Breathtaking Inauguration of Sochi Winter Olympics - Pictorial Coverage

The Sochi Winter Olympic got going with much thunderous fanfare, fireworks and innovative display of Russian art with pride and applause from the audience who saw the ceremony live. 

Herein under are some of the highlights of the opening ceremony - something that will be remembered for a long time.

Welcome to Sochi! Fireworks explode over the Fisht Olympic stadium after the ceremony, which first got under way at exactly 4.14pm GMT 

 

Russian tennis star and Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova was handed the honour of carrying the torch into the stadium - Sharapova was born in the Black Sea resort of Sochi

See some more photos of this breath taking opening ceremony of Sochi Winter Olympic:

 

Russian Police Choir that arguably stole the show with a surprisingly rousing rendition of Daft Punk’s dance floor anthem ‘Get Lucky’ - reports Mail Online.

 

The much taunted fifth flake of the Olympics rings that could not ignite and was made fun of by the world media - In fact the entire show which was simply marvellous and a landmark show in the history of Olympics was set aside to point out this anomaly to belittle the Russian efforts.

 The proud Russian teams waves and cheers as the march past the arena

The German Olympic team entered the stadium in flamboyant fashion with costumes shining in bright red, yellow, green and blue

The lone participant from Pakistan - the smallest 'contingent' of the games

Read more about it at: Mail Online
All photos above are the courtesy of the news agencies as shown on each photograph

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Brazil, Colombia, Italy and Spain qulaify for FIFA Futsal World Cup Semi Finals

Of the four quarter finals played Wednesday today, Italy, Colombia, Brazil and Spain overpowered their opponents to qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012 at Bangkok, Thailand today Wednesday. 

The results of the completed quarter finals are as under:

• Brazil beat Argentina 3-2
• Colombia beat Ukraine 3-1
• Italy beat Argentina 4-3
• Spain beat Russia 3-2

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Spain the the 2012 European champions and 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup runners-up outscored Russia 3-2 in a match which was being dubbed as the match of the day. Russia which had not conceded a single defeat till the quarters were finally overpowered by the European Champlain, Spain.

The semi finals will be played as under:

• Italy vs Spain
• Brazil vs Colombia

Movin' Sports will provide links for the live streaming of the two semis being played on Friday, 16 November. The final will be played on Sunday, 18 November.

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Russia vs Spain: Watch Live Free Streaming | Futsal Thailand 2012 - Quarterfinals - 14 November

The Futsal Thailand 2012 comes to the quarterfinals stage and Russia meets Spain Wednesday afternoon today - a match being dubbed as the match of the day at the Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok.

The Russian-Spain duel will be a repition of the UEFA EURO final in which both russia and Spaon were seen embattled recently. Russia topped Group F with 9 points, winning all three matches it played against Colombia, Guatemala and the Solomon Island, and then the Round 16 match against the Czech republic.

Russia is pitted against Spain - the 2012 European champions and 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup runners-up. Spain won two of its three matches in the group stage, having one drawn agaisnt Iran.

Would the Russians be able to win over the La Furja Roja Wednesday afternoon? Well looking purely at the stats and previous encounters, Russians have yet to defeat the Spaniards in the 19 matches played against since 1992. Russians take this as a challenge to beat Spain at all costs.

Russian defender Nikolay Pereverzev says: "There's a real rivalry between us and Spain since both of us want to be the best. Spain currently have their noses in front but I hope that from the next match onward  we will be able to start redressing the balance."

So let us watch the match this afternoon and see who dominates who and how.

The match scheduled for Wednesday, 14 November 2012 at 14:00 GMT at the Nimibutr Stadium, Bangkok.

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

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Evgeniya Kanaeva defends her Rhythmic gymnastics Olympic title

Evgeniya Kanaeva has become the first woman to win two Olympic rhythmic gymnastics all-around gold medals after she defended her title at London 2012.

Photo: BBC Sport Olympics

The Russian's score of 116.900 saw her finish ahead of silver medal winning compatriot Daria Dmitrieva and Liubou Charkashnya of Belarus who took bronze.

The 22-year-old performed several breathtaking routines in the Wembley Arena to finish clear of the field.

Read more: BBC Sport Olympics

Mustafina Wins Gold for Russia on Women’s Uneven Bars

Russia's Aliya Mustafina won the gold medal for her gold starved country when she clocked much better than China's Kexin He on the women's uneven bars Sunday evening at London Olympics. She had a marvelous show of aerobatics on the uneven bars and her landing was simply superb.

Mustafina on the uneven bars [Photo:  uk.reuters ]

China's He was also impressive but was overshadowed by the Russian and settled for a silver. Britain's Beth Tweddle, also performed well specially her last moments before landing - however he bad landing robbed her of a better medal and won won bronze.

U.S. teenage gymnast Gabby Douglas, who has emerged as a star of the Games, was competing for her third gold medal in the event, but she placed eighth.

Olympics Volleyball: Brazil vs Russia | Free Live Streaming Links - 31 July 2012

Brazil meets Russia in the second round of Pool B volleyball matches at the Olympic Games Tuesday tonight at Earls Court.

Earlier, the three times world champions and 2008 silver medalists Brazil  won over the Tunisians 3-0.  Needless to mention here that  Brazil is one of the top sides in the Volleyball and they have high ranking players.

On the other hand, the winners of the 2011 FIVB World League and World Cup did the same as they played Germany for their debut in London.

Both teams are one of the best teams and have their eyes set on the gold.

The match is scheduled for Tuesday 31 July 2012 at 21:00 GMT

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

Link#1    Link#2    Link#3    Link#4    Link#5

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Olympic Basketball: China vs Russia | Free live streaming - 31 July 2012

China and Russia come face to face to play their Group B league match of basketball Tuesday morning today, just a few hours from now.

China lost to Spain in their first basketball match, but they did put up a equitable resistance getting 81 points.

As for the Russians, they are being dubbed as the hot favourites for their basketball match against China. 

The match is scheduled for Tuesday, 31 July 2012 at 08:00 GMT

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

Link#1    Link#2    Link#3    Link#4    Link#5

* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Watch Live Maria Sharapova vs Shahar Peer Free Streaming | Olympics Tennis - 29 July 2012

Russian Maria Sharapova, the Roland Garros 2012 champion faces 49th ranked Shahar Peer from Israel on Sunday afternoon in the first round of Olympics matches, ladies singles event, at the Wimbledon Centre court.

Although Peer is Israel's most famous tennis player, she will face a certainly tough match against world no.3, recently world no.1.

Both palyers are no startngers as they have met six times before, with the Russian having a clean upper edge of 6-0 over Peer. But nothing can be said for sure as Sharapova was ousted at the hands of S. Lisicki, when she was being considered a hot favourite in the recently concluded Wimbledon, that also saw her relgation from world no.1 to world no.3.

Let us watch the match between the two Sunday 29 July at the Wimbledon Centre Court scheduled at 14:00 GMT and see if Peer can upset Sharapova.

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

Link#1    Link#2    Link#3    Link#4    Link#5

* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Russia names Maria Sharapova as first female flag bearer at London Olympics

Russia Tuesday announced that the Roland Garros 2012 queen Maria Sharapova will be the flag bearer for Russia at the London Olympics, president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Alexander Zhukov was quoted as saying by a news agency.

A jubilant Maria Sharapova after winning the Roland Garros 2012

It may be added that Sharapova will be the first Russian female ever to be bestowed this honour as earlier only men have been the Russian flag bearers at Olympics representing Russia.

It will also be Sharapova's first appearance in the last eight years at Olympics as she missed Athens and Beijing Olympics.

The 6 feet two inches tall Sharapova is the most beautiful, visible and dominating female tennis player ever. Her crashing out of the recent Wimbledon was though a big a disappointment for her fans.

Read more about Sharapova

Mancini pens £37.5million five-year deal with City

Bringing an end to speculations, Manchester City killed off Russian interest in Roberto Mancini on Monday night by making him the highest-paid manager in the country after agreeing a £37.5million five-year deal.

The 47-year-old, who guided City to last season’s Barclays Premier League title, signed a contract extension worth £7.5m a year.

He overtakes Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who is on £6m a year, and Sir Alex Ferguson, who earns a £4m basic salary at Manchester United.

Read more: Daily Mail

Russians in £35m bid for Mancini!

Roberto Mancini has been offered £35million to manage World Cup hosts Russia as contract talks with Manchester City drag into another week.

Roberto Mancini

Sources in Russia claimed on Saturday night that Mancini had agreed to take over the national team in a six-year deal that would see him in charge when they host the World Cup in 2018. 

However, City quickly rebuffed the story, insisting the Italian will join club players at their preseason training camp in Austria on Sunday and that negotiations over a new contract would be 'concluded' positively in the week.

Read more: Daily Mail

Watch Live Russia vs Greece Free Streaming: Euro 2012 Saturday 16 June

In the on going group matches of Euro 2012,  Greece and Russia pf Group A meet at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw, Saturday 16 June.

A win for Greece would see them through to the quarter-finals and Russia eliminated as long as the Czech Republic-Poland game does not end in a draw. But this is also a fact that The Greeks have never won their final group game at the Euros (D1 L2) – one of those defeats coming against Russia in 2004.

On the other hand, Russia are in line for a hat-trick of wins over Greece at consecutive Euro finals. They beat them 2-1 in the group stage in Portugal in 2004 and 1-0 at the 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.

So it remains to be seen who subdues who in their face off Saturday today.

The match is scheduled for Saturday 16 June 2012 at 18:45 GMT at the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw

If you are one of the fans located at different destination and miss the chance to visit the stadium to watch your favorite team, You can now watch the match live on your laptop or desktop computer, FREE, provided you have an internet connection, from the links given below:

Link#1    Link#2    Link#3    Link#4    Link#5 [IE Only]

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Watch Live Poland vs Russia: Free Streaming - Euro 2012 (Group A) - 12 June

The second match of the Group A on Tuesday is being played between Poland and Russia at the new national stadium built for the tournament on the eastern bank of the Vistula River.

The match Tuesday will be more than a show of centuries old animosity between the two countries, specially when a significant minority of Poles have come to believe that the Russians were responsible for the plane crash in 2010 that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others. Therefore special security arrangements have been put in place to keep the anger of the opposing camps' fans under control and the match is being seen as the most likely of all 24 group games to spark serious crowd unrest.


The matter gets more serious as up to 10,000 Russian fans plan to march across a bridge in Warsaw's city center and on to the stadium to celebrate a national holiday ahead of a match where victory could seal its team's place in the quarterfinals.

In the back drop of the bitter relations, winning of Tuesday's match will be a matter of a national pride for Poland rather than just playing a Group match against Russia. even otherwise a defeat for the Poles would put them in serious danger of elimination and be a huge blow to a country determined to make its mark on the soccer map after a long barren period.

So let us watch the Group A match of EURO 2012, which is scheduled for Tuesday, 12 June 2012 at 18:45 GMT at Municipal Stadium Wroclaw, Poland.

The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Euro 2012: Czech Republic vs Russia: Watch Live Online Free Streaming 8 June 2012

After Poland and Greece open the Euro 2012 on Friday, the second match of the day between Czech Republic and Russia would set in later in Friday evening.

About the match, there is almost 50-55% predictions in Russia's favour, while about 20-25% call for Czech win over the Russians. remaining predict a draw.

The last five matches that Russia has played, it has won two against Denmark and Italy and levelled three agaist Lithuania, Greece and Uruguay.

The Czech republic has won three of its last five matches against Israel and Montenegro (twice) and lost one against Hungary and levelled one against Ireland.

It may be added here that both sides have met twice before in European Championships (including games played as Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia). The Czechs defeated the Soviet Union 3-0 in the semi-final in 1960, while the sides played out a 3-3 draw in the group stages of Euro 96.

The match is scheduled for Friday, 8 June 2012 at 18:45 GMT

The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Watch Free Live Streaming: European Diving Championships 2012

The European Diving & Synchronized Swimming Championships of 2012 is being held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands from 15 till 20 May.

Athletes will contest the 1m and 3m Springboard events, as well as the 10m Platform to decide who is the best of Europe. Presently, in all the diving championships all over the world European countries like Russia, Germany and Italy are leading.

At the European Swimming, Diving and Synchronised Swimming Championships 2010 in Budapest, Russia topped the medal chart at the Synchronized Swimming Championships. Spain and Ukraine occupied the 2nd and 3rd positions. The swimmers and divers will now compete to discide who is the European Champion of 2012.  

It may be added that The European Synchronised Swimming Championships will take place from 22 till 27 May. The women will compete as solo, duet and team.

The matches for 17 May 2012 are scheduledat 12:00 GMT

The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Watch Live Online Free Streaming: Russia vs Norway Ice Hockey Quarters

In the second quarter final of the IIHC Ice Hockey Championship, Russia will play their match against the Norway Thursday morning at Helsinki, Finland in their upcoming ihf 2012 World Championship.


Russia played 1 and win 1 match and now they have to face an other big team of the ICE Hockey Norway. Norway played 1 match and they have lost that game and now they have to win this match to get some points on the table.


However, Team Russia will have to struggle against Norway, although it has already defeated Norway 4-2 in earlier matches,  and it will definately not be a walk in the park for Russia who experienced serious troubles with Norway’s powerplay during the preliminary round.

It may be added that Russia started the tournament on Saturday, May 5, with a 5-2 victory over Latvia, before going on to beat Norway 4-2 on Sunday, Germany 2-0 on Tuesday, and Denmark 3-1 on Thursday.

Watch the quarterfinal between Russia and Norway Thursday afternoon, 17 May at 12:45 GMT.


The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

WTA Rome - Ivanovic moves on in Rome

Former world no.1 and presently 15th ranked Serbian Ana Ivanovic beat 28th ranked Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 in her first round match of the WTA Rome Monday today.

Ivanovic moves on in WTA Rome

It was quite windy in Rome today, but te Serbian was not at all distracted and produced a superb play to win over the Russian.

Ivanovic is likely to contest her second round match either against Alberta Brianti of Italy or Silvia Soler of Spain.

In another first round matche, J Goerges beat A Wozniak 6-1, 6(1)-7(7) and 6-3. The match between German Angelique Kerber and Australian A Rodionova is yet to take place. 

Watch Live: Zakopalova - Sharapova (WTA Madrid)-8 May 2012

The Madrid is getting hot as major tennis stars start to appear on the Madrid courts.Tuesday morning, world number two Russian Maria Sharapova meets 44th seeded Czech Klara Zakopalova.

44th ranked Klara Zakopalova [L] meets world number two Russian Sharapova [R] at Madrid Tuesday

Both K. Zakopalova and M. Sharapova have played once against each toehr during the Wimbledon 2011, with the Russian winning the match 6-2 6-3.

For this morning's match, Sharapova is certainly the  hot favourite as she has lost only once in the last six matches she played in 2012, while the Czech has lost four.


The match for Tuesday 8th May 2012 is scheduled for 8:50 GMT 

The links for the free live streaming are given as herein under:

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* Please read our Disclaimer Policy with regard to free live streaming

Sharapova clashes with Kirlenko - an all Russian show watch free live streaming

I read an interesting remark somewhere to day about the QF between Sharapova and Karlimna, which read, "Both from Russian, both are sexy , both shout­ loud....GO MARIA ! LOL." 

Sharapova clashes with Kirlenko - an all Russian show

Well it would be unnatural for me to disagree about the statement and like this anonymous messenger, I too would like Sharapova to win, for all obvious reasons !!

Yes it is true that both are Russian and .... and both are Marias - But there is yet another common thing about the two is that they were both born in 1987 - Kirlenko on 25th January and Sharapova on 19th April. This makes Sharapova younger and energetic, though a couple of months do no matter much.

Maria Sharapova, the present World Number 2 beat 21st seed Roberta Vinci in straight and easy sets, 6-2 and 6-1. On the other hand Maria Kirilenko had a tough day with Nadia Petrova, as Nadia after losing the first set to  Kirilenko 1-6, struck back and won the second set 7-5. Nadia in fact took the game at 1-5 in the second set and then went on to win the next seven consecutive games to take the set 7-5. But then perhaps ran out of her steam as Kirilenko came back to the game seriously and won the third set 6-2 and won the match 6-1, 5-7 and 6-2.

Well this means Kirilenko has the ability to fight back - something that would be a warning for Sharapova to not to intimidate her fellow countrywoman. This remains to be seen how Sharapova manages to win over the same Russian blood tonight.

The match between both Marias is set to commence 22:00 GMT.

The links for the free live streaming of the quarterfinal match between Sharapova and Kirlenko are given as herein under:

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Armymen dismantle PAO in Moscow battle

[ via RT ] 15 Dec

CSKA Moscow, playing without its leaders Andrey Kirilenko and Andrey Vorontsevich, have beaten Panathinaikos, 91-75, on home soil to secure top spot in their group in the Euroleague and continue their winning run on the continent.

The Armymen did not give the Euroleague champions any chance in front of a sell-out crowd in Moscow.

Serb center Nenad Krstic’s double-double, 17 points and 12 rebounds, and inspirational defense by the Armymen were the keys to their success in arguably one of the best games so far in Europe this season.

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