The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Cuba dominate Pan-American athletics with 18 gold medals
- Olympic champion Robles breaks Pan-Am high hurdles record
- Tennis: Stosur thrashes Li, Radwanska misses out
| Cuba dominate Pan-American athletics with 18 gold medals Posted: 28 Oct 2011 06:46 PM PDT GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Hurdler Dayron Robles and pole vaulter Lazaro Borges led Cuba to four Pan-American Games records to seal their athletics dominance on the final day of competition at the Telmex stadium on Friday. Discus thrower Yarelys Barrios and Guillermo Martinez in the javelin also set Games records as the Cubans kept Brazil firmly in second place in the track and field medals table of the quadrennial event. Cuba finished with 18 gold medals and 33 overall to Brazil's nine and 22 with the United States third (four and 16). Olympic champion Robles retained his 110 metres hurdles title in 13.10 seconds, well short of his three-year-old world record of 12.87, but 0.07 seconds better than Cuban Anier Garcia's previous record set at Winnipeg in 1999. "I had the idea of this record always in my mind," Robles told reporters after the final in which Colombian Paulo Cesar Villar was second in 13.27 and Cuban Orlando Ortega third in 13.30. It was a satisfying finish to a troubled season for Robles after disqualification at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea where he came through first but was ruled to have made contact with Chinese rival Liu Xiang. Borges, the silver medal winner in Daegu, enthralled the crowd with his win at 5.80 metres, a Games record, after securing the gold medal at 5.70 when silver medallist Jeremy Scott of the U.S. failed. RAISING THE BAR The bar was raised to 5.76, one centimetre higher than the record set by American Patrick Manson in Mar de Plata, Argentina in 1995. It took Borges three attempts to surpass that height but only one, to massive applause, when the bar was then raised to 5.80. Barrios, Olympic runner-up in 2008, retained her Pan-Am title with her first throw, a personal best 66.40. That mark was superior to her bronze medal finish in Daegu of 65.73 metres and the 65.58 record set by compatriot Maritza Marten in Indianapolis in 1987. Martinez, third at the world championships, hurled the javelin for a personal best of 87.20 metres with his first throw, 6.52 metres further than compatriot Emeterio Gonzalez's 2003 record. Cyrus Hoestetler of the U.S. was second with 82.24 and Argentine 18-year-old Braian Toledo, the Olympic Youth champion, third with a personal best 79.53. Cubans were pushed into second and third place in the women's triple jump won by world bronze medallist Catherine Ibarguen of Colombia with a Games record leap of 14.92 metres. It was 12 centimetres better than the previous record set four years ago in Rio de Janeiro by Cuba's Yargeris Savigne, who won silver, with Mabel Gay taking bronze. There were also Cuban gold medals in the men's 800 metres for Andy Gonzalez and both 4x400 metres relay teams but the islanders had to settle for fourth place in both 4x100. The Brazilians took the sprint relays, winning the women's in a national record time before the men equalled the 12-year-old Games record of 38.15 seconds set by a Brazil quartet in 1999. Jamaica, relay world record holders and champions with Usain Bolt in their line-up in 37.04 seconds in Daegu, were not even represented in the men's race after their second string quartet was disqualified in Thursday's semi-finals for a late baton change. Sara Marie Hall won the women's steeplechase in a rare athletics gold medal for a United States development team in a slow time of 10 minutes 3.16 seconds, while Venezuelan Jose Pena won the men's race in 8:48.19. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Olympic champion Robles breaks Pan-Am high hurdles record Posted: 28 Oct 2011 04:56 PM PDT GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles won the Pan-American Games gold medal on Friday to end a turbulent season on a high note. The Olympic champion and world record holder led all the way to win the 110 metres final in a time of 13.10 seconds. Colombian Paulo Cesar Villar was second in 13.27 and Cuban Orlando Ortega third in 13.30. Robles, who successfully defended the Pan-Am title he won in Rio de Janeiro four years ago, also set a championship record for the event, slashing 0.07 off the previous mark of 13.17 set by fellow Cuban Anier Garcia at Winnipeg in 1999. "I had the idea of this record always in my mind," Robles told reporters. The bespectacled Robles was a long way off his 2008 world record of 12.87 but the gold medal at least provided some consolation for the 24-year-old after he was disqualified at this year's world championships in South Korea. Robles won the race but was disqualified for making contact with China's Liu Xiang, who was leading at the time. The pair are due to meet again at next year's London Olympics. "Now I'm going to have a holiday before getting down to thinking about 2012," said Robles. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Tennis: Stosur thrashes Li, Radwanska misses out Posted: 28 Oct 2011 04:55 PM PDT ISTANBUL, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Open winner Samantha Stosur destroyed China's Li Na 6-1 6-0 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the season-ending WTA Championships for the second consecutive year. Their last White Group round-robin clash was effectively a decider to see which of the year's first-time grand slam champions would progress along with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus but it proved embarrassingly one-sided and was over in 66 minutes. Australian Stosur will face Petra Kvitova in the last four on Saturday after the Czech recovered from 5-1 down in the first set against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska to triumph 7-6 6-3 and claim top spot in the Red Group with a 100 percent record. Radwanska only needed to win one set to reach the semi-finals but her capitulation against the world number three meant Russia's Vera Zvonareva advanced despite winning just one of her three matches. Zvonareva, who squeezed through via a better games percentage than Radwanska and world number one Caroline Wozniacki after they all recorded one win, will play Azarenka on Saturday. Azarenka will need to shrug off a costly 5-7 6-4 6-4 defeat late on Friday against France's Marion Bartoli who only stepped in as an alternate when Maria Sharapova pulled out injured earlier this week. Although Azarenka was already safely through to the semis the loss to Bartoli robbed her of a tilt at a $1.75 million jackpot for anyone going through the tournament unbeaten. IN THE GROOVE World number seven Stosur has, by her own admission, struggled to refocus since beating Serena Williams in the U.S. Open final at Flushing Meadows last month but she looked back in the groove against Li. Her topspin serve proved deadly effective and she also displayed some meaty groundstrokes to overpower her listless 29-year-old rival in front of another large crowd at the cavernous Sinan Erdem Arena. "I'm really pleased with the way I played tonight," said Stosur who lost to Kim Clijsters in the 2010 semis when the event was in its last year in Doha. "It was a very solid match for me," she told reporters. "I felt really good out there again and hit lots of winners and moved well. "It was a really good turnaround from the match two nights ago (against Azarenka)." Having ended a nine-match run against Maria Sharapova without a win earlier in the week, Stosur will be required to do the same against left-hander Kvitova although they have only met twice before. "I haven't been able to get over the winning line yet against her," Stosur said. "I think she's one of those exciting players to watch because she can pretty much do anything." Li's crushing defeat was her sixth in six against Stosur as the French Open champion's memorable season ended on a flat note. "My legs just felt really heavy," said the Chinese who did not even bother calling her husband and coach Jiang Shan on to court - a feature of the WTA Tour these days. "Today was just not my day." Wimbledon champion Kvitova produced a series of unforced errors against the tenacious Radwanska, going 5-1 down before stirring into life and rallying to 5-5. The Pole then edged to within a game of the semi-finals but once the tiebreak began the momentum was with the Czech. Radwanska faded away in the second set but was not too downhearted. "To be honest even at 5-1 I didn't feel close to winning the set," the Pole explained. "She then started to play unbelievable." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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