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Monday, 2 April, 2012
Sports 19
FAySAl bANK SUPEr EighT T-20 cUP
Stallions down Dolphins to claim seventh title LAHORE
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scOreBOArd
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IALKOT Stallions snatched an impressive eight wickets win to claim the Faysal Bank Super Eight T-20 Cup for the seventh time at the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi. Sialkot Stallions defeated Karachi Dolphins on Sunday to maintain its hegemony in the shorter version of the game. Stallions, led by former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, achieved the score of 170 with seven balls to spare. Malik played a captain’s innings of 62 to leave Dolphins bowlers totally at disarray. He was supported by Haris Sohail at the other end with a brilliant innings of 55 runs. Both these batsmen timed 13 fours while Haris shared two valuable stands in the win – one with Malik of 119 runs and the other with Imran Nazir. Stallions got a rapid-fire
Cancellara crashes out of tour of flanders AuDENARDE AfP
Switzerland's Olympic time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara crashed out of the Tour of Flanders here on Sunday when he fell 62km from the finish. Cancellara, who was one of the pre-race favourites for the second one day classic of the season, stayed seated on the ground clutching his collarbone and could be considered a doubtful starter for next Sunday's Paris-Roubaix. Cancellara, winner of this race in 2010, was looking for his first major win of the campaign after he finished an eye-catching second in the first classic of the season, the Milan-Sanremo, on March 17.
wariner focused on London after toe injury AuStIN
KArAchi dOlPhins 30 shahzaib hasan c Ali b umaid 81 Khalid latif not out 4 rameez raja run out (Ali) Asad shafiq run out (raza) 38 0 sheharyar ghani lbw b naved 9 sarfraz Ahmed st shakeel b raza Mohammad sami c shakeel b raza 0 tanvir Ahmed c Yousuf b raza 0 haaris Ayaz c shakeel b raza 0 5 extras (b 1, lb 3, w 1) 167 total (8 wkts; 20 overs; 96 mins) did not bat faraz Ahmed, rumman raees fall of wickets: 1-38 (shahzaib hasan, 2.5 ov), 2-63 (rameez raja, 5.5 ov), 3-153 (Asad shafiq, 17.4 ov), 4-154 (sheharyar ghani, 17.6 ov), 5-166 (sarfraz Ahmed, 19.2 ov), 6-166 (Mohammad sami, 19.3 ov), 7-167 (tanvir Ahmed, 19.5 ov), 8167 (haaris Ayaz, 19.6 ov) Bowling: umaid Asif 4-0-44-1, raza hasan 4-0-33-4, navedul-hasan 4-0-31-1, rehman 4-0-16-0, shoaib Malik 2-0-17-0,
sarfraz Ahmed 2-0-22-0, sialkot stallions 6 shakeel Ansar run out (raees) 41 imran nazir b faraz haris sohail not out 55 62 shoaib Malik not out 6 extras (w 6) total (2 wkts; 18.5 overs; 89 mins) 170 did not bat shahid Yousuf, Ali Khan, raza hasan, sarfraz Ahmed, umaid Asif, Abdur rehman, naved-ul-hasan fall of wickets 1-6 (shakeel Ansar, 0.3 ov), 2-51 (imran nazir, 5.2 ov) Bowling: Mohammad sami 4-0-34-0, tanvir Ahmed 4-0-43-0, rumman raees 3.5-0-32-0, faraz Ahmed 4-0-37-1, haaris Ayaz 3-0-24-0 toss: Karachi dolphins, who chose to bat umpires: Ahsan raza and zameer haider tV umpire: shozab raza Match referee: Khatib rizwan reserve umpire: Kaukab Butt.
boost from Imran Nazir, who hammered 41 runs while opening the innings and he along
with Haris added 45 runs for the second wicket. Nazir in his 25 minutes stay at the
crease cracked six four and two sixes and faced just 20 balls. He consolidated the innings after Shakeel Ansar was run out for just 6 runs. It was Sialkot Stallions, which played with an average of 9.02 runs per over, got to seventh final in their previous T20 Cup they defeated Rawalpindi Rams by ten runs after an interesting contest in the final played at the National Stadium Karachi. Earlier in the semi-final Karachi beat Lahore Lions by seven wickets and Sialkot defeated Peshawar panthers by 40 runs. Karachi Dolphins cracked 167 for eight in allotted 20 overs with Khalid Latif getting unbeaten 81 runs. Shahzaib Hasan and Khalid provided Karachi strong footing by their 38 runs opening wicket stand and later Khalid joined by Asad Shafiq added another 90 runs for the third wicket. In the process Asad got to 38 runs before being run out. Hasan Raza was the pick of the bowler with four wickets.
Sjodin joins Tseng atop LPGA leaderboard RANCHO MIRAGE AfP
Sweden's Karin Sjodin steered a steady course in gusting winds Saturday, firing a four-under 68 to join world number one Yani Tseng atop the Kraft Nabisco Championship leaderboard. Sjodin, who is seeking a first victory in seven seasons on the LPGA tour, had just one bogey as she joined Tseng on nine-under 207 going into Sunday's final round of the first women's major of the year. "The day was just kind of smooth," said Sjodin, who briefly took the outright lead before Tseng rejoined her at the top. The Swede's effort was even more impressive given she apparently dislocated one of her ribs on Friday. "I never felt like I was ever in trouble. ... It feels great to be there. I don't know if I've really had time to think about it much. It's going to be fun to-
morrow, definitely." Tseng, a five-time major champion, is currently the dominant force in the women's game. But she showed some frustration on her way to a oneunder 71 at Mission Hills. South Korea's Haeji Kang, also seeking a first LPGA Tour title, was two strokes back after struggling to a 72. World number two Na Yeon Choi of South Korea led a group of five players on six-under. Sjodin, who had never made the cut at the Kraft Nabisco before, will play in the final group on Sunday for the first time in her LPGA career. She'll have her work cut out battling Tseng, who has won three of five LPGA tournaments this season, including the last two. The 23-year-old from Taiwan is vying to become the youngest six-time major winner in golf history -- man or woman.
Tseng said she knew by the time she and Kang teed off in the final pairing that the wind would be a problem. "For the front nine, I played very solid, especially in this wind," she said. "I don't think it was as tough as I thought, so maybe I was prepared for this. But on the back nine, I got kind of emotional, maybe thinking too much, trying too hard to play better." After Tseng bogeyed the seventh and Sjodin drained a birdie putt at 11 the Swede had sole possession of the lead, but Tseng rebounded with a birdie at the 10th. But Tseng was put on the clock on the next hole for slow play, and after a poor tee shot she ended up with a bogey at 11. She missed a two-footer for par at 13, where her ball circled the cup but didn't drop. "I'm glad this happened today instead of tomorrow," Tseng said. "I was just thinking too much and trying too hard. It's good to find out earlier."
oosthuizen leads by two at Houston open HOuStON AfP
South African Louis Oosthuizen posted a second straight 66 on Saturday to take a two-shot lead over Hunter Mahan after three rounds of the US PGA Tour's $6 million Houston Open. Oosthuizen bounced back after two early bogeys, stringing together four straight birdies on the back nine as he took a 17under total of 199 into the final round. "It's a great leaderboard behind me," Oosthuizen said. "It's going to be tough, but I feel like I'm ready for it." Mahan carded a 65 for 201 as players put in another long day on the Redstone course to get the tournament, delayed by thunderstorms on Thursday, back on schedule. England's Brian Davis shot a 69 and Carl Pettersson of Sweden a 67 to share third on 202. James Driscoll was alone on 204 after a 71, while defending champion Phil Mickelson posted a 70 to lead a group on 205 that also included Keegan Bradley (69) and Ryan Palmer (66). Three-time major champion Ernie Els, who must win to qualify for the Masters next week, was in a group on eight-under. The South African, whohasn't missed the Masters since 1993, didn't think he'd given himself much of a chance. "I needed to get to 10- or 11-under to really have a shot," Els said. "I need a 62 or 63. It's tough to do on a Sunday, but you might as well give it a go." Seventy players resumed their second rounds Saturday morning. Oosthuizen completed a 66 that put him on 11-under, one shot behind secondround leader Jeff Maggert. Oosthuizen's third round got off to a rocky start with bogeys at the first and second. The 2010 British Open champion drained an 11-foot birdie putt at the sixth, and added birdies at eight and nine to make the turn at 12-under. "After that, I felt really comfortable," Oosthuizen said. "I made really good swings after that." Mahan, who has three top-10 finishes in five previous starts here since 2007, moved up the leaderboard with four birdies in the space of six holes. A whopping 90 players made the 36-hole cut at two-under par or better when the second round wrapped up Saturday morning. Another cut was made after the third round, leaving 70 players in the field for the final round.
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Former Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner has his sights set on the London Games after recovering from a toe ligament injury that forced him out of last year's World Championships. Wariner anchored his Central Texas All Stars squad to victory in the 4x400m relay at the Texas Relays meeting Saturday in 3min 1.54sec, and said afterwards that his left foot was feeling fine. Wariner already has three Olympic golds -- the 2004 Athens solo 400m, and the 4x400m relays in Athens and Beijing 2008 -- as well as the individual 400m silver in 2008. He is gearing up for the US Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, in June. He tore a ligament in a toe last year which forced him out of the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. "It was best for me to stop," Wariner said. "It hurt to do that. I wanted to run worlds but I was looking at the long run, and the long run for me right now is to get back and get ready for the Olympics." Wariner, who has not won a major international 400m title since the 2007 World Championships, plans to run his first individual 400m of the season at a meeting at Texas State University next week. "The last few years I've been kind of taking it easy and trying to get ready at the last second. This year we wanted to start a little earlier and just get going," he said. Women's 400m specialist Sanya Richards-Ross, like Wariner coached by Clyde Hart, won the 100m in a wind-aided personal best of 10.98sec. She then anchored her 4x400m relay squad to victory. She said her strong 100m showing was a good indicator that her 400m training is on course. "I know whenever my speed is on, the 400 gets easier for me, so I'm just really excited about the rest of the season," she said.
China sweep golds at world team DORtMuND AfP
China completed the cleansweep of gold medals at the world team table tennis championship on Sunday as their women beat defending champions Singapore and the men saw off Germany. Both the Chinese teams are defending Olympic champions after their men and women claimed golds at Beijing four years ago when the team event made its debut and China's teams are favourites for gold at the London Games later this year. Overall, China have won 36 gold medals in both the men's and women's world team championships since the tournament began in 1926. After their men beat hosts Germany 3-0 in their final, the Chinese dragon roared again as the women took revenge for their defeat two years ago in Moscow with victory over Singapore. "Again we are world champions and that is well-deserved," said China men's coach Liu Guoliang, whose team won the title for the sixth time in succession. "The German team is the strongest in Europe, I hope they continue developing. "We have felt a lot of pressure coming here, Germany is a nation that tests us, so we were even more prepared then for the last tournament in 2010. Every game was very close." Germany put up a brave fight as their top player Timo Boll came back from 2-0 down to level the first match before losing 3-2 defeat to Zhang Jike. "I've never played in front of such a fantastic backdrop. I was very motivated," said Zhang. Germany's
DortMUND: China´s Jike Zhang eyes the ball to return to Germany's timo Boll durin the men's final of the world team table tennis Championships. AFP Dimitrij Ovtcharov was then dismissed 3-0 by Ma Long, but in the third game Patrick Baum took the first game against Wang Hao before falling to a 31 defeat. In the women's final, China's
Ding Ning put her side ahead with a 3-1 win over Feng Tianwei, while compatriot Li Xiaoxia also had few problems in her 3-1 win against Wang Yuegu. It fell to Guo Yue to seal victory and she
dominated Li Jiawei with a 3-0 win in straight games. The world championships are part of the Olympic qualification process with final places to be decided at forthcoming tournaments.