Monday June 10, 2013
Kaieteur News
Page 27
Rafael Nadal captures Lima Sands Rising Suns geared to eighth French Open crown play competitive hardball cricket PARIS — Scrambling into corners and unleashing topspin-laden winners, Rafael Nadal used his favorite surface to show his fragile knees are far from done. Nadal cruised past compatriot David Ferrer of Spain 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 to win his eighth French Open title yesterday. “Is one of the more special ones,” said Nadal, who returned in February after a seven-month layoff to rest his ailing knees. Nadal is the first man to win eight Grand Slam titles at any major. With 12 majors overall, the 27-year-old Spaniard moves into a tie for third place with Roy Emerson. He trails only Roger Federer (17) and Pete Sampras (14) and is the second youngest, after Federer, to reach a dozen Grand Slam titles. “Rafael, in important moments, he’s the best,” Ferrer said. Nadal’s march to the title started fitfully. He lost sets in the first two rounds for the first time in his career, but then rounded into form just in time for a clash with Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Nadal prevailed against the No. 1 Serb 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 9-7 in a match that lasted nearly five hours. Nadal is now 59-1 in Paris, his only loss coming to Robin Soderling in the fourth round in 2009. Following his layoff, Nadal planned his return so that he could return on his preferred clay, which is easier on his knees. He quickly found his feet on
dirt. The Mallorca native has reached finals in all n i n e t o u r n a m e n t s h e ’s entered, winning seven. Noisy protesters, including one who briefly entered the field of play with a fiery flare, interrupted play in yesterday’s 2-hour, 16minute final. A light drizzle also fell at times, but nothing deterred Nadal from maintaining his hegemony at Roland Garros. About the pretests, French Open tournament director Gilbert Ysern said he was happy with the response of security personnel. “At least we could see that when something happens our security are pretty efficient,” he said. “They acted efficiently and quickly and handled it very well. In a certain way you feel a bit more comfortable in an incident like that.” The players appeared to be rattled. Both lost serve immediately after the incident. “I didn’t lose my focus,” Ferrer said. “Rafael, he was scared a little bit. But nothing happened, so it’s OK.” Nadal upped his record in major finals to 12-5. Ferrer, 31, was contesting his first Grand Slam final. When the rankings come out today, Ferrer actually will move ahead of Nadal, No. 4 to No. 5. Both finalists grinded away from the baseline, with one rally lasting so long fans began to buzz, then started to shush each other. The 5-foot-9 Ferrer, who was playing in his first Grand Slam final at age 31, often wins
points by extending them with his dogged defense. But Nadal matched his retrieving skills, and the torque on his groundstrokes eventually had Ferrer reeling. Trophy presenter Usain Bolt watched from the front row wearing sunglasses, even though the day was gray with occasional drizzle. Nadal misfired more than usual in the early going, perhaps adjusting to slow conditions and feeling the effects of his 4½-hour win over Djokovic. He gave back an early service break and had to erase two other break points in the opening set. It was the first set Ferrer had lost in the tournament, and at that point, he knew he faced a daunting task. Nadal is 146-3 when he wins the first set in Grand Slam tournaments. Nadal broke again early in the second set, and then came Ferrer ’s best chance to reverse the course of the match. At 3-1 he had four break points, but Nadal erased them all, the last with a backhand winner to end a 31-shot rally, longest of the match. In the final set, Ferrer double-faulted for the fifth time to lose serve and fall behind 5-3, and Nadal n e e d e d o n l y f i v e more points to close out the victory. Nadal broke the record for most men’s victories at Roland Garros he had shared with Federer and Guillermo Vilas. He improved to 20-4 against Ferrer and has won 17 consecutive meetings on clay.
Guyanese boxers fail to medal at 41st Giraldo Cordova Cardin Int’l Boxing tourney Guyanese boxers, Imran Khan and Eon Bancroft failed in their attempts to procure any medals after surrendering point decisi o n s to their respective opponents when the 41st Giraldo Cordova Cardin International Boxing tournament concluded at the Havana’s Ramon Fonst Multi-Sports Hall, Havana Cuba, Saturday afternoon. Khan lost h i s 5 6 k g s bout to Cuban, Norlan Yera, 30-26; Yera also defeated Australian Ayden Hansen on points but failed in the finals against his countryman and Cuba’s national champion, Vicente Paul by a 25-22 margin. Welterweight pugilist, Eon
Bancroft, also failed to get past Maimatti Tusunqiong of China in the 69kgs class, dropping a point decision. Earlier, Dennis Thomas had lost out to Venezuelan Rafael Hernandez to seal the fate of the Guyanese. The Cordova Cardin is the most prestigious Cuban boxing championship and more than 146 competitors from 21 countries and regions competed for honours. Initially, 7 local boxers were shortlisted to attend the tournament but the squad was eventually downsized due to insufficient funds. Khan and Craig benefitted from the largesse of the Guyana Police Force which
donated their airline tickets while Bancroft enjoyed similar benevolence of Sterling Products Ltd. Director of Sports, Neil K u m a r, f a c i l i t a t e d t h e airline tickets of Cuban coach, Francisco Hernandez Roldon and l o c a l c o a c h , Te r r e n c e Poole, while Government waived the requisite taxes at the port of departure. Those boxers that failed to make the grade are GDF representative, welterweight Ro n Smith, light/ middleweight Bert Braithwaite and light/ weight, Clairmont Gibson, featherweight, Delon Charles (FYF) and lightweight, Stephon Gouviea (HE).
Lima Sands Rising Suns display some of the trophies they have won. Secretary of the Lima Sands Rising Suns, Mavis Ferreira, is convinced her female cricket team is prepared to play hardball cricket competitively whenever the occasion arises. The Lima Sands Rising Suns is an emerging female cricket team, operating in the remote Lima Sands. The area is some seven miles from the township of Anna Regina. The female team, comprised of young women, some who attend school, have competed competitively with other female teams, in especially Amerindian Communities, in Mainstay, Capoey and Tapakuma for the
past four years throughout the Essequibo Coast and are the recipient of numerous trophies as they continue to maintain winning. Ferreira explained that while the team continues to exhibit the zeal to currently emerge into hardball cricket matches, she informed that they started out by playing circle tennis. But as the young women talents began to blossom, the game shifted to cricket. The Secretary said while the team is still vying for a manager and sponsors, funds to offset their traveling expenses are undertaken through fund raising activities by them.
The Lima Sands Rising Sun will play competitive matches against two female teams from Charity on Saturday 15 next at Lima Sands. For that upcoming match on Saturday, Sheneigh Calvan informed that businessman Nizam Barakat has contributed the uniforms for the team. The team members comprise of Onika Williams (Captain), Alesha Gouviea, Sheneigh Calvan, Zeneal Joseph, Nekisha Gouviea, Desiree Marcus, Fiona Hendricks, Akeena Adams, Mayfield George, Mavis Ferreira, Rheena Marcus and Melisa Ferguson. (Yannason Duncan)
Kamta Ramnarine rules the roost as GASP qualifiers conclude Kamta Ramnarine of the Enterprise Scrabble Club (ESC) scored 3 points with a positive spread of 626 to finish at the top of the heap when the Guyana Association of Scrabble Players (GASP) staged the qualifier among the lower rated seeds, for participation in the impending national championships, at the Malteenoes Sports Complex yesterday morning. Michael Benjamin dropped one of his games to Dwain Alberts but secured victories over Wazeer Dilipchand and his brother, Wazim, both of ESC to secure 2 points and a positive spread of 587 to finish second, while Romario Gonsalves also chalked up two points but
with a lower spread of 163 to seal off the podium spots. Those three players were among 6 others that have qualified to play in the National Scrabble Championships, slated for June 29-July 1 next at the Bank of Guyana Sports Club, Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown. The other qualifiers are Chetnauth Persaud, Mitra Persaud, Mohanram Ramnarine, Dwain Alberts and lone female, Karen Bobb Semple. They will join those that had already qualified, by dint of their top rankings, to compete in the impending championships. Those that have earn automatic qualifications by dint of top rankings are
defending champion, Abigail McDonald, Leon Belony, James Krakowsky, Moen Gafoor, Frederick Collins, Colin Chichester, Orlando Michael, Yvonne Murray, Ruby Cummings, Wayne Cave, Devraj Deonarine, Maurice Munro, Julian Skeete, Anand Mohabir and Robert Williams. The winner of this year’s Nationals 2013 will represent Guyana at the Wo r l d Scrabble Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, December 3 rd - 8 th next. Courts (Guyana) Ltd is the exclusive sponsors of this year’s tournament and has already handed over a cheque of more than $250,000 to the President of GASP, Leon Belony.