THE NIGERIAN
30
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
Djokovic Wins 4th China Open Crown NOVAK Djokovic won his fourth China Open title in five years yesterday, prevailing 6-3 6-4 in the final against Rafael Nadal who will replace him as the men’s world number one today. The Serb continued his love affair in Beijing, improving his tournament record to 19-0 after brushing aside Nadal to halt his run of three defeats against the Spaniard. Nadal had to reach the final in the tournament to displace Djokovic from the top ranking and the issue was put to rest on Saturday when Tomas Berdych retired with a back injury in his semi-final against the Spaniard. “I needed this win today,” Djokovic told reporters. “I really wanted to get my hands on the trophy and win against Nadal, who has been
• Novak Djokovic
Olympic Flame In Russia For Epic Trip To Sochi Games
THE flame that will burn at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games arrived in Moscow on Sunday, starting an epic torch relay around the huge country and bringing Vladimir Putin’s campaign to stage Russia’s first postSoviet Olympics a step closer to completion. President Putin was to signal the start of the torch relay at a ceremony in Red Square 123 days before Russia’s first-ever Winter Olympics begin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on February 7. Protected by a small lantern, the flame was flown in from Greece after being lit at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics and handed over to Russia on Saturday at the marble Athens stadium that hosted the first modern Games in 1896. Gingerly carrying the lantern, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak stepped off the plane and onto a red carpet as an honour guard of rifle-toting soldiers in wooly Astrakhan collars stood by, chins jutting high.
“Today can truly be called a historic day for us,” Kozak said. “We - all Russians - have a right to be proud. The longest torch relay before a Winter Olympics will show off Russia’s variety as well as its sheer scale of taking the flame though all 83 regions in a more than 65,000 km (40,400 mile) journey around the world’s biggest country. It will go to the North Pole, to the top of Mt. Elbrus, Europe’s highest peak, to the depths of Siberia’s Lake Baikal and aboard a rocket to the International Space Station, whose crew will take the torch unlit - on a spacewalk. More than 90 percent of Russia’s 142 million people will be within one hour of the flame,
FIFA Clears Okwi To Leave Etoile du Sahel THE international football body FIFA has finally resolved that Uganda striker Emmanuel Okwi can leave Tunisia’s Etoile du Sahel. Okwi deserted the Tunisian top side five months ago after claiming they had failed to clear his balance of about $50,000 for the signing-on fee when he transferred from Tanzanian side Simba SC. “FIFA has authorized FUFA to provisionally register Okwi with Sports Club Villa,” Rogers
Mulindwa, the FA’s spokesperson has said. Late last month Etoile du Sahel had written to FIFA insisting that the player was simply undisciplined and should return to the club. But Mulindwa explained that on September 4th, FUFA submitted a formal request to FIFA for the delivery of an Electronic International Transfer Certificate (ITC) to Federation Tunisienne de Football through the transfer matching system.
which Sochi Games chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said should help “ensure that all residents of Russia will feel involved in the Olympic celebrations”. But six years after he secured the 2014 Winter Games for Sochi with an impassioned pitch, it is Putin - who turns 61 on Monday - who is the most
invested in making the only Olympics staged in an independent Russia a success. Putin has faced international criticism over a law he signed this year prohibiting the spread of gay “propaganda” among minors, which activists and Western governments say is discriminatory and curtails basic human freedoms.
• The Olympic torch of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games is lit
the best player so far in 2013. “It’s very important for my confidence. It’s very important mentally and emotionally for me.” The 26-year-old Djokovic stamped his authority on the title match early, racing to a 3-0 lead and never allowing the Spaniard, who went into the match unbeaten on hard courts this year, to stage a comeback. The Serb broke Nadal, who has won 10 tournaments and added over $10 million in prize money in 2013, in the first game of the second set hitting winners almost at will. Since winning the MonteCarlo Masters in April against Nadal, Djokovic had lost to the left-handed Spaniard in the French Open semi-finals, the Rogers Cup semi-finals and the final of the U.S. Open. “I managed to stay tough and not drop my concentration, which I think (happened) in both Montreal and at the U.S. Open in the important moments,” Djokovic said. “I learned my lesson. It was
Brazil Could Play In Euro Championship
UEFA president Michel Platini wants to invite nonEuropean teams to compete in the European Championship in the future, a report claims. The Independent yesterday reports that sides like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Japan could be invited to the tournament as early as 2020. The tournament increases to 24 teams in 2016 but by inviting non-Europeans, UEFA believe they can make the competition a genuine rival to the World Cup. The Independent’s report says
Del Potro Boosts London Hopes TOP seed Juan Martin del With Title In Japan Potro beat Canada’s Milos Raonic in the battle of bigservers on Sunday to bag the Japan Open title and boost his chances of qualifying for the end-of-season ATP World Tour finals in London. The 25-year-old Argentine, a last-minute wild-card entry for injured Andy Murray, won 76(5) 7-5 with the lone break of serve of the match coming at the fag end of the second set as Raonic lost the final in Tokyo for the second year running. The win gave del Potro his third title of the year and moved him up to fifth spot in the race to London while Raonic is 10th
in the qualification race for next month’s tournament involving the top eight players of the world. Raonic, 22, who finished runner-up to Kei Nishikori last year, fired 17 aces and was untroubled in his service games before a crucial double fault in the first-set tie-breaker put del Potro ahead. The Argentine got his first break point opportunity in the 11th game in the second set and managed to convert the third to go 6-5 up before holding on in the next game to win in an hour and 43 minutes.
a few very tough and close matches that I lost against Rafa on hard courts, especially the last one in the U.S. Open final.” Such was Djokovic’s domination that the 27-yearold Nadal, who boosted his grand slam singles tally to 13 this year by winning the French and U.S. Opens, failed to create a single break point opportunity in the whole match. “I didn’t see the way to stop him this afternoon,” Nadal said. “This afternoon he was too strong for me. I didn’t play my best match, but he played at a very high level with his serve. “I was not able to have any chance when I was returning during the whole match. He had the ball staying very low. It was very difficult to create spin on this ball. “He was able to hit all the balls where he wanted. When that’s happening against a player like Novak, you are dead. You don’t have not one chance.” Djokovic also won the China Open in 2009, 2010 and 2012, while missing out in 2011 through injury.
“I played really well in the last two games of the match, returning all of his first serves,” del Potro told reporters. “It was a fantastic week for me as I played better and better with each match. “In the tie-break, he hit a double fault in the most important part of the match and then my chance came, which I knew I had to take. “I did what I could to win. When he serves well and hits aces, it means I have to be aggressive on serve. I threw in drop shots and came to the net to mix up my game.”
that the plans are still being finalised, let alone approved, but they quote a senior adviser to Platini as saying: “The ideas are at an early stage but they are very feasible. The South Americans have been doing it for decades, inviting teams from outside their continent to take part in the Copa America. So why cannot Europe?” Since 1993, the Copa America have invited countries from outside of South America into the competition. Mexico and Japan have both been invited to compete in the next edition in Chile in 2015. The report says that the idea is “another sign of the growing rift between Platini and FIFA’s president, Sepp Blatter.” Platini’s adviser says: “Many in FIFA are talking of cutting back Europe’s power, reducing the number of European teams in the World Cup (currently 13 out of 32 in 2014) and also our representation on the FIFA executive (eight out of 24).” Platini has already got the go ahead for a radical new idea for the 2020 European Championship which will be hosted in 13 cities around the continent as opposed to all being hosted in one or two countries. 32 countries have since declared an interest in hosting matches in that tournament.