Saina lose in Hong Kong Open

India's challenge in the Hong Kong Super Series ended with Arvind Bhat and Saina Nehwal losing their quarter-final matches.

Bhat lost to Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana 26-28, 22-20, 14-21 while Nehwal went down to Hong Kong's Chen Wang 25-27, 21-24, 15-21.

Ponsana will meet third seed Chinese Jin Chen, who beat third seed Weijie Gong 21-8, 21-10.

Wang will face her second seed compatriot Mi Zhou, who got the better of Pui Yin Yip 13-21, 21-16, 21-14.

Liverpool, Inter and Atletico through to last 16

Former European champions Liverpool and Inter Milan sealed their berths in the Champions League last 16 but last season's finalists Chelsea still have work to do after a 1-1 draw at Girondins Bordeaux on Wednesday.

Inter advanced from Group B despite a surprise 1-0 home defeat to Panathinaikos that left their manager Jose Mourinho fuming while victory put the Greek side in an excellent position to progress to the knockout stage.

"Panathinaikos's win is absolutely deserved," Mourinho said. "People say they were lucky but I don't agree. After that performance we don't deserve to go through and we must be angry with ourselves."

The Italian champions were left on eight points after Jose Sarriegi struck in the 69th minute to lift Panathinaikos into second place on seven and they need only a draw from their final match at home to Cypriots Anorthosis Famagusta, who have six.

In Group D, five time winners Liverpool sealed their passage with a 1-0 home win over Olympique Marseille after captain Steven Gerrard scored his fifth goal in this season's competition.

Liverpool were joined in the last 16 by Atletico Madrid, who beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1 in an empty Calderon as they served a one-match crowd ban in their home game against Marseille.

Barcelona, the 2006 winners, sealed top spot in Group B after a 5-2 away drubbing of also qualified Sporting while Jadson hit a hat-trick for Shakhtar Donetsk who clinched a place in the UEFA Cup last 32 with a 5-0 home rout of Basel. Early goals from Thierry Henry and Gerrard Pique sent Barca on their way while Lionel Messi and Bojan Krkic were also on target for the Catalan side either side of a Marco Caneira own-goal.

Captain Gerrard fit to face Marseille

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has told his players to secure qualification for the Champions League knockout stages on Wednesday night when he will re-write the Anfield record books.

French club Marseille's visit to Merseyside will see Benitez take charge of Liverpool for a 66th European tie, taking him past the record previously held by Bill Shankly, the legendary Scot who managed Liverpool between 1959 and 1974.

A victory for Liverpool will guarantee their presence in the last 16, with one group game remaining, and even a draw could be good enough to secure their passage should Atletico Madrid beat PSV Eindhoven in Spain.

But Benitez wants nothing left to chance and is keen to ensure there is no possibility of Liverpool needing a result in the last game of the group stages against Eindhoven in Holland next month.

Liverpool are on course for a possible Premier and Champions League double this season. Despite a disappointing goalless draw against Fulham last Saturday, they are level on points at the top of the Premier League and Benitez believes his squad have the quality to maintain a strong challenge for both titles.

Gerrard missed the Fulham game with a groin strain, but the Liverpool captain trained on Tuesday and is set to start against Marseille. "Gerrard was training this morning and I think he will be fit," said Benitez.

Liverpool's Spanish full-back Alvaro Arbeloa has warned his team-mates that they cannot afford to underestimate Marseille. The French club is fighting to stay in the competition after taking three points from the first four group games.

But Arbeloa witnessed the damage Marseille inflicted on their last visit to Anfield in October 2007, when Mathieu Valbuena's late goal earned the visitors a memorable victory.

Spain success for the Davis Cup victory

Spain overcame the absence of world No. 1 Rafael Nadal to clinch the Davis Cup on Sunday when Fernando Verdasco beat Jose Acasuso t
o give them a 3-1 win over Argentina in the final.

Verdasco, brought in to replace Spain's off-form No. 1 David Ferrer, won 6-3, 6-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to hand Argentina their third defeat in three final appearances and their first home loss for 10 years.

The Davis Cup victory extends this year's sporting success for Spain after its athletes won cycling's Tour de France, the Wimbledon Championship and soccer's European Championship.

Acasuso, ranked 48th, was thrown into the fray after Argentina's No.1 Juan Martin del Potro was ruled out with a pulled muscle in his right leg.

"It's a dream. I've wanted this chance since I was a boy, few get it and even fewer take it," said an elated Verdasco after defying a partisan 11,000 crowd at the indoor Islas Malvinas arena.

Troubled Arsenal beaten as top four fire blanks

The top four failed to muster a goal on Saturday as Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United drew 0-0 while Arsenal went down 3-0 at Manchester City.

Premier League leaders Chelsea could find no way through Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool had the same problem at home to Fulham and third-placed Manchester United were held 0-0 in a lively game at Aston Villa.

Troubled Arsenal's season went from bad to worse as they slid to fifth.

With captain William Gallas dropped for questioning the fighting spirit of his team mates, injury-hit Arsenal capitulated with Stephen Ireland, Robinho and Daniel Sturridge on target for City.

Arsenal are 10 points behind Chelsea and Liverpool who are locked together on 33 points from 14 matches although Chelsea have a superior goal difference. United are eight points behind with a game in hand while Villa rose to fourth.

Arsenal's season appears to be unravelling fast.

City went ahead in first-half stoppage time when a mistake by Gael Clichy gifted Ireland a goal after the City midfielder had burst into the area.

Robinho made it 2-0 early in the second half after a splendid pass from Shaun Wright-Phillips and Sturridge won and converted a late penalty to condemn Arsenal to a second consecutive defeat without scoring a goal.

Comeback king Lopez levels Davis Cup final

Feliciano Lopez, who had been handed the unenviable task of replacing injured world number one Rafael Nadal, stormed to Spain's rescueon Friday when he levelled the Davis Cup final against Argentina.

The stylish left-hander defeated Argentine number one Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to make the score 1-1 after David Nalbandian had put the home side ahead with an easy 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 win over David Ferrer in the opening singles rubber.

Lopez overcame a passionate 11,000-strong home crowd at the Estadio Islas Malvinas to see off the 1.98m (6ft 6in) giant Del Potro, the world number nine, who ended the match with a crippling groin injury which could rule him out of Sunday's reverse singles.

Del Potro, who had secured Argentina's final place with a live fifth rubber win over Igor Andreev in September's semi-final against Russia, had cruised through the first set with a break in the fifth game.

But Lopez, seven years the Argentine's senior, then took two nerve-tingling tie-breaks, defying the wild support of the local crowd who were repeatedly warned by the umpire to curb their enthusiasm.

Del Potro hurt his groin when he went 2-4 down in the fourth set and he never recovered with Lopez taking the match after 3 hours 20 minutes when the home player netted a comfortable forehand.

Drogba banned for three games

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba was banned for three games by the Football Association (FA) on Tuesday.

The Ivory Coast international's suspension came after he admitted a charge of violent conduct for throwing a coin back into the crowd at Stamford Bridge during last Wednesday's League Cup defeat against Burnley.

Drogba will serve the suspension with immediate effect.

That means he will miss the Premier League leaders' match at home to Newcastle this Saturday, the London derby against Arsenal on November 30 and the match away to Bolton on December 6.

Drogba, who was shown a yellow card for his actions, said after the match: "There is something I want to make clear. I tried to celebrate the goal and I received some things at me.

"The big mistake I did was to throw it back so if someone was hurt, I just want to apologise for it.

"This is not something I should show in a football match and I want to apologise. It was an incident in the heat of the moment and I regret it. It was just a mistake and nothing more."

The incident that saw Drogba banned happened after he'd scored the opening goal in the fourth round tie. He also appeared to make an obscene gesture at the away fans.

That goal against Burnley was Drogba's first of a season where a knee injury has restricted him to just five league appearances.

Burnley, who play in English football's second-tier Championship, went on to equalise 20 minutes from time and then pulled off a shock win, 5-4 on penalties after extra-time.

Liverpool title surge gathers pace, beat Bolton 2-0

Goals by Dirk Kuyt and Steven Gerrard ensured Liverpool's title surge gathered momentum as Rafa Benitez's side recorded a hard-fought 2-0 win at Bolton on Saturday.

Kuyt's seventh goal of the season set his team on the way before Gerrard struck after half-time to send Liverpool three points clear at the top of the Premier League
table - if only for a few hours.

Benitez surprisingly left star striker Fernando Torres out of his starting line-up, three days after the Spain striker had made his first start for five weeks during the League Cup defeat at Tottenham.

The prospect of Torres being omitted seemed unthinkable not long ago.

But the belief oozing through Benitez's side is such that the manager can afford to leave him out, especially as he believes the Spain striker is still three weeks from returning to peak form after recent hamstring problems.

Yet Torres still managed to play a key role in the win as he provided the cross for Gerrard to score after climbing off the substitutes bench.

But Liverpool would have won by a more handsome margin had the lively Kuyt not been denied by the crossbar while Gerrard and Robbie Keane were both guilty of glaring misses.

Liverpool's second goal arrived in the 72nd minute, Torres producing a superb cross for Gerrard to glance a header past Jaaskelainen.

The Bolton keeper then made fine saves to deny the lively Torres and Alonso as Liverpool finished strongly.

Beckham may not play for Milan, says Seedorf

AC Milan's Clarence Seedorf believes it's quite possible that new loan signing David Beckham won't play a single match for the Italian giants.

Beckham, 33, is due to arrive at the San Siro in January after agreeing a temporary move from LA Galaxy during Major League Soccer's
close season.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder hopes this will keep him in the thoughts of England manager Fabio Capello, who has made it clear he won't pick players for February's friendly against Spain unless they are actively involved with a club team.

However, Seedorf told Sky Sports on Thursday: "I don't even know if he'll be able to play for us. I mean the first goal is for him to get fit and in the best shape possible.

Nevertheless Seedorf, said he was looking forward to welcoming Beckham, now just one short of 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore's England record of 108 caps for an outfield player, to Milan.

Meanwhile Milan's Brazil star Ronaldinho, who played against Beckham when at Barcelona, said he would have no qualms about handing over free-kick duties to the Englishman, one of his few rivals as a dead-ball expert.

One of the most popular online casino games

Free slots are one of the most popular online casino games because they are very easy to play. First thing you have to do is place your bet, which usually ranges from one to five coins (some slot machines accept up to ten coins). Different slot machines have different coin values, ranging from 5 cents to 5 dollars. There are also special slots for high rollers with much larger coin values. OK, so you've placed your bet. The next thing you should do is simply click the spin button and see what combination is displayed in the payline. Your win depends on the combination and is different from one slot machine to another. All free slots have individual pay tables, where all the winning combinations are outlined. Read the instruction before playing the game, because what may be a jackpot with one slot machine could worth nothing with another.

The payline may also be different, requiring a diagonal combination of the symbols to win, or five matching symbols instead of three. So make sure you've read the rules of this particular free slots machine. One of the most popular types of free slots games are progressive slot machines. These machines are linked into a network that has a common jackpot, which is affected by all the players in the network. Simply put, it's a multiplayer version of ordinary slot machines. And many find it much more exciting to play progressive slots, because the jackpot is usually much higher if compared to straight slots.

The finer points of online slots

There are many kinds of online slots. Some may require a certain degree of skill and knowledge, other may be based entirely on chance. There are numerous variations of the both concepts, having different winning combinations, coins required to spin, symbols displayed on the reel and so on. When playing both online slots and land-based slot machines you will probably have small amount wins from time to time. They are used to keep you interested in the game and insert more coins into the machine. But sometimes you can actually hit a jackpot.

Some machines have big jackpots as much as $10000. And if you are playing a progressive or linked slot machine the blackjack will be considerably higher (with hundreds of thousands to win). This is what really makes players chained to the machines and keep spinning the reels as much as they are able too. Unlike other casino games, online slots are very easy and fun to play. All you have to do is just push the button to sin the reels and see what combination is lined-up in the payline. It's that simple. And thinking that you can actually win some money (and hit a big jackpot some day) makes online slots an irresistible offer.

Baccarat the most interesting casino games

Baccarat is one of the most interesting casino games with its specific rules and tactics. Learn more about baccarat from the casino games article section of our site. When playing baccarat the main object of the game is to assemble two or three cards with a value as close to nine as possible. The best winning combination is with a count of nine with two cards. Eight along with nine makes part of the two "natural" hands and is the second best hand. That means that the only hand to beat the natural eight is natural nine. When a player or the Bank has either of two natural hands, others don't have the right to draw any more cards. The cards have their face value, while the aces count as one and the picture cards as ten. In case you have a double figure count, the first digit is ignored, For example, if you have a total card value of 17, the count is seven.

The player who has the largest amount of money is usually declared as the banker. In Baccarat Banque and rotates in Chemin de Fer this is the casino. Three hands of two cards each are dealt by the banker face down. Two hands are for the players, one to the right and one the left of the banker, and one is own hand. Other players who didn't receive a hand mau place their bets on either hand (cheval) or both to beat the banker. A player can declare "banco", which means he's betting the total value of the bank. In this case all other bets are withdrawn. In case a player has a count less than eight or nine he may get one more card or stand. The rule is that having six or seven the player must stand and draw on four or less.

Real Madrid ousted from Spanish Cup

Third-tier team Real Union knocked Primera Liga champions Real Madrid out of the Spanish King's Cup on away goals after a last-ditch strike secured a 6-6 aggregate draw on Tuesday.

The Basque club had won the first leg of the last-32 tie 3-2 and were trailing 4-2 at the Bernabeu when Eneko Romo buried a header past keeper Jerzy Dudek in the 90th minute to oust the home team.

The 17-times Cup winners made a lethargic start and were soon behind after striker Abasolo was left unmarked to fire past Dudek.

Raul equalised with a looping header before the break and scored again just after the restart. He tapped in from Javier Saviola's pass a minute after Salcedo had sprinted clear to put Union back in front 2-1.

Madrid substitute Alberto Bueno swept in a glorious 25-metre shot to level the tie on aggregate and Raul looked to have sealed the win when he completed his hat-trick, his cross sailing past everyone and into the net with four minutes to go.

But Madrid's defence, who leaked three goals at home to promote Malaga in the league on Saturday, were caught out again at the end when Romo struck. On Wednesday, 13 more matches will be played with Villarreal trying to overturn a 5-0 first-leg deficit at home to third tier Poli Ejido.

The last two ties take place on Thursday when 2007 winners Sevilla seek to come back from 1-0 down at home to third tier Ponferradina.

Keane at the double for ruthless Reds

Liverpool striker Robbie Keane scored twice in Saturday's 3-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion as the Reds moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League.

After losing at Tottenham on their last league outing and requiring a hugely generous penalty decision to scrape a late draw against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, Liverpool were under pressure to return to their early season dominance.

Keane, in particular, was under the spotlight, without a league goal since his 20.3 million pounds move from Tottenham and with critics pointing to the absence of Fernando Torres as a major obstacle in Liverpool's attempts to land silverware.

How the Irish international striker answered those critics with his first league goals for Liverpool before Alvaro Arbeloa added a third, curling in from a Javier Mascherano pass in the 93rd minute.

Yet Torres, out for a month since injuring his hamstring playing for Spain at the start of October, was brought on as a 72nd-minute replacement for Keane. And with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez seemingly against the idea of playing two men in an orthodox forward line, Keane faces a tough battle to establish himself in the starting line-up despite his current form.

It had been a patient opening from Liverpool in which they dominated possession, establishing a pattern of play they would quickly turn to their advantage.

Steven Gerrard and Keane both tested Scott Carson with early long shots and Jonas Olsson made a superb covering tackle on Albert Riera.

A goal to the good, complacency now seemed Liverpool's biggest opponent, certainly it was when Pepe Reina gave away a corner after almost fumbling Ishmael Miller's cross into his own goal.

But, from the resulting corner, Liverpool and Keane doubled their tally. Mascherano's outlet pass allowed Fabio Aurelio to spot Albion's defence struggling to back pedal.

The perfect pass found Keane, in full stride, who rounded the advancing keeper and slotted home the ball with confidence.

Nasri fires Arsenal to 2-1 win over United

Arsenal responded to question marks about their ability to compete for the Premier League title with a well-deserved 2-1 win over champions Manchester United at the Emirates stadium on Saturday.

Missing several first team players, including strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie, the Gunners found a new hero in French midfielder Samir Nasri who scored in each half of a breathless encounter.

Nasri, signed from Marseille in July, put Arsenal ahead after 23 minutes and struck again just after halftime to make up for last weekend's defeat at Stoke City and the earlier 4-4 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

Subtitute Rafael volleyed a late reply for the visitors but Arsenal clung on through six minutes of stoppage time.

Victory sent Arsene Wenger's side above United into third place with 23 points, three behind leaders Chelsea, who play at Blackburn on Sunday, and Liverpool who are in action later against West Bromwich Albion.

Giggs to the rescue for below par United

A late equaliser from Ryan Giggs denied Celtic a famous victory as Manchester United emerged from Parkhead with a 1-1 draw that virtually en
sures the defending champions' passage to the Champions League knockout stage.

A memorable first-half strike from Scott McDonald had put the Scottish champions on track for another famous victory in front of their own supporters.

United were a shadow of the side that had cruised to a 3-0 victory in last month's first meeting between the two clubs in group E, but their late pressure finally yielded an equaliser when Giggs finished off a rebound from Cristiano Ronaldo's shot six minutes from the end.

The evergreen Giggs said that the ball had fallen kindly for him.

Celtic handler Gordon Strachan was left to reflect on another famous home victory for his side and rejected the criticisms of the previous encounter a fortnight ago when Paul Ince - like Strachan another former United star - had said it was like watching men against boys.

United's pressure, by that stage, was relentless, and it got more intense when Rooney replaced Tevez shortly afterwards.

Boruc produced fine saves to keep out skidding drives from Ronaldo and Rooney before Celtic's resistance was finally broken with six minutes left when Celtic goalkeeper failed to hold Ronaldo's shot, gifting Giggs the easiest of finishes.

Barcelona, Sporting qualify in Champions League

Barcelona and Sporting advanced to the Champions League knockout stage while Inter Milan and Chelsea missed the chance to guarantee their places on Tuesday.

A 1-1 draw at home to Basel was enough for Barca to qualify from Group C alongside Portugal's Sporting, who beat Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 thanks to Brazilian striker Derlei's 73rd-minute strike.

Substitute Lionel Messi put the Spaniards en route to the next phase when he fired the home side in front in the 62nd minute, though Basel gave the Primera Liga leaders a fright with an equalizer from Eren Derdiyok eight minutes before the end.

In the other matches, last season's runners-up Chelsea fell 3-1 at AS Roma and Serie A champions Inter needed an 80th-minute header from striker Julio Cruz to salvage a 3-3 draw in Cyprus against a resilient Anorthosis Famagusta.

Liverpool, the 2005 champions, relied on a controversial stoppage-time penalty by captain Steven Gerrard to secure a 1-1 home draw with Atletico Madrid and remain level on eight points with the Spaniards at the top of Group D.

Inter's draw, combined with Panathinaikos's 3-0 win at Werder Bremen, left Group B wide open with two matches remaining. The Italians are top on eight points from four games, Anorthosis have five, Panathinaikos four and Werder three.

Group A has a similarly tight look to it, with Chelsea on seven, one more than Roma and Girondins Bordeaux who beat CFR Cluj 2-1. The Romanians are still in contention with four points.

Defender Christian Panucci put Roma ahead before Mirko Vucinic struck twice at the start of the second half to end the Italian club's five-game losing streak.

The Londoners pulled one back through captain John Terry in the 75th before having midfielder Deco sent off for a second yellow card five minutes later.

Despite the defeat Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari remains confident his side will progress.

After their draw, Liverpool and Atletico are favourites to progress from Group D where Olympique Marseille and PSV Eindhoven are five points behind after the French side defeated their Dutch opponents 3-0.

Hamilton takes the glory

Briton Lewis Hamilton became the youngest man to win the Formula One drivers' world championship on Sunday when he finished fifth in a dramatic rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix only clinching the title on the final lap.

As well as being the youngest champion, Hamilton also became the first black Formula One title holder on a stirring afternoon in front of an impassioned 100,000 crowd at the Interlagos circuit.

Hamilton won from pole position, Massa started fourth, spun into a wall on the opening lap and then collided with David Coulthard just before the halfway point, retiring four laps later. Kubica collided with Japan's Kazuki Nakajima.

Saina Nehwal wins world junior championship

Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Sunday became the first Indian to clinch the World Junior badminton Championship with a straight-game win over Japanese rival Sayaka Sato in the final.

Top seed Saina got the better of her ninth seeded Japanese rival Sayaka Sato 21-9, 21-18 in a lopsided match that lasted just 25 minutes.

"It is a great feeling to win it this time. The last time in 2006, I had lost in the finals but I am happy that I clinched the title this time," Saina, who reached the quarter-finals of the Beijing Olympics, said after the match.

"However, I reckon my semi-finals match against Chinese Shixian Wang as the toughest in the tournament," she added.

With the Commonwealth Youth gold and the World Junior badminton title in her kitty, the world number 11 has now set her eyes on China and Hong Kong Open later this month.

"I am next playing China Open and Hong Kong open this month and I am confident of doing well there as well," the national champion said.

National coach Pullela Gopichand said Saina played like a champion all through the tournament.

Nalbandian advances to semi-finals of Paris Masters

David Nalbandian kept his Masters Cup hopes alive when he ended world number four Andy Murray's 14-match winning streak with a 7-6, 6-3 win in the Paris Masters quarter-finals on Friday.

The Argentine will meet either top seed Rafael Nadal or Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the last four on Saturday.

The Argentine, 14th in the ATP Race, will qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai if he retains his Paris title.

American James Blake was the first player to qualify for the semi-finals as he advanced when world number two Roger Federer pulled out with a back injury.

Murray, who won the Madrid Masters and the St Petersburg Open title this month, struggled with his first serve in the opening set and smashed his racket to the ground after being broken in the fourth game.

The Scot, however, converted his only break chance to draw level and picked up his game, trying to keep Nalbandian at bay with his slice.

But the Argentine, with a mix of cunning drop shots and powerful groundstrokes, took the tiebreak 7-3.

Nalbandian then shifted up another gear, breaking four times in the second set to wrap up victory in one hour and 43 minutes with yet another drop shot.