Rain soccer tournaments in Kerala

October 6th, 2009 UEFA president Platini meets with Israel's PeresJERUSALEM — The head of European soccer's governing body believes the sport can play a role in bringing peace to the Middle East. UEFA president Michel Platini said Tuesday that soccer promotes "peace, tolerance and friendship." He spoke during a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, an avid sports fan and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

September 30th, 2009 Unit to fight soccer hooliganism in FrancePARIS — France's Interior Ministry has announced the creation of a unit that will target soccer hooligans. A day after the death of Toulouse supporter Brice Taton, the ministry announced Wednesday that the new unit will be responsible for surveillance of potential troublemakers.

September 30th, 2009 Iraqi soccer team to host Kuwaiti clubIRBIL, Iraq — A Kuwaiti soccer team will play in Iraq on Wednesday in the first sports competition between the countries since Saddam Hussein invaded his southern neighbor in 1990. The match between Irbil and Kuwait Sports Club in the second leg of the AFC Cup's quarterfinals will have extra security at the nearly 21,000-seat sold-out stadium in the Kurdish city of Irbil.

September 28th, 2009 SAN SALVADOR - One soccer player died and another was injured when they were hit by lightning while playing a match in a town in eastern El Salvador, authorities said. David Zaldivar Tobar, 21, died when he was hit by the lightning bolt Sunday and another player, identified as David Saravia, was taken to the San Juan de Dios hospital in the city of San Miguel.

August 8th, 2009 ALAPPUZHA - The United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday inaugurated the 57th edition of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race at the Punnamada lake in Kerala's Alappuzha District. Along with Gandhi, Union Ministers including Vayalar Ravi, Kumari Selja, Sasi Tharoor and State ministers attended the extravagant event.

August 4th, 2009 ALAPPUZHA - A 30-member team of women including nine foreigners will compete in the 57th edition of the famous snake boat race at the Punnamada lake here Saturday. The team will be led by Julie Louis, a Briton, who is going to take part in the famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race for the fourth successive time.

July 28th, 2009 ESPN to show MLS, European soccer in BritainLONDON — ESPN has bought the rights to broadcast Major League Soccer live in Britain and Ireland as well as games from some European leagues. The Disney-owned network is building up its live soccer content in Britain after already securing rights to show some Premier League matches.

June 29th, 2009 KOTHAMANGALAM - Celebrations erupted in this Kerala town after news reached here that Class 11 student Binish K. Shaji Monday won a silver medal at the World School Athletics championship held in Estonia in northern Europe.

June 25th, 2009 USA has beaten Spain by 2-0 goals in this Wednesday's semifinal of the Confederations Cup. Spain was a top ranked team, this win by the USA team has come as a pleasant surprise for soccer fans from US.

June 4th, 2009 Smaller soccer nations get Youth Olympics shotNASSAU, Bahamas — FIFA has given places at the first Youth Olympic Games to smaller soccer nations who rarely play on the world stage. Eight European teams have been chosen by UEFA to compete for a place at the inaugural games in Singapore next year where they will play for gold medals against teams preselected by the five other soccer confederations.

May 30th, 2009 Obama's day: Soccer, NYC date night with MichelleWASHINGTON — There were no official events are his schedule Saturday, so President Barack Obama had plenty of time to devote to his other roles — father and husband. The president and first lady Michelle Obama watched their daughter Malia's soccer game in the morning.

May 29th, 2009 English-only 'Britain' soccer team for OlympicsLONDON — A soccer team of only English players is set to represent Britain at the 2012 London Olympics. The four "home nations" — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — sent a joint letter to world governing body FIFA on Friday saying they had agreed that an English team could represent Britain in both the men's and women's tournaments.

May 28th, 2009 CHENNAI - Five times champions Kerala, along with Mizoram, the Indian Railways and hosts Tamil Nadu moved into the pre-quarterfinals of the 63rd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy Thursday, after completing their respective league engagements with an unbeaten record. Railways overcame Assam 1-0 with Amrinder Singh scoring the only goal of the Cluster 5 match at Tiruvallore and they will meet next the winners of tomorrow's Cluster 6 league match between Manipur and Sikkim.

May 26th, 2009 CHENNAI - Delhi crashed to a 1-2 defeat against Assam to bow out of the 63rd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy here Tuesday. Playing without skipper Sunil Chetri who was injured Sunday during their 0-1 loss to the Indian Railways, Delhi had no answer to the nippy Assam and with two defeats in the three-team cluster 5, made their exit from the competition.

May 25th, 2009 BUENOS AIRES - River Plate defeated Independiente 2-0 in the Argentine soccer championship Sunday. Diego Barrado and Radamel Falcao scored in the first half and the latter missed a penalty for River.