Nadal returns to Grand Slam action

After a turbulent year struggling with injury, Rafael Nadal returns to Roland Garros aiming to extend his record to eight titles. Despite a fine run of recent results, he will be seeded outside the top three of a Grand Slam for thr first time since 2005.

ROLAND GARROS LEGENDS

7 Rafael Nadal ESP

    Titles : 2005-08, 2010-12

     W/L record : 52-1

     All titles on clay : 41

Four-set loss to Robin Soderling in 2009 is Nadal's only defeat at Roland Garros-98% win rate exceeds that of Roger Federer at Wimbledon (90%)

Bjorn Borg SWE

6  RG Titles : 1974,75,78-81

     W/L record : 49-2

      All titles on clay : 30

      career Dates : 1973-83

Mats Wilander SWE

3   RG Titles : 1982,85,88

       W/L record : 53-12

       Clay titles : 28

       Career dates : 1978-94

Ivan Lendi CZE

3   RG Titles : 1984,86,87

       W/L record : 53-12

       Clay titles : 28

       Career dates : 1978-94

Gustavo Kuerten BRA

3    RG Titles : 1997,2000,01

        W/L record : 36-8

         Clay titles : 14

         Career dates : 1995-2008

Great Champions Times

Europe crowned

The 2012-13 season of European club football draws to an end. The major nations on the soccer map including Spain, France, Italy, England, Germany have pinned on their new champions.

Barcelona in La Liga

Spain La Liga goes to BArcelona; this is the 22nd win in the history of the club. Last year's champion Real Madrid lurched into the second position. The third place goes to Athletico de Madrid. Lionnel Messi of Barcelona is the top scorer with 46 goals. With this Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletico de Madrid are selected to the next season's UEFA Champions League Group Stage. And Real Sociedad team is qualified for te playoff round.

United comes up in England

Manchester United Wins it way to the English Premier League. Manchester City, last season's winners,, is left in the second position. Chelsea managed to reach the 3rd position. For United, who won the most number of Premier Leagues in history, this is 13th trophy. Robin Van Persie of Manchester United is the top scorer with 25 goals. Machester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal are selected to the grouo stage of UEFA Champions League.

Bayern Munich's Bundesliga

Bayern Munich holds the trophy in German Bundesliga, leaving Borussia Dortmund to the second place. Bayer Leverkusen is in the third place. This is the 22nd trophy of Bayern Munich and the team holds most wins in Bundesliga. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayern Leverkusen are selected top the UEFA Champions League group stage. And Shalke 04 has found its way to the playoff round.

Serie A for Juventus

Juventus wins the Italian Serie A thus bagging the 29th trophy of the team. And the team has won the most number of Serie A trophies in history. Napoli is placed in the second place. AC Milan has trundled to the third position. 

Teams Juventus, Napoli, ACMilan have entered the Champions League Group Stage, and team Fiorentina has made it to the playoff round.

PSG in France

Paris Saint Germain (PSG) wins the France Ligue 1; this is the third trophy in club's history. Olympique de Marseille is in the second place and Olympique Lyonnais makes to the third position. Zlatan Ibrahimovic with 28 goals has become the top-scorer.

Paris Saint Germain and Olympique de Marseille are qualified to the UEFA Champions League Group Stage and Olympique Lyonnais makes it to the playoff round.

Everst bows to her steely resolve

Arunima Singh, who survived a fatal thief-attack on a moving train, has scaled Mount Everest, becoming India's first female amputee to conquer the world's highest mountain.

The 26-year-old former volleyball star scaled up 8,848m on 21 May at about 11 in the morning.

Arunima, a team member of Tata Group's Econ Expedition, climbed on a prosthetic leg and unfurled the tricolour on the mountain peak.

Hailing from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Arunima lost her leg on 11 April 2011, when thieves pushed her onto the track from her train carriage.

She was travelling from Lucknow when the thieves attempted to snactch her necklace and purse, according to her brother Rahul Sinha. Thrown out of the Padmavati Express, she was hit by another train, leading to amputating her left leg below the knee.

Braving the injuries Arunima quickly returned to normal life, and while still in hospital she expressed her ambition to scale the M.Everest.

 She wanted to prove that she could outdo pain and suffering and she was motivated a lot by Bachendri Pal, a top official at Tata Steel Adenture Foundation and the first woman to scale Mount Everest.

Arunima spent about two months acclimatizing by trekking in Northern India and Nepal to prepare for the ascent.

She had scaled the 6622-metre peak at Chamser Kangri, Ladakh last year.

Arunima's feat came a day after Tashi and Nancy had become the first twins to conquer the highest mountain.

Athletico win King's Cup

Atletico Marid stunned city rivals Real Madrid to win their 10th Kings's Cup when Joan Miranda's extra-time header secured a 2-1 comeback win. Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red card after he kicked out at Athletico captain Gabi in the second half of extra time, Real faithful were left to reflect on a season without major trophy and the possible departure of coach Jose Mourinho at the end of the campaign.

Former sprinter Anand Shetty passes away

Former international sprinter Anand Shetty, 49, passes away in Mangalore. While driving with family to Kasargod, Anand collided with a KSRTC bus and had to be extracted from the damaged car; he succumbed to injuries in the hospital. He was an outstanding athlete and craved a name for himself in the 100m and 200m sprints. Anand shot the 200m at the World Junior Games in Seoul in 1982. He also was the 100m and 200m National champion from 1981 to 1989.

More developments in matchfixing case

Three Indian cricketers were refused bail after they appeared in court on matchfixing charges as police arrested a Bollywood star actor over tha scandal. A court in New Delhi agreed custody extention for former paceman S Sreesanth and two teammates from the Rajasthan Royals who are accused of deliberately bowling bad for money during the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition. Bollywood actor and son of late wrestler-actor Dara Singh, Vindoo Dara Singh was arrested by Mumbai Crime Branch for his alleged links with the bookies involved in IPL spot-fixing scandal, following the arrest of Ramesh Vyas, a major bookie arrested.

No more hitting gym to burn fat!

Yes, you don't need to work out till you are clammy with sweat. Scientists claim to have inched closer to developing a new"diet pill" that could prevent obesity. The pill may 'rewire' appetite control in your brain, indicates a study published in Journal Neuroscience.

Researchers at the University of East Angila (UEA) have identified a mass of stem cells 'capable of generating new apeetite-regulating neurons in young and adult rodents', the study says.

This could become a lasting solution to eating disorders. They closely observed the hypothalamus section of brain, which controls sleep and walking, energy expenditure, appetite, thirst, hormone release, and other biological functions. Among these functions, they focused specifically on the nerve cells that control appetite.

The study established the fact that a mass of brain cells called 'tanycytes' act like stem cells. They add "new neurons to the appetite regularly circuitry of the mouse brain after birth and into adulthood," the report says.

"Unlike dieting, translation of this discovery could eventually offer a permanent solution for tracking obesity," lead reasercher Dr Mohammad K Hajhosseini said.

According to him either loss or malfunctioning of neurons in the hypothalamus is the prime cause of eating disorders including obesity. the new study refuses the existing notion that the "circuity that controls appetite is fixed".

Mancini sacked

Roberto Mancini has been sacked as manager of Manchester City - a year to the dat after leaving the club to the English Premier  League title. City's shock FA Cup Final defeat by Wigan at Wembly meant they ended this season without any major trophy. The 48-year-old Mancini's time at City saw the club win a major trophy in 35 years with the 2011 FA Cup, while last season's Premier League title was their first top-flight crown since 1968 and saw the manager rewarding with a new five-year deal.

Sreeshanth, Chandila and Chavan arrested for spot-fixing

Former Indian bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and two other players have been arrested by Delhi police on suspection of spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) immediatly suspended Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team mates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila and promised that stricter punnishments would await if they are found guilty. Delhi Polce commissioner Neeraj Kumar said the three bowlers took money to concede pre0determined number of runs in three different IPL matches. For four million rupees Sreesanth agreed to concede 13 or more runs in his second over of a May 9 match at Mohali, Kumar told.

Goa uncontrollable

Goa stands towering with the I League trophy. Rooting out Mohun Bagan in the tie, Churchill Brothers grabbed the prestigious title. While a round was sstill pending, Sunil Chhetri and team won it without even letting a photo-finish.
with Sunil Chhetri's goal at the 72nd minute, Churchill that had been behind Mohun Bagan by the solitary goal hit by Malayalee star CS Sabeeth, bagged the trophy. Chhetri hit it out after being helped by a stunning move of Malayalee player Bineesh Balan.
Out of 25 games, Churchill gainedd 25 points in its journey to the trophy. The trophy is accompanied by 15 wins, 7 tie and 3 losses. Pune FC is in the second place with 49 points from 25 games. Pune's kitty is filled with 15 wins, 4 tie-ups and 6 losses. Churchill Brothers, who was not in the picture in the early part of the matches, grabbed the first place after rooting out last year's champion Dempo Goa & also toppling East Bengal. With 44 points East Bengal is in the third place, and 37 points hold Dempo at the fifth place. It was in the 2008-09 season that Churchill earlier kissed the trophy. In the first match after National Football was renamed I League in the 2007-08 season, Dempo became champions. They also won the 2009-10 & 2011- 12 seasons.
Mohun Bagan entered the fray with a resolve after being defeated by Churchill (2-0) in the last game. Boys of Karim Bencherifa shocked the rivals in the first minutes of the game. Bagan was earlier banned after its match against East Bengal went berserk last December. The ban, which forfeited all its points, was lifted later; the team stunning retained its place in the First Division.
The last benchers in the League, Both Air India and United Sikkim, were relegated to the Second Division. In lieu of the traditional trophy, the winner is presented with a trophy designed in Europe. This gold-plated trophy comes with a silver football at the top; it models on the league trophies the world wide.

Gambhir and Yuvraj out

Opener Gautam Gambir and middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh were axed while stumper Dinesh Karthik was rewarded for his good batting form with a berth in India's 15-member squad for next month's Champions Trophy cricket tournament in England. Apart from Karthik, all-rounder Irfan Pathan and pacers Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar also made a comback to this side.

Maiden Grand Prix for Sindhu

PV Sindhu lifted her Maiden Grand Prix title in Malaysia after getting the better of Juan Gu of Singapore. The top-seeded Indian took an hour and 11 minutes to prevail over her fifth seeded opponent, 21-17, 17-21, 21-19.