a. Singles – Men
Sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick captured his 25th career ATP singles title and second trophy in three weeks with a 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-2 victory over unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in one hour and 55 minutes at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday. Roddick, who didn't lose his serve in five matches this week, hit 22 aces to extend his perfect record to 4-0 against Lopez.
In what was arguably the most exciting two weeks in the 16 year history of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, the tournament saw not one, but both, long-standing champions lose their crowns as first Justine Henin and then Roger Federer fell to early defeats.
a. Doubles – Men M Bhupathi/M Knowles beat M Damm/P Vizner 7-5 7-6(7)
a. Singles - Women
Elena Dementieva came out on top in the all-Russian final beating Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the Dubai Championships. Eighth seed Dementieva came from a set down to claim a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory. The victory marked the ninth WTA title for Dementieva. The 26 Year old Russian was appearing in her first final since winning at Moscow in October last year. For second seed Kuznetsova, it was her second loss in the finals at Dubai. She was beaten by Justine Henin in 2004.
a. Doubles – Women C Black/L Huber beat Z Yan/J Zheng 7-5 6-2
· Indian Hockey Team Out Of Olympics
Santiago: For the first time in 80 years, India's dream of qualifying for the Olympic were dashed last evening when Britain defeated it 2-0 in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at the prince of Wales Country Club. Eight time gold medallists India, who needed to win the six-team competition to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, failed to make it to the Olympics.
· Loeb wins in Mexico for third successive year
Santiago: For the first time in 80 years, India's dream of qualifying for the Olympic were dashed last evening when Britain defeated it 2-0 in the final of the World Hockey qualifying tournament at the prince of Wales Country Club. Eight time gold medallists India, who needed to win the six-team competition to qualify for the Beijing Olympics, failed to make it to the Olympics.
· Loeb wins in Mexico for third successive year
France's Sebastien Loeb won Rally Mexico for the third year in a row on Sunday to cut Mikko Hirvonen's championship lead to a single point. The 34-year-old Citroen driver, chasing his fifth successive world title this season, beat Australian Chris Atkinson by one minute 6.1 seconds.
· Torres named player of the month
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was named the English Premier League player of the month having scored seven goals for the 'Reds' in the last four weeks. The award comes on the back of the Spaniard’s hat-trick in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over West Ham United. In his 25 appearance in this season, Torres has so far scored 18 goals and Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez expect him to continue with the same form throughout the remaining season.
· Federer beats Sampras in an exhibition match
Current world number one Roger Federer defeated former number one Pete Sampras 6-3, 6-7, and 7-6 in an exhibition match in New York. The 26 year old is just two short of Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles but was coming off a first-round loss in Dubai. It was the fourth time the two had played an exhibition, with Federer having won two out their previous three matches.
· Gebrselassie opts out of the Olympic’s Marathon
Marathon World record holder, Haile Gebrselassie says he will not run in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of the city's air pollution levels. Gebrselassie suffers from asthma and missed the 2007 London Marathon because of the problem. The 34-year-old expressed that he would try to qualify for the 10,000m event in Beijing. Gebrselassie has set 26 world records during his career.
· Hamilton wins Australian Grand Prix
McLaren star Lewis Hamilton stamped his name on the 2008 formula one season when he led the Australian Grand Prix from start to finish. It’s Hamilton's fifth victory in just 18 Grand Prix starts.The 23-year-old Briton blasted away from pole position and won by 5.4 seconds from the BMW of Nick Heidfeld and the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who claimed his first podium.
· PACIFIC LIFE OPEN
Third seeded Serb Novak Djokovic assumed the role of spoiler on Sunday in Indian Wells, preventing Mardy Fish(who stunned Roger Federer in the semi finals) from completing his dream run at the 2008 Pacific Life Open as he defeated the unseeded American 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the men’s final.
· Torres named player of the month
Liverpool striker Fernando Torres was named the English Premier League player of the month having scored seven goals for the 'Reds' in the last four weeks. The award comes on the back of the Spaniard’s hat-trick in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over West Ham United. In his 25 appearance in this season, Torres has so far scored 18 goals and Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez expect him to continue with the same form throughout the remaining season.
· Federer beats Sampras in an exhibition match
Current world number one Roger Federer defeated former number one Pete Sampras 6-3, 6-7, and 7-6 in an exhibition match in New York. The 26 year old is just two short of Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles but was coming off a first-round loss in Dubai. It was the fourth time the two had played an exhibition, with Federer having won two out their previous three matches.
· Gebrselassie opts out of the Olympic’s Marathon
Marathon World record holder, Haile Gebrselassie says he will not run in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of the city's air pollution levels. Gebrselassie suffers from asthma and missed the 2007 London Marathon because of the problem. The 34-year-old expressed that he would try to qualify for the 10,000m event in Beijing. Gebrselassie has set 26 world records during his career.
· Hamilton wins Australian Grand Prix
McLaren star Lewis Hamilton stamped his name on the 2008 formula one season when he led the Australian Grand Prix from start to finish. It’s Hamilton's fifth victory in just 18 Grand Prix starts.The 23-year-old Briton blasted away from pole position and won by 5.4 seconds from the BMW of Nick Heidfeld and the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who claimed his first podium.
· PACIFIC LIFE OPEN
Third seeded Serb Novak Djokovic assumed the role of spoiler on Sunday in Indian Wells, preventing Mardy Fish(who stunned Roger Federer in the semi finals) from completing his dream run at the 2008 Pacific Life Open as he defeated the unseeded American 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 in the men’s final.
Serb Ana Ivanovic came into the 2008 Pacific Life Open with the added pressure as the No. 1 seed and, at the end of the fortnight, rightfully finished as the last woman standing. She claimed her first trophy in Indian Wells with a 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in Sunday’s final, relegating the Russian to runner-up status for the second straight year.
· CANARA BANK WTA BANGALORE OPEN 2008
· Singles – Final
Serena Williams defeated of Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-3 to win the her first singles title of the season by winning the final of the Canara Bank WTA Bangalore Open tennis championship.
· Doubles – Final
S Peng(CHN) / T Sun(CHN) beat Y Chan(TPE) / C Chuang 6-4,5-7,10-8
· European PGA tour Tournaments: Ballantine's Championship
Ireland's Graeme McDowell emerged victorious in a play-off with India's Jeev Milha Singh to win the Ballantine's Championship. The 28-year-old McDowell claimed his third European Tour title and first since winning the 2004 Italia Open in a play-off.
· Indian Probables announced for Women’s Hockey Olympic qualifier
Indian Women Hockey Federation have announced a list of 22 probables for the women's hockey Olympic qualifying tournament to be held in Russia. Seasoned forward Mamta Kharb will lead the team while defender Suman Bala will be vice-captain. Only the winners of the tournament will make it to Beijing in August.
· Rice breaks 200m IM World record (Swimming)
Australia's Stephanie Rice broke the women's 200-metre Individual Medley world record clocking 2 minutes 8.92 seconds at the Australian Olympic swimming trials in Sydney. The 19 year-old trimmed 0.80 seconds from the record set by China's Wu Yan Yan 11 years ago and 2.5 seconds off her own personal best.
· Ribery penalty spoils Beckham’s big day
David Beckham's 100th international ended in defeat at the Stade de France in Paris on Wednesday as England were beaten 1-0 by France in a friendly. Bayern Munich playmaker Franck Ribery got the only goal from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute. The 32-year-old Beckham started the match to become only the fifth English player in 136 years of international soccer to achieve a century of appearances for his country.
· Levon Aronian of Armenia Amber chess tournament
Levon Aronian of Armenia won the Amber Blindfold and Rapid chess tournament after two easy draw with Hungarian Peter Leko. The Armenian finished with 14.5 points. India’s Viswanathan Anand finished overall tied sixth. The World Champion played out two draws with Loek Van Wely of Holland in the 11th and final round of the competition. Anand finished with 11 points to tie for the sixth spot with Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine.
· Sehwag makes memorable an otherwise ordinary match
Virender Sehwag scored the fastest triple century in the history of test cricket in the first test match against South Africa at Chennai. It is the second time that the Delhi southpaw has crossed the 300 figure. The Match, however, ended in a draw.
· FIFA agrees to adopt new WADA code
FIFA President Sepp Blatter has signed an agreement to adopt the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) revised drug-testing code. The agreement was reached after Blatter met the new head of WADA, John Fahey, at the FIFA's headquarters in Zurich. The new code allows more flexibility in the penalties imposed on athletes. FIFA is expected to ratify the code in full at its annual congress in Sydney in May. The code comes into force in January 2009.
· Raikkonen wins Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang: Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen cruised through to a Malaysian Grand Prix win at Sepang on Sunday. Raikkonen seized the win by finishing ahead of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.
· World champion Stoner wins in Doha
World champion Casey Stoner won the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix in Doha, the opening race of the 2008 season, and the first ever to be held at night under floodlights. The Australian crossed the line first ahead of Spanish pole sitter and debutant Jorge Lorenzo. The Ducati rider finished the 22-lap race in 42:36.587 seconds. Dani Pedrosa of Italy finished third.
