All eyes on Bolt
after rare losses
30 Gulf Daily News Tuesday, 10th July 2012
WORLD SPORT
Email: [email protected]
LONDON: The men’s 100
metres is the jewel in the
Olympic crown and Yohan
Blake’s surprise humanisation of Usain Bolt has ensured that
next month’s showdown will be
a race worthy of the Games rather than a mere time trial for the
defending champion.
World champion Blake beat Bolt over
100m and 200m in the Jamaican trials
and though the double world record
holder was carrying a minor injury,
the upsets have added real spice to the
London 2012 sprints.
With fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell
and Americans Tyson Gay and Justin
Gatlin also in hot form and injury free,
the 100m final on August 5 is promising to live up to its billing as the hottest
ticket in town.
There are plenty of others, though, for
the sport at the heart of the Olympics.
As one of the few countries to send
organised supporter tours to overseas
athletics events, Britain has a longstanding love of the sport and the atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium is certain
to be something to remember.
It is likely to peak when Mo Farah
bids to become the first Briton to win a
long distance gold when he goes in the
10,000ms and possibly again in the 5,000.
Heptathlete Jessica Ennis and 400
metres hurdler Dai Greene represent
Britain’s other best hopes of gold in a
programme again likely to be dominated
by the United States, Russia, Jamaica
and the East African nations.
The US topped the athletics medal table
in Beijing with seven golds among a haul
of 23 but they were knocked off their
traditional perch in the sprints by Jamaica.
The Caribbean island will send a
squad of stupendous quality led again,
despite his trials setback, by Bolt.
Having wowed the world with his
showboating world record run in Beijing
then lowered his mark to a stunning
9.58 seconds in Berlin two years later,
all the talk since has been about how
fast he could go in London.
But training partner Blake, who won the
2011 world title when Bolt was disqualified for a false start, showed that there is
a race to be won first when he clocked a
personal best and season-leading 9.75 to
win the Jamaican trials then repeated the
dose with victory in the 200m.
Bolt opted out of a planned race in
Monaco later this month to have treat-
BASKETBALL
Major League Baseball games
Sunday:
Tampa Bay
7
Cleveland
Detroit
7
Kansas City
Chicago Cubs
7
NY Mets
Colorado
4
Washington
Atlanta
4
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
13
San Francisco
Milwaukee
5
Houston
(10 innings)
Toronto
11
Chi White Sox
St Louis
5
Miami
LA Angels
6
Baltimore
Cincinnati
4
San Diego
Oakland
2
Seattle
(13 innings)
Arizona
7
LA Dodgers
Texas
4
Minnesota
(13 innings)
6
1
0
3
3
2
3
9
4
0
2
1
1
3
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hockey
Federation recalled forwards Shakil
Abbasi and Rehan Butt into its
squad for the London Olympics
yesterday. Both players were fined
last month for participating in
World Hockey Series in India, an
event that field hockey’s world
governing body refused to sanction.
Pakistan are in Group A at the
Olympics with Australia, Britain,
Spain, Argentina and South Africa.
SQUAD: Imran Shah, Imran Butt,
Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Abbas
(captain), Syed Kashif Shah,
Mohammad Imran, Mohammad
Rizwan Junior, Fareed Ahmed, Rashid
Mahmood, Mohammad Tousiq,
Waseem Ahmed, Mohammad Waqas,
Shafqat Rasool, Abdul Haseem
Khan, Shakeel Abbasi, Rehan
Butt, Mohammad Rizwan Senior,
Muhammad Umar Bhutta.
n Saudi women fail to qualify
n Blake and Bolt ... key battle
ment on a tight hamstring so the next
time he leaves the blocks competitively
will be in his 100m heat on August 4.
Nobody, least of all Blake, will be
thinking Bolt has had his day, but the
champion will have to be fully recovered physically, and mentally secure of
his fitness, to explode out of the blocks
and avoid the shocking start in the trials.
That could open the door for his rivals.
Jamaica took a 1-2-2 in the women’s 100m four years ago with ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce winning gold ahead
of tied-second Sherone Simpson and
NY Yankees
on
n Abbasi and Butt
in Pakistan squad
7
Boston
3
CYCLING
Ninth stage of Tour de France a 41.5km
time-trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besanco:
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 51min 24sec
(average speed: 48.4 km/h); 2. Chris Froome
(GBR/SKY) at 0:35sec; 3. Fabian Cancellara
(SUI/RSH) 0:57; 4. Tejay Van Garderen
(USA/BMC) 1min 06sec; 5. Sylvain Chavanel
(FRA/OPQ) 1:24; 6. Cadel Evans (AUS/
BMC) 1:43; 7. Peter Velits (SVK/OPQ) 1:59;
8. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/LIQ) 2:07; 9. Denis
Menchov (RUS/KAT) 2:08; 10. Andreas
Kloden (GER/RSH) 2:09.
Standings:
Points:
1. Peter Sagan (SVK/LIQ) 217 pts, 2.
Matthew Goss (AUS/GEC) 185, 3. Andre
Greipel (GER/LTB) 172, 4. Mark Cavendish
Kerron Stewart.
Fraser-Pryce, who ran a personal best
10.70 to win the Jamaican trials, Stewart
and Veronica Campbell-Brown will line
up in the 100, with the latter also bidding for an unprecedented third successive 200m gold.
Standing in her way, and looking
to make her own unique mark on the
Games, is American Allyson Felix, who
clocked the best 200m time in 14 years
when she won the U.S. trials in 21.69.
Felix will go over 100m, 200m,
4x100 and 4x400 where she will hope to
(GBR/SKY) 129, 5. Alessandro Petacchi
(ITA/LAM) 109, 6. Edvald Boasson Hagen
(NOR/SKY) 95, 7. Fabian Cancellara (SUI/
RSH) 89, 8. Cadel Evans (AUS/BMC) 82,
9. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/SKY) 78,10. Tom
Veelers (NED/ARG) 76.
GOLF
Final scores from the Greenbrier Classic
(a-amateur, x-won on third playoff hole):
x-Ted Potter, Jr. (500), $1,098,000 69-6764-64—264; Troy Kelly (300), $658,800
69-67-62-66—264; Charlie Beljan (163),
$353,800 70-62-67-67—266; Charlie Wi
(163), $353,800 67-66-68-65—266; Daniel
Summerhays (110), $244,000 68-67-6864—267; Martin Flores (100), $219,600
64-68-69-67—268; Roberto Castro (80),
$177,510 71-64-71-63—269; Ken Duke (80),
$177,510 66-68-65-70—269; Kevin Na (80),
mine the gold that has proved so elusive
at Olympic level despite coming freely
in world championships.
Twice second to Campbell-Brown in
Olympic 200m finals, her solitary gold
came in the Beijing 4x100. By contrast
she has eight world championship golds,
including three in the individual 200.
The national rivalry is even more
intense in the longer distances, where
Kenya and Ethiopia are likely to dominate and will happily use team tactics to
achieve individual glory.
In Beijing the two countries won
every men’s race above 400m, including the marathon, while East African
women triumphed in the 800m, 1500,
5,000 and 10,000 and took silver in the
steeplechase and marathon.
Somalia-born Farah is hoping to become
the first European 10,000 metres champion
since Italy’s Alberto Cova in 1984.
His chief rival, world record holder
Kenenisa Bekele, is seeking an unprecedented hat-trick over the distance having also won the 5,000 four years ago.
Farah won the world title at 5,000
last year having been edged out on the
line in the 10,000 and both men could
double up again in London, the 10,000
coming up first.
British expectation for Farah this time
round pales alongside that which Liu
Xiang faced in Beijing four years ago, and
the disappointment when China’s main
athletics hope and 2004 Olympic champion pulled out of the 110 metres hurdles
injured was felt throughout the country.
Cuba’s Dayron Robles, who had
broken Liu’s world record, before the
Games, took gold in his absence and
their rivalry has continued to develop.
The highlight of the field event programme could be the women’s pole
vault where, having won two of the
three competitions since its introduction
in 2000, Russian Yelena Isinbayeva is
also seeking a memorable hat-trick.
$177,510 69-67-68-65—269; Sean O’Hair
(80), $177,510 66-68-69-66—269; Webb
Simpson (80), $177,510 65-66-65-73—269;
John Daly (59), $119,560 68-67-70-65—270.
SNOOKER
Australian Goldfields Snooker Open at
Bendigo:
1st rd (round of 32): Ryan Day (WAL)
bt Andrew Higginson (ENG) 5-4; Matthew
Stevens (WAL) bt Liang Wenbo (CHN) 5-3;
Tom Ford (ENG) bt Dominic Dale (WAL)
5-2; Stephen Lee (ENG) bt Rory McLeod
(ENG) 5-4; Jamie Cope (ENG) bt Ricky
Walden (ENG) 5-4; Neil Robertson (AUS) bt
Nigel Bond (ENG) 5-1.
SOCCER
Brazilian championship on Sunday:
Atletico Mineiro
2
Portuguesa
0
RIYADH: A Saudi newspaper says
no women from the kingdom
have qualified to compete at
the London Games. A report in
Al Sharq Al Awsat says Saudi
male athletes have qualified to
compete in track, equestrian and
weightlifting at the games.
There is no “female team taking
part in the three fields,” the
report said on Sunday, quoting a
Saudi official.
n Smallest German team
BERLIN: Germany will field their
smallest Olympic team since the
country’s reunification in 1990 at
this month’s London Games after
nominating 391 athletes, the German
Olympic Sports Confederation said
yesterday. The Germans will send a
team of 217 men and 174 women
to London. Among those called
up for national duty are 23 medal
winners from the 2008 Beijing
Olympics where Germany sent a
team of 440 athletes and finished in
fifth place on the medals table.
n Greene named captain
LONDON: Welsh 400-metre
hurdler Dai Greene has been
appointed captain of the Britain
Olympic Athletics team. The
26-year-old Greene is the
reigning world, European and
Commonwealth champion.
n Nigeria seize berth
CARACAS: Nigeria seized the last
men’s basketball berth at the London
Olympics on Sunday with an 88-73
victory over the Dominican Republic
in a last-chance game at the FIBA
qualifying tournament. Nigeria
had shocked favourites Greece in
the quarter-finals, but were beaten
in the semi-finals on Saturday by
Russia – who booked their own
place with that win.
Figueirense
Fluminense
Ponte Preta
Santos
Sao Paulo
Sport
1
1
1
4
3
1
Vasco da Gama
Flamengo
Palmeiras
Gremio
Coritiba
Corinthians
1
0
0
2
1
1
TENNIS
First day of the $398,250 ATP Hall of
Fame Championships in Newport, Rhode
Islan (x denotes seed):
1st rd: Jack Sock (USA) bt Igor Kunitsyn
(RUS) 7-5, 1-6, 6-4; Nicholas Mahut (FRA) bt
Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 6-0, 7-6 (7/2).
First day of the ATP tournament in
Stuttgart, Gaermany (x denotes seeding):
1st rd: Dustin Brown (GER) bt Nikolay
Davydenko (RUS x6) 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (9/7);
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Ruben
Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 6-2, 6-3.