Indian wrestlers set for World Championships

BUDAPEST: Buoyed by wrestling's re-inclusion in the Olympic Games, a 22-strong Indian team of grapplers will fight out it against a strong international field in the World Championships starting on Monday.

After bagging two medals at the London Olympics, Indian wrestlers would be hoping to script another success story at the week-long championships.

The sport received a massive boost after it was endorsed by the International Olympic Committee to rejoin the Olympic movement as an additional sport for the 2020 and 2024 Games. Squad:

Freestyle: Amit Kumar (55kg), Bajrang (60kg), Arun Kumar/Sushil Kumar (66kg), Narsingh Pancham Yadav (74kg), Pawan Kumar (84kg), Satyawart Kadian (96kg) and Hitender (120kg).

Greco Roman: Gaurav Sharma (55kg), Ravinder Singh (60kg), Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (66kg), Rajbir Chhikara (74kg), Harpreet Singh (84kg), Hardeep (96kg) and Naveen (120kg).

Female: Nirmala Devi (48kg), Vinesh (51kg), Pooja Dhanda (55kg), Geeta (59kg), Geetika Jakhar (63kg), Navjot Kaur (67kg) and Jyoti (72kg).

Yuvraj hits 123 runs helps India A to 312/4 against West Indies A

Yuvraj Singh on Sunday staked claim for national team selection as he struck a brutal 89-ball 123 to lead India 'A' to a formidable 312 for four from 42 overs in the first of the three-match unofficial ODI series against West Indies 'A'.

Yuvraj, who played his last international match in January, produced a sensational exhibition of strokeplay to tear apart the West Indies 'A' bowlers as he struck eight fours and seven sixes in his scintillating innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.123 runs 89 balls 8(4s) 7(6s) 138.20(sr)Mandeep Singh and Yusuf Pathan played perfect second fiddle to help themselves to 67 (78 balls; 7x4, 1x6) and 70 not out (32 balls; 4x4, 6x6) after West Indies 'A' chose to field as the match was reduced to a 42-over-a-side affair after wet outfields forced its start to be delayed by one hour and 45 minutes.

Sturridge fit and ready to fire- Rodgers

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has backed in-form striker Daniel Sturridge to add to his rising reputation when his side play Swansea at the Liberty Stadium on Monday.

England striker Sturridge has hit 16 goals in 20 matches since the Reds bought him from Chelsea for £12 million ($19 million, 14.3 million euros) in January.

The 24-year-old's goals have fired Liverpool to three wins from their first three matches and earned him the Player of the Month award for August.

The forward struggled to get in the starting line-up at Manchester City and Chelsea, but his new boss expects him to shine now he is getting game-time.

"You never know how it is going to go but I felt if you gave him an opportunity...I think he has shown in his career if he is given the opportunity he is a natural goalscorer," said Rodgers.

"At this stage of his career, aged 24, he has all the things to his game to be a top striker.

"Since coming here he has had the confidence he is going to play and we work on him on a daily basis -- on and of the field -- to make him the best he can be.

"Standards are set throughout European football now and if you want to be a top striker you have to get in the goals."

Sturridge missed England's midweek World Cup qualifier against Ukraine due to a thigh strain, but has been declared fit for Monday's game.

Rodgers stressed that Sturridge was disappointed to miss out on playing for England, but pointed out that "the medical experts made the decision, not Daniel Sturridge.

"He should not be held up, if he does play on Monday, as being someone who has turned down his country because that is not the case at all."

But opposing manager Michael Laudrup, whose side beat West Brom 2-0 in their last league outing, expressed surprise at Sturridge's quick recovery from injury.

"I was a little surprised," the Swansea chief said. "When we talk about England and young players and the importance of the game (in Ukraine), I was surprised to read less than 48 hours after such a crucial game that he is fit to play against us.

"I thought there were some rules that if you were injured you couldn't just play with your team three of four days later."

Cristiano Ronaldo extends Real Madrid contract

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has renewed his contract with the club, which had been due to expire in 2015, the Spanish giants confirmed on Sunday.

The Portuguese international will attend a ceremony at 1:45 pm (1145 GMT) with Real president Florentino Perez at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium to mark the renewal of his deal, the club said on its website.

The 28-year-old's record since joining Madrid from Manchester United for a then world record 94 million euros back in 2009 has been phenomenal with the Portuguese scoring 203 times in 203 appearances.

Real Madrid did not give details of the contract extention, but Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the deal will run until 2018 and make Ronaldo the best paid player in the world.

"The salary of the player will be close to 20 million euros, making him the best paid footballer in the world," it said.

Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was the previous highest paid player in Spain with a salary of 16 million euros a season.

The deal ends a series of drawn out negotiations that began back at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Speculation then mounted that the Portuguese would leave the Spanish capital after he said he was "sad" in September last year and was believed to be upset at the lack of support offered to him by the club in his quest to reclaim the Balon d'Or, which Messi has won for the past four years.

However, any chance that Ronaldo could make a sensational return to Manchester United or indeed to big-spending French duo Paris Saint-Germain or Monaco now seems a long shot with the player set to under contract until he is 33.

Despite the speculation, Perez was always confident that the player would renew his contract and end his career at Real.

"Ronaldo wants to retire at Real Madrid, and we want him to retire here, just like [Zinedine] Zidane and so many other great players did," Perez said in July when asked about the reports that Ronaldo was planning to leave the Spanish side.

Since then Perez has splashed over 90 million euros once more on Gareth Bale.

The Welshman's transfer from Tottenham was finally sealed at the start of September and he made his debut for the club alongside Ronaldo on Saturday, with both men scoring in the 2-2 draw at Villareal.

Bale is just the latest in a string of "galactico" signings, Real president Perez has made during two spells in charge of the club, in a drive to boost their commercial revenue and success on the pitch.

Auditors Deloitte's latest Money League report showed that Real had become the first football club to generate more than 500 million euros a year, whilst Forbes ranked them as the most valuable sports team in the world last month with an estimated value of $3.3 billion.

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