BARCELONA: Barcelona earned a record 16th straight win in the Spanish league by beating Atletico Madrid 3-0 with a Lionel Messi hat-trick on Saturday. The historic win provisionally lifted Barcelona 10 points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table ahead of its fierce rival's match against Real Sociedad on Sunday. Messi decided the contest with two goals before the half-hour mark and added a third in the second half. Barcelona's streak surpassed the 15 wins by Alfredo Di Stefano's Real Madrid 50 years ago. Pep Guardiola's team has outscored its opponents 60-6 during the winning run that is the 10th longest in European history. Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores left striker Diego Forlan out of the starting 11 and reinforced his midfield with former Barcelona youth academy product Fran Merida. But the move did not pay off, as Barcelona controlled the ball from the opening whistle. Atletico resisted until Messi broke through for the t

SANTIAGO: Eighth-seeded Santiago Giraldo of Colombia reached his first ATP final by defeating No. 5 Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1 in the semifinals of the Movistar Open on Saturday. Giraldo, past the quarterfinals for the third time this season, earned his first win against Starace after losing their first meeting in 2008. In the other semifinal, No. 6 Tommy Robredo of Spain met No. 7 Fabio Fognini of Italy. Robredo was trying to reach his 17th final and Fognini - like Giraldo - was trying to reach his first.

PAKISTANI CRICKETERS got more than what they had bargained for. Aproblematic situation for the cricketing nation was createdwhen International Cricket Council (ICC) handed down the banto three Pakistani cricketers namely Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Butt was awarded a 10-year ban out of which five years have been suspended whereas, Asif was banned for seven years out of which two were suspended and Amir was banned for five years. As per a statement by the ICCreleased by Michael Beloff QC,the tribunal dismissed a charge under Article 2.1.1 of the ICC's anti-corruption code that Butt had knowingly batted out a maiden over. However, the hearing tribunal found the former Pakistani captain guilty under Article 2.4.2 of the code which said that he had failed to disclose vital information to the ICCs Anti Corruption and Security Unit in which he was approached by the match fixer Mazhar Majeed was proved. Majeed had allegedly asked the captain to bat out a maiden over. Bel

Add to My Stories Cheik Tiote smashed home a superb late volley as Newcastle produced a stunning comeback to deny 10-man Arsenal victory at St James' Park. The Gunners led 4-0 after just 24 minutes after Theo Walcott, John Djourou and a Robin van Persie double left the Magpies reeling. But after Abou Diaby had been sent off with 48 minutes gone, two Joey Barton penalties, a Leon Best striker and Tiote's superb 87th-minute equaliser rescued a point for the home side.MORE TO FOLLOW Unbelievable: Cheik Tiote looks to the heavens after his stunning leveller Quick off the mark: Theo Walcottl scores the first goal for Arsenal x Foursome: Arsenal's Robin Van Persie scores his second goal More... Moyes 'defends his integrity' as Everton boss blasts back at Wenger We've been sold short! Newcastle and Sunderland rue striker departures All the latest Arsenal news, features and opinion All the latest Newcastle news, features and opinion

BANGALORE: Looking down and out for the better part of his semifinal clash against Sri Lanka's N Thangaraja, defending champion S Chikkarangappa dug deep into his reserves on the return journey to move a step closer to adding another feather to his cap. The 17-year-old Bangalorean came up with a birdie on the 14th hole to make it all-square and then saved par on the 17th hole to edge out the Sri Lankan 1-up and make it an all-Bangalore affair in the 110th all-India Amateur Golf Championship at the KGA here. In the 36-hole title clash on Sunday, Chikka takes on Pritam Haridass, who edged out good friend and playing partner Udayan Mane 3 and 2 in the other semifinal. The 17-year-old Chikka, who has been struggling with his game, allowed Thangaraja go 2-up early on, more due to his largesse than anything spectacular on the Lankan's part. He nearly went out of bounds on the third hole and duly lost the hole. On the fourth, he three-putted for another bogey. The Bangalorean di

Sachin Tendulkar says he, too, has sledged, but only once and that as part of team strategy. The batting maestro needled Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath by telling he would go after his bowling and the ploy worked."I have never sledged per se merely for the sake of sledging. I did that only once as a part of team strategy. This was at the Kenya Champions Trophy. We were playing Australia." Tendulkar recollects in a book 'SACH' penned by Gautam Bhattacharya.Tendulkar describes how he irked McGrath with a cheeky line."The match was played under overcast conditions. The wicket was also very damp. I had told Sourav before that I would do something to upset McGrath's rhythm. So, in the very first over, I stepped out to him. The first thing I said to him was: 'Today I will hit you out of the ground.' He got really angry and started spraying the ball around. This was exactly what we wanted. As on that surface, he may have been very dangerous.&quo

NONTHABURI (Thailand): India's campaign at the Fed Cup turned worst as it was relegated to Group II of the Asia/Oceania Zone after losing the play-off tie 1-2 to Chinese Taipei on Saturday. Last year, India had competed in the bottom division but had won all three ties -- against Singapore, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan -- without losing a rubber to gain promotion. However, India failed to keep its place in Group I this time and will strive yet again in 2012 to earn promotion. Sania Mirza, who won two of her three singles matches despite a hamstring problem, did not take field on Saturday and both Ashvarya Srivastava and Poojashree Venkatesha lost their singles matches. Ashvarya lost 3-6, 3-6 Ting-Fei Juan in the opening singles and then Poojashree went down fighting 5-7, 1-6 against Chin-Wei Chan. The pair of Srivastava and Rushmi Chakravathi combined to win the inconsequential doubles rubber 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) against Juan and Yui-Lynn Miao at National Tennis Centre. Ind