The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- A stroll for Bolt in Paris
- Setting Hai standards
- Eagle helps Airil soar to a two-stroke lead in Negri
| Posted: 09 Jul 2011 06:37 PM PDT PARIS: Usain Bolt comfortably won the 200m at the Paris Diamond League meeting on Friday despite Christophe Lemaitre running a season's best of 20.21 seconds. On a newly laid Stade de France track based on the 2008 Beijing Olympic version where the Jamaican first took the world by storm, Bolt triumphed in 20.03 to deny his French rival and boost his preparations for next month's world championships. Showman Bolt, hiding his face behind his hands like a Paris mime artist, was welcomed into the stadium like a rock star with a string of pumping tunes warming up the crowd and putting his opponents including Lemaitre in the shade. The 100m and 200m world record holder then asked for silence as he began to focus but was forced to wait for several minutes for the high jump and technical issues before blasting off. "It was alright. There was a bit of a delay at the start," he told the crowd in a slightly frustrated voice. Jeremy Wariner's preparations for the Aug 27-Sept 4 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea took a blow when the American former Olympic champion could finish only fourth in the men's 400m won by Chris Brown of the Bahamas in 44.94. "I hope this is the start of good things for me," Brown said. "Finally I executed my race well. This win means before Daegu I need to go back home and train twice as hard as before." Wariner had never lost in Paris. 'Blade runner' Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee still searching for a qualifying time for Daegu, was fifth in 45.84 and is some way off the 45.25 he needs with two races left. Bespectacled world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba just edged the 100m hurdles from American rival David Oliver after a false start in the northern outskirts of Paris while Amine Laalou of Morocco prevailed in the 1,500m. Caster Semenya showed she was finding form just in time for the defence of her world title by winning the 800m ahead of Halima Hachlaf of Morocco in an albeit modest time of 2:00.18. The South African has shrugged off the furore over questions about her gender and, following some poor times during her comeback last year, she looks to be enjoying her running again. Under cloudy skies at the eighth Diamond League meeting of the season, Czech Republic's Zuzana Hejnova won the women's 400m hurdles after edging out Jamaican Kaliese Spencer. A stiff breeze did not stop home favourite Mahiedine Mekhissi from surging up the pack to take glory in the men's 3,000m steeplechase to the delight of the crowd. As hordes of children in the two-thirds full stands banged their clapper boards, Trinidad's Kelly-Ann Baptiste powered to victory in the women's 100m sprint with a season's best of 10.91 to deny former world champion Veronica Campbell-Brown. Meseret Defar ran the fastest time this year (14.29:52) in the 5,000m and had enough energy for a lap of honour. In the women's field events, Germany's Christina Obergfoell and Cuban Yargelis Savigne managed the best distances so far this year in the javelin and the triple jump respectively while New Zealand's Valerie Adams triumphed in the shot putt. France's Renaud Lavillenie had the expected success in the men's pole vault, leaping 5.73m. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 09 Jul 2011 06:35 PM PDT THE national hockey team went on a tour of Europe and played nine matches in Holland and Spain. They won five, drew one and lost three. The tour was part of the team's preparations, which began four months ago, for the Olympic qualifiers. Coach Tai Beng Hai speaks to StarSport's S. RAMAGURU in a telephone interview about the tour and what it meant to the team. He also gives a little insight into their long-term goals. Beng Hai: The long-term objective is to bridge the gap between us and the world's top six or 10 teams. On this tour, we played against club sides and the national teams of Holland and Spain to see where we stand against them. They rank among the top five in the world. Besides exposing our players, especially the younger and new ones, to the European style of play, it was also to add more depth so that we have a bigger pool for the Olympic qualifiers. I believe that we managed to achieve those objectives during the tour. We have always found it difficult to play against European teams because of their different approach and their longer reach. To improve, we need to play these European teams regularly. Starsport: You spoke about long-term objectives for the team? Where are we headed? Beng Hai: We have been rebuilding the team since 2009 and we have seen improvements since. We can't take Malaysia back to the top, or even among the top six, overnight. Changing our playing style and improving on it will bear fruit in the long run. Only by playing to our strengths and using our skills can we challenge the top teams. I believe that sticking to our attacking-minded approach has definitely benefited us as evident from the recent results in the Guangzhou Asian Games where we won the silver medal. Starsport: Are you happy with the programme and the inclusion of many youngsters in the training squad? Beng Hai: We are happy that the programme has managed to gradually include more young players in the national team. It is also beginning to show positive results at this early stage. Although we had to leave out four players from the Asiad for the tour of Europe (because of injuries and such), at least we managed to take the younger players with us. Faisal Saari, Mohd Marhan Jalil, Azammi Adabi and Azreen Rizal made the grade from the previous batch. Now we have another batch of four players in the 25-man training squad and five others under attachment from the 2013 Project team who are showing good signs of making the grade too. Starsport: Did the young players show potential during the tour? Beng Hai: The most pleasing thing is the 2013 Project team youngsters' willingness to fight for a place in the starting 11. They showed no fear when playing against the top teams like Holland and Spain, who are the world's No. 3 and 4 respectively. The likes of Mohd Firhan, Mohd Azri Hassan and Faiz Helmi gave a good showing throughout the tour. Only their physical condition to compete at the senior level was a minor setback. But with more exposure and training, they can definitely make the grade with the national team. Starsport: What's next? There is the Razak Cup later this month and, of course, the Asian Champions Trophy in September after the fasting month? Beng Hai: We will be approaching the four-month timeline in our preparations. A review of the players in our training squad will be carried out after the Razak Cup competition. We hope to see players become more competitive and to fight for their places in the national team. Some of the established players have reached a plateau as far as their form is concerned. So the younger players must create a healthy competitive environment by working harder and capitalising on this opportunity to make the grade quickly. We are now chasing games to prepare for these meets. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Eagle helps Airil soar to a two-stroke lead in Negri Posted: 09 Jul 2011 06:34 PM PDT SEREMBAN: Malaysia's Airil Rizman burst into the third round lead of the Negri Sembilan Masters Invitational after carding an eagle on the par-five 18th for a six-under 66 at the Seremban International Golf Club yesterday. Airil, who has had numerous opportunities to win this prestigious event before, moved to 13-under 203 to open up a two-stroke lead over compatriot Danny Chia, Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines and Thailand's Atthaphon Prathummanee. Danny, also looking for his first win here, carded a 68 along with Lascuna while Atthaphon, the joint leader after the first two rounds, shot a 70. Bangladesh's rising star Siddikur and Malaysian Shaaban Hussin are a further shot back after they both carded a 69. The RM500,000 (US$165,000) tournament is the fourth leg on this year's Asean PGA Tour and is the most lucrative event on the circuit. Airil and the other local players have an added incentive to perform in the final round today as there is a RM10,000 (US$3,300) bonus on offer to any Malaysian who takes top spot. This is on top of the RM78,750 (US$26,230) winner's cheque. "Anything in the 60s will be good. I am just trying to keep the ball in the fairway, which is really important here," said the 33-year-old Airil. "I am lucky I have a really good local caddie this week who seems to know everything about the course." He finished the front nine in one-under but stormed into contention with a five-under back nine that included birdies on the 11th, 13th and 15th before chipping in for a three from 10 yards off the front of the green on the last. Airil's last victory on Malaysian soil came in 2007 in a local Tour event in the same state. "I think I have led this tournament on three occasions after the third round but have never won it," said Airil. Danny, fresh from winning the Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Clearwater Classic two weeks ago, birdied three out of the last five holes. "I was a bit unlucky today. I had a couple of lip-outs and a couple of bad bounces. The front nine was not so good," said Danny. Leading third-round scores 203: Airil Rizman (Mas) 65-72-66; 205: Danny Chia (Mas) 66-71-68, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 66-71-68, Atthaphon Prathummanee(Tha) 65-70-70; 206: Siddikur (Ban) 69-68-69, Mohd Shaaban Hussin (Mas) 68-69-69; 208: Mohd Rashid Ismail (Mas) 70-66-72, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 69-66-73; 209: Kwanchai Tannin (Tha) 72-67-70, Varut Chomchalam (Tha) 66-69-74. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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