The Star Online: Sports

O'Hair wins Canadian Open on 1st playoff hole
Fish beats Isner for 2nd straight Atlanta title
Chong Wei’s autobiography set to hit market after world meet

O'Hair wins Canadian Open on 1st playoff hole

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 06:30 PM PDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Sean O'Hair won the RBC Canadian Open after tapping in for bogey on the first playoff hole on Sunday, and then watching fellow American Kris Blanks lip out his bogey putt from just over 5 feet.

It was the fourth PGA Tour victory for O'Hair, who started three shots off the lead before shooting 68 to get into the playoff with Blanks (70) at 4-under 276.

Argentina's Andres Romero (70) bogeyed the final hole to miss the playoff and finish alone in third at 277.

Canadian Adam Hadwin, a local playing on a sponsor's exemption, struggled early before bouncing back late to finish with a 72 and tied with Geoff Ogilvy (70) for fourth place at 2-under. John Daly (72) finish in a four-way tie for ninth, his first top-10 in six years.

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Fish beats Isner for 2nd straight Atlanta title

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 05:52 PM PDT

NORCROSS, Georgia (AP) - Mardy Fish beat fellow-American John Isner in the final for the second straight year at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, earning a 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory Sunday.

Fish, ranked No. 9 in the world, held off two straight match points in the second set to rally from a 5-1 deficit in the tiebreak.

"When you're in that position, it's almost over," Fish said. "I was lucky to get out of it. I played some good points. I don't think he missed any first serves there. I stuck some returns and put some balls in play."

Isner was trying to win consecutive events for the first time in his career just as Fish did in 2010 at Newport and Atlanta.

But Isner's last service game included two double-faults. He committed 29 unforced errors to Fish's 11 through two sets.

"I didn't necessarily change anything tactically," Fish said. "I took care of my serve games a little bit better once I lost serve in the first game of the second." After blowing the two match points, Isner couldn't regain momentum. Losing the point on his serve hurt badly.

"I missed the first serve," he said. "In hindsight, I probably should've served and volleyed on the second serve. I should've done that more during the first of the match to begin with. He got it in play, and I went with too big of a backhand and missed it by a lot. You know, he played that point well. And the next points after that, he served two really good serves. Um, but that's what happens."

Fish improved to 6-12 in ATP tour finals, 3-1 in his career against Isner. Sunday was the first time he defended a championship successfully.

"It feels great to win here again," Fish said. "It feels great to start off the summer like I did last year."

Isner sounded as if he might need a couple of days to get over a chance to win his second straight event.

"I had a match point on my serve," Isner said. "You can't ask for much more than that. That's how it goes. It's still a good week. I really, really wish I could've won this title. It wasn't to be."

Matthew Ebden of Australia won his second straight doubles title, teaming this week with Alex Bogomolov Jr., in a 3-6, 7-5, 10-8 super-tiebreaker victory over Matthias Bachinger and Frank Moser of Germany.

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Chong Wei’s autobiography set to hit market after world meet

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 05:32 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: An autobiography of Malaysia's most successful badminton player Lee Chong Wei (pic) is set to hit the market after he accomplishes his task at the World Championships which will be held at Wembley from Aug 8-14.

The production of his first ever book is one of the many outside activities that Chong Wei has been juggling together with his strenuous training sessions over the last few months leading to his sixth world championships outing.

The book is about his life as a badminton player and it is meant to give courage and hope for many aspiring youngsters, whose dreams are to make it big in badminton or in any other sports.

Besides working on the book, Chong Wei has also been involved in many promotional events as part of his obligation and duties of being a national player, brand ambassadors of many products and commitments to inspire youngsters through coaching clinics.

He also has his name tied up with academies and training halls, which are run by his family members and friends.

Chong Wei, who has been holding on to his World No. 1 tag for the last four years, said that prioritising events was the key to avoiding a chaotic life.

"My priority has always been badminton. I am where I am because of badminton. I give utmost importance to training and having a good deal of rest. The other activities are planned in such a way that they do not interfere with my badminton training and travel," said Chong Wei.

"I train half day on Thursdays and so I am able to do other things on this day – like recording from the television, attending functions and etc. I also make sure that I have good rest in between my training schedule and other activities. It takes a lot of discipline to do it.

"And this year, I have engaged a consultant team to help me manage my outside activities and that really helps too."

For Chong Wei, there are three key professionals working behind the scene – one is a brand consultant, one is a finance adviser and the other looks into all the legal matters.

Of all the outside ventures he had done, Chong Wei said that he had a special spot for the upcoming book.

"It is about my life. It talks about the people behind my journey as a badminton player. Hopefully, my life experiences will encourage others and motivate them to realise their dreams. More details of this book will be given later," he said.

On his world championships' preparation, Chong Wei said: "My back problem has been treated and I have resumed my training sessions in full force. It is back to the same old regime in training."

Chong Wei conceded a walkover in the semi-finals of the Kedah Open two weeks ago after suffering muscle spasms on his back. It was the same injury that saw him run out of steam against Indonesia's Taufik Hidayat in the quarter-final of last year's world meet in Paris.

Today, Chong Wei, who has been seeded No. 1 in the world meet, will find out the path that he has to take in his bid to become the country's first world champion when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) unveils the draw for the world meet at a hotel here in Kuala Lumpur.

Then, Chong Wei and the other Malaysian shuttlers will leave for Bath University for a short centralised training from July 27-Aug 4 to get acclimatised to the weather and also to focus on training sessions without any major distractions.

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Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 24 Julai 2011

The Star Online: Sports

The Star Online: Sports

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