricket Test against Sri Lanka evenly poised on Thursday. India, chasing Sri Lanka`s first innings total of 425, were reduced to 321-6 in the post-lunch session of

AKRON: Extra spice has been added to this week`s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational where Tiger Woods is in danger of being dethroned as world number one by either fellow American Phil Mickelson or Britain`s Lee Westwood.Mickelson would take over at the top for the first time with victory at

Sports Deskbanglanews24.com.bd/AFPMADRID: Real Madrid star Kaka is expected to be out of action for three to four months after undergoing an operation on his left knee, his club Real Madrid announced on their website www.realmadrid.com Thursday.Following an earlier announcement that the

LONDON: Usain Bolt, the fastest man on Earth, will smash his world records yet again if he listens to his mum, she told AFP.Jennifer Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter`s mother, said she had tried simply telling her son to run even faster, but gentle encouragement combined with hard work in

BIRMINGHAM: Mohammad Asif has urged Pakistan`s batsmen to follow the example of England`s Eoin Morgan as the tourists look for a series-levelling win in the second Test here at Edgbaston.Pakistan suffered a 354-run thrashing in last week`s first of four Tests at Trent Bridge, in a match

IRVINE: Michael Phelps` lack of focus in wake of the 2009 World Championships drove Bob Bowman to distraction, but the perfectionist coach thinks the virtual vacation was vital to the swimming star`s continuing career."If we wanted him to swim into London, we had to have this year,"

SYDNEY: World Cup quarter-finalists Paraguay will play Australia and New Zealand in October in two friendlies.The South Americans take on Australia at Sydney Football Stadium on October 9 and play New Zealand three days later at a venue to be confirmed, Football Federation Australia and

BEIJING: Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi said Thursday he was sad to see national coach Diego Maradona go, but that the football legend`s sacking was just part of the game.Messi is in the Chinese capital with Spanish champions Barcelona for a friendly on Sunday against reigning Chinese

BEIJING: Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi said Thursday he hopes to one day play with Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal captain who has made no secret of his desire to eventually join the Spanish champions.Messi made the comments at a press conference ahead of a friendly on Sunday between Barca

SEOUL: Lionel Messi scored a quick-fire double as Barcelona cruised to a convincing 5-2 win over the K-League All Stars in a friendly at Seoul World Cup Stadium Wednesday.The Argentinian superstar made his pre-season debut halfway into the game and scored two quick goals, giving his team

LONDON: The English Premier League (EPL) is contemplating the creation of "football schools" in a bid to improve the standard of the England national team.EPL chief executive Richard Scudamore insisted his organisation had "suffered" as a result of England`s early World Cup exit and