See how Russia rewards its champions athletes...

Life is only going to get better for Russian medalists at the Sochi Winter Games! They were rewarded with cash and a new luxury SUV.

The Winter Olympics hosts, which topped the medal table in Sochi, presented its 13 gold medal winners and 20 other podium finishers luxury SUVs on Thursday.

"If we put it straight, there has been no such event in the contemporary history of our country which would so much consolidate our nation, our people," Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told athletes at the handover ceremony, held near the Kremlin.

"You gave us this feeling of pride; you didn't do it on an ordinary day, but rather when the Olympic Games were held in our country."

Russia won 13 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze medals at the Games, which ended on Sunday.

President Vladimir Putin staked his political reputation to hold a successful Games, aimed to show the world the modern face of Russia and boost patriotic sentiment.

The Kremlin chief handed state awards to the athletes in Sochi saying that they have "accomplished the mission" assigned to them.

The cars were provided by Russia's Olympic athletes' support fund, an entity chaired by Medvedev, which has senior officials and billionaires on its supervisory board.

The Russian Winter Olympics winners in Turin got Toyota and Lexus cars in 2006, and Audi vehicles after the Games in Vancouver in 2010.
The Sochi Games won praise from the International Olympic Committee officials and there were no major security incident, despite fears following suicide bombings in southern Russia in December, blamed on insurgents based in the adjacent North Caucasus restive region.

Bangladesh win ICC Under-19 World Cup Plate Championship

Bangladesh defeated New Zealand by 77 runs to win their fourth Plate Championship at the ICC Under-19 World Cup at the Zayed Cricket Stadium here on Thursday. Opener Shadman Islam scored 97 and Litton Das contributed 79 as the two batsmen put on 124 runs for the second-wicket to propel Bangladesh to 223 in 47 overs. Off-spinner Mosaddek Hossain then returned figures of 10-4-23-4 as New Zealand finished at 146/9 after Brett Randell followed up his 2/22 with 51 not out.

Bangladesh had previously won the Plate Championship in South Africa (1998), Bangladesh (2004) and New Zealand (2010).

Shadman, who hit 13 fours in a 113-ball innings, finished with an impressive series aggregate of 406 runs. He leads Pakistani Imam-ul-Haq by 36 runs with South Africa captain Aiden Markram occupying third place with 304 runs.

Afghanistan, playing in their third World Cup, finished an impressive seventh after defeating Sri Lanka by five wickets at the ICC Academy 2 in Dubai. This was their second big victory in the tournament after upsetting Australia by 36 runs.

Usman Ghani took 3/21 and Sayed Shirzad bagged 3/33 as Sri Lanka was bowled out for 114 in 34.3 overs. In turn, Afghanistan raced to victory in under 22 overs for the loss of five wickets with Ihsanullah scoring 37 not out.

Zimbabwe finished 11th in the 16-team tournament when they defeated hosts United Arab Emirates by 84 runs.

IPL 2014: Title sponsor Pepsi doesn't want IPL to go outside India

On the eve of the muchanticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council meeting in Bhubaneswar, title sponsors Pepsi have come out in support of not only the other sponsors, but also the eight franchises and said that they hope the BCCI comes up with a solution through which the tournament stays in India.

Despite the dates of the IPL clashing with the general elections, the BCCI has met the home ministry to request for permission to host the domestic T20 league in the country. But Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has made it clear that providing adequate security during general elections is impossible.

But with discussions on the venue of the seventh edition of the IPL being the top agenda in Friday's meeting, Pepsi has said they are on the same page as the other sponsors and franchises who want the IPL to be played in India.

"We hope BCCI will be able to find a solution, which is in the best interest of all stakeholders," PepsiCo India's spokesperson told Mail Today . It is no secret that even though Pepsi products are available in South Africa, it is Coke that dominates the market. But another senior official said that production and market supremacy isn't a major reason why the company wants the IPL to stay in India.

He said that moving out of the country every election year can't be the best solution.

"See, it is the Indian Premier League and needs to be played in India.

We can't be moving out of the country every fifth year. You need to understand that Pepsi's standing in the South African market doesn't count for much as it is the India wing which has done the deal and we can anyway promote our products inside the stadium - as we have a contract with all the franchises.

"Marketing and strategising isn't an issue. If that was the case, we would be happy to go to the Middle-East as we are market rulers there. Also, in case we move to South Africa, branding and ensuring that the matches are played to suit the Indian audience's viewing time isn't an issue. But building on the euphoria as the tournament comes closer and generating the hype is. To make things simple for the layman, there is always a difference in comfort level when you are staying at your own home and when you are staying at a friend's place," he said.

"Yes, we will suffer as far as revenue generation is concerned, but that will be heavier in case of the team owners. So it is more about ensuring that everybody benefits and the losses are minimal.

We are still keeping our fingers crossed ( smiles)."

Europa League: Stunning comeback takes Tottenham through to last 16

After losing 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 32 tie in Ukraine last week, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. looked to be heading out of the tournament when Roman Zozulya headed in a delivery from visiting captain Ruslan Rotan two minutes into the second half.

Tottenham Hotspur are through to the last 16 of the Europa League after a dramatic recovery saw them get the better of ten-man Dnipro at White Hart Lane on Thursday.



After losing 1-0 in the first leg of the round of 32 tie in Ukraine last week, Spurs looked to be heading out of the tournament when Roman Zozulya headed in a delivery from visiting captain Ruslan Rotan two minutes into the second half.

That left the Premier League club needing to score three unanswered goals to go through, but a Christian Eriksen free-kick reduced the deficit on 55 minutes before Zozulya was shown a straight red card by the French referee following a headbutt on Jan Vertonghen.

Spurs made the most of their man advantage as Emmanuel Adebayor struck twice in the space of four minutes to seal a 3-1 win on the night and go through 3-2 on aggregate.

The Togolese forward later told ITV that he was never worried about his team's situation, saying: "Not at all. I know we have quality up front.

"We just kept our focus very well and scored that good free-kick that put us on our way. I managed to get two goals for the team and we're very happy."

Swansea knocked out

Tim Sherwood's side will now face last season's beaten finalists Benfica, who saw off PAOK of Greece, and they will do so as the only Premier League side left in the tournament after Swansea City went down 3-1 to Napoli in Italy.

Following a goalless first leg, the Serie A side took the lead 17 minutes in at the San Paolo stadium when Lorenzo Insigne cutely lifted the ball over Michel Vorm in the away goal.

Jonathan De Guzman hit back for Swansea and for a long time it looked as if they would progress on away goals.

But Gonzalo Higuain took advantage of a lucky ricochet in the box to put the hosts back in front 12 minutes from time, and Gokhan Inler made sure of Napoli's progress in stoppage time.

Napoli will now take on 2011 Europa League winners Porto, after the Portuguese club won a remarkable tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.

Following a 2-2 draw in last week's first leg, Eintracht looked to be going through thanks to goals from Stefan Aigner and Alexander Meier either side of the interval.

A double from Porto's France international defender Eliaquim Mangala silenced the crowd of close to 50,000 in the Commerzbank Arena, only for Meier to put the hosts back in front.

But Nabil Ghilas netted four minutes from time to make it 3-3 on the night and take Porto through on away goals, the result easing the pressure on coach Paulo Fonseca.

Juventus to face Fiorentina

Elsewhere, there will be a mouth-watering all-Italian tie between Juventus and Fiorentina after they eased past Trabzonspor and Esbjerg respectively.

And there will also be a Spanish derby clash between city rivals Sevilla and Real Betis in the round of 16.

Sevilla, who are eighth in La Liga, beat Maribor of Slovenia 2-1 on the night to go through 4-3 on aggregate, while Betis, the Spanish top flight's bottom club, were impressive 2-0 winners away to Rubin Kazan in Russia, advancing 3-1 overall.

The 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk were eliminated by Viktoria Pilsen of the Czech Republic, who go through to play French side Lyon.

Ajax fell by the wayside too, going down 6-1 on aggregate to Salzburg, who will next face Basel of Switzerland, while Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad came from behind to knock out Lazio, setting up a tie against Valencia.

Wenger discusses break criticism, Campbell

Arsene Wenger has hit out at being forced to justify handing his Arsenal stars two days' rest this week.

The Arsenal manager branded criticism of his decision "unbelievable" ahead of his side's Premier League trip to Stoke City on Saturday. Wenger revealed Mesut Ozil will be fit to return after hip trouble for the weekend's Potters clash, with Thomas Vermaelen also expected to be available.

Wenger said German playmaker Ozil is now ready to shrug off his costly penalty miss in Arsenal's 2-0 UEFA Champions League loss to Bayern Munich. "It's not necessarily fatigue, I don't see why that's suddenly a problem," said Wenger when questioned on the impromptu rest period he handed his squad this week.

"We have played without a break since December, we don't have to justify that, it's unbelievable. We are in a society where everyone wants to control everything; I don't understand this at all.

"We are entitled to do unusual things. We came out of a heavy schedule. We had two days off, that's all. Sometimes it's not only physical, it's mental, you're under pressure all the time, there's nothing unusual there."

He was good (against Manchester United), convincing in going forward, he looks like he has adapted better to the physical side of the European game.

Wenger on loan forward Joel Campbell

Admitting he is still weighing up whether to employ Vermaelen at left back to cover other absentees, Wenger backed Ozil to shrug off recent struggles with the Premier League's relentless intensity. "He (Ozil) had a difficult game because he missed that penalty, and it was on his mind," said Wenger.

"Sometimes when you're under this kind of pressure it's good to refresh. My opportunity is just to put the best team out who can win the game, it's not about individuals, it's about the team. If needed Thomas can play there (at left back), it's not his preferred position. He's been out for a long time but I still have 48 hours to make that decision."

Wenger also said that forward Joel Campbell, on loan at Olympiacos, now has the physicality and temperament to secure himself a long-term future at Arsenal. The 21-year-old claimed a fine individual goal in the Greek side's 2-0 Champions League victory over Manchester United in Athens in midweek.

Wenger said a series of loan stints have stood the Costa Rica forward in good stead. "He was good (against Manchester United), convincing in going forward, he looks like he has adapted better to the physical side of the European game," said Wenger.

"We knew always that he had the talent to create something special. He did rely a bit too much on that, but he has now been out at three different clubs, at Lorient, Sevilla, and Betis. Now he is at Olympiacos and he has learned the toughness of the European leagues.

"I will decide (his future) later, but why not? We bought him to bring him here."