10
Dimapur
SPORTS
Monday 5 August 2013
Neymar suffering from anaemia Rio De JAneiRo, Aug 4 (iAnS): Barcelona striker Neymar has been diagnosed with anaemia, a blood disorder that affects the reproduction of red blood cells, Brazilian media reported. The 21-yearold striker was found to be suffering following routine blood tests conducted by Barcelona medical staff, reports Xinhua. He has reportedly been given a refined training programme and is in doubt for the Catalan club's pre-season tour of Thailand. The diagnosis comes less than a month after Neymar underwent surgery to remove tonsils. The star has already appeared twice for Barcelona, albeit as a substitute, since he began training with the club July 29. He played 12 minutes in a 2-2 draw against Poland's Lechia Gdansk and came on at half-time in Barcelona's 8-0 victory over his former club Santos.
Ajax, PSV start Eredivisie season with win
the hAgue, AuguSt 4 (iAnS): Reigning champions Ajax and last season's runners-up PSV started the 2013-14 Eredivisie season with a win each. Ajax opened Friday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Roda JC Kerkrade while PSV defeated ADO Den Haag 3-2 here Saturday. So far Ajax has kept most of the championship team intact with the loan signing of Bojan Krkic from FC Barcelona in addition, reports Xinhua. Ajax dominated Roda for the entire match and could have scored more goals. Ricardo van Rhijn produced the first goal of the season in the eighth minute. The defender converted a rebound from a free-kick by Christian Eriksen. Ajax captain Siem de Jong doubled the score after a pass by Eriksen. In the second half, Ajax failed to extend the lead and Roda came close to scoring. Guus Hupperts hit the post and after a foul by Daley Blind on Krisztian Nemeth, the visitors were rewarded a penalty. However, Wiljan Pluim missed the penalty. Five minutes from time Siem de Jong hit the post and Viktor Fischer scored from the rebound to make it 3-0. "We played well in the first half but I am not satisfied with the second half. There was a phase of 10 minutes in which we lost the ball unnecessarily. That should not happen because we played ourselves out of the match in that phase. In the end we played better again," Ajax coach Frank de Boer said.
Top-seeded Azaranka reach Carlsbad final
CARLSBAD, AuguSt 4 (AP): Top-seeded Victoria Azaranka beat seventhseeded Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the final in the Southern California Open. Azarenka, the Belarus player ranked No. 3, won a sloppy match against the Serb as both players committed more unforced errors than hit winners. The two-time Australian Open champ will face fifth-seeded Sam Stosur of Australia, a 7-6 (2), 6-3 winner over Virginie Razzano of France. "When you play a tournament, it's never going to be just easy matches," Azarenka said. "You have to go through the tough battles and this was one of the days. I'm just happy with the end result that you can overcome things and still find a way to win, that's the most important." The semifinal win will propel Azarenka, the former world No. 1, past Maria Sharapova of Russia into the No. 2 slot when the new rankings come out Monday. Azarenka hit 21 winners and had 31 unforced errors, while Ivanovic had 31 winners and 47 unforced errors. "I gave her too many easy points, especially at the important moments, like 40-all or deuces," Ivanovic said. Azarenka, playing her first event since withdrawing from Wimbledon because of a right knee injury, scored the first of her two service breaks of the final set to take a 3-2 lead. When
Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, returns a serve from Ana Ivanovic, of Serbia, during their semifinal match of the Southern California Open tennis tournament Saturday, Aug. 3 in Carlsbad, Calif. (AP Photo)
Ivanovic had four unforced errors in the ninth game, including a backhand into the net on the final point, Azarenka secured another break for the win. "She's a really big shot maker," Azarenka said about
Ivanovic. "She loves to take her opportunities and just bang the ball and find those deep shots. The key for me was not to let her take those shots and be the one who's putting on pressure." The first set wasn't as lopsided
LoS AngeLeS, AuguSt 4 (AFP): Cristiano Ronaldo gave fans at the first football match ever at Dodger Stadium what they wanted Saturday, scoring one goal and aiding another in Real Madrid's 2-1 friendly win over Everton. More then 40,000 spectators turned out at the 51-year-old baseball stadium nestled in Los Angeles' Chavez Ravine and the first football goal in the venue's history went to one of the game's greats when Ronaldo scored in the 17th minute. He had chipped a volley from the center of the area over the crossbar in the 10th, but made no mistake on his next chance, when a crisp ball from Mesut Ozil brought Everton keeper Tim Howard out of his goal and Ronaldo got round him to slide an angled shot into the open net. Ozil doubled Real Madrid's lead in the 31st Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Ozil, right, is congratulated by teammate Cristiano Ronaldo minute after taking a pass after scoring during the first half of their International Champions Cup soccer match against from Ronaldo. The Spanish side's second goal came a Everton, Saturday, Aug. 3 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)
minute after Sylvain Distin appeared to score on a header for Everton, but the goal was disallowed because of a foul. Everton also saw a golden opportunity go begging in the 24th, when Marouane Fellaini's header off a corner kick ricocheted off the right post. Second-half substitute Nikica Jelavic scored in the 61st minute for Everton, but the English club were unable to find an equalizer even as they began to play more confidently in the closing stages. The victory sends Real Madrid into the title match of the International Champions Cup, an eight-team friendly tournament that will end on Wednesday in Miami. They will face the winner of Sunday's match at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, between Chelsea and AC Milan. Everton will play for third place against the loser of that match.
Ronaldo, Ozil shine as Real down Everton 2-1
Franklin wins 5th gold, Ledecky sets another WR
BARCeLonA, AuguSt 4 (AP): Missy Franklin got back to winning at the world swimming championships, and now she's joined a very elite club. Franklin won her fifth gold medal of the championships with an easy victory in the 200-meter backstroke Saturday, tying the record for most titles by a woman at the biennial world meet. The 18-yearold American has one event remaining — the 400 medley relay — and a chance to join Michael Phelps, Mark Spitz and Kristin Otto as the only swimmers to win as many as six golds at the worlds or the Olympics. "That was awesome," said Franklin, who has already bettered her performance at the London Olympics, where she won four golds and a bronze. "The 200 back is my favorite race, but it's probably my most painful." Katie Ledecky, only 16, wrapped up a brilliant meet with her fourth gold medal and second world record, this time in the 800 freestyle. The youngster, who hopes to get her driving permit when she returns home, turned it on over the final laps to win in 8 minutes, 13.86 seconds. Powering to the finish as though she was
Denmark's Lotte Friis, left, embraces Katie Ledecky of the United States after Ledecky won the gold medal in the Women's 800m freestyle final in a new world record time of 8:13.86 at the FINA Swimming World Championships in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Aug. 3. (AP Photo)
in a sprint, not the last of 16 laps, Ledecky took down the mark of 8:14.10 set by Britain's Rebecca Adlington at the 2008 Olympics. Lotte Friis of Denmark set the early pace but simply couldn't keep up when Ledecky put it in another gear, a repeat of their race in the 1,500 where the teenager broke the previous record by more than 6 seconds.
The Morung Express
Friis settled for another silver, and New Zealand's Lauren Boyle claimed the bronze — the same order as the 1,500. When Ledecky climbed out of the pool, Friis pointed at the youngster and applauded, certainly a worthy gesture toward someone who is unbeaten in swimming's two major events. Ledecky won the 800 free at the London Olympics, her in-
ternational debut, and went 4 for 4 Barcelona, nearly breaking a world record in the 400 free and leading off the U.S. victory in the 800 free relay. "It's good to finish off on a great note," Ledecky said. "I exceeded all the expectations I had going into this meet." Franklin matched the record held by Tracy Caulkins of the U.S., who won five times at the 1978
worlds in Berlin, and Libby Trickett of Australia, who did it at her home championships in Melbourne six years ago. Bouncing back from a fourth-place finish in the 100 freestyle, Franklin won with a time of 2:04.76. Belinda Hocking of Australia took the silver, more than a body length behind Franklin, while Canada's Hilary Caldwell claimed the bronze.
as the score indicated. Each of the first four games were long and drawn out. But after Azarenka broke the Serb's serve at love in the fifth game, she quickly held serve to win the first set. Ivanovic opened the
second set by holding her serve, a big improvement from the first set when she made just 43 percent of her serves and won only 53 percent of her first serve points. Ivanovic clearly seemed to gain confidence as she won
the first three games and took a 4-1 lead. But Azarenka then rolled off the next three games to tie the set before Ivanovic closed it out by holding serve, then breaking Azarenka's serve at love to force a third set.
Champions of the 3rd Archers Club Six Cricket Tournament, Blue Star along with runner-up Juggernauts at the Kohima Local Ground on August 3. Blue Star defeated Juggernauts by 42 runs and were awarded with a cash prize of Rs. 30,000. (Morung Photo)
Virat Kohli defends decision to keep Parvez Rasool on bench BuLAWAYo, AuguSt 4 (Pti): India skipper Virat Kohli feels it was "unfortunate" that Parvez Rasool could not get a game during the just-concluded ODI series against Zimbabwe but insisted that the Jammu and Kashmir all-rounder just did not fit into the team's bowling plans during the tour. "I'm not really bothered about what's being said about people getting chances, because a lot of people who have played these five games have been sitting on the bench for two months or so," Kohli said when queried about not including Rasool, who could have become the first J&K cricketer to play for the Indian team. India swept the series 5-0 and in the final ODI, it was expected that Rasool would be given a chance as the side had an invincible lead in hand but Kohli said the 24-year-old would get his break later. "Parvez realises we had a set bowling combination and we didn't want to make any changes to that. It was unfortunate he didn't get a game, but it just didn't go according to our plans. Maybe in future when he plays more series he'll get a few games to test his skills out," he said. Asked if Rasool could have been given a chance in place of another all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, Kohli said, "It's very hard to leave someone like Jadeja out because he's the kind of bowler who can get you wickets at any point in time." "We didn't want to take any game lightly and I didn't want to change too much in the bowling department. Mishra has been sitting out for a while so we wanted to give him four or five games. "Parvez is going to South Africa now for the India A tour and he's going to play a lot of games there and pick up more experience. He could have been given a chance but I just didn't want to take a chance with the bowling line-up, leaving someone like Jadeja out," he added. Reflecting on the triumph, Kohli said it was heartening to see debutants coming up with solid performances. "The guys who got a chance for the first time showed a lot of character, especially someone like Mohit Sharma and (Jaydev) Unadkat," Kohli said. "Ajinkya Rahane coming back into the team, scoring some runs. So it was pretty good to see all the guys performing and playing their roles.
Indian captain Virat Kohli holds the Celkom Trophy at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo Zimbabwe after defeating Zimbabwe on the last day of the one day international series on Saturday, Aug. 3. India won all 5 one day games against the hosts . (AP Photo)
"Amit Mishra sat out for two months on the road regularly and then came out with 18 wickets in this series, so there were a lot of great performances by individuals and some good team efforts as well," he added. Kohli praised the team's bowlers for adapting well to the conditions. "The thing is that we analysed and considered the fact that our bowling line-up is pretty new so we wanted to give them more confidence rather than the batting, because the batting has been doing well for about three months," Kohli said. "There's no point in going out there and trying to prove something to ourselves because all these individuals have performed at international level. "It's about giving people the right kind of confidence in games, and the new-ball bowlers got a lot of confidence from bowling in the first innings and that was the plan," he added. "The batsmen have all scored runs in this series, so it was all about making sure the bowlers go back as more confident individuals."