Saina geared up for All England Championship

After making it to the last-four phase in 2010, Saina Nehwal aims to go all the way this year in the All England Badminton Championships. With 5 titles leading up to the first shuttle event, India's brightest badminton star desires to make history by winning the coveted title, a feat no other Indian woman has accomplished..

Prakash Padukone, hailed as the best ever Indian shuttler, has won the World Cup, the Common wealth gold and many more titles. He was even the world No. 1, but the 55-year-old is always remembered for winning the All England title. So is Saina's coach Pullela Gopichand, who is the only other Indian to achieve this amazing honour. Such is the trend for this Super Series premier, which kicks off on Tuesday that sports buffs describe it as the 'Wimbledon of badminton'.

Though she refuses to accept it, Saina has got the best possible draw with Wang Yihan being the only Chinese player in her half. The news that Yihan had injured her knee tendon would only bolster Saina's chances. The cross-border rivals are likely to meet in the quarters. If Wang opts out and with defending champion Tine Baun of Denmark pulling out due to a heel injury, Saina's first big test could come only in the final.

But the world No. 5 says getting past the first two rounds will be quite tough. Saina will open against Seung Hee Bae of Korea and is likely to face Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the second round. "Bae is very athletic on court. She picks up everything and makes it tough for the opponents. Ying is a classic player with all kinds of strokes. On paper it may appear easy, but for me both are very strong opponents. I have to produce my best to beat them," Saina said.

Kalmadi says ready to face any probe

Former Common wealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who is under fire for supposed financial mismanagement in the conduct of the 2010 Common wealth Games, asserting that he had not done anything wrong on Saturday said he is ready to face any investigation."I am ready to face every investigation. I have not done anything wrong and I am not running from anybody. The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) went through everything in my house, but could find nothing," said Kalmadi.

A team from the Central Bureau of Investigation raided two bank lockers of Kalmadi in Pune on Tuesday as part of the agency's current investigate into the supposed financial irregularities in the 2010 games contracts. The team from Delhi searched the lockers in several Pune banks. The CBI sealed the lockers in December last year. The CBI had visited branches of the ICICI and Saraswat banks in Karvenagar in December 2010, when officials raided Kalmadi's homes and offices in Pune and Delhi.

Kalmadi, who has been in the eye of the storm ever since the conduct of the games, received a fresh blow on February 11, when the CBI arrested Shekhar Mukund Deorukhkar from Pune. Deorukhkar has been accused of hiding facts about transactions and contract papers, which were eventually recovered during the raids conducted by the CBI. Deorukhkar is the fourth person to have been arrested in connection with the CWG scams. The CBI had earlier arrested T S Darbari, Sanjay Mohindroo and M Jayachandran, all of whom are now out on bail.

See all Cricket World Cup 2011 news at Legends of Sports

Devvarman draws India level with Serbia

Asian and Common wealth Games champion Somdev Devvarman overcome Janko Tipsarevic to pull India back level at 1-1 with defending title holders Serbia on the opening day of their Davis Cup World Group first round tie. Viktor Troicki, who sealed his country's triumph against France in December's 2010 final in Belgrade, put Serbia into the lead in Friday's first singles on the clay at Novi Sad. He raced into a two set lead over Rohan Bopanna, who then clawed his way back into argument to set up a cliffhanger which the Serb finally won 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3.

"It was a tough match. I came back after 2-0 and I am disappointed I couldn't manage to win," Bopanna told reporters. Devvarman then levelled the tie with a 3-0 defeat of Tipsarevic, although the Serb player dug deep, leading 4-1 in each of the opening two sets with the Indian winning 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)."I feel for Janko because he probably didn’t have enough time to adjust from Delray Beach, where it was a lot warmer and that much easier to serve," Devvarman said."I served well, kept fighting and always believed I could win the match," he added.

Serbia, missing their best player, world number three and Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, will be represented by their strongest pairing of Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic in Saturday's doubles where they come up against Bopanna and Devvarman. India suffered a major blow to their chances after Grand Slam-winning doubles pair Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were required to withdraw due to injuries. But Devvarman was sure his team still had a chance to defeat the Serbs."We definitely believe now we can win this tie and we will go out there to give it our best shot," he said.

See all Cricket World Cup 2011 news at Legends of Sports

England hockey star nets another bronze

Medals are always good, but Dunmow’s top hockey player is eager to modify the colour of them as she looks forward to a year with her club and the England squad. Following on from her Common wealth Games and World Cup efforts in 2010 Chloe Rogers scored yet another bronze medal – this time with her club side Leicester in the European Club Champions Trophy. Rogers had a superb three-day tournament in Abbeville, France, and completed as the championship’s top scorer with 11 strikes in five games.

But it was not enough for a much-fancied Leicester team that failed to finish in the top two which ruled them out of promotion for next season. Rogers said: “It was a good weekend and it was nice to win a team medal and also pick up an individual award for top goal scorer which doesn’t happen very often so it was pleasing to have a good contest and managed to put the ball in the net a few times.“At the same time we are slightly disappointed as we were aiming for top two positions to try and get promoted to the top division.

“It would be nice to have a dissimilar colour medal at some point, Bronze seems to be my colour with the three we won last summer with England. But I would rather have a bronze medal than no medal at all.”“Hopefully this will change with the two tournaments we have this summer with England, and Champions Trophy again where we won Bronze in 2010 and the European cup where we hope to challenge Holland and Germany who always seem to make the final.”

Wheel chance to win

Sporting glory runs through cycling champion Maddison Hammond’s veins. The son of Common wealth Games cycling gold medallist, Gary Hammond was named Whittlesea’s Senior Sports Star of the Year for 2010 after a stellar season on the track. The 18-year-old said that while the 2012 London Olympic Games was not on the cards due to injury, he was looking at events beyond that. He said he felt ready to compete international titles.

“It’s (cycling) been around me all my life,” he said, The 18-year-old aced the Australian Track Championships in Adelaide last March, finishing first in the sprint, 1km time trial, Keirin and team sprint. He made inroads on the international circuit after claiming the Champion of Champions title in Adelaide. He followed that show with silver and two bronze medal-winning rides at the UCI Junior Track World Championships in Italy last August. Hammond rides for the Northcote Cycling Club and plans to focus on endurance events such as the omnium and madison.

But he’ll have to get over a stress crack first.“I had a bulging disc and stress fracture in my back from functioning out in the gym,” he said.“It happened 12 months ago but I only found out what it was four months ago.”Maddison received a medallion and a $500 gift card from Sports Star sponsor Rebel Sports at last week’s award night. The event was held at Etihad Stadium with Stephen Quartermain as MC.Entertainment was provided by break-dance crew Wickid Force.