The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Peng Shuai hopes to emulate Li Na’s heroics
- Rivals back Kendrick and rebuke Odesnik in dope fights
- Injury-free Tiger feels ‘solid’ ahead of comeback
| Peng Shuai hopes to emulate Li Na’s heroics Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:25 PM PDT SAN DIEGO: China's Peng Shuai (pic) entered the US hard court season with a career-high ranking and now holds hopes of some day matching the heroics of her trailblazing countrywoman, Li Na. Li Na became the first Chinese to win a Grand Slam singles title when she took the French Open in June, winning worldwide acclaim and marking another milestone in China's rapid rise as a force in the women's game. Twenty-five year-old Peng Shuai, long a stablemate of Li Na's in their country's rigid Soviet-style sport system, has taken heart at her compatriot's triumph at Roland Garros at the age of 29, and believes she might be in for some late blooming herself. "I think Asian players grow up later," Peng Shuai, who has soared to 17 from a world ranking of 72 at the start of the year, told a small group of reporters at the San Diego Open. "It took me five years to break the top 20 but I'm really happy I never gave up." Peng Shuai said Li Na's win at Roland Garros was huge in her country and had inspired a lot of people to take up the sport. She now hopes her hard-hitting game can help China break new ground at the US Open starting Aug. 29, where no Chinese has made the last four. "A Grand Slam title is every player's dream but I really just want to try my best," said Peng Shuai. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Rivals back Kendrick and rebuke Odesnik in dope fights Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:24 PM PDT WASHINGTON: Some of Robert Kendrick's fellow ATP players are rallying behind the 31-year-old American in the wake of a one-year doping ban handed down last week by the International Tennis Federation. But compatriot Wayne Odesnik, who played his first ATP match yesterday after a seven-month ban following an admission he carried human growth hormone (HGH) into Australia, is getting no such sympathy. Kendrick tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine at the French Open in May. He claimed to have ingested the substance when he took a diet pill, Zija, to combat jetlag. While accepting his story, the ITF said that players are responsible for any substance in their body and imposed a ban until next May, although an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport could see that timeframe reduced. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous he has gotten a year ban," American Ryan Sweeting said after a first-round ATP Washington Classic victory on Tuesday. "I've been in touch with him. We've been speaking every day. "For a 31-year-old to take one diet pill and receive a year ban, I just don't understand the logic behind it. All the players wonder what is going on." While admitting that players do bear responsibility for what they ingest, Sweeting said that they wonder why some have received more lenient punishments for what could be considered worse violations. Odesnik's two-year ban last year was reduced to seven months for participating in an ITF programme. "He got let off the hook a little bit while Robert Kendrick got a really, really raw deal," said American John Isner. "I can say with 1,000 per cent certainty (Kendrick) was not trying to enhance his performance. He made a mistake and he's paying a pretty steep price, too steep in my opinion." US veteran James Blake also supports leniency for Kendrick. "To put him out for a year, for all intents and purposes end his career, is pretty harsh," he said. "To go out this way I don't think is fair, especially when we've got a guy in this tournament (Odesnik) who I think has done a lot worse." As for Odesnik, Blake said: "I wouldn't say he's at our dinner table too often. I don't agree with what he did." There is a "Free Kendo" Facebook page and Bosnian Amer Delic posted his support for Kendrick on the Twitter microblogging service. "Common sense should prevail," Delic said. "My friend and colleague has been treated really really unfairly."— AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Injury-free Tiger feels ‘solid’ ahead of comeback Posted: 03 Aug 2011 06:23 PM PDT NEW YORK: Fresh from a practice session and eager to play again, Tiger Woods said on Tuesday he feels better than he has in a long time ahead of his return this week from a three-month injury layoff. The former world number one, speaking to reporters ahead of this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invita-tional at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, said the left leg pain that kept him out of tournament golf since May is behind him. "I don't feel a thing. It feels solid, it feels stable, no pain," Woods said after playing nine holes at Firestone, where he is a seven-time winner, without a noticeable limp. Woods has not competed since he withdrew from the Players Championship in May after completing just nine holes and the 35-year-old American said he is excited to make his return to the game he once dominated. The 14-time Major champion will try to get back into the swing of things this week at Firestone, then play next week at the PGA Championship in Atlanta. He also hopes to qualify for the season-ending playoffs for the FedEx Cup and has signed up to play the Australian Open in Sydney in November, making him a likely starter for the following week's Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne. A practice round on Monday in Atlanta and Tuesday's nine holes pleased him, he said. "I still haven't been in a competitive environment yet, so that's a totally different atmosphere," he said. "But the shots felt very crisp, very clean. I was very pleased." Woods, who missed the June 16-19 US Open at Congressional and the July 14-17 British Open at Royal St. George's because of the injury, said he had the urge to resume play last week at the Greenbrier Classic, but held off. "Docs advised that maybe I'd want to take another week of training and really start pushing it pretty hard, so I did, and I feel good now," he said. Woods hurt his left knee ligaments and Achilles tendon during the Masters in April but returned to competition about a month later at the Players, which he said was too soon. "If I had just sat out another week or two, I'd probably have been playing through this stretch. But I wanted to come back and play and made it worse," said Woods. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| 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