Manchester United sells Ronaldo to Real Madrid for record $131.2m

MANCHESTER: Manchester United have agreed to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for a world record 80 million pounds (130 million dollars, 94 million euros), the club said on Thursday.

"Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of 80 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid," said a statement on its website, under the headline "Reds accept £80m Ronaldo bid."

The statement continued: "At Cristiano's request - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

"Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice."

Ronaldo has long been a target for the Spanish giants, whose returning president Florentino Perez vowed earlier this week to do "everything possible" to take the 24-year-old to the Bernabeu.

The news comes just days after Real clinched the 56 million pounds transfer of Brazilian playmaker Kaka from Italian side AC Milan as they look to compete with arch-rivals Barcelona on the domestic front and such as Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League.

There was no immediate statement from Real Madrid.

Source:TOI

Sania in pre-quarters of WTA Aegon Classic

Birmingham, Jun 10 (PTI) Sania Mirza quelled a late challenge from world number 49 and 11th seed Anne Keothavong to sail into the pre-quarterfinals of the USD 220,000 WTA Aegon Classic here today.

The unseeded Indian beat the British number one 6-1 7-6 (5) in the second round after battling it out for one hour and 27 minutes.

Sania will now run into the winner of the match between local wild card Elena Baltachs and Russian fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a place in the last-eight stage.

Sania dominated the first set and did not give any chance to Anee, whom the Indian broke thrice to take lead.

However, Anee shrugged off the rustiness in the second set and put up a brave fight to stretch it to a tie-breaker, where Sania held her nerves and converted her second match point.

Sania had beaten Tatiana Poutchek in the first round last night. PTI

No plan to bat at No. 3 throughout the T20 World Cup: Dhoni

Trent Bridge, June 11 (PTI) India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today made it clear that he has no plans to bat at the number three slot throughout the Twenty20 World Cup and claimed it was a part of the team's experiment with the batting order.

Even though an in-form Suresh Raina seems the more logical choice for the slot, Dhoni has been coming at one down in the Twenty20 World Cup but with little success.

After India's eight-wicket triumph over Ireland, the Indian captain was asked if he plans to continue occupying the slot for the remainder of the tournament to which Dhoni replied, "Not really." Dhoni said the team was experimenting with the batting order and hence he was coming at number three.

"We are trying a few things. I think we have to see what combination we are playing with and decide depending on that," he said.

Dhoni, meanwhile, was relieved with Zaheer Khan's sterling performance against Ireland as the left-arm seamer grabbed four wickets, besides the Man of the Match award.

"It's really good that he is back in form," Dhoni said of Zaheer who was nursing a shoulder injury till the other day.

"We knew he would take one more game to get back to groove and that's what we saw today. He was back in the groove, swinging the ball and hitting the right areas," Dhoni said. PTI