The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Southpaw Alex crowned ‘King of the Fruits’ in Penang
- Queen’s victory puts Murray in the mood for Wimbledon glory
- Westwood optimistic he will win elusive first major golf title
| Southpaw Alex crowned ‘King of the Fruits’ in Penang Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:03 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Guangzhou Asian Games double gold medallist Alex Liew was crowned "King of the Fruits" as he dominated the field of 24 finalists in the Penang Durians Masters bowling championship at the Premium Lanes in Sunshine Square over the weekend. Alex was awesome as he scorched the lanes with strings of strikes up to the 10th frame. But in the 11th frame, the seventh pin stood. Alex finished the final step-ladder match on 288 against a 267 by Afizal Azizan to wrest the title and a cheque for RM8,000. In the earlier step-ladder match, Afizal edged Zaid Izlan 235-211 in the battle of youngsters to get a shot at the title. In Round 2, southpaw Alex made it to the step-ladder final as the top seed with a six-game total of 1,481. Former national youth bowler Afizal, armed with a 48-pin handicap, had a perfect game in his total of 1,471 for second. And former back-up bowler Zaid made the cut with a total of 1,424. Penang Tenpin Bowling Association secretary Cheah Ban Cheng said that in addition to the cash prize totalling RM25,500, the organisers also awarded Alex with a "ang hae" durian, which is reputed to be the most expensive of its kind. "We also had a perfect game winner (Afizal) this time and he was rewarded with 300kg of durian, worth about RM10,000 and it was later shared out," he said. "The objective of the tournament was to foster and promote goodwill, friendship and sportmanship among the local and foreign bowling fraternity. Results: Round 2: 1. Alex Liew 1481, 2. Afizal Azizan 1471, 3. Zaid Izlan 1424, 4. Azidi Ameran 1415, 5. Kang Bo Long 1403, 6. Syafiq Ridhwan 1399, 7. Daniel Lim 1398, 8. Issac Russel Paul 1391, 9. Adrian Ang 1377, 10. Andrew Lee 1377. First step-ladder: Afizal bt Zaid 235-211. Final step-ladder: Alex bt Afizal 288-267. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Queen’s victory puts Murray in the mood for Wimbledon glory Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:02 PM PDT LONDON: Andy Murray has set his sights on Wimbledon glory after winning his second Queen's title with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray became the first Briton for 97 years to win the Wimbledon warm-up event twice thanks to a gutsy comeback against Tsonga and the world number four will be among the favourites when the All England Club tournament gets underway next week. The 24-year-old has endured three painful defeats in Grand Slam finals, including the Australian Open this year, but he believes he is in the perfect form to finally end his long wait to win a major. "I'm going to Wimbledon with the feeling I'm going to win the tournament. I don't think you can go in with any other attitude," Murray said. "I feel like I am playing good tennis but I will need to improve in the next week because I have to play my best throughout the tournament to win it. "I will be switched on from my first match. I'll really look forward to the challenge because Wimbledon is one of the most important tournaments of the year, if not the most important." Murray underlined his sky-high confidence in the third set of the final against Tsonga when he hit a remarkable between-the-legs forehand winner from an acute angle near the net. The British number one admitted it was the kind of spectacular shot he loves to play and he refused to apologise for a piece of show-boating some saw as a sign of arrogance. "I enjoyed hitting them, it was good fun," Murray said. "You don't get a chance to do that very often and it just came off. "I was up 40-0 in the game, I probably wouldn't have gone for it at 30-30. "If it works I will try it anywhere. It is not something I will think about too much. "I don't know if he was annoyed but it was frustrating for me when he was hitting dive volleys and getting net cords in the first set." It has been a perfect week for Murray, but the Scot revealed he nearly pulled out of the tournament after his first match against Xavier Malisse. Murray had arrived nursing serious concerns about the ankle ligament injury he suffered at the French Open and he felt it was still painful enough after the Malisse match to consider withdrawing. He eventually opted to keep playing and it proved a wise move. The ankle has responded well to treatment and Murray was able to play some of the best tennis of his life to demolish three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in the semi-finals. "I was very close to pulling out after the first match," he said. "I was feeling my ankle and didn't feel comfortable on the court. "The best thing would have been to rest it, but I ended getting four matches on grass and winning the tournament. "The last two tournaments have been very difficult with things I've had to go through, but you get rewarded for that if you go on court and fight through it. "This was great preparation. When you look at the names of the people on the trophy, it's not an easy tournament to win. "It's always been great preparation for guys going into Wimbledon and it shows you are playing well on the grass." While Murray's between-the-legs winner drew gasps of admiration from the capacity crowd, Tsonga was initially angry that the Scot had been so cheeky. But the Frenchman – who put out world number one Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals – is no stranger to a flamboyant stroke or two himself and even he had to admire Murray's skill. "I don't remember anyone doing it against me before. Of course it is a bit frustrating," Tsonga said. "First I was pissed off, then I said 'good play' and finally I know it's good to watch on the television!" Tsonga was impressed with the way Murray handled everything he threw at him and he believes the Scot is capable of winning Wimbledon this year. "Of course he can beat everybody. Why not? You can see how well he reads the serve," Tsonga said. — AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Westwood optimistic he will win elusive first major golf title Posted: 14 Jun 2011 06:01 PM PDT Britain's Lee Westwood enters the US Open optimistic he has what it takes to finally snag an elusive first major golf crown. "My confidence is pretty high. I'm looking forward to this week," Westwood said on Monday. "I'm driving it pretty long and straight. My iron shots are fairly crisp, which is good coming into a US Open. My preparation has gone well." The World No. 2 starts tomorrow morning off the 10th tee alongside fellow Englishman Luke Donald, the reigning World No. 1, and Germany's third-ranked Martin Kaymer in the feature group at Congressional Country Club. "Amazing freak of nature how that came out in the draw, wasn't it?" Westwood joked. "I like it. I think it's a good idea. I get on well with Luke and Martin as well, so it will be a nice way to start off the tournament." Westwood was last year's Masters and British Open runner-up, shared third in the 2009 PGA Championship and British Open and was third in the 2008 US Open, one stroke out of an 18-hole playoff at Torrey Pines. "It's a challenge that I've got to try and overcome and just do a little bit better at the right times," Westwood said. "There's no secret ingredient or recipe to it. I keep getting myself in position and it's just a case of finishing it off." After so many near misses in quest of his first major, Westwood could be forgiven for some gloom over missed opportunities. But the 38-year-old from Worksop has proven resilient. "If you're a good player, you're going to have disappointments because you're going to be in contention a lot," he said. "You're going to have lots of chances to win major championships, so that's all part and parcel of it. "If you have a successful year, we maybe win three times a year. So you get used to not winning and being disappointed. You learn to try and take positives out of anything, even when you maybe finish second and you thought you should have won one of these. "You try and look at it on the bright side and I think I've probably managed to do that over the last few years. I seem to be responding well and coming out of it positively, even though obviously I would love to win one." Westwood has faith that if he puts himself in the hunt on Sunday often enough, the breaks will one day come his way. "It's a fine balancing act and a fine line between when you do get really close to becoming frustrated but still seeing the positives in the fact that you are getting close," Westwood said. "I feel like my game is good enough and if I just do a few things differently at the right times, then it'll be the difference between a second and a win. It's a tricky balancing act, going in with expectations but playing with a freedom as well." Westwood played his first US Open at Congressional in 1997, when he shared 19th. "Really doesn't seem like five minutes, those 14 years," Westwood said. "It's a pretty similar course. They have done a good job of modifying it and lengthening it and changing the greens in certain areas. "It's very fair. There's no tricks to this golf course. You could almost turn up Thursday and just play it because it's such a good, honest test." However, Westwood calls the US Open the toughest test of the majors because of the lightning-fast greens and dense rough. "You have to be very patient and not give any shots away unnecessarily," he said. "If you can make double (bogey) instead of making triple, that's great. "It's almost like one less birdie you need if you can make that three or four-footer when you need it." — AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan