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MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2011
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S P ORT S
Packers and Steelers advance to title games
FRANCE: Toulon’s Jonny Wilkinson is tackled by Munster’s Wian du Preez (right) and Paul O’Connell during their Heineken European Cup rugby match. — AP
Toulouse qualify as Glasgow stun Wasps PARIS: Defending champions Toulouse are assured of topping their European Cup Pool 6 after Glasgow stunned former twotime champions Wasps yesterday beating them 20-10. Toulouse - victors over Newport on Saturday — top the pool on 21 points while Wasps, who beat the four-time champions in their first title win in 2004, having missed out on a bonus point have just 15 points ahead of their final match at home to the French side next weekend. Wasps will have to beat Toulouse to give themselves a chance of finishing one of the two best runners-up which gives them a place in the last eight. Wasps took a 10-6 lead into the break having scored the only try of the half, winger Tom Varndell benefitting from a superb solo break by highly-rated scrumhalf Joe Simpson, who had been recalled to the starting line-up. Glasgow stuck to their task, though, and were well in touch at half-time thanks to two penalties by Ruaridh Jackson and the fast rising Scottish fly-half reduced Wasps’ advantage to just a point with another penalty in the 45th minute. The hosts deservedly took the lead in scoring their first try of the encounter in the 50th minute as Wasps fumbled the ball in the centres, and Glasgow ran it back strongly with winger Colin Shaw coming in
off his left wing position to scythe through the defence. However, he selflessly offloaded to the supporting scrum-half Colin Gregor, who ran to touch down for only his second try in 24 European Cup appearances - Jackson fluffed an easy conversion to leave Glasgow leading 14-10. Jackson added another penalty to make it 17-10 but he missed an easy one shortly afterwards which would have seen Wasps lose out on a bonus point and ensure Toulouse topped the pool regardless of the result next weekend. However, Jackson dropped a goal with five minutes remaining after incessant Glasgow pressure to make it 20-10 and the experienced English side, who even had among their number Joe Worsley a try scorer in the two sides first meeting at this level 13 years ago, failed to threaten the hosts and at least salvage a defensive bonus point. The weekend action was due to climax with the clash of the round in France as Toulon hosted two-time champions Munster in Pool 3 where defeat for the Irish province would signal the end of a 13-year run where they have reached the knockout stages. Welsh side Ospreys are away at out of form London Irish and still entertain hopes of topping Pool 3 themselves. — AFP
BUENOS AIRES: Volkswagen’s car driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, from Qatar biting a trophy, poses for pictures as he celebrates during the 2011 Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally podium ceremony. — AP
Court disaster may cost Shabana first English win LONDON: Squash legend Amr Shabana may have missed his chance of winning a title in Britain at long last after players, spectators, and staff, were evacuated during a spectacular emergency at the famous 125-year-old Queens Club on Saturday. The revolutionary new demountable stadium was still considered a risk to life and limb yesterday after gales ripped a hole in the roof the night before the PSA World Series final, threatening the collapse of the giant synthetic structure and emptying the club even of its members. Shabana, the 31-year-old four times former world champion from Egypt, now expects to complete his showdown with Nick Matthew, the World and Commonwealth champion from England, at a much later date. It may also have to take place in another country, as the PSA searches for a venue and a time which fits the schedules of two of the busiest players in the world. “Although it was an extremely unfortunate thing to happen to such a superb and ground-breaking event we are determined to find a way of completing the tournament,” said a PSA spokesperson prior to an emergency de-brief yesterday. Plans to finish the tournament on a conventional court at Queens were apparently scuppered because Shabana had had a flight to New York pre-booked for the Tournament of Champions at Grand Central terminal in five days time.
It left Matthew waiting to learn where and when he would get his chance of winning a third major title in three months and of capturing the title of the PSA Tour’s flagship event for the first time. It also left the PSA to decide what action to take over the destruction of such a high profile, allegedly weatherproof stadium, which was erected alongside Queen’s world famous tennis centre court in a rebranded event costing about a million dollars to stage. The World Series finals were billed as a tournament which is “the new face of squash” and as an event which will lead the sport “into a new era.” Instead it may lead to a period of uncertainty, as the legal, logistical, economic, and promotional implications of the disaster are assessed and addressed. Later the PSA released a statement stating that the final will go ahead but the date and venue would be announced at a later date. “In consultation with all parties involved, the Professional Squash Association has made the decision that the PSA World Series Final will go ahead. “Currently, we are working through the logistics and assessing forthcoming schedules to establish the exact date for when this will take place. “The PSA is committed to delivering a fantastic finale to what has been a worldclass event. We look forward to announcing the date as soon as possible.” —AFP
ATLANTA: The Green Bay Packers took care of the top seed in the NFC, and the Pittsburgh Steelers sent home their archrivals from the AFC North in entirely different manners Saturday. Sixth-seeded Green Bay routed the Falcons 48-21 in Atlanta as Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdowns and ran for one. The Packers, who won at Philadelphia last weekend, will play for the NFC title next Sunday at either Chicago or Seattle. The Packers lost in the conference championship game three years ago to the Giants. “That’s what you dream about,” Rodgers said. “We have to go on the road again ... this just feels so good right now, to be able to put up an offensive performance like that, it’s just incredible.” The 48 points were the most for the Packers in a postseason game. Plus, Tramon Williams had two interceptions, returning the second 70 yards on the final play of the first half, and Green Bay never punted. Other than a 102-yard kickoff return by Eric Weems in the first half, the Packers (12-6) shut down Atlanta (13-4) when the outcome was in doubt. For the fifth time in 10 years, the Steelers are headed to the AFC championship game. They have a second-half meltdown by the Baltimore Ravens, and some clutch passes by Ben Roethlisberger, to thank for a 31-24 victory in a sloppy but compelling playoff matchup. Trailing 21-7 at halftime, the Steelers (13-4) took full advantage of the Ravens frequent errors. Pittsburgh recovered two fumbles and picked off a pass in the second half, and the Ravens had several drops, including one in the end zone by Anquan Boldin that would have given Baltimore a late lead. Instead, Billy Cundiff’s 24-yard field goal tied it, then Roethlisberger hit rookie Antonio Brown for 58 yards on third-and-19, leading to Rashard Mendenhall’s 2-yard run for the winning points with 1:33 remaining. “I saw the young fella just take off, so I’m
ATLANTA: Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan (2) gets a pass away as he is hit by Green Bay Packers linebacker Desmond Bishop (55) during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game. —AP just going to throw it up for you,” Roethlisberger said. Pittsburgh has been in the AFC title game in 2001, ‘04, ‘05 and ‘08, and won the Super Bowl the last two times it got this far. Late yesterday, NFC West winner Seattle is
at NFC North champion Chicago, then AFC East rivals New England, the league leader with a 14-2 record, and the sixth-seeded New York Jets meet in Foxborough, Mass. Both the Jets and Patriots beat the Steelers this season at Heinz Field.—AP
Friends for now, Rafa and Roger warm up together MELBOURNE: Roger and Rafa were behaving like best mates on Rod Laver Arena — high-fiving, hugging, shaking hands and laughing at each other’s jokes on the eve of the Australian Open. Roger Federer and Rafal Nadal at the “Rally for Relief” to raise money for victims of the fatal floods in Australia’s northeastern Queensland state. It’ll be a completely different story if they’re back on the same court two weeks from yesterday. Federer is the defending champion. Nadal has won the three Grand Slam titles in the interim and is aiming to become the first man since Laver in 1969 to win four straight majors. It’s being dubbed the “Rafa Slam.” The pair played on opposite sides of the net, and the played together against Kim Clijsters and Sam Stosur in front of a capacity 15,000 crowd which paid to watch a host of tennis stars in the fundraiser. Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick wore microphones and joked with the crowd, playing alongside and against the likes of Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka in the celebrity hit-and-giggle exhibition. Neither Federer nor Nadal wore microphones when they played a little later. It was mostly smiles but there were glimpses of competitive intensity when they faced each other in mixed doubles. At one point, 16-time Grand Slam winner Federer used his court craft to bring Nadal to the net and then beat with a backhand passing shot. The muscular Spaniard replied next point, leaping high and smashing an overhead winner beyond Federer’s reach. After each of those winners, the two smiled broadly at each other. Nadal also bludgeoned a forehand down the line on the last point of their singles mini-match and then, shaking hands and laughing, the two standout players in men’s tennis joined forces against US Open champion Clijsters and French Open finalist Sam Stosur — Australia’s best hope in the women’s draw. Around their exhibition yesterday, Federer said Nadal has “been playing incredible.” “An incredible run through the French, Wimbledon, US Open — it was incredible to see. Then obviously it’s hard to maintain. But he’s going to be for sure ready for this. I’ll follow it very closely. If I get a chance, I hope I can stop him.” The first major of the year gets underway today with 2008 women’s champion Maria Sharapova playing Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn in the opening match on center court, followed by No. 1 Wozniacki against Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Federer playing Lukas Lacko of Slovakia. Third-seeded Djokovic, the 2008 champion, plays Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the main night match on Rod Laver Arena. Andy Roddick plays Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic on the second showcourt. Following Roddick on Hisense Arena will be fourth-seeded Venus Williams against Italy’s Sara Errani and seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin against Indian qualifier Sania Mirza. With Serena Williams unable to defend her title because of her injured foot, Clijsters is growing in favoritism at Melbourne Park. She faces a challenging opening match tomorrow against former No. 1ranked Dinara Safina, who slumped in the rankings last year due to a back injury and hasn’t reached a Grand Slam final since consecutive defeats in championship matches at Melbourne and Paris in 2009. Clijsters, a threetime US Open champion, has played down talk about favorites. “I really don’t want to waste too much energy on what’s happening on other parts of the draw or what’s being said around us,” she said Sunday. Wozniacki, who has a difficult opening match against Dulko, didn’t think she was handicapped in any way by never having won a major. “I’ve got great results, you don’t become No. 1 by winning small tournaments,” said the 20-year-old Danish player, who has won six of her 12 career WTA singles titles in 2010. “I don’t have to prove anything.” She was as relaxed as she could be on Sunday, when the players combined to help raise more than 1.8 million Australian dollars for the flood victims through ticket sales and donations. Nadal withdrew from his quarterfinal here last year to Murray, who went on to lose the final to Federer. He won’t be in action until Tuesday, when he starts his campaign for the Rafa Slam against Marcos Daniel of Brazil. Debate will no doubt intensify as to the status of the Rafa Slam against Laver’s four in a calendar year will intensify the closer he gets to achieving it. Some pundits consider Nadal’s achievement a match for Laver’s because he’s won on all three surfaces and had tougher competition. Laver, who won on grass at the Australian and US Opens and at Wimbledon and on clay at the French 41 years ago, still believes the true Grand Slam can only be achieved in a calendar year. Federer, who has twice won three consecutive majors but been blocked by Nadal from holding all four, has conceded his main rival deserves to be favorite at Melbourne Park. —AP
MELBOURNE: Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal (right) play together during a charity tennis event, “Rally for Relief” on Rod Laver Arena. — AP
Clijsters aims to stay focused MELBOURNE: There are only a certain number of ways to avoid addressing your chances of winning the Australian Open but Kim Clijsters found yet another yesterday at Melbourne Park. In the absence of last year’s champion Serena Williams and with the 2010 losing finalist Justine Henin returning from injury, the 27-year-old has been deflecting questions about being favorite to win a fourth major crown all week. Defeat in the final of the Sydney International warm-up to China’s Li Na on Friday has not diminished the chatter and the US Open champion was forced onto the back foot again yesterday. “I don’t think players think like that,” she told a news conference. “I think we just really focus on one match at a time. There can be so many surprises anyway in a grand slam. Tough players, new players that you don’t expect to be doing well can be on a great run. So many things can happen. “I really don’t want to waste too much energy on what’s happening on other parts of the draw or what’s being said around us. I think I’ll try to just put all that energy into what I’m here for, and that’s to try to play good tennis.” Before the surprise defeat in the final, Clijsters had looked in ominous form in Sydney and she confirmed yesterday that she had arrived in Melbourne with a clean bill of health. “I feel good,” she said. “No major injuries. I’ve been able to just work through my pre-season without any big problem, so that’s always I think a very important part of your preparation, especially when you come here in Melbourne.” A semi-finalist in 2006 and 2007 before her two-year sabbatical from the game, Clijsters was knocked out 6-0 6-1 in the fourth round by Russian Nadia Petrova last year on her first return after her comeback. Seeded third this year, she faces another dangerous Russian in former world number one Dinara Safina in the first round and is not anticipating an easy ride. —Reuters