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17 Sports PbSf recommends asif for pride of performance award LAHORE STAFF REPORT
Venus inspires USA to Hopman Cup win
The Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Federation has recommended the name of World snooker champion, Mohammad Asif for the President’s award for Pride of Performance. “ We have sent the name of Asif for his outstanding performance of winning the world title for the Pride of Performance award and we are confident that the Sports Ministry will give a due consideration to our request “,said Alamgir A Shaikh, President, PBSF on Wednesday. He said Asif deserves praise and encouragement from Government and if considered for the award it would be the best way to acknowledge his achievement at world level in snooker.
munich: felix neureuther against all odds takes a turn to win in the men’s world cup parallel slalom event.
serena into Brisbane quarters
faldo Golf Series plans event in lahore LAHORE STAFF REPORT
PERTH
The Faldo Series Golf Championship returns to Pakistan for a second time and while the first event was held at Karachi,the second one will be contested at the par 72, Defence Raya Golf and Country Club in Lahore.This championship will tee off on 18th January and the competition will span over three rounds from 18th to 20th January.Four of the young participants who emerge as the top ones will join Sir Nick Faldo at the Asia Grand Final in China. “The inaugural Faldo Series Pakistan Championship that took place in Karachi last year was a great success and the four finalists benefited hugely from their time with Sir Nick in China,” said Taimur Hassan, Honorary Secretary of the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF). “In keeping with our objective to rotate the Faldo Series around the country, this year the tournament is scheduled to take place in Lahore in collaboration with the Defence Raya Golf and Country Club ..” Defending champion Mubariz Ahmad of Islamabad will lead Pakistan’s top golfers aged 12 to 21 over three rounds at Defence Raya in Lahore. With the field divided into four age-groups, three boys and one girl will qualify for the seventh Asia Grand Final at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen on March 13-15. National coach Omar Ghias will attend the second Pakistan Championship to work with the players and other local children as part of a joint drive by the Faldo Series and Pakistan Golf Federation to combine tournament experience with expert advice,under supervision. Established in 1996, 40 Faldo Series tournaments now take place in 30 countries worldwide with more than 7,000 golfers participating each year. Past winners include Major Champions Rory McIlroy and Yani Tseng. The 2012/2013 Faldo Series Asia schedule features a record 18 tournaments in 15 countries, including four in mainland China and others in The Philippines, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand.
AgENCIES
V
ENUS Williams pulled off an unlikely victory over Mathilde Johansson before teaming up with John Isner as the United States defeated France 21 in the Hopman Cup. The former world number one was a set and 4-1 down to Johansson before digging deep into the reserves she has amassed over her long career to triumph 3-6 7-5 6-4 in Perth. The Frenchwoman played fearlessly in the first set, taking Williams by surprise, although the American misfired with her forehand and she was clearly in some discomfort. However, the seven-time grand slam champion refused to give in and as she began to claw her way back into the game Johansson started to make mistakes. With the score at 4-1, and Johansson closing in on victory, Williams reeled off three consecutive games before getting the decisive break to go 65 up and then serving out the set. In quotes reported on the Hopman Cup website, Williams said: "Mathilde's a
BRISBANE: Serena Williams booked her place in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with the minimum of fuss on Tuesday by seeing off Alize Cornet. The third seed dropped just four games en route to a 6-2 6-2 victory, giving her French opponent little chance. Elsewhere in the women's draw, Sara Errani was beaten by Daniel Hantuchova, the fifth seed losing 46 6-1 7-5, while sixth seed Petra Kvitova was also defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 7-5. Ksenia Pervak went through against Urszula Radwanska 3-6 6-2 7-6 (8/6). In the men's competition, home favourite Lleyton Hewitt overcame a second-set wobble to beat Igor Kunitsyn 6-3 4-6 6-2 in his opener. Tommy Robredo was also put to the test by American Ryan Harrison in his first-round match before prevailing 6-4 7-6 (6/4). Denis Istomin looked much more at ease, dropping just three games against Martin Klizan, while John Millman got the better of Tatsuma Ito. Also in the first round, Alejandro Falla saw off Jesse Levine, Jurgen Melzer went three sets against Denis Kudla and David Goffin saw off Matthew Ebden. Grigor Dimitrov was a 6-3 7-6 (10/8) winner over Brian Baker of the United States. AgENCIES tough player. She hits the ball hard and low, and I'm tall so it's hard to get low. "I was just thinking, at least if I'm going to lose this match, I was going to try to work on my game. In the end, I got a win for the US." Victory levelled the tie at 1-1 after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had swept past Isner 6-3 6-2 in 55 minutes. Tsonga was sharp from the outset, moving his opponent around the court and
timing the ball perfectly. Isner, the world number 14, struggled increasingly as the match wore on and two quick breaks in the second set saw Tsonga take a 5-1 lead. Isner held his serve to love but it was merely delaying the inevitable as Tsonga closed out the match. Williams and Isner then teamed up to win the mixed doubles 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 108 against Johansson and Tsonga.
Radwanska sees off Arn in Auckland AuCKLAnD AgENCIES
Agnieszka Radwanska eased through her opening match at the ASB Classic in Auckland with a straight-sets victory over Greta Arn. The Polish top seed came through 6-2 6-2 against the 2011 champion to set up a second-round clash with Simona Halep of Romania. Second seed Julia Goerges also enjoyed a straightforward win, beating Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-4. Briton Heather Watson joined them in the second round after her opponent Sorana Cirstea withdrew through illness. Watson took the first set 6-3 and that was enough as the Romanian fifth seed could not carry on. Other games today saw sixth-seeded Yaraslava Shvedova see off Lara Arrubarrena-Vecino in straight sets, while eighth seed Mona Barthel was a 6-1 6-3 winner over Grace Min of the United States. Romina Oprandi dropped only two games in beating Nudinga Luangnam and Marina Erakovic saw off Stephanie Dubois for the loss of three games.
QAtAr OPen tennIs
Brown gives Ferrer a fright DOHA ALI AKBAR
The first round of the Qatar Open was all about Germany's Dustin Brown. One could have been excused for assuming that Brown would be like the other excellent German players in the event, trained to the last ounce and technically perfect. But Brown is half Jamaican and wears dreadlocks that make him look more like a calypso singer. His game is all power combined with deft touch in the shape of drop shots. Having fought his way through the qualifying for the main draw, Brown was in great touch and gave top seed David Ferrer all that he could handle. Brown won the first set and then had Ferrer
thursday, 3 January, 2013
love-thirty in the first game of the second only for Ferrer to hold on. Then at 1-2 with Brown serving, a chunk of the court broke off from behind the baseline, forcing an extended halt while the surface was repaired. That was all the respite that Ferrer needed and Brown was soon dispatched in a flurry of service return winners. Regardless, a bit of history had been made. This was the first time one could recall, that a piece of tennis court had broken out in this manner. A few years ago, a court at the US Open had blistered and broken up because of heavy rain. But for a court to break up for no reason at all was unprecedented. In other matches, Spain's Feliciano Lopez was outplayed by Poland's Lukas Kubot. German
Daniel Brands defeated France’s Chardy. Qualifier Tobias Kamke upset Hidalgo of Spain while second seed Richard Gasquet had no trouble against Czech veteran Jan Hernyck. The French Football team Paris St. Germain was in attendance at the Center Court. QTF President Nasser Kholaifi is also President of the Paris professional soccer team. A German professional soccer team is in Doha as well, taking advantage of the weather and excellent facilities. Following the success of the Asian Champions’ Trophy, Qatar is also building a state of the art hockey facility with three pitches. Having already held the Asian Games and looking forward to the World Cup and possibly an Olympic bid, Doha looks to become the sporting standard bearer in East Asia.
ioka downs rodriguez in six TOKYO AgENCIES
Japanese boxer Kazuto Ioka won his 11th consecutive fight when he beat Jose Rodriguez to claim the vacant WBA light flyweight title on Monday. It took Ioka, who knocked his Mexican opponent out three times during the bout, just six rounds to secure what was ultimately a dominant win to earn him a second title in just 11 fights - a new record in Japanese boxing. Ioka won his first title - the WBC 105pound strawweight title - in 2011, just two years after he had turned pro. He beat Oleydong Sithsamerchai with a onepunch knockout to win that fight. While it took Ioka a little longer to secure victory in the fight against Rodriguez, he made his intentions quite clear from the outset. Midway through that session Ioka landed two solid blows on Rodriguez, sending him to the canvas early. cLEVERLy TO FAcE HOpkINS: Nathan Cleverly hopes to land a fight against Bernard Hopkins in the New Year if he defends his world title against Robin Krasniqi on March 16. Cleverly made two routine defences of his WBO light-heavyweight title in 2012, but he is targeting a big-name fight in the next 12 months, with ring legend Hopkins his top target.