BERLIN: Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher said he was gunning for an eighth title in his comeback to Formula One racing with Mercedes GP from next season, in an interview published on Thursday.
"Obviously our only goal can be to fight for the world championship," Schumacher told the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel.
"And of course my goal can only be to again stand on the top step."
Schumacher retired in October 2006 and suffered a neck injury in a motorbike accident in February but the German pilot, who will be 41 on January 3, said had "no doubt" about his skills behind the wheel.
"I never stopped my physical training," he said.
Schumacher signed a three-year deal on Wednesday to return to F1 racing with Mercedes GP for a reported seven million euros ($9.9 million) per year.
He will be linking up with Mercedes's team principal Ross Brawn, who was the brains behind all of his world titles, and on the grid when the new season starts with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14.
The German said Mercedes was the natural choice for him.
"I think there is no other team for which I would have seriously considered driving," he said.
"It was the combination of Ross Brawn and Mercedes. Mercedes helped me get into Formula One. I am happy that I can give back some of what Mercedes gave me."
Schumacher was 37 when he hung up his racing helmet having competed in 250 Formula One Grands Prix, 180 of them for Ferrari.
He won 91 races, 71 for Ferrari, took 68 pole positions, 58 for Ferrari, and set 75 fastest laps on his way to seven drivers' world titles, including five for the scarlet scuderia.
Schumacher retired having just fallen short of Italian Ricardo Patrese's record of lining up in 256 races.
He had been due to make a remarkable return last season for Ferrari - for whom he acted as a consultant after retiring - as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa.
But he was unable to race due to persistent neck pain from the February crash.
KOLKATA: Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara made a blunder by opting to bat first in the fourth ODI only to see his bowlers struggling to grip a wet ball, according to India's stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag.
Elated after leading the team to the series win with one match to spare, Sehwag said he knew dew would be a factor at the Eden Gardens at this time of the year.
"We knew dew would be a factor here in this weather. Even if I had won the toss, we would have fielded.
"It (Sangakkara's decision) was good for my spinners who could grip the ball when it was dry and operate," Sehwag said.
Man of the Match Gautam Gambhir, whose unbeaten 150 was the cornerstone of India's chase, also felt Sangakkara erred in his judgement.
"We knew the dew would be a big factor. Even when we last played here, Graeme Smith got a hundred and it was hard for the bowlers to grip the ball.
"The same happened with the Sri Lankan bowlers today," observed Gambhir, architect of India's series-clinching seven-wicket win.
Sangakkara, however, placed the blame on his pacers, saying they erred in their line and length.
"(Suranga) Lakmal and (Suraj) Randiv bowled well but there wasn't enough back-up. Maybe it was little difficult for spinners like Sanath (Jayasuriya) and (Tillakaratne) Dilshan but I think our pacers bowled either too short or too full on either side of the wicket. The fast bowlers should have been more disciplined," Sangakkara said.
Sehwag was effusive in his praise for Gambhir and Kohli who stitched together a 224-run stand in just 214 balls.
"I didn't think 315 was a huge total, considering the line-up we have. It was just a matter of good start but today neither me nor Sachin (Tendulkar) could give the team a decent start.
"But all credits goes to Gambhir and Kohli, the way they batted. Kohli has done really well in the opportunities he got. He got fifties in the Champions Trophy and against Sri Lanka. We all knew he had the talent and it was just a matter of performing at the international level," Sehwag said.
Leading the side in absence of regular skipper MS Dhoni, who is serving a two-match ban, Sehwag impressed with his innovative field setting but the Delhi player was also candid enough to acknowledge Tendulkar's input that helped them curb Dilshan on Thursday.
"The credit goes to Sachin Tendulkar. He told me to get the bowlers bowl on his legs," Sehwag said.
Like Sehwag, Gambhir too was generous with his praise for Kohli, whom he handed over the Man of the Match award.
"It was important to build a partnership after losing those early two wickets. In Kohli, we had someone who could play positively and score quickly. That took pressure off my shoulder and I could take my time and keep going," Gambhir said.
"I knew if we have enough wickets in hand, any target is possible after 40 overs. I thought we can wait till third Powerplay and take it from there," said Gambhir who completed 3000 ODI runs today.
Looking back, the left-hander said he was happy to get a century at Eden Gardens after failing to convert a good many starts.
"I've been pretty unfortunate in the last two innings but I am happy that I played a good knock to help us win the series. And it's fantastic to get a hundred in Eden Gardens," said Gambhir.
NEW DELHI: Nehru Cup and SAFF Championships triumphs, a new man at the helm of the national body after two decades and an unprecedented expulsion of the country's iconic captain Bhaichung Bhutia by his club marked an eventful year in Indian football.
The highlight of Indian football was undoubtedly the retaining of Nehru Cup International title after beating 2007 runners-up Syria via tie-breaker in the final in New Delhi in August.
India, who have qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Doha after winning the AFC Challenge Cup last year, lost to Lebanon and Syria in round-robin league matches but emerged winner in the final in front of a packed gallery at the Ambedkar Stadium.
The victory prompted Bhutia to assert that Asia's top countries would now find India a difficult team to beat. His coach Bob Houghton went a step further by declaring that with good crowd support his side can beat the top Asian countries except Australia at the Ambedkar Stadium.
The tournament also saw Bhutia becoming the first Indian, 37th Asian and 152nd international footballer to have played more than 100 matches for his country when he led the side in a league match against Kyrgyzstan.
But before that tournament, in June, he was suspended by his club Mohun Bagan for six months for missing an exhibition match and skipping team training. He later signed a contract with East Bengal though he had one more year with Mohun Bagan.
An arbitrator appointed by the All India Football Federation granted his interim relief after a bitter legal battle, allowing him to play for a club of his choice till a final decision is passed.
Towards the end of the year, India Under-23 boys, under wily coach Sukhwinder Singh, did the country proud by winning the SAFF Championships after beating Maldives in the final in Dhaka, a feat their senior side under Bhutia failed to do in 2008.
Bhutia and Co. lost to Maldives 0-1 in the final in the last edition final in Colombo.
The year also saw long serving senior vice-president Praful Patel taking over as AIFF president, replacing ailing Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi who had been at the helm of affairs since 1988. Dasmunshi is in a comma in a Delhi hospital since October last year.
Patel immediately brought Rs 25 crore as grant from the cash-rich Indian Cricket Board using his proximity with his National Congress Party boss and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar.
Patel's colleague, general secretary Alberto Colaco, however, chose to cling onto the office despite his repeated claims that he wants to quit the job.
Colaco, who took office in December 2000 as AIFF's first paid general secretary, was given extension of contract till the end of this year and the national body did not even bother to interview the candidates who had applied for the post responding to a public advertisement.
The AIFF had to drop its ambitious 'Goal 2011' project due to lack of financial resources and some clubs opposing it.
Under this plan, which was expected to cost the AIFF Rs 400 million, 25-27 players would be barred from playing any domestic tournament for two seasons to prepare for the Asian Cup in January 2011.
Meanwhile, lack of international matches remained the sour point of Indian football and its outcome was that India, which began the year on 142nd in FIFA rankings, ended it at the same place.
Apart from Nehru Cup, they played just one international friendly -- against Hong Kong -- in January and lost 1-2.
An ambitious football academy to be set up in Goa in collaboration with telecom giants Bharti Airtel, which had earmarked Rs 100 crore for the proposed state-of-the-art centre, was abandoned after a land dispute.
Haryana showed interest to set up the academy in Gurgaon which was to acquire technical assistance from Manchester United but that later turned out to be just verbal ex-pression of interest and the state also apparently failed to find the required land.
The AIFF, however, took an important step in professionalising the game in the country by appointing Kolkata-based Leisure Sports Management marketing head Sunando Dhar as the I-League Chief Executive.
Houghton caught controversy after he responded to Sports Minister MS Gill's remarks that he feared the national team would be beaten by a school side of Australia and said if the Minister was really concerned of Indian football he should provide good stadia and other facilities in the country.
It was a heartbreak for India striker Sunil Chhetri as his dream of playing in England's professional league was shattered when he was first rejected by Coventry City and then failed to get the work permit to ply in United Kingdom after being selected by Queens Park Rangers.
Dempo missed the chance to play in the prestigious AFC Champions League after losing to Al Sharjah of UAE 0-3 in a play-off match early this year and their Goan rivals Churchill Brothers will now have a chance if they win the play-off on February 6 against the winner of Al Karamah of Syria and Al Wahda of UAE.
Meanwhile, India's women team was delisted from the FIFA rankings in July after failing to play a single international match for 18 months, a development which led to severe criticism of the AIFF by the former players.
In the domestic front, Churchill Brothers became the 2008-2009 season I-League champions ahead of Mohun Bagan and their star striker and captain Odafe Onyeka Okolie became the highest I-League scorer once again.
Okolie signed for Churchill for another year with a reported record sum of Rs 1 crore, the highest in Indian football history.
Goa won the Santosh Trophy National Championships held in Tamil Nadu after defeating Bengal 4-2 via tie-breaker, while the country's two other domestic tournaments -- Durand Cup and IFA Shield -- were also won by Churchill.
Towards the end of the year, AIFF temporarily suspended India and Dempo players Mahesh Gawli and Sameer Naik after their club refused to send them for national camp in Goa citing injuries.
Dempo was fined Rs 5 lakh by the AIFF Disciplinary Committee for disobeying the national body's directives though the footballers were later cleared to play.
NEW DELHI: Board of Control for Cricket in India, on Monday, shifted the second one-dayer of the five-match series between India and Sri Lanka to Nagpur after police in Visakhapatnam expressed inability to provide security for the tie in the wake of political crisis in Andhra Pradesh
Agitations are on in Andhra Pradesh over the issue of the formation of a separate Telangana state.
"The second ODI of the five-match series between India and Sri Lanka has been shifted to Nagpur. The match will be a day-night affair, and will be played on the scheduled date of 18 December 2009," BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.
Early in the morning, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Sambhasiva Rao said that it will be difficult for them to provide the required security staff for the match.
"The prevailing situation is such that all the city police are deployed in the maintenance of regular law and order. To conduct the match in ordinary circumstances we need to deploy 80 percent of the city force.
"We have mentioned it to organising locals here that it not possible for us to commit any amount of force for the match at this stage," Rao told reporters in Visakhapatman.
Saurashtra Cricket Association which is hosting Tuesday's series-opener in Rajkot had also offered to host the match.
RAJKOT: Yuvraj Singh is a doubtful starter for the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka due to his finger injury and a final decision on his availability would be taken on Tuesday.
"Final call on Yuvi's fitness will be taken before the match. Virat Kholi will play if Yuvraj fails the fitness test", MS Dhoni said.
Saurashtra Cricket Association president Niranjan Shah said that the team management would take a decision on Yuvraj's availability for the match after going through the report submitted by the orthopedic surgeon.
"The Indian Team management will take a final decision after looking at the report submitted by the orthopedic surgeon," Shah said.
The former BCCI secretary declined to comment further on the doctor's report.
However, BCCI sources said they are hopeful that the explosive batsman would be fit to play the first ODI on Tuesday.
"Yuvraj seems to have suffered a hairline fracture on his little finger and the team management is hopeful he will be able to play the first ODI at Rajkot on Tuesday," BCCI sources said.
Yuvraj was taken to Dr Dinkar Virparia's clinic late in the evening for check-up after the left-hander complained of pain in his little finger on his left hand due to an injury suffered during the second Twenty20 match in Mohali on Saturday.
Later he was taken to the Rajkot Imaging Centre where an X-ray of his finger was taken.
Earlier in the day, India and Sri Lanka teams arrived here for the first One-Day International of the five-match series, beginning on Tuesday.
The teams arrived in Rajkot on a chartered plane amid tight security.
KUALA LUMPUR: Italian Jarno Trulli and Finn Heikki Kovalainen will drive for Lotus in the 2010 Formula One season, the new Malaysian-backed teamannounced on Monday.
Former Toyota and Renault driver Trulli had been strongly linked to the team, while Kovalainen was freed up for a move after being replaced at McLaren by world champion Jenson Button. Malaysian Fairuz Fauzi was named as the team's third driver.
"(Trulli) will bring us a lot of experience to develop the team, and Heikki is a young driver but has phenomenal experience so I think we have two fantastic drivers with Fairuz as well," team principal Tony Fernandes told reporters at a ceremony in Malaysia's parliament.
"It's a wonderful mix of experience, youth and passion and shows our seriousness to be a world championship contender."
Trulli, 35, won one Grand Prix for Renault in 2004, a record matched by 28-year-old Kovalainen with his single win for McLaren in Hungary last year.
AirAsia airline entrepreneur Fernandes said he had set an initial goal of being "the best among the new teams" in 2010.
Lotus are one of four new teams entering the sport next season in an expanded 26 car starting grid.
"We are not setting any big targets, we want to at least be the best of the new teams, but I think it shows our seriousness today by announcing two really world class drivers," Fernandes added.
The Lotus F1 team, which was set up in September, is supported by the Malaysian government as part of Prime Minister Najib Razak's "1Malaysia" initiative to promote racial unity among Malaysians.
The government has said that it would not invest in the team except through national carmaker Proton, which owns Lotus.
NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi pooh-poohed reports circulating in a section of the media that he is being eased out of the cricket's biggest money-spinner.
Modi said there was no truth in "these planted stories" as he was appointed by the cricket board's general body for five years to run the IPL.
"Also, there's no truth in the report that the post of IPL commissioner is being abolished," he insisted.
IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah, too, indignantly refuted the so-called move, saying that someone was trying to play a prank and the media fell hook, line and sinker for the bait. "How can anyone believe such trash without giving it a thought?" he shot back.
Another senior board official, not wanting to be dragged into the unsavoury controversy nor wishing to be identified, said that there was not even discussion on the subject at any of the recent board meetings.
"Yes, some months ago, there was some loud thinking whether the chairman and commissioner's posts be delinked but there was no serious discussion. One suggestion was that the board president should be the IPL chairman," said the board insider.
The official said that someone tried to link the development with the recent Rajasthan Cricket Association election, in which Modi was defeated by union Rural Development Minister CP Joshi.
Modi worked out the modalities of IPL during the tenure of Sharad Pawar and it became a huge commercial success.
He is also the chairman of the Champions League that draws the best Twenty20 teams of the cricketing world.
DHAKA: India avenged their last edition title loss as they prevailed over Maldives 3-1 via penalty shootout in the SAFF Championships summit clash to claim their fifth crown on Sunday.
After the match failed to produce any goal in the regulation and extra times, the match was decided in the penalty shoot out.
For India, who fielded an Under-23 side, Jibbon Singh, Denzil Franco and Subodh Kumar scored while Nirmal Chhetri missed the target.
Only Fazeel Ibrahim found the target for Maldives while Ahmed Thoriq, Makhuthar Naseer and star striker Ali Ashfaq failed to score.
India, who pocketed $50,000, had earlier won the title of the regional tournament in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2005.
It was a fine show by the Indians, under Sukhwinder Singh, who were facing the flak for their lacklustre show in the group matches, including a 0-2 loss to the same opponents.
The Indian boys would also be proud of themselves as they did something which their full strength national senior side under captain Baichung Bhutia failed to do last year when Maldives beat them 1-0 in the final.
The match, which saw three Indian players - Baldeep Singh, Balwant Singh and Jewel Raja - bleeding after colliding with rival players, did not rise to any great heights except at the closing stages and extra time.
Indian midfielder Jewel Raja had to be taken to hospital after he collided with Mohammed Arif going for a header in the 62nd minute. Both the midfielders fell down on the ground but the Indian hit the ground with the back of his head and there was commotion among the Indian players for a while.
Jewel was taken to the hospital in an ambulance after the doctors gave him first aid on the field. Jewel's condition seemed serious as captain Sushil Singh and even other Indian players were seen rushing to the ambulance.
The first 15 minutes of extra time was dominated by Maldives and five minutes into it Ashfaq missed a chance as his shot from close range missed the target. Five minutes later Ahmed Thoriq got another chance but also wasted it.
In the 17th minute, however, it was India's turn to go close to scoring but Sushil's outstretched legs just failed to connect a low pass from Jibbon Singh.
Five minutes later, it was Sushil again who failed to pounce on a chance as he could not reach the ball which bounced off the Maldives goalkeeper off a cross from the left by Jibbon Singh.
Next minute, Ashfaq wasted a golden chance as he shot over from a handshaking distance from the Indian goal.
There was nothing to choose between the two teams in the first half which did not see many scoring chances.
Maldives star striker Ashfaq Ali could not do much with the Indian backline of Denzil Franco, Robert Lalthama, Rawlinson Rodrigues and D Ravanan doing well to check him.
Maldives, building attacks mostly in short passes, had the first shot at the Indian goal in the ninth minute but striker Ahmed Thoriq's left footer after tussle inside the Indian box missed the target narrowly.
India got their first shot at the Maldives goal and midfielder Jewel's running left-footer sailed over the bar.
Ashfaq sent Thoriq in the free in the 21st minute but an alert Indian goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya came out of line to intercept the ball.
Maldives dominated the early part of second session but it was India who got a chance in the 55th minute but Balwant's Singh's header missed the far post.
Sushil got the best chance of the match in the 78th but his header off a pin-point cross from the right missed the post by inches after beating the Maldives goalkeeper.
The last 10 minutes of the regulation time saw Maldives making several attacks at the Indian goal and goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya had to make a couple of last-ditch saves to keep the slate clean.
Arindam made a fine save in the 85th minute by diving to his right to push out a Mohammed Arif grounder for a corner.
India: Sushil Kumar Singh (capt), Arindam Bhatacharya, D Ravanan, Denzil Franco, Robert Lalthlamuana, Rowilson Rodrigues, Baldip Singh (Nirmal Chhteri 116th), Jewel Raja (Subodh Kumar 62nd), Jibbon Singh, Joaquim Abranches, Balwant Singh (Jeje Lalpeklua 98th).
