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Golf is a game in which you yell ‘fore,’ shoot six, and write down five. –Paul Harvey
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sPoRTs Thursday, 8 August, 2013
Hockey team has potential to clinch asia cup: Pu vc LAHORe: Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid kamran has said that Pakistan Hockey Team have potential to win Asia Cup if it worked hard and entered the field with commitment. He was addressing an Iftar dinner hosted in the honor of Hockey Team at Executive Club. Senior analyst Chaudhry Muhammad Akram, M Arshad Farid khan Commanding Officer AFIN Armed Forces Institute of Nutrition, Chief Coach Akhter Rasool, Coach Tahir Zaman, Captain Muhammad Imran and national hockey players were present on the occasion. Chaudhry Akram expressed the hope that the Hockey Team would measure up the expectations of the nation. He said that the team was expected to show outstanding performance during the matches. Mr Arshad also delivered a special lecture on health, fitness and diet on the occasion. STAFF REPORT
azadi cup rugby on 14th LAHORe: The Azadi Cup Rugby will be held on August 14 under the auspices of the Punjab Rugby Association. The tournament is a regular feature of the association which is organised to celebrate the independence day of Pakistan. The event which is now in its fourth year wil be held at the DHA L block Stadium. Entrance is free for all who wish to enjoy a day of exciting rugby played in a festive family atmosphere on the ground. The tournament will be played in the afternoon with a DJ and live commentary. The event is to be held in two parts with the “Azadi Shield” in which a 7-a-side format with 12 teams take part. The teams will include DHA rugby club , Lahore Rams, AIT rugby club, Multan, Lodran, Islamabad Jinns, Punjab RFU, Surgoda, Wadat Rugby Club and for the first time a new club Shadrah Rugby Club will also taking part. This year a special prizes will be for the man of the tournament and will be given the Rose Petal Rugby 7s prize and the man of the Match in the “Servis Tyres Azadi Cup will be given the Berger Paints man of the match award. The Azadi shield will be followed by the main fixture: a full 15-a-side match between two super league teams the Lahore Rams and the Islamabad Jinns to decide this years champions. STAFF REPORT
east zone trials pushed forward to 12th LAHORe: The six teams of East Zone Cricket Association players trial matches for Senior Inter District Cricket Event have been cancelled due to unfit outfield of the Stag Cricket Ground and the trials will now be held on August 12 (Monday) at the same venue. The trails will start at 9:00 AM and Dr Mohammad Jamil, Najam Mirza, and Sarfraz Ahmed will be the selectors. All the six teams players have asked to reach the ground in time. STAFF REPORT
venus ousted in first round at Toronto TORONTO AGENCIES
W
IMBLEDON semifinalist Kirsten Flipkens shook off a slow start to beat Venus Williams 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday at the Rogers Cup, spoiling the seventime Grand Slam champion’s return from injury. Williams, sidelined by a lower back injury since her first-round French Open exit in May, was quick out of the blocks, pocketing the first set in half an hour. Flipkens leveled the match with a break in the 10th game of the second frame, and once the 13th-seeded Belgian had forced the third set it was Williams who couldn’t keep pace. Flipkens, who has been nursing a right knee injury and hadn’t played since falling in the Wimbledon semifinals to eventual champion Marion Bartoli of France, raced to a 50 lead in the third before Williams managed to hold serve.
big guns begin preparations for us open
ToP seeds Progress To suzHou second round
MOnTReAL: The summer holidays are well and truly over and it is back to the serious business of preparing for the US Open for the world’s top tennis players. This week’s tournaments in Montreal and Toronto see the likely contenders in New York go head-to-head for the first time since Wimbledon, although the women’s event is weakened by the absence through injury of Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. That leaves Serena Williams as an even bigger favourite than she would have been otherwise, while Marion Bartoli is back in action a month after her stunning Wimbledon triumph. AGENCIES
Flipkens then surrendered a break, but broke Williams to seal the win and book a second-round match in Toronto with Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens. Williams said the ease with which she won the first set may actually have hurt her. “I wasn’t expecting to play that well in the first set, so I think in the second I just didn’t handle it well,” Williams said. “Then I got down in the third... I didn’t make the best choices out there all the time.” Williams said she had only
started practicing her serve more in the last week, and she expects it to improve before the US Open begins later this month. “Definitely today my service games I didn’t feel like myself, because usually I step up to the line, I go for it a lot. I didn’t really feel like I could do that today,” said Williams, who also praised Flipkens for hanging in. “She definitely showed a lot of resilience by fighting back,” Williams said. “It’s never easy to lose a 6-0 set and come back.”
SuzHOu: Top two seeds Timea Babos and Misaki Doi both progressed safely through to the second round of the Caoxijiu Suzhou Ladies Open in China. Hungarian Babos defeated home player Lin Zhu 6-4 6-4 while Japan’s Doi beat Yafan Wang, also of China, 6-0 6-2. Chinese fifth seed YingYing Duan did not progress, however, after she was forced to retire from her match against Eri Hozumi of Japan, having lost the first set 6-2. Elsewhere, Dutchwoman Michaella krajicek sister of 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard moved through to the second round after a straight-sets win over Japan’s Erika Sema, while eighth-seed Alize Lim of France saw off the challenge of Chinese player Saisai Zheng. AGENCIES
VAn AVeRMAeT TAKes oPenInG sTAGe UTAH AGENCIES
Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium broke away in the final threelap sprint to outpace Australian Michael and win the opening stage of the Tour of Utah on Tuesday. With crowds cheering along the final stretch, BMC’s Van Avermaet beat Matthews to the finish line over the final half mile on Main Street and earned the Stage 1 victory in 4 hours,
11 minutes. American Tyler Magner who rides for a team owned by retired pro cyclist George Hincapie - finished third. Once the peloton caught up to breakaway leaders Michael Torckler of New Zealand and American Chris Jones, Van Avermaet knew the challenge would be there after seeing the finish for the first time a day earlier. “I saw the finish yesterday, and it wasn’t great because it was downhill,” Van Avermaet
said. “I had to try something different. ... The last (mile) was hard.” Once he hit the final corner with only the finish line in front of him, Van Avermaet could smile. “Once I came through the last corner with a gap, I was pedaling fast to the finish and hoped that no one came over. I couldn’t put my hands up directly because I didn’t know for sure. I was expecting somebody, but it was good.” With sprinting as his
specialty, Matthews was disappointed to come up short of the yellow leader’s jersey. “It’s hard when you’re so focused on the first stage and it slips away,” Matthews said. “That’s racing. You can’t win every race and you have to put faith in your team. “My sprint was good at the finish. It wasn’t quite timed properly. Greg was just too strong.” The second of the Tour’s six stages will run from Panguitch to Torrey on Tuesday.