My Sports India: Match Previews, TV Channel timings, and important sports news stories

Word is that DD National will be broadcasting the remainder of the Euro 2008 games for the entire Indian population to see. DD hasn’t put out any official time table so you will have to rely on the ESPN timetable for the matches. 

Note that we haven’t confirmed this yet. We will let you know as soon as we do. Note that we haven’t confirmed this yet. We will let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime, here’s the fixtures for the semi-finals of Euro 2008. 

Semi-finals

Final

Casey Stoner proved uncatchable for his MotoGP rivals as he cruised to a second Donington Park victory in as many years. The 2007 World Champion was the fastest off the line from pole position, taking the kind of runaway win typical of his title winning year at the bwin.com British Grand Prix.

With his second triumph of the season, Stoner moved his way up to third in the overall classification. The two riders ahead of him in the standings, Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, were involved in an entertaining battle some seven seconds back, trading places repeatedly at the midway point of the race. Riding in his 200th Grand Prix, Fiat Yamaha rider Rossi eventually won out, continuing a seven race run of podium finishes in 2008.

Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa also has seven rostrum appearances to his name this year, and came in third at the scene of his 2006 victory. His consistency keeps up the pressure on series leader Rossi, who he trails by just eleven points.

ESPN: Felipe Massa won his third race of the season, and with it took over the lead of the F1 world championship for the first time.

In taking the chequered flag in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, and on a momentous day for Massa, he also became the first Brazilian to top the drivers’ standings since his hero in Ayrton Senna led the way 15 years ago.

Massa now leads an enthralling four-way title race by two points from BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, and five from Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who came home second at the Circuit de Nevers. read all »

Tim Southee took 4 wickets as New Zealand bowled England out for 160 to win the third one-day cricket international by 22 runs, tying the 5-match series at 1-1. The 19-year-old’s haul at Bristol’s County Ground included 3 dismissals in 2 overs to reduce the home team to 64-6, then he trapped captain Paul Collingwood leg before wicket. The Black Caps earlier made 182 all out. New Zealand is aiming to finish its tour on a high after previously suffering a 2-0 defeat in the Test series and losing a Twenty20 international. It was frustrated in its attempt to tie the series in the second one-day match on June 18 after the umpires took the players off with the Black Caps short of batting the minimum 20 overs. England won the opening game by 114 runs. Kyle Mills made New Zealand’s early breakthrough in the England reply, with Luke Wright edging to Scott Styris at second slip in the opening over, then Grant Elliott held a catch to dismiss Kevin Pietersen. Elliott, who had top-scored for the visitor with 56 as he helped it recover from 75-6, also finished with 2 wickets. Daniel Vettori and Styris were the other wicket-takers. Collingwood led England with 34, Graeme Swann made 29, and Ravi Bopara scored 27. England’s pace attack of Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Chris Tremlett had made early inroads today before Elliott and Mills, 47 from 40 balls, lifted the Black Caps. Anderson took 3 wickets, but went for 61 runs, while Broad allowed only 14 runs from his 10 overs, collecting 2 dismissals.

Dmitri Torbinski and Andrei Arshavin scored in the second period of extra time as Russia beat the Netherlands 3-1 last night to reach the semifinals of soccer’s European Championship. Roman Pavlyuchenko had put the Russians ahead after 56 minutes in Basel, Switzerland, before Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy tied the game with four minutes of regulation play remaining. Russia coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink will now make its first appearance in the last four of a major tournament since competing as an independent nation. It previously played as part of the Soviet Union, winner of the inaugural title in 1960.

The Netherlands, the European champion in 1988, had won every group-stage match by outscoring its opponents 9-1. Defender Khalid Boulahrouz was included in the Dutch starting lineup, two days after deciding to stay with the squad following the death of his prematurely born baby daughter. His teammates wore black armbands as a mark of respect. It was Russia that created the game’s first opportunity, with Yuri Zhirkov forcing a save from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in the seventh minute with a free-kick. Pavlyuchenko then headed an Igor Semshov cross over from 10 yards out. Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved a 37th-minute shot from Van Nistelrooy and punched out a powerful drive from Van der Vaart after 44 minutes. The Dutch struggled to create clear chances until Van Nistelrooy tied the game. The Real Madrid striker dived to head in a freekick by Wesley Sneijder at the far post.

Both teams attacked from the start of extra time, with Van der Sar and Akinfeev both having to make saves in the first three minutes. In the 97th minute, Pavlyuchenko was denied his second goal by the crossbar after cutting inside and striking a right-foot shot from 20 yards. The Russians then wasted several opportunities as Torbinski couldn’t put the ball in from six yards and Kolodin sent a freekick wide. The teams remained tied at the end of the first 15-minute period. Torbinski, who will miss the semifinal after collecting his second yellow card of the tournament, put Russia ahead again with eight minutes remaining. He put a looping Arshavin cross into the net from close range for his second international goal. Arshavin then scored with a low shot, which went through the legs of Van der Sar, to end hopes of a Dutch comeback.

Russia will next face the winner of today’s quarterfinal between world champion Italy or Spain on June 26. Record three- time winner Germany faces Turkey on June 25 in the other semifinal.

The 2008 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy is the 30th edition of Hockey Champions Trophy for men. It will be held in Rotterdam, Netherlands from June 21 to June 29, 2008.

Participating nations are Australia, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, Germany (defending champions)
and Argentina.

Zee Sports India will be covering this event Live. However, if you want to check it out online, visit WorldHockey.tv and you can get free access to Live matches as well as replays. Here’s the the complete schedule for the tournament: read all »

The Championships, Wimbledon (commonly referred to as Wimbledon) is the oldest tennis championship in the world. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and the only one played on grass courts. Although I’m sure any tennis fan already knows all of this and more.

So without further ado, here’s how its going to happen on Indian television. Star Sports India will broadcast the matches Live. The matches will begin at 4:00 p.m. going right up to 11:30 p.m.

To check out the draw for the tournament, head over to the Wimbledon website, where they have complete details of who is playing whom and a flash based Slamtracker which is very convenient. read all »

Kimi Raikkonen took Ferrari’s 200th pole position on Saturday as he and team mate Felipe Massa dominated qualifying for the French Grand Prix. Others may have set the practice pace, but when it mattered the red cars had a small but crucial margin over McLaren in the final sector. Raikkonen put in a lap of 1m 16.449s compared to Massa’s 1m 16.490s. 

Lewis Hamilton was third despite admitting to making mistakes on the exit to Turn Seven on each of his fast laps. His best time was 1m 16.693s which dislodged Renault’s Fernando Alonso (1m 16.840s) and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli (1m 16.920s), but the Englishman will start 13th when his ten-place grid penalty from Montreal is taken into account. He must, incidentally, run the same fuel load as that with which he qualified, even though he starts outside the top 10.

Unfortunately, our Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil came in 18th and 19th position respectively. Tough luck Force India, tough luck.

The Race day itself starts at 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd, with the actual race starting at 5:15 p.m. on Star Sports.

Just two weeks after the Triseries tournament at Bangladesh, Pakistan hosts the Asia Cup 2008. Six teams are expected to take part in the tournament, including Bangladesh, India, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UAE. This will be the first Asia Cup hosted by Pakistan; previously political tensions between India and Pakistan did not permit Pakistan to host the event.

Here’s the complete TV schedule for the Asia cup on ESPN India and Star Cricket.

ESPN will broadcast the Group A matches played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The matches begin at 3:20 p.m. 

24th June: Bangladesh vs UAE
25th June: Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh
26th June: Sri Lanka vs UAE

Star Sports on the other hand will be much more comprehensive. There will be a 1 hour preview of the match at 2:30 p.m., followed by the game at 3:30 p.m. There will also be a 1 hour match review after the match at 11:30 p.m. The Group B matches will be played at National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan

24th June: Pakistan vs Hong Kong
25th June: India vs Hong Kong
26th June: Pakistan vs India 

The other six matches - to be played from 28th June to 4th July - will be decided later on depending on the points earned by each team. And you can count on us to keep you posted on those results. 

Turkey, which entered the European championships with 40-1 odds to win the tournament, scored a 3-1 penalty kicks victory over Croatia to set up a semifinal match with record three-time champion Germany. After scoring decisive goals late in its last two matches against Switzerland and the Czech Republic, Turkey stunned Croatia when substitute Semih Senturk crashed in a shot with the last kick of the 120-minute match at the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna to force the shootout. Ivan Klasnic’s header a minute earlier appeared to have sent Turkey out. The Turks now move to Switzerland for its game against Germany on June 25 in Basle. Turkey beat the Swiss 2-1 in its second game and then managed to come from 2-0 down to edge the Czechs 3-2, with Nihat Kahveci netting twice in the final three minutes. It lost the opener 3-0 to Portugal. Croatia manager Slaven Bilic said Turkey’s win owed to “something special” that has surrounded them in this tournament and that his team was stronger in open play. He said the timing of Senturk’s goal destroyed his players’ confidence.

Midfielder Luca Modric, praised by Bilic for his play in the tournament, missed Croatia’s first penalty. He slid the ball wide to the right and Arda Turan scored for Turkey. After Darijo Srna and Senturk made their teams’ second kicks, Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic fired his attempt wide. Altintop converted to give Turkey a 3-1 lead and goalkeeper Rustu Recber, playing only because first choice Volkan Demiral was suspended, then dived to stop a shot from Mladen Petric. His save ended the shootout, sending Turkish fans and players into celebration and the Croatian players down on their knees in the center circle. Minutes earlier, it was the Croatians who danced wildly, having scored the game’s first goal in the 30th minute of extra time. The team’s entire bench, led by gray-suited coach Bilic, stormed onto the field to celebrate Klasnic’s header.

Terim said he will have to asses the damage of last night’s victory at the team hotel today. Frontline striker Nihat Kahveci limped out with a thigh problem and Tuncay Sanli, Turan and Emre Asik will all miss the Germany game through suspension after receiving yellow cards. Turkey’s best previous European finish came when it reached the quarterfinals in 2000. It then went on to finish in third place at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Germany overpowered Portugal 3-2 to reach the semifinals of soccer’s European Championship for the first time since 1996. Bastian Schweinsteiger returned from suspension last night to score one goal and set up two in the first quarterfinal in Basel, Switzerland. Germany will face either Croatia or Turkey in its first semifinal since winning a record third European title 12 years ago. Schweinsteiger missed Germany’s last game after getting a red card against Croatia. He returned to open the scoring in the 22nd minute, then provided free kicks which Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack headed in for goals. Nuno Gomes and Helder Postiga scored for Portugal, which was attempting to reach its third straight semifinal. The loss ended the five-year reign of Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who will take over English Premier League club Chelsea on July 1. Scolari’s counterpart Low was serving a one-game suspension after being sent to the stands during the win over Austria in Germany’s last match.

Portugal had the first scoring chance yesterday in the 15th minute as Deco sent a pass to Simao, whose shot was saved by Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Joao Moutinho was then undecided whether to head or kick a cross from Jose Bosingwa and the ball went off his thigh and over the crossbar. Germany took the lead in the 22nd minute when Lukas Podolski took Ballack’s return pass down the left side before centering a ball that Schweinsteiger slid inside the near post. Less than five minutes later, Schweinsteiger lofted a freekick into the area which an unmarked Klose headed in for his first goal of the tournament. Portugal made it 2-1 five minutes before halftime after Lehmann came out to block Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot. The rebound went to Gomes, whose left-foot effort evaded defender Christoph Metzelder on the goal line.

The Germans increased their lead 13 minutes into the second half as Schweinsteiger sent another freekick into the area and Ballack appeared to push off a defender before heading it in. Scolari said Ballack, his future player at Chelsea, should have been called for a foul. Postiga, who entered the game in the 73rd minute, headed in Nani’s cross with three minutes left make it 3-2. The Portuguese, runners-up to Greece at Euro 2004, pushed on during four minutes of injury time though couldn’t get a clear shot on goal.

Force India Formula One Team will be looking for an upturn in fortune in the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours after disappointing results in Monaco and Canada.

Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella’s outing in Candain Grand prix ended in a heart-break as both retired midway through the race. Before that Sutil suffered a crash in Monaco Grand Prix that dashed his hopes of a podium finish. The Vijay Mallya co-owned team will look to register a finish for bopth the cars at the Magny-Cours circuit in the heart of rural France June 20-22. The race will be on the eight round of the 18-round series, and the first of seven consecutive races in Europe.

The Qualifying round will begin at 5:27 p.m. on the 21st of June, on Star Sports.
The Race day itself starts at 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd, with the actual race starting at 5:15 p.m. on Star Sports.