WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012
S P ORT S
Baylor, Stanford, UConn, Irish earn No. 1 seeds NEW YORK: Brittney Griner and the Baylor Lady Bears have one goal this season - a national championship. Anything less would be a disappointment for the undefeated top-seeded Lady Bears, who are looking to become the seventh school to run through a season unbeaten. Standing in the way could be the other No. 1 seeds - Stanford, Connecticut and Notre Dame, dominant all season long. The Huskies and Irish both lost competitive games at Baylor this season. Griner and Baylor, who lost in the regional final last season, could be the first team ever to win 40 games in a year, but coach Kim Mulkey only cares about one thing - a second national title for the school. “We started hearing about that, and it’s never been a goal of ours,” Mulkey said of winning 40 games. “Our simple goal is to win a national championship.” The basketball madness gets started Saturday - the first step en route to the Final Four, which begins April 1 in Denver. To get to their second Final Four in three seasons, the Lady Bears might have to get through Tennessee, which is appearing in its 31st straight NCAA tournament. “I wish I was not in the same bracket as Pat (Summitt), because of the respect I have and also because we’ve already played,” Mulkey said. The two teams met in November, and Tennessee
held an eight-point lead early in the second half before Griner took over en route to a nine-point victory. The 6-foot-8 phenom has been dominant lately scoring more than 40 points twice in the past 10 games, including a 45-point effort in the Big 12 tournament semifinals this past weekend. The Lady Vols have won eight national championships but haven’t been to the Final Four in three seasons. They pledged at the beginning of the season that they would not go a fourth consecutive year without reaching the Final Four - something they’ve never done - and would try to win a national title to honor Pat Summitt. The coach announced in August she’d been diagnosed with early onset dementia, Alzheimer’s type. Summitt’s squad will face her alma mater Tennessee Martin - in the opener. “I like my alma mater,” Summitt said. “I like winning and moving on better.” Before a potential matchup with Baylor, Tennessee could meet Delaware and the nation’s leading scorer Elena Delle Donne. The 6-5 star is averaging 27.5 points this season and has guided the Blue Hens to a 30-1 mark. Now they are looking for their first NCAA tournament victory. Connecticut hopes to win its eighth national championship (tying Tennessee) and will start with a matchup against Prairie View. UConn coach Geno Auriemma told the Huskies’
faithful in the preseason that this team wouldn’t win a national championship. But his young team has developed over the past five months, and Connecticut looks poised to make another run after beating Notre Dame for the Big East tournament title. “If you have to rely just on momentum then you don’t have a good enough team,” Auriemma said. “We’ve got to hope we have a good enough team and then rely on momentum as an extra asset.” The Irish also have been focused on winning a title after falling just short last season, losing in the championship game to Texas A&M, which is a No. 3 seed in the Raleigh region. The two teams could meet in the regional final. Notre Dame, which will open up at home against Liberty, reached the national title game last year by knocking off UConn in the Final Four. It was the fourth straight season that UConn made the Final Four. The two teams, who already have played three times this year, could meet for a fourth time in Denver. The Cardinal also have advanced four straight seasons to the Final Four, and coach Tara VanDerveer is looking to get her first title in 20 years. She’ll begin with a trip East to Norfolk, Va. to face Hampton. Stanford, which has won 28 straight games since its lone loss of the season to Connecticut, hasn’t been east of the Rockies since 2001, when they went to Oklahoma.
“Well last year at this time I don’t think anyone thought Texas A&M was going to win either,” VanDerveer said. “Baylor has had a great year. I think that Brittney Griner is a great player, she’s a tremendous talent. We know that every team is beatable. I hope we have a chance to play them. We want to go as far as we can. If that means playing Baylor, we’ll be ready.” Standing in the way of a fifth trip to the Final Four could be second-seed Duke, which lost in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. The Blue Devils are led by talented freshman post Elizabeth Williams and sophomore guard Chelsea Grey and will face Samford in the opening round. Another intriguing team in that region is thirdseeded St. John’s, which ended UConn’s 99-game homecourt winning streak in February. The Red Storm have won 14 of their last 17 games after falling to the Huskies in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. Third seed St. John’s faces Creighton in its opener. Missing from the tournament is North Carolina, which is hosting the first two rounds, but didn’t make the field for the first time since 2001. While the Tar Heels will be missing, three schools Albany, St. Bonaventure and Florida Gulf Coast - are making their first appearance, and the Big Ten has a conference record seven teams. The Bonnies and Eagles will be meeting in the first round. — AP
Kohli, Gambhir set up India win
COLOMBO: England’s Tim Bresnan reaches out to catch a ball during a practice session in Colombo. — AP
Namibia beat Ireland in Twenty20 qualifier DUBAI: Namibia yesterday boosted their chances of an appearance in the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, overcoming second-ranked Ireland for a surprise four-run victory. Left-hander Louis van der Westhuizen scored 24 to help the African side to 1608 and took two for 37 with the ball to restrict the Irish to 156-9 and earn him the man of the match award. Ireland had been 65-5 in the 11th over before Gar y Wilson (49) and John Mooney (38) put the team back in contention with a 71 sixth-wicket partnership. But the 18 required off the last over proved just too much. Van der Westhuizen was pleased with the overall performance and predicted that on their day, Namibia were a match for any team. “It always helps when the team spirits are up and playing Ireland is always a really big game. It is good to play the biggest team on the opening day and it is great to get a win against them,” he said. “Namibia can be quite an unpredictable team but when it comes off then we can beat anybody. The biggest
challenge for us will be to be consistent throughout the event and keep up our performance levels.” Ireland coach Phil Simmons maintained that his players had not underestimated their opponents but they were already on the back foot after allowing Namibia to score too many runs in the opening overs. “Everything needs to improve from tomorrow, as we are not where we need to be in every aspect of our game for this event and that improvement has to start now,” he added. Sixteen teams are in the United Arab Emirates to battle it out for two places at the 2012 finals in Sri Lanka in September and October. Namibia play Scotland on Wednesday while Ireland take on Kenya. In other matches, much-fancied Afghanistan beat Papua New Guinea by six wickets, Nepal won by 28 runs against Hong Kong, the Netherlands beat Canada by 42 runs and Denmark beat Bermuda by seven wickets. Italy crushed Oman by nine wickets, Uganda beat the United States by four wickets while Scotland beat Kenya by 14 runs. — AFP
ICC-T20 SCORES DUBAI: Here are the scores from the ICC World Twenty20 qualifying tournament in the United Arab Emirates: Group A Papua New Guinea 112-6, 20 overs (Jason Kila 28; Dawlat Zadran 2-20) Afghanistan 113-4, 19 overs (Mohammad Nabi 52 not out; Rarua Dikana 2-23) Result: Afghanistan won by six wickets Man of the match: Mohammad Nabi (AFG) Netherlands 134-6, 20 overs ( Tom Cooper 29, Alexei Kervezee 29, Mudassar Bukhari 28 n.o.; Harvir Baidwan 3-29) Canada 93 all out, 16.4 overs (Jimmy Hansra 30; Mudassar Bukhari 2-22, Pieter Seelaar 3-16) Result: Netherlands won by 43 runs Man of the match: Mudassar Bukhari (NED) Nepal 130-6, 20 overs (Paras Khadka 68, Gyanendra Malla 26; Muniro Dar 3-15) Hong Kong 100-9, 20 overs (Nizakat Khan 31; Chandra Sawad 4-23, Shakti Gauchan 2-11, Basant Regmi 2-18) Result: Nepal won by 30 runs Man of the match: Paras Khadka (NEP) Bermuda 116-7, 20 overs (Dion Stovell 56, David Hemp 36; Sair Anjum 2-15) Denmark 117-3, 19.1 overs (Freddie Klokker 50, Rizwan Mahmood 47 n.o.; Dion Stovell 1-20) Result: Denmark won by seven wickets Man of the Match: Freddie Klokker (DEN) Group B Namibia 160-8, 20 overs (Louis van der
Westhuizen 34, Raymond Van Schoor 31, Sarel Burger 21, Craig Williams 19; Paul Stirling 3-20, George Dockrell 3-20, Alex Cusack 2-26) Ireland 156-9 (Gary Wilson 49, John Mooney 38, Kevin O’Brien 20; Louis van der Westhuizen 2-37) Result: Namibia won by four runs Man of the match: Louis Van Der Westhuizen (NAM)
DHAKA: India’s Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir both cracked their 10th one-day centuries to set up a comfortable 50-run victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup in Dhaka yesterday. Man-of-the-match Kohli (108) and lefthanded opener Gambhir (100) added 205 runs for the second wicket as India posted a challenging 304-3 before bowling Sri Lanka out for 254 in the day-night match. Seamer Ir fan Pathan was the pick of India’s bowlers with four wickets, while offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and paceman Vinay Kumar took three apiece. Sri Lanka raced to 122 in the opening 18 overs, thanks to sk ipper Mahela Jayawardene, who kept alive his team’s hopes of hunting down a stiff target with a brisk 59-ball 78. But they suffered a setback when Jayawardene was caught behind off Irfan in the 19th over after smashing two sixes and 10 fours. He added 93 for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara (65). “There were not many boundaries in the Virat-Gautam partnership but they did well to set up a base,” said India sk ipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “It is a tough ground to defend with a quick outfield. It was difficult when Mahela was batting well. The wicket changed a bit and the ball came onto the bat better and they were able to play their shots.” Sri Lanka’s chances receded sharply after the dismissal of Sangakkara, caught at deep mid-wicket off Ashwin, who also trapped Lahiru Thirimanne (29) lbw in the same over. Vinay removed Nuwan Kulasekara and Chamara Kapugedera off successive deliveries as Sri Lanka were reduced to 216-7, losing four wickets for 20 runs. “I played a pretty bad shot,” said Jayawardene. “ We needed to finish the chase which we did not do. Initially, they set it up nicely with Gautam and Virat and I thought we gave away 15-20 runs (too many).” Kohli earlier top-scored for India with his second successive hundred against Sri Lanka, having made an unbeaten 133 at Hobart in the recent triangular one-day series in Australia. India plundered 78 runs off the last 7.1 overs, with Dhoni smashing a 26-ball 46 not out and Suresh Raina an unbeaten 30 off just 17 balls. India lost Sachin Tendulkar early in the innings before Gambhir and Kohli bolstered their team with their impressive knocks. Tendulkar, chasing an elusive 100th international century, could make only six runs before pushing a Suranga Lakmal full-
toss straight to Jayawardene in the covers. Sri Lanka then had to wait for 37 overs to get their next wicket as Gambhir and Kohli continued to gather runs comfor tably against both pace and spin. The pair reached their centuries in the 42nd over before both falling in the next
Vincenzo Nibali
MILAN: Italian Vincenzo Nibali of the Liquigas team overcame a 06-second deficit to American Chris Horner to triumph at Tirreno-Adriatico yesterday. Switzerland’s Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara of RadioShack won the final stage time trial, held over 9.3 km around San benedetto del Tronto. A seven-stage race that dozens of riders use to rack up the kilometres ahead of the gruelling Milan-SanRemo one-day classic this weekend, the battle for overall victory came down to Nibali, Horner and Czech Roman Kreuziger. RadioShack all-rounder Horner came up short, finishing 20sec adrift of Nibali in the race against the clock to drop to second overall at 14. Kreuziger, of Astana, was third at 26. Nibali’s victory hoists him up to second place in the UCI WorldTour rankings behind Spain’s Alejandro Valverde, alongside Paris-Nice winner Bradley Wiggins of Britain. “I’m very happy, I felt good all morning and was confident,” Nibali, the 2010 Tour of Spain winner, told RAI Sport. “This season I had a lot more races in my legs than a lot of riders going into Tirreno-Adriatico, and the team was perfect.” Although succeeding Australian Cadel Evans, who went on to win his maiden Tour de France last July, Nibali was cautious about declaring his podium ambitions for the three-week epic.
DHAKA: India’s Virat Kohli (right) and Gautam Gambhir run between the wickets during their Asia Cup cricket match against Sri Lanka. —AP
SCOREBOARD DHAKA: Complete scoreboard of the Asia Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in Dhaka yesterday: India: G. Gambhir c Tharanga b Maharoof 100 S. Tendulkar c Jayawardene b Lakmal 6 V. Kohli c Thirimanne b Maharoof 108 MS Dhoni not out 46 S. Raina not out 30 Extras (lb7, w7) 14 Total (for three wickets; 50 overs) 304 Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Tendulkar), 2-224 (Gambhir), 3-226 (Kohli). Bowling: Kulasekara 10-0-67-0 (w1), Lakmal 10-167-1 (w2), Dilshan 10-0-54-0, Prasanna 9-0-45-0 (w1), Maharoof 10-0-57-2 (w3), Kapugedera 1-0-7-0. Sri Lanka: M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Irfan T. Dilshan c Kohli b Irfan K. Sangakkara c Jadeja b Ashwin D. Chandimal b Ashwin
78 7 65 13
L. Thirimanne lbw b Ashwin 29 N. Kulasekara b Vinay 11 U. Tharanga b Irfan 17 C. Kapugedera c Kohli b Vinay 0 F. Maharoof c Raina b Vinay 18 S. Prasanna c Tendulkar b Irfan 8 S. Lakmal not out 0 Extras (lb2, w6) 8 Total (for all out; 45.1 overs) 254 Fall of wickets: 1-31 (Dilshan), 2-124 (Jayawardene), 3-152 (Chandimal), 4-196 (Sangakkara), 5-198 ( Thirimanne), 6-216 (Kulasekara), 7-216 (Kapugedera), 8-241 (Tharanga), 9-254 (Maharoof ), 10-254 (Prasanna). Bowling: Irfan 8.1-1-32-4, Praveen 7-0-47-0 (w1), Vinay 9-0-55-3 (w3), Jadeja 4-0-31-0, Raina 5-0-340, Ashwin 9-0-39-3 (w2), Sharma 3-0-14-0. Result: India win by 50 runs.
over off seamer Farveez Maharoof as they attempted to step up the run-rate. Gambhir, dropped on 36, made the most of the chance and hit seven fours in his 118-ball knock, while Kohli also struck the same number of boundaries in his 120-ball innings. — AFP
Nibali triumphs in Milan
Oman 89-9, 20 overs (Sultan Ahmed 16, Carl Sandri 4-9, Gareth Berg 2-22) Italy 90-1, 14 overs (Michael De Venuto 42 not out; Peter Petricola 39 not out) Result: Italy won by nine wickets Man of the match: Carl Sandri (ITA) USA 123-8 in 20 overs (Sushil Nadkarni 38, Adil Bhatti 21; Jonathan Sebanja 2-32, Roger Mukasa 2-14) Uganda 124-6 in 19.2 overs (Frank Nsubunga 30, Davis Arinaitwe 27 n.o.; MuhammadGhous 2-16) Result: Uganda won by four wickets Man of the match: Davis Arinaitwe (UGA) Scotland 178-7, 20 overs (Calum MacLeod 55, Kyle Coetzer 46; James Ngoche 2-31) Kenya 164 all out, 20 overs (Collins Obuya 50; Gordon Drummond 3-50, Majid Haq 2-32) Result: Scotland won by 14 runs Man of the match: Calum MacLeod (SCO)
He added: “I’m not hiding the fact the Tour (de France) is on my race programme, but we’re talking about time trials that are 50 km long, which is a different story altogether. “This year it will be a lot more open in the absence of (Alberto) Contador (suspended for doping). But hopefully we can have some real ambitions.” Cancellara, a four-time world time trial champion, clocked 10min 36sec to finish 12secs ahead of Italian teammate Daniele Bennati. The Swiss, who triumphed last week at the gruelling Italian race Strade Bianche, has thus confirmed his form ahead of the first-one day classic of the season. Cameron Meyer, meanwhile, put in a notable performance for GreenEdge, the Australian finishing third at only 16. Meanwhile, Australian outfit GreenEdge have become the latest pro cycling team to join a body whose aim is to promote clean and credible sport through strict anti-doping measures. The teams signed up to the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC), created in 2007, promise to abide by the strictest anti-doping measures including those laid out by the World Anti Doping code. It means, for example, teams will prevent any rider who is being investigated for any kind of suspected doping infraction is barred from competition until cleared. —AFP