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SUNDAY
APRIL 19, 2015
SAINA NEHWAL REGAINS WORLD NO. 1 RANKING NEW DELHI: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal regained the number one position in international rankings after China’s Li Xuerui dropped a couple of rungs to third in the latest list issued on Thursday. Saina, the first Indian woman shuttler to be world number one after her India Open Grand Prix Gold triumph earlier this month, had dropped to the second place following her semifinal finish in the Malaysia Open Super Series. She skipped last week’s Singapore Open Super Series but gained in the rankings after Xuerui also pulled out from the tournament. — Agencies
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FRANCE TO INTRODUCE GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY NEXT SEASON PARIS: Goal-line technology will be introduced in the French top flight from next season, the league's president Frederic Thiriez announced on Thursday. "It is a unanimous decision by our board," declared LFP chief Thiriez after the decision to go the way of the English Premier League, which introduced goal-line technology at the start of last season. "Now we need to establish the exact specifications and consult the two main operators: the British system Hawk-Eye and the German Goal control. The technology was also used at last year's World Cup in Brazil.—Agencies
West Indies v England
Tireless James Anderson makes history as first test ends in draw
NORTH SOUND: England may have let
West Indies escape from the first Test in Antigua with a draw, but they did not do a lot wrong on the final day. I always felt trying to winkle out eight wickets on a lifeless pitch would be a tough ask, and so it proved, notwithstanding some crazy shots from the West Indies batsmen. When Jermaine Blackwood got out to one of the worst shots I have ever seen in Test cricket - running down the pitch to Chris Jordan - to leave England needing just four more wickets with 50 overs to go, victory for the tourists looked inevitable. England will be disappointed they did not get over the line from that position, but there was not much fault to be found in their bowling. They just came up against one of the rising stars of world cricket in Jason Holder. Bearing in mind that his previous highest score in first-class cricket was 52,
British swimming c’ships
O'Connor qualifies for Worlds
for Holder to score a hundred in those circumstances was simply brilliant. We watched him display a maturity beyond his years when he captained West Indies in the World Cup, and the character he showed in saving the game today leaves me in no doubt that this young man will go on to
achieve big things in future. Of course from an England perspective, the day belonged to a man at the opposite end of his Test career - James Anderson. To surpass Ian Botham as England's all-time leading wicket-taker is an enormous achievement by Anderson. It is tes-
Lewis Hamilton beaten by Nico Rosberg in Bahrain GP practice
BAHRAIN: Nico Rosberg pipped team-
LONDON: Siobhan-Marie
O'Connor won her second title of the British Championships with victory in the 200m individual medley. O'Connor, 19, who won 100m freestyle gold on Tuesday, finished in two minutes, 9.51 seconds to seal a place in Britain's World Championships team. "The time was a challenge, but I am just very happy to make the team," she told BBC Sport. Jazz Carlin also won her second title of the event, following up her 400m gold with success over 800m. The 2015 British Championships are the first elite swimming event to be hosted at the London Aquatics Centre since the 2012 Olympics. English Commonwealth champion O'Connor finished ahead of Scotland's Hannah Miley, who was second, and Aimee Willmott. Teenager O'Connor competed at her first senior World Championships in 2013 in Barcelona and is determined to make a bigger impact at July's event in Kazan, Russia. "Last time I made a final, but wasn't that happy with my performance," said the Bath-based swimmer, who will contest the 200m freestyle event on Saturday. "I just want to go to Russia and perform a bit better - and maybe pick up a medal, that would be nice." The pressure was off Carlin in the 800m final, as she had already secured her place on the plane to Kazan with her time in the 400m competition on Wednesday. She lead throughout the longer distance event, finishing in eight minutes, 21.58 seconds, to beat Jessica Thielmann (8:32.19) and Camilla Hattersley (8:37.99). "I felt quite heavy and I didn't really feel like I got into my stroke tonight," Carlin told BBC Sport. "Back-to-back racing is quite tough, but I have a day off now before the 200m on Saturday where hopefully I can push Siobhan a little." Former European and Commonwealth champion Elizabeth Simmonds,who has struggled with fitness and form for the last couple of seasons, announced her return in the 100m backstroke final. Simmonds, who last won the event in 2010, pushed Lauren Quigley and Francesca Halsall into second and third respectively. Defending champion Georgia Davies of Wales was a surprise fourth. —FP Monitoring
timony to years of leading England's attack tirelessly, and to his willingness to learn new skills. It is easy as a bowler to do the first thing you can do and be happy with that, but Anderson has taken the art of swing bowling - particularly reverse-swing bowling - into new territory. As a former swing bowler myself, I have sat there and watched him in amazement. What makes Anderson so special is his ability to swing a brand new cricket ball both ways. As a swing bowler you generally only have one way of swinging a brand new ball - in my case it was the outswinger. But Anderson makes swinging it both ways look easy. I am not sure even he realises what an incredible talent that is. My mind goes back to the young man with the red stripe in his hair making his debut in 2002, and it is incredible to think how far he has come since then. It was fitting that Alastair Cook took the catch - those two are good mates and they have been through a lot together. —FP Monitoring
mate Lewis Hamilton to the fastest time in second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The two Mercedes drivers, with Hamilton 0.115 seconds behind Rosberg, were half a second faster than the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Williams's Valtteri Bottas was fifth, just 0.003secs behind Vettel and ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton missed out on the fastest time when he ran wide at Turn Eight on his fastest lap, losing about 0.3secs. And both Ferraris could also have gone faster. Vettel ran wide at the last corner on his first flying lap on his qualifying simulation run on the faster 'soft' tyre and failed to improve on his second lap. Raikkonen made the same mistake on his first lap and did improve on his sec-
ond, but by then the best would have gone from the tyres. Vettel also had trouble later in the session, suffering a brake problem on his exit from the pits and having his front wing damaged as Force India's Sergio Perez cut across him into Turn One. The incident was investigated by stewards after the session, but no further action was taken. However, another incident, when Hamilton and Raikkonen passed a queue of cars on the inside at the exit of the pit lane at the end of the session is still being looked at - with Raikkonen reprimanded "for driving in a manner deemed to be dangerous in the pit lane". Ferrari look close enough on outright pace to suggest they will be able to pose a challenge to Mercedes in the race, potentially turning their lighter tyre usage to their advantage. —FP Monitoring
TOKYO: Gracie Gold of the United States performs during the ladies' free skating at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Team Trophy of Figure Skating on Saturday. —Xinhua
Peshawar Panthers, Khalil Gymkhana advance in Shama T20 Cricket League
PESHAWAR: Peshawar Panthers and Khalil Gymkhana secured victories against their respective rivals in their respective rivals in the ongoing 6th Shama Twenty20 Cricket League-2015 being played at two different venues on Saturday. In the first match Peshawar Panthers while batting first won the toss and scored 109 runs with Zakir (33) was the prominent contributor. For Peshawar Stars Shahzeb claimed four wickets, Bilal and Saeed got three wickets each. In reply, Peshawar Stars bundled out for 73 runs. Murtaza (28) was the prominent contributor. Sajid claimed four wickets, Ijaz took three wickets and Hanif got two wickets. In the match played at Gymkhana ground Khalil Gymkhana scored 138 runs for the loss of six wickets. Anwar (32) was the prominent scorer. For Iqra Club Usman took two wickets. In reply, Iqra Club bowled out for 87 runs in which Salahuddin scored 23 runs. For Khalil Gymkhana Fahad Shah, Ferrari Formula One Driver Kimi Raikkonen prepares to take part in the Abu Bakar and Esha took two wickets second free practice ahead of Bahrain's F1 Grand Prix on Saturday. —Xinhua each. —FP Monitoring
Gul to replace Adil for rest of the ODIs against Bangladesh
ISLAMABAD: Fast bowler Umar Gul will
be joining the ODI squad against Bangladesh as the replacement of right-arm swing bowler Ehsan Adil. Adil will miss the remainder of the oneday international series against Bangladesh as the result of serious hamstring injury, reported PTV news. He is the fourth player to be ruled out for Pakistan, who lost to Bangladesh for only the second time in 48 games on Friday when they were
downed by 79 runs. Pakistan World Cup squad members Sohaib Maqsood and Sohail Khan were casualties before the start of the tour while on Thursday, legspinner Yasir Shah was ruled out with a hand injury. Meanwhile, Bangladesh will be bustling with confidence heading into Sunday's second ODI after centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal helped them secure a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. —FP Monitoring
Ukrainian fighting in and out of the ring
KIEV: Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk
is a man fighting both inside and outside the ring. Usyk is the reigning Olympic heavyweight gold medalist and is now trying to challenge for top pro titles, but his career has become tangled up in Ukraine's political turmoil. Since turning pro in 2013, Usyk has won all his six fights by knockout and is now gearing up for the biggest fight of his pro career on Saturday against Russia's Andrei Knyazev in the Ukrainian capital. An exuberant Ukrainian patriot who celebrates victories by performing folk dances in the ring, Usyk is a native of Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia last year. Even though his public persona strongly contrasts with the Russian identity pushed by the new Crimean authorities, he refuses to leave his home city of Simferopol or to take Russian citizenship. "What I do and what I love, I don't betray that," he told The Associated Press.
"Sometimes people say you have to tolerate it. No, you have to do what you think necessary, what your heart tells you and go where the almighty leads you." Despite living in a land now ruled from Moscow, Usyk is unmistakably Ukrainian, even sporting a patriotic haircut shaved on the sides, with a long lock on top. It's a modern twist on Ukrainian cossacks' traditional topknots, known as "khokhly," a word also used by many Russians as an anti-Ukrainian jibe. At an open training session for a crowd of mostly teenage fans in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, he ducked and weaved to a dance remix of Ukrainian folk music, sporting a T-shirt with a map of Ukraine picked out in the country's yellow-and-blue colors - a map which, of course, included Crimea. Over the last year of tension between Ukraine and Russia, many of Crimea's transport links have been cut
off. Usyk's youngest son was born in January, but because of Usyk's difficulties traveling home to Crimea from his altitude training camp in western Ukraine, three-month-old Misha has rarely seen his father.
"I miss them. When I leave they're small and when I come back they're a bit bigger," Usyk says of his three children. "I really want to be there with them, close to them, see how they're growing and talking and doing everything else."
While he admits a Ukraine-Russia fight helps to sell tickets to patriotically-minded fans in Kiev, Usyk doesn't want the bout to become a nationalist rally. The Ukrainian government accuses Russia of invading its territory by sending troops to aid pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine. "I don't want my fans to shout any insults at my opponent. Why? Because he's come here to box," he says. "I think they'll be respectful." "I do it all with a pure heart. It's not some kind of gimmick, as some people say, it's not some kind of PR project 'Let's do that and it'll bring us success.' No, I do it because that's how I live," he says. "Some people think a boxer is a gloomy guy with this heavy brow who always has to be serious." At this he screws up his face into a Neanderthal impression. "But why can't you laugh a bit, make a joke?" —FP Monitoring