The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Two thirds of Olympics ticket hopefuls miss out
- Cricket: Tremlett excels on ground where he made his name
- Perrino and Lee share lead at Saint-Omer
| Two thirds of Olympics ticket hopefuls miss out Posted: 17 Jun 2011 06:16 PM PDT LONDON (AP) — Most of the people who applied for tickets for the 2012 London Olympics missed out in the first round of sales. Organizers announced Friday that 1.2 million of the 1.9 million people who applied for tickets ended up with nothing. Just 700,000 individuals — mostly Britons — split 3 million tickets between them after a six-week sales window. "We certainly understand people's disappointment," organizing committee chief executive Paul Deighton told The Associated Press. "But we think we allocated tickets as fairly as we could." Tickets were not put on sale on a first-come, first-served basis and events that were oversubscribed were allocated through a lottery system. A third of the tickets have been sold to London residents, while the average successful application saw four tickets sold for 175 pounds ($283). The 1.2 million people who missed out on tickets will be given the first opportunity to buy tickets when a further 2.3 million go on sale on June 24. That will include 1.7 million tickets for the football matches that are being played at large stadiums across Britain on top of the 500,000 already sold. Hockey and volleyball tickets are among the other 600,000 tickets available from next Friday. By next month organizers expect to have raised 400 million pounds ($647 million) from ticket sales, with a further 100 million pounds ($162 million) anticipated by the time the Olympics start on July 27, 2012. In total, 6.6 million tickets will have been made available to the public. While tickets remain for sports such as track and field, others like track cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, triathlon, modern pentathlon and the cross-country equestrian competition are sold out. The expectation of seeing Usain Bolt in the 100 meters final attracted 1.3 million applications, but only 30,000 of the 80,000 seats at the Olympic Stadium will have gone on general sale. So far 21,000 tickets have been sold and the remaining 9,000 will be made available next year. Tickets that go on sale to the British public can be bought by anyone living the European Union. But only 3 percent of sales through the official site have come from outside Britain. People can also buy tickets in their own country through a designated company or the national Olympic committee. "If you benchmark that (demand) against other games it's a massive domestic interest," organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe said. "I would be hard pushed to give you such a demand for any other sporting event in my lifetime." Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Cricket: Tremlett excels on ground where he made his name Posted: 17 Jun 2011 06:15 PM PDT SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Whenever officials at the Rose Bowl get round to making a test honors board, it will be with a certain amount of poignancy that Chris Tremlett becomes the first player to have his name hoisted upon it. Returning to the ground where he started his career with Hampshire and where his father, Tim, works as the county side's secretary, the 6ft 8in England fast bowler ripped through Sri Lanka's batting lineup on Friday to complete a five-wicket haul in the first-ever test in Southampton. Test-best figures of 6-42 enhanced the growing reputation of a bowler who is being compared in some quarters to West Indies greats Joel Garner and Curtly Ambrose, among other legendary pacemen. It's worth remembering that Tremlett has only played in nine test matches. "I'm extremely proud. It's been a great couple of days, not only for Chris but for the Rose Bowl," Tim Tremlett told The Associated Press. "He was born and bred in Southampton, and brought up through the Hampshire academy. So certainly for the family and for Chris, to get six wickets in the first innings here is quite extraordinary." Tremlett was born into a family steeped in cricketing history. His father was a seamer for Hampshire while his late grandfather Maurice, who was born and died in the county, played for Somerset and England in the 1940s and '50s. It was therefore no surprise that Chris Tremlett began his career at Hampshire, playing 10 years for the team before a move to Surrey last year in a bid to kickstart a stalling career. Now an established fixture in England's bowling unit since his recall to the team during the recent Ashes series in Australia, he returned to the Rose Bowl this week for the third and final test against Sri Lanka with an enhanced status. And he hasn't failed to disappoint the fans who used to cheer him as a Hampshire player. "He's got a lot of attributes like Joel Garner, height and good bounce," England bowling coach David Saker. "It's a big call to compare him with Joel but that height and the bounce he does get, he complements James Anderson really well. "He's been fantastic for us. He needs to keep improving but he's proven to a lot of people he belongs in test cricket." Tremlett has taken 31 wickets in six test matches since being recalled to the England side after a 3½-year spell in the international wilderness. In 2007, he played all three tests in a home series against India, taking 13 wickets in six matches, but his career quickly went downhill. "It was a bit of a wrench for him to leave Hampshire last year but at the same time he'd had a couple of injuries and had perhaps gone a bit stale," Tim Tremlett said. "With one thing or another, it was the right time for a new challenge. "He wasn't in the England set-up at the time and he said that to get back in the England side, he needed to make that move to Surrey. It's proved to be right. I'm glad he got another opportunity." The 29-year-old has bulked out in recent years and cuts an imposing figure as he runs into bowl. Sri Lanka's batting lineup has had no answer to him in the first two days in Southampton, with the overcast and damp conditions ideal for swing bowling. "I'm very happy with my performance and hopefully I can do it again in the second innings," said Tremlett. With no test history at the Rose Bowl to speak of, Hampshire officials have yet to put up an honors board, which commemorates players who achieve notable feats in a match such as five- or 10-wicket hauls and centuries. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Perrino and Lee share lead at Saint-Omer Posted: 17 Jun 2011 06:14 PM PDT SAINT-OMER, France (AP) — Andrea Perrino of Italy and Scotsman Craig Lee shared a one-shot lead after the second round of the Saint-Omer Open on Friday. Lee had six birdies and three bogeys for a 3-under 68 and a total of 5-under 137 as he overcame windy and wet conditions. His Italian rival carded a 2-under 69 with three birdies and one bogey. Both men have a one-stroke lead over first-round leader George Coetzee of South Africa. Another Italian, Federico Colombo, is fourth at 3 under. "I'm delighted with that," Lee said. "The scoring didn't progress as much as I thought, so here I am leading the tournament. I've played nicely the last two days. This course is tricky at the best of times and with the wind it is hard. It's supposed to only get worse tomorrow so it's going to be an interesting weekend. This is the third time I've played here and twice before I've missed the cut." Benn Barham, Thomas Norret, Andrew Tampion, Marco Ruiz and Matthew Zions are tied for fifth, three strokes off the pace. Perrino said he achieved a "dream" by leading a European Tour tournament for the first time of his career. "I've just got to stay calm and make the best out it," he said. "I'm not going to worry about it or play with fear it's just a game." Coetzee, who led by two shots after the first round, lost his lead with a bogey at the fourth and a double bogey at the 14th. "I'm happy to take that score and still be in contention for the weekend," he said. "It looked like the weather was going to be okay but when we teed off it was pouring with rain, so it was tough out there. Hopefully we'll have some nicer weather tomorrow and I can get some birdies going." |
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