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SPORTS
China’s Li sets sights on next major title
China’s newly-minted first Grand Slam champion Li Na, who won the French Open title at the weekend, is not resting on her laurels -- she’s already thinking about winning a second major title. The 29-year-old Li, who beat defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6 on Saturday at Roland Garros, also says she hopes her fellow Chinese players can be inspired by her victory to realise their full potential. The Wuhan native, who is known as a strong player on hard courts, confessed she was surprised that her major breakthrough came on the red clay in
Paris. “French Open title? No, I never thought about it before,” Li admitted. Li is having a breakthrough season. She reached the finals of the Australian Open in January -- eventually losing to Kim Clijsters -- before her historic win at the French, which gave Asia its first ever Grand Slam singles win. When the new WTA rankings come out on Monday, she will be the world number four -- equaling the Asian record set by Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm. Li, who had never gone beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros before this year, said her storybook success at the French would help her throughout the rest of the year on the grass and hard courts. Li’s win has generated a groundswell of support in a country where tennis still lags far behind basketball, football and table tennis in terms of
popularity. More than two million web users have registered as fans of Li on Sina Weibo, one of China’s most popular microblogging sites. Tens of millions watched her semi-final and final victories live on CCTV. Chinese tennis chief Sun Jinfang said he was certain Li’s win would “inspire more youngsters to play tennis” in the country of more of 1.3 billion -- a vast market that both professional tennis tours have worked hard to develop. China has four players in the top 100 on the women’s tour including Li. But on the men’s ATP tour, the topranked Chinese player, Bai Yan, is just 354th, and no Chinese man has ever played in a Grand Slam singles event. Li said she hoped her victory could help change that. She also dismissed the idea that her age could prevent her from adding to her career achievements. “For me, age means nothing but strokes on paper. I’ll keep playing as long as I’m healthy,” she said.
Nadal defends Roland Garros title
World No.1 Rafael Nadal has successfully defended his French Open crown after beating arch-rival Roger
Federer in the final. Federer had a great start to the match, breaking his Spanish opponent
to take a 3-0 lead. But Nadal managed to come back into the game and eventually snatched the opener, 7-5. The second set was an even tighter encounter, with Nadal taking the upper hand only in the tie break, which he won 7-3. Nadal looked in command, enjoying a 4-2 advantage in the third set, but this time it was Federer who displayed his character, producing fantastic tennis to get one set back, 7-5. But it was to be all the Swiss star could achieve on the day. It was oneway traffic in the fourth set as Nadal proved that he was the better man on the day, winning 7-5 7-6 5-7 6-1. It was the sixth career success at Roland Garros for the Spaniard, which sees him equal the record of the legendary Bjorn Borg.
June 8 - 21, 2011
New Winnipeg team hits 13,000 ticket goal Winnipeg ice hockey fans needed only 17 minutes on Saturday to purchase all 13,000 available season tickets for the city’s new National Hockey League team, the relocated former Atlanta Thrashers. True North Sports and Entertainment, which completed a purchase deal for the Thrashers four days earlier, said it wanted to sell 13,000 season tickets for its 15,000-seat arena before NHL owners met June 21 to approve the deal. “While I had no doubt the ‘Drive to 13,000’ would reach its destination, the remarkable speed at which it got there certifies the fans’ hunger for NHL hockey and their commitment to True North’s initiatives,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said. Online sales through Friday were limited to season-ticket holders for the Manitoba Moose, the top-level developmental team that had been based in Winnipeg but will now move to St. John’s, Newfoundland. Those fans purchased more than 7,100 season tickets before sales were opened to the public Saturday, when a list to purchase tickets was formed in only two minutes. Sales were processed for 15 additional minutes before seats were gone. Ticket packages were available for three to five seasons and secured the viability of the as-yet-unnamed team, which returns NHL action to the central Canadian plains city 15 years after the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets moved to Phoenix. Phoenix was thought for many months to be the likeliest relocation target but city officials approved spending $25 million to cover expenses for the NHL next season while it operates the Coyotes during the search for a new owner for the team
Afridi returns home hoping for ‘justice’
Thousands of cheering fans greeted former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi
as he returned home on Sunday hoping to “get justice” in his battle with the country’s cricket authorities. The 31-year-old’s attempts to join Hampshire for the English Twenty20 season were halted when the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) revoked his permission to play following his decision to retire from international cricket last week. Around 3,000 fans gathered at Karachi’s international airport in support of the all-rounder, chanting slogans against the PCB and its chairman Ijaz Butt. Afridi took the abrupt decision to
retire in protest after he was replaced as Pakistan’s one- day captain last month despite leading the side to the World Cup semi-final earlier this year. In a situation that will be all too familiar to Pakistan fans, differences had developed between Afridi and coach Waqar Younis, prompting the all-rounder to make his grievances public - - which led to the PCB replacing him. In announcing his retirement, Afridi accused the PCB of mistreating him and vowed not to play under the current set-up of the board, headed by Butt. The PCB responded by suspending Afridi’s contract and revoking the so-called “No- Objection Certificate” that would have allowed him to play for Hampshire in the Twenty20 tournament.
The board also convened a threeman disciplinary committee to deal the case and ordered Afridi to appear before it on June 8. Afridi said he was never bothered about the captaincy. “It’s not a matter of being replaced as captain, it’s a matter of honour,” he said. “A lot of other players also feel they were mistreated but they cannot go public fearing for dire consequences.” Since announcing his retirement Afridi has received political support, with opposition Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, an ally of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, vowing to support him. The PCB said it was concerned that Afridi’s case had turned into a political issue.