Successors line up to claim Ivanovic's number one ranking
Successors line up to claim Ivanovic's number one ranking
NEW YORK (AFP) - A number of women's seeds are poised to try and knock world number one Ana Ivanovic off her lofty perch after the Serbian star's shocking early round exit from the US Open on ThursdayThe search for a successor begins on Day Five of the US Open after 188th ranked Julie Coin, of France, ousted top seed Ivanovic 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round.
Heading into the US Open there were five players who could challenge Ivanovic for number one if they reached the final.
Jelena Jankovic is one of the three pre-tournament contenders in action on Friday as she faces China's Zheng Jie in a third round match.
The other two, Russian's Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, are both playing on the Armstrong Stadium court.
But Kuznetsova no longer has a shot at number one because Ivanovic won her first round match.
Second seed Jankovic already spent time at number one this year even if it was for just one week. She reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the French Open. She would regain that No. 1 WTA ranking if she advances to the semi-finals.
Zheng should provide a tough test for Jankovic. Her lone title came in 2005 in Beijing and she made the semi-finals of Wimbledon earlier this year.
This is the fourth meeting between Zheng and Jankovic with the Serbian holding a 3-1 edge.
Fifth-seeded Dementieva needs to advance to the finals to supplant Ivanovic who still has a chance of holding on to number one.
Dementieva, who is trying to become the third player to win an Olympic gold medal and the US Open in the same year, takes on Anne Keothavong of Great Britain.
Keothavong became the first British women's player to reach the third round of the US Open since Sara Gomer in 1991.
Former US Open champion Kuznetsova (2004) squares off against Katarina Srebotnik in a third round match
Jamaica sweeps the sprint golds
Jamaica sweeps the sprint golds
BEIJING (Reuters) - Jamaica made a clean sweep of Olympic sprint golds on Thursday with victory in the women's 200 metres to complete their domination over the United States.The Americans, the traditional power in track and field, had a nightmare night with both the women and the men dropping their batons during the heats of the 4x100 metre relay to crash out.
The United States were also beaten in the final of women's softball, the first time the Americans have failed to win gold in that event.
The Caribbean island's Veronica Campbell-Brown powered through to gold in the 200m, taking a metre's lead by the halfway mark.
Her face was creased with pain but broke into a broad grin at the finish, where she dropped to her knees for a prayer.
Campbell-Brown also won the event in 2004. American world champion Allyson Felix came second and 100 metre silver medallist Kerron Stewart of Jamaica was third.
The victory will bring more rejoicing to an island already exultant over the two world records and double sprint gold of Usain "Lightning" Bolt. His jawdropping speed has brought superlatives pouring forth from media and commentators.
Bolt, 22 on Thursday, collected his second gold in a rain-soaked ceremony in the Bird's Nest stadium and gave his signature lightning bolt gesture for the cameras.
The head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has questioned the Jamaican's sportsmanship, taking exception to his exuberant celebration of his 100 metre win on Saturday when he pounded his chest even before crossing the finish line.
"I think he should show more respect, shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones. Not making gestures like the one he made," Jacques Rogge said. "He still has to mature."
Jamaican coach and former sprinter Don Quarrie defended Bolt, saying his celebrations were just youthful high spirits, from a man who is "playful, funny, happy".
LITTLE CONSOLATION
The United States have won a major sprint medal at every Games since 1984 and this year's collection of silvers and bronzes will be little consolation for a team doing worse than anticipated in track and field, a traditional strength.
The failure in the relays, an unexpected loss in the final of the women's water polo the Netherlands and defeat to Japan in the softball will be salt in the wounds for the Americans.
Softball will not be at the 2012 Games and the U.S. had won every gold on offer since it became an Olympic sport in 1996.
That will do little to chip at the dominance of China in the medals table. The hosts have a commanding 45 golds to the U.S.'s 27, a lead that China says shows it now has the sporting prowess to match its growing economic might and superpower clout.
In Athens, the U.S. team topped the medals table with 36 golds to China's 32, but the hosts have invested heavily in selecting and training athletes intensively over many years.
"The world has to learn to live with a change of geopolitical nature," the IOC's Rogge said, adding that China's sporting success would last "as long as their sports system lasts".
One sport where Americans did enjoy success was women's beach volleyball.
An excited home crowd sheltered from torrential rain as China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie lost to the defending champions, U.S. pair Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, in straight sets.
May-Treanor and Walsh, who have dominated the sport for five years, left the door open to a return in London 2012, but said that might depend on plans to have children.
The rain did not matter to the men's marathon swimmers.
Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden, who was given only a slim chance of survival when diagnosed with leukaemia seven years ago, won the 10km swim, one of the most testing Olympic events.
A stem cell transplant and chemotherapy saved van der Weijden's life.
"That makes it extra special," he said. "It proves that even after such an illness you can win gold."
HORSE DOPE TESTS
Equestrian sports were embarrassed by positive drug tests on four horses that could lead to Norway's Tony Andre Hansen losing his bronze medal.
Four horses tested positive for capsaicin, which is banned for its hypersensitising and pain-relieving properties.
Hansen, on his horse Camiro, was a member of the Norwegian team that won bronze in Monday's team show jumping competition. A decision on his team's medal will come after a B-sample test.
"It is certainly a serious blow to the sport and we are very well aware of the possible implications it can have," said Sven Holmberg, the chairman of the International Equestrian Federation's jumping committee.
(Reporting by Beijing Olympics bureau; Editing by Jon Bramley)
Terry ready to clear the air after England flop
Terry ready to clear the air after England flop
LONDON (AFP) - John Terry admits England need clear the air talks to avoid any repeat of their friendly flop against the Czech Republic in next month's World Cup qualifiersTerry was disappointed with the way Fabio Capello's side struggled to impose themselves during Wednesday's lacklustre 2-2 draw at Wembley.
The England captain expects Capello to call a meeting to discuss the performance at length when they get together for the Andorra and Croatia matches in September.
"It is not just this game where there have been problems. There have been other games and there will be problems in the future that will occur," Terry said.
"We need to sit down and address it - and address it very quickly - otherwise it stays around the squad. The manager will thrash things out and we will get things off our chest.
"That will be very private. The manager makes the big decisions. We can give our opinion but he is the one who makes those big final decisions.
"On the next trip we've got 10 days away and, if we can address it before those two games and thrash things out before the World Cup campaign starts, we will be okay."
Capello's team must get a positive result in Croatia and Terry remains confident they can avenge the two defeats against Slaven Bilic's side that eliminated England from Euro 2008.
"We are still encouraged by what we can do in Zagreb," he said. "Against the Czechs, we wanted to do better than we did but at the same time there will be points to be played for with Andorra and Croatia.
"Hopefully we can get off to a good start and win against Andorra - and take the confidence to Croatia. We have to go there and stand up and be counted for."
Wayne Rooney cut a subdued figure for England once again but the Manchester United striker defended his performance and backed the team to get it right in Croatia.
"I had a lot of touches (in the) first half. Maybe I could have done more with the distribution of the ball and had a few more chances," Rooney said.
"But I am happy. It is another game for me. I missed a few games pre-season so it will help with my fitness as well
"We are still building and looking to get better for the qualifiers. We have got a game before the Croatian one against Andorra and it is important we build on our previous games and get the points there.
"There is more to come but we are always confident we can beat any team if we play at our best and we feel we can get it right in those games ahead."
Records Fall, but Suspicions of Doping Linger
Records Fall, but Suspicions of Doping Linger
BEIJING — Several sprint experts called Usain Bolt a “freak” after he set the world record of 19.30 seconds at 200 meters on Wednesday. One Jamaican coach took him out of the realm of track and into the realm of theoretical physics, comparing Bolt to Einstein and Isaac Newton.“You have people who are exceptions,” Stephen Francis, a Jamaican sprint coach, said. “It’s not explainable how and what they do.”
I want to believe that talent and hard work and determination are not fossil fuels, that a human, unlike a car, does not need chemical additives to run at peak efficiency.
Bolt is likable, as playful as he is fast. His speed is breathtaking.
He is the first man to win the Olympic 100 and 200 meters since Carl Lewis in 1984, the first ever to set world records in both events at the same Summer Games.
But when I want to fully believe, I feel a twinge of skepticism. It nags, like a strained hamstring.
For 20 years, I have covered this sport. I have seen the East Germans and Flo-Jo and Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene and Marion Jones. And now Bolt. I have seen inspiring moments, but I have also witnessed the corrosive implosion from doping. Try as I might, I can’t break the tape in unrestricted trust. I always pull up at the last minute, limping from doubt.
Three of the last five male Olympic 100-meter champions — Ben Johnson, Linford Christie and Justin Gatlin — have served drug suspensions. A fourth, Greene, has been accused by an admitted steroid supplier of receiving banned substances, although Greene has denied this and has never been charged by antidoping authorities.
Meanwhile, Jones, the disgraced women’s 100 and 200 champion from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, must watch these Olympics from federal prison.
It would be naïve not to have suspicions. At the same time, I feel guilty for doubting.
Why should sprinters be mistrusted when Michael Phelps and other swimmers get the E-ZPass lane on wariness, not having to pay the toll of answering questions about doping?
And I feel bad for track and field.
Track and cycling try harder than any other sports to catch drug users. Instead of being rewarded for their vigilance, though, they are dismissed as being drug infested. The innocent can no longer prove their innocence. It hardly seems fair.
Given that corrosive reality, the worst thing that Commissioner Bud Selig can do is adopt stricter testing for major league baseball. If baseball tries harder, it will catch more cheaters. And then its reputation, too, will suffer greatly, perhaps lethally, like track and field’s. Better to essentially look the other way, like the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. Pretend there is no drug problem, and the public will believe that none exists.
Personally, I would allow athletes to put whatever they want into their bodies. At least sports would be more honest. Let’s have the Winstrol 200 and the Stanozolol 400. I have no ethical opposition to performance-enhancing drugs. I just want to be able to trust what I’m seeing.
Right now, that is not possible.
It is a futile parlor game to guess who is and is not using illicit substances. Only one thing is certain, as I have written before: Not a single performance at the Olympics, nor in any other elite sport, can be believed with any certainty to have been achieved without banned performance-enhancing drugs.
A clean urine sample means nothing. In fact, to get caught at the Olympics, where athletes know they will be screened, is more akin to failing an I.Q. test than a drug test.
Gina Kolata of The New York Times wrote last week that the latest way to beat a urine test is to drop in a grain of powdered laundry detergent. Brighteners, which are enzymes that break down proteins, will destroy EPO and human growth hormone in the sample.
Gives a whole new meaning to all-temperature Cheer.
It cannot be known whether what we are seeing from Bolt and others at the Beijing Games is legitimate or fraudulent, like the flags that flutter artificially at Olympic Stadium, whipped by air jets in the flagpoles.
“You’re going to have those questions no matter what, given our climate now,” said Renaldo Nehemiah, a sports agent and the former world-record holder in the 110 hurdles.
Yet, Nehemiah added, Bolt “didn’t fall out of a tree,” meaning that the Jamaican star has a footprint in the sport. He was a world junior champion by the age of 15 and his career has followed predictable steps.
“He has a pedigree,” Nehemiah said. “It was inevitable.”
At 6 feet 5 inches, Bolt “runs like he’s 5-9,” according to Christian Malcolm of Great Britain, who finished fifth in the Olympic 200 final. “He can generate that speed in the first 60 meters.”
That ballistic start is what separates Bolt from Lewis, said Harvey Glance, the United States Olympic sprint coach.
“If you weren’t ahead of Carl at 40 meters, he would embarrass you,” Glance said. “This guy will embarrass you from the start.”
For a tall sprinter, Bolt is also fundamentally sound, with straight-line foot placement as he bursts from the starting blocks, Nehemiah said.
“He’s not losing and using a lot of energy going left and right before he gets going,” Nehemiah said.
He is also apparently not subjected to particularly stringent antidoping standards at home.
Jamaica does not have an independent out-of-competition screening program, considered the only reasonably effective way to catch drug users. Some of the Jamaican Olympic performances have raised eyebrows, with great leaps in a sport in which improvement usually comes by hundredths of a second.
Shelly-Ann Fraser won the women’s 100 in 10.78, nearly a second faster than her best mark of 11.74 two years ago.
Melanie Walker won the women’s 400 hurdles in 52.64, 1.5 seconds faster than her best of 54.14 in 2007.
On Wednesday, Bolt lowered his personal best in the 200 from 19.67 to 19.30 in one race (although, to be fair, Michael Johnson, the previous record holder, dropped from 19.79 to 19.32 in just over a month in 1996).
“How fast can you go before the world record can’t be broken?” asked an awed Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis, after finishing sixth in the 200. “How fast can another human being go before there is no more running fast?”
How long until we can trust what we are seeing?
Dodgers close to deal for Maddux
Dodgers close to deal for Maddux
LOS ANGELES -- Acquiring Greg Maddux for the stretch run two years ago worked so well for Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti, he's trying to do it again.
With Brad Penny back on the disabled list, the Dodgers were close to acquiring the 42-year-old Maddux on Monday for two Minor League players to be named, although a club spokesman quoted Colletti as saying the deal was not complete.
Maddux is a tough-luck 6-9 with 11 no-decisions and a 3.99 ERA for San Diego. Penny's spot in the rotation comes up again on Saturday in Philadelphia.
Maddux earns $10 million this season and had told the Padres the only club for which he would waive his no-trade clause would be the Dodgers, because he wanted to remain close to his Orange County home.
Maddux has 353 career wins, four Cy Young Awards and 17 Gold Gloves. He would join a rotation that includes Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Japanese rookie Hiroki Kuroda and 20-year-old rookie Clayton Kershaw.
Colletti has a long history with Maddux from their days with the Chicago Cubs, when Maddux was just starting his career. At the Trade Deadline in 2006, Colletti sent infielder Cesar Izturis to the Cubs for the then-40-year-old Maddux, who nearly threw a no-hitter in his first game for the Dodgers. Maddux went 6-3 with a 3.30 ERA as the club reached the playoffs.
"He's not what he was when he was winning Cy Young Awards, but he'll still keep you in the game," Colletti said two years ago. "He's one of the smartest players I've ever been around. He'll figure out a way."
Even at his age, Maddux is not only considered an upgrade on the mound for a pressure-packed final six weeks, but an undisputed leader in the clubhouse. Lowe often talks about the positive effect Maddux had on him that year. Lowe went 8-1 over the final two months of that season and hasn't had a similar run since.
Chinese graduates 'had mystery lodger'
Chinese graduates 'had mystery lodger'
Two Chinese graduates brutally murdered in their Newcastle flat had an unknown lodger, it has been revealed.Police have appealed for the Chinese man who was sub-letting a room with the couple to come forward.
The room was let after it was advertised on local Chinese website www.ncl.cssauk.org.uk.
The website displayed two photographs of the flat together with a contact mobile telephone number for Mr Yang.
Det Supt Steve Wade, who is leading the murder inquiry, said: "We now believe that an unidentified male rented a room from the couple on or about August 1 this year.
"On the August 3 or 4 Mr Yang routinely contacted his mother in China via telephone and informed her that he had taken on a new lodger."
He added: "Mr Yang informed his mother that the new lodger was a student and that he came from the Jinzhou area of the northern seaport city Dalian.
Xi Zhou and her boyfriend Zhen Xing Yang, both 25, were attacked in their flat in Croydon Rd with a knife and another sharp weapon and suffered severe head injuries.
Mr Yang had been tortured before he was hacked and stabbed to death, and the couple's cat was drowned by their killers.
Internet users on UK-based Mandarin websites had identified Mr Yang as a recruitment agent for a gambling racket which relied on the results of live Premier League football games being shown a couple of minutes later in China to beat th
Edwards closes in on Busch with win at Michigan
Edwards closes in on Busch with win at Michigan
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Carl Edwards looked in his mirrors and saw the guy he had to beat.
With two laps remaining and one final restart coming up in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, Kyle Busch _ the only driver that Edwards trails in the points _ was right on his rear bumper.
Edwards said he thought about the race last month at Chicagoland Speedway when Busch passed two-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson after a late-race restart for one of his season-high eight victories.
"I just didn't want to have to go through the pain, so I just did everything I could to have the best restart I could, and it worked out great," Edward said after racing away to his fifth win of the season.
And Edwards hopes that's just a preview of what's coming up in the Chase for the championship.
"We're winning races," Edwards said. "We're gearing up for the Chase. I'm feeling stronger than ever. We're here to win championships. That's what we're shooting for."
With just three races remaining until the start of the 10-race Chase, Edwards closed the gap on series leader Busch with his second victory in the last three races. Edwards also completed a rare weekend sweep on the 2-mile Michigan oval, adding the win in the 3M Performance 400 to a victory Saturday in the Nationwide Series event.
While the 23-year-old Busch has had a great season, winning eight times and building a big lead in the regular-season points, Edwards, who turned 29 on Friday, has kept the youngster in sight.
When the 12-man Chase begins next month at New Hampshire, all of the eligible drivers will be seeded, with 10 bonus points added to their base total of 5,000 for each victory. Edwards lost one 10-point bonus because of a penalty early in the season, but would still be just 40 points behind Busch if the Chase began next week.The greatest part is we didn't give up more bonus points to Kyle," Edwards said. "He's just so strong. Every time I win and he finishes second that's really a 20-point spread for us. That's what we have to keep doing, is to try and win the next three events and go into this Chase on even ground."
Busch knows he has a battle on his hands.
"Carl's right there," he said. "He has been all year. Yeah, it's a 20-point swing. We've got to live with it. Hopefully, we can make it up someplace else."
