Great News!!! Formula One Legend Michael Schumacher 'Not In a Coma Anymore'!

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is no longer in a coma and has left the Grenoble hospital where he was being treated, his family said on Monday.

The German suffered severe head injuries after a fall on a family skiing break shortly after Christmas last year.

Schumacher's life was in danger immediately after the crash, and he was left in a coma for several months as doctors continued to work on aiding his recovery.

Although there had been no official news about Schumacher's recovery for some time, a statement issued by his family and management on Monday revealed that progress had been made in recent weeks.

It confirmed that he was no longer in a coma and that he had been moved from the University Hospital in Grenoble where he had been since the accident.

The statement said: "Michael has left the CHU Grenoble to continue his long phase of rehabilitation. He is not in a coma anymore.

"His family would like to explicitly thank all his treating doctors, nurses and therapists in Grenoble as well as the first aiders at the place of the accident, who did an excellent job in those first months.

"The family also wishes to thank all the people who have sent Michael all the many good wishes to Michael. We are sure it helped him.

"For the future we ask for understanding that his further rehabilitation will take place away from the public eye."

The location of Schumacher's rehabilitation is being kept secret to respect his privacy, and it is not expected that there will be any further updates about his exact condition imminently.

Eight years after his first FIFA World Cup goal, Lionel Messi scored his second as Argentina beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-1

It was a winning start for Argentina but their victory was not convincing even before a late Bosnia reply from Vedad Ibisevic. This was a scratchy, scrappy performance that raised far more questions than it answered against a disciplined and technically adept Bosnia side who were undone first by a moment of misfortune three minutes in to their first World Cup and then, as they tired in the second half, by a moment of brilliance from Lionel Messi.

As expected, Argentina switched to a 5-3-2 from the 4-3-3 they used for much of qualifying, with Gonzalo Higuaín being replaced by Hugo Campagnaro. Higuaín was not fully fit which, with Rodrigo Palacio out with a calf injury, perhaps in part explained why Alejandro Sabella had made the change. But it still seemed baffling, particularly given that Bosnia, having used a 4-4-2 through most of qualifying, had spent their warm-up games preparing to use the 4-2-3-1 they did ultimately deploy. Sabella was a devotee of 5-3-2 when he led Estudiantes to the title and the Copa Libertadores but the danger of using three central defenders against a lone centre-forward is that, with two spare men, one is left redundant. Sabella had only heightened the sense of mystery by saying his selection was not to do with how he expected Bosnia to line up but “more with other things, but I can’t say what publicly”, prompting rumours about cliques and splits in the squad.

India slips to third in ICC ODI Team Rankings

Dubai: India has dropped to third position in the Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings.

Sri Lanka's 3-2 series win helped it gain one ratings point to move up to 112, the same ratings points as India. However, when ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Angelo Mathews' side is ranked ahead of India, and now sits in second place.

England, on the other hand, dropped one ratings point to finish on 109, on par with South Africa. When ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point, Alastair Cook's side is ranked behind South Africa, in fifth place.

Sri Lanka started the series in third place with 111 ratings points, while England was in fourth place with 110 ratings points.

Rank (+/-) Team Rating (+/-):

1 Australia 115

2 (+1) Sri Lanka 112 (+1)

3 (-1) India 112

4 South Africa 109

5 (-1) England 109 (-1)

6 Pakistan 100

7 New Zealand 98

8 West Indies 94

9 Bangladesh 73

10 Zimbabwe 61

Big B eyes team in Kabaddi Premier League

Patna: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is eyeing a team for the Kabaddi Premier League (KPL), auction of which would start here next week, an official said.

The actor's film production and event management company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) will be among top franchisees besides Mahindra and Mahindra, ONGC, Air India and few other insurance companies to take part in the auction for the KPL, joint secretary of Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI), Kumar Vijay told PTI here today.

"The ABCL will be one of the franchisees bidding for players for the KPL," Vijay, who is also the secretary of Bihar State Kabaddi Association, added.

He said the ABCL and Mahindra and Mahindra were the new entrants in the KPL. The bidding for the KPL is scheduled during the 61st senior national men's and women's championship to be held in Patna from January 21-24, he said.

The League, backed by corporate franchises, first played in Vijaywada in 2011 with eight teams comprising of ten players.

Meanwhile, the selection committee, AKFI technical director E Prasad Rao and other officials would be present at the meet to select both the men's and women's team for the Asian Games scheduled in South Korea's Incheon in September this year and the World Cup to be held in Tamil Nadu.

MSD rules out retirement until 2015 Cup

New Delhi: A “fitter” and “healthier” M.S. Dhoni on Monday put rest to all speculations about retiring from any of the formats, saying that it would be unfair to put the burden of captaincy on a new player as the 2015 World Cup was just a year away.

“Now, it’s a point of no return. The World Cup is literally one year away and it won’t give a new guy the ideal time to play, at least, 70-80-90 games beginning to the World Cup. It will be tough for him,” Dhoni said on the sidelines of an event here.

Dhoni keen to continue as skipper in all three formats

Last year during the Australia tour, Dhoni had said that he would take a call on whether he would play all formats of the game in order to lead India’s title defence in 2015.

“I understand the pressure, it’s not always that you turn up and at the same time, you get the kind of things which give you more experience than the others. So, we have to go through it,” he added.

The back-to-back series against West Indies and South Africa had left the Indian team tired and Dhoni too was no different. However, the skipper asserted that he is in good shape physically, at least for the time being.

“As of now, it’s looking good. The body is closely knit together. How it will be (in future), I don’t know but so far so good.”

Evaluating India’s disastrous tour of South Africa where his boys lost both the ODI and Test series, Dhoni blamed one bad session in Durban for the embarrassment.

“I agree, we had some tough times. We had one really bad session because of which we were on the losing side,” he said.

“It’s a process where we have to improve and also the fact that now we will be continuously playing out of India, so it will give more exposure to the players.

“Most of the players, who are part of the side barring a few, they have not played, may be, more than five Test matches outside India. I know they will take some time but the overall performance was good.”

In the recent times, Indian bowlers’ ability to take 20 wickets on foreign soil was doubted and the 31-year-old admitted it’s one area where the team need to improve.

Kohli jumps to career-best rankings

Dubai: Star Indian batsman Virat Kohli jumped nine places to achieve his career-best 11th spot in the latest Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen issued today.

Kohli, who stroked 119 and 96 in the two innings in the first Test against South Africa, was the second highest-ranked Indian after Cheteshwar Pujara, another centurion in the same match in Johannesburg, who remained on seventh spot after earning 37 rating points.

South African A B de Villiers, one of the two South African centurions to help draw the Johannesburg Test, leads the rankings. He leads compatriot and second-ranked Hashim Amla by 25 ratings points.

Meanwhile, South Africa fast bowler Vernon Philander has achieved the coveted number-one ranking on the Reliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers after a stellar performance against India in the drawn Johannesburg Test.

Philander has dislodged team-mate Dale Steyn, who had been at the top of table since July 2009 when he went past Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan. Overall, Steyn spent 186 matches at the number-one position, the second-most ever after Muralitharan.

Philander had entered the Test trailing Steyn by four ratings points. While Philander recorded figures of four for 61 and three for 68, Steyn managed just one wicket. The contrasting performances resulted in Philander gaining 13 ratings points and Steyn conceding 13 ratings points.

This swing means Philander now leads Steyn by 22 ratings points and the 28-year-old from Bellville will now start the Durban Test as the number-one ranked bowler in the world for the first time in his career.

Philander is now the seventh South Africa bowler to claim the number-one rank after Aubrey Faulkner (1914-1921), Hugh Tayfield (1955-1958), Peter Pollock (1969), Allan Donald (1998-1999), Shaun Pollock (1999-2003) and Steyn (2008-2013).

Overall Philander is the 74th bowler to head the Test bowling ranking. Philander has also become the third South Africa bowler after Pollock and Steyn to break the barrier of 900 ratings points, considered a landmark for top bowlers. Philander's total of 912 ratings points is the joint-sixth best ever, with England's Tony Lock and West Indies paceman Curtly Ambrose, and the best-ever by a South Africa bowler.

In the team rankings, New Zealand's eight-wicket win over West Indies in the Hamilton Test has helped it register a 2-0 series win and, thereby, gain seven ratings points to retain seventh position with 82 ratings points. West Indies, on the other hand, has dropped behind Sri Lanka in seventh position in the table headed by South Africa (131 rating points). India are at second place with 119 rating points.

England off-spinner Graeme Swann, who retired from international cricket yesterday, ended his Test career in 15th spot. Swann's highest ranking with the ball was when he achieved the number-two position in March 2010. He reached a peak of 858 points later that year.

Swann also spent 41 matches and 111 days in 2011 as the top ranked ODI bowler, first reaching top spot on 3 July 2011. He has ended his ODI career in 24th rank on the bowling table. He also spent 35 matches and 338 days as the top ranked T20I bowler, first reaching top spot on 30 December 2010. Swann has ended his T20 International career in 17th position.

Virat Kohli reminded me of Sachin Tendulkar of 1996 tour: Allan Donald

Johannesburg: Former South African pace legend and current bowling coach Allan Donald today compared Virat Kohli's century with Sachin Tendulkar, who had similarly counter-attacked the Proteas attack during a Test match in Cape Town back in 1996.

"The one word that comes to my mind is responsibility," he said, talking about the India's new No 4.

"He (Kohli) showed great discipline and responsibility. It reminded me of Sachin Tendulkar when they came here in 1996. I was the first one to say back in 1996 that India didn't have much bottle. One person jumped out and played for the situation, played for his team, and that was Tendulkar. That's what came to my mind when I saw Kohli batting," Donald told mediapersons here today.

Donald explained that Kohli's ability to punish the loose balls when required.

"The way Kohli left the ball and when we were slightly off the line he punished the ball. He paced his innings very, very well. He put up his hand today and showed real fight and he was tight and didn't give much away until the end."

The coach did say that he wasn't very happy with performance of his bowlers although he claims that South Africa is very much in control.

"At the same time, we were slightly wide and short, probably the widest I have seen outside the off-stump, because the ball was swinging. But the game never really drifted away from us. They are five down, and I will take it," he added.

Donald did agree that Indian batsmen showed a lot of patience early in their innings.

"It's a mixture of things, having India in trouble early on. Then, it became sloppy in patches as the day went on. India showed a lot of patience, and left the ball really well today. They also played Imran Tahir very well.

"They have learnt from past matches here, and also we needed to find the right areas with the ball. We could have done it better and it was a tough Test match cricket today," he said.

Kohli had earlier outlined that India will be looking to get 400 runs on the board, and if not they will be really pleased with 350-360 as well. Either way, if that happens, it will put a lot of pressure on the hosts, who have to bat last on this pitch.

"I thought we stuck to our guns really well, and tomorrow we have to come and make a big play. We need to keep our eyes on the pitch, there are a few cracks. The second new ball has come at the right time, and tomorrow we have to come swinging, and there’s no doubt about it," Donald signed off.

Determined England wins Ashes series

Chester-Le-Street, United Kingdom: With shadows lengthening across the Riverside ground and time rapidly running out, Alastair Cook tossed the ball one final time to the man who had put his England team on the brink of winning a third straight Ashes series.
Stuart Broad didn't let his captain down.

Steaming in from the Lumley End backed by roars of the crowd, Broad sent down another fierce delivery that Australia tail-ender Peter Siddle lofted harmlessly to mid-off, where James Anderson took a simple catch.

England had won the fourth test — and confirmed its dominance over its greatest cricketing rival in the process.

"We'll enjoy what is a very special day," Cook said, "and one that I'm going to look back on with huge fondness."

A day of 15 wickets and high tension at Chester-le-Street will forever be remembered for Broad's devastating bowling performance.

Set a victory target of 299 on day four, Australia collapsed from 168-2 to 224 all out in just shy of two hours in a final session Monday that saw nine wickets fall in total.

Broad took six of them, finishing with 6-50 and career-best overall figures of 11-121. And, of course, the man-of-the-match award.

England won by 74 runs to take a 3-0 lead in the five-match series. The final test is at The Oval starting Aug. 21, where Australia is looking simply to save face.

"We got outplayed, Stuart Broad bowled a couple of outstanding spells and as soon as we lost Chris Rogers (for 49, to make it 109-1), we found it difficult," Australia captain Michael Clarke said.

"We've got to play better than that," he added. "We need some time to let this sink in."

Retaining the urn, which they did after the drawn third test at Old Trafford last week, was one thing. But winning a third Ashes series in succession for the first time since the so-called "Botham's Ashes" of 1981 really is something to savor for a team that lost eight on the bounce between 1989 and 2003.

Despite their improvement over the past two weeks, the Australians' winless streak in tests moved to eight — a sorry record for such a proud cricket nation.

England, whose unbeaten run in tests stretches to 11, lost the final five wickets of its second innings for the addition of 96 runs to the overnight 234-5. That meant it stayed in the driving seat in a fluctuating test.

Ryan Harris took four wickets to claim a career-best 7-117 — becoming the first Australian since Shane Warne in 2001 to take so many victims in one Ashes innings — but agricultural knocks of 45 from Tim Bresnan and 30 not out from Graeme Swann proved crucial in taking the game away from the tourists.

Even so, things looked rosy for the Australians when Rogers and David Warner put on an opening stand of 109 — the team's best first-wicket partnership of the series.

Rogers edged Swann to Trott at first slip but Warner stayed in the groove, uppercutting Broad for four and smashing Swann over extra cover for the only six of the match.

Even when Usman Khawaja (21) was trapped lbw to Swann to make it 147-2, Clarke came in, hit three quick fours and ensured the momentum was still with the tourists.

Then it all went wrong.

Warner edged a beauty from Bresnan to wicketkeeper Matt Prior to go for 71, and Broad bowled Clarke (21) with a pearler off the seam.

The crowd came to life. England's fielders suddenly chirped up.

"Cooky threw me the ball and said, 'Spice it up a bit,'" Broad said. "I got a good partnership going with Tim Bresnan, we tried to hit the deck as hard as we could and we managed to do it."

Steve Smith (2) dragged a 90 mph delivery from Broad onto his own stumps as he attempted a pull and the paceman then trapped Brad Haddin lbw for 4. He wheeled away in celebration, puffing his cheeks and with his eyes bulging.

In 55 minutes, the whole middle order had been removed. So had Australia's hopes of squaring the series.

"He really charged in," Cook said of Broad. "When everything clicks and he's bowling in the high 80s with the control Broady has, it's incredibly hard to bat.

"Words can't justify how good a spell of bowling that was."

Then it was just a case of wrapping up the tail.

Harris (11) was plumb lbw to Broad, who then bowled Nathan Lyon for 8 to bring up his second five-fer of the match.

With darkness descending and spectators straining their eyes, England was allowed an extra half-hour to take the last wicket — and they needed 16 minutes of the allotted time.

In that crazy final session, Australia lost nine wickets for 104 runs, with Broad hitting one of those purple patches he is known for.

"The guys are very proud in that dressing room," Broad said. "There's a group in there who have won three (series) from three, and there is a real hunger in there that you want to achieve more."

That's something the bruised and battered Australians won't want to hear. They will have their chance for revenge in the return series Down Under starting in November.

Hockey girls bag World Cup bronze

New Delhi: Forward Rani Rampal was the star performer as India clinched their first ever medal in the Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup. India defeated a gritty England 3-2 (1-1) via sudden death in the third place playoff in Monchengladbach , Germany, on Sunday evening.
Rampal, who had earlier scored in regulation time, struck twice in the penalty shootout as India notched up their best-ever finish in the quadrennial event, bettering the ninth place finish in the 2009 edition.

In the final, Holland defeated Argentina 4-2 (11) on penalties.

Rampal converted the first chance for India in the shootout, while Navjot Kaur, Vandana Katariya, Navneet Kaur and Poonam Rani missed out.

Goalkeeper Bigan Soy stood like a rock as England too faltered on four of their five chances, forcing the game into sudden death.

This time, Rampal and Navneet converted successfully to hand India the bronze. Earlier, the teams were locked 1-1 in regulation time. Said coach Neil Hawgood, “It means a lot to our kids’ psychology that they can actually win a medal.

They have never been in those games before.

“We practised shootouts, so I thought we would score more than three out of seven. Our goalkeeper Bigan Soy, who never played a minute the whole tournament, did a great job,” he added.

Murray wins maiden title at Wimbledon

London: Andy Murray ended Britain's agonising 77-year wait for a Wimbledon men's singles champion on Sunday when he destroyed world number one Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the blistering heat of the All England Club.

The 26-year-old became the country's first male winner since Fred Perry in 1936, the year the Spanish Civil War started, Jesse Owens defied Hitler at the Berlin Olympics and Gone With The Wind was published. It was Murray's second Grand Slam title to follow his breakthrough triumph at the US Open in 2012 which followed his Olympic gold medal as well as a heartbreaking, tearful loss to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final.

However, Sunday's title showdown, between two men who have now contested three of the last four Grand Slam finals, rarely lived up to expectations.

Both struggled in the stifling 40-degree heat and the top-seeded Serb, who had beaten Murray in the Australian Open final in January, looked jaded after his record four hour 43-minute semi-final victory over Juan Martin del Potro.

And despite leads of 4-1 in the second set and 4-2 in the third, he was out-hit by Murray who finished with 36 winners to 31, with 21 unforced errors to the Serb's 40 and having carved out 17 break points. Inside a baking Centre Court, and watched by Victoria Beckham, Wayne Rooney as well as Hollywood stars Gerard Butler and Bradley Cooper, the first point of the match was a punishing 20 strokes.

Murray, who has played in the final of his last four majors, had break points in the first and third games, with the Scot finally pouncing on his seventh for a 2-1 lead. Djokovic levelled at 2-2 but Murray was the more aggressive, positive man and broke to love for a 4-3 edge firing almost four times as many winners than the top-seeded Serb.

Murray saved three break points for a 5-3 lead but Djokovic was furious that umpire Mohamed Lahyani had called a ball out at 30-40 while allowing play to continue with the Scot going to deuce. The British second seed took the opener 6-4 after 59 minutes with a love service game, having hit 17 winners to six and with only six unforced errors to the world number one's 17.

Murray wasn't getting complacent -- he had won the the first set of the pair's last three meetings and still lost the match. Djokovic was obviously aware of the history, speeding into a 4-1 lead with two more marathon rallies of 30 and 32 shots.

But Murray roared back to 4-4 in a final which, despite its punishing hitting, still felt flat with both players too similar in style and then appearance when they both donned white caps to combat the sun's glare. Djokovic, however, was becoming increasingly frustrated with Lahyani, the court, on which he kept slipping, as well as his own poor judgement which left him without challenges as the set progressed.

In his fog of anxiety, Murray mugged him for a break to lead 6-5 and went two sets to the good at 7-5.

Murray had only lost once when two sets up and that was in the Wimbledon third round in 2005 against David Nalbandian, his debut year when he was a rookie 18-year-old. A break in the second game of the third set gave Murray a 2-0 lead before Djokovic, having discarded the hat, raced away with the next four games for a 4-2 lead.

But terrier Murray reclaimed the break in the seventh game and levelled in the eighth with a running, curled forehand off a Djokovic drop. It was almost over.

Djokovic, in his 11th Grand Slam final, was broken for 4-5 before the British star, with the crowd on their feet, wasted three match points. He finally achieved his place in history when Djokovic netted a backhand after three hours and nine minutes of action. Pages

You can't win everything, says Kohli

Kingston: India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli has said he was forced to keep an attacking field against the West Indies as he needed wickets to defend a modest score of 230 at Sabina Park here.

Kohli was asked to lead the side after regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni suffered from cramps while batting and the 24-year-old said it was a good experience. "I have captained in the IPL but that's a Twenty20 game," Kohli said.

"This was totally unexpected. It was more thinking on the feet. It was a good experience for me. I had to keep attacking fields throughout the game because we needed wickets," he added.

Chasing 230, West Indies rode on Johnson Charles' 97 to win the match with 14 balls to spare an Kohli heaped praise on the young batsman. "He is someone who's done well for (West Indies). It's a good thing for them. It's good to see a young player from West Indies coming through and play the match-winning knock. We were putting pressure on him and he really stood up," said the Delhi batsman.

Defending the modest total, Indian bowlers did well to trigger a mini collapse, which left the West Indies struggling at 212 for eight after 41 overs. Kohli then made a surprise decision by bringing in part-timer, Suresh Raina and the offspinner didn't disappoint as he snapped Sunil Narine's wicket in his second over.

"(Sunil) Narine was batting and I thought Raina is good to left-handers and when he bowls around the wicket, he sort of skids it on. I thought he might hit the pad or force them on to the front foot," he said.

However, number 9 batsman Kemar Roach dashed India's hopes as he kept his cool to score 14 crucial runs and take West Indies home. The close one-wicket loss snapped India's nine-match winning streak but Kohli took the defeat in his stride, saying it is not possible to win everyday.

"You can't be too disappointed with these kinds of games," said Kohli. "We won seven in a row in England (Champions Trophy, including the two warm-ups against Sri Lanka and Australia) and in cricket, you can't win everything. The way the guys fought was very pleasing to see. Everyone was hungry to win," he added.