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Real cut lead to one point
Real Madrid striking duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain grabbed a goal apiece as Real moved to within one point of leaders Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 home win over third-placed Valencia to set up a thrilling finale to the title race.
Barcelona's 0-0 draw at neighbours Espanyol 24 hours earlier had given Real a chance to close the gap and Real capitalised on the slip with Higuain netting his 25th goal of the season after 25 minutes before Ronaldo finished the game off on 77 minutes with his 20th goal of the season on Sunday. With five games left, Real are just a point behind their arch rivals, though if the two teams finish level on points Barcelona will win the title due to their superior head-to-head record.
Narang shoots WC bronze
Gagan Narang won a bronze in the 10m air rifle event at the shooting World Cup in Beijing. Narang shot 597 in the qualifying, then came up with 103.3 in the final round for a total of 700.3 to win his sixth World Cup medal. Russian Denis Sokolov won the gold with a total score of 701.3 (597+104.3) while the silver went to Chinese Zhu Qinan who shot 701.2 (598+103.2). Other Indians in the fray, Sanjeev Rajput and PT Raghunath, failed to qualify for the final round after finishing 24th and 25th respectively.
In women's skeet, Arti Singh shot a 63 out of 75 with rounds of 22, 20, 21 to finish 16th in a field of 25. Saniya Sheikh finished last with a total of 45.
Bhupathi-Mirnyi concede final
Mahesh Bhupathi had to retire due to a leg injury, forcing the Indian and his partner Max Mirnyi to settle for the runners-up trophy in the men's doubles at the Monte Carlo Masters. The fifth seeds were trailing 3-6 0-2 against top seeds and defending champions Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia when Bhupathi retired after 44 minutes of play. Nestor and Zimonjic broke serve in seventh and ninth games of the 29-minute first set, winning 16 of 20 service points and hitting five aces.
NZ-Pak Davis Cup tie in Hawera
The Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II match between New Zealand and Pakistan will be played in Hawera, a provincial town with a population of 11,000. New Zealand Tennis have said that the July 9-11 was to be played in Pakistan, but was moved to New Zealand, with Pakistan's consent, for security reasons. Tennis New Zealand said the three-day match will be played on a temporary indoor hardcourt at the TSB Hub, a new stadium hosting an international sports event for the first time.
Sporting Clube to appeal
Sporting Clube de Goa have appealed to the match commissioner to reconsider the red card by referee P Bhaskar to their defender Samananda Singh and yellow card to Junior Obagbemiro in their I-League match against Churchill Brothers on Saturday. Sporting, who are desperate to avoid relegation, intend to maintain their three-match winning streak and made a request to the match commissioner to revoke the cards given to their two players. "We have made a request to the match commissioner to look at the video footage of the game and reconsider the decision of the referee," said Sporting coach Vishwas Goankar.
Lippi to consider Amauri
Marcello Lippi has said he will consider Amauri for his World Cup squad after the Brazilian-born forward obtained Italian citizenship last week, but the Italy coach would be taking a big risk. The 29-year-old is eligible for the world champions as he has never represented his homeland after Juventus refused to release him last year for his solitary call-up from Brazil coach Dunga, saying the request came too late.
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