Sports Bar

Published>Thu, Apr 29 10 05:08 AM

Henin wins with broken finger

Justine Henin ended a two-match losing streak and ignored a broken finger in winning her opening match against Julia Goerges of Germany 7-6 (3) 6-1 at the Porsche Grand Prix. Henin broke the left pinkie on her non-playing hand while practising for last weekend's Fed Cup and still played, though she lost. Seventh-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia beat Marion Bartoli of France 6-2 6-1 to remain unbeaten in seven matches on clay this year. But fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland went out 6-3 6-7 (4) 6-2 against Shahar Peer.

Abbas, Rehan not in Azlan Shah team

Senior players Sohail Abbas, Rehan Butt and Shakeel Abbasi were not named in the 18-member Pakistan squad for next month's Azlan Shah tournament in Ipoh, Malaysia. "We have not dropped them we have rested them because they looked tired and jaded in this camp and not ready for an international competition," Pakistan Hockey Federation chief selector Hanif Khan said. The reasoning, however, did not go well with Butt and Abbasi, who reacted strongly on their omission. "This is an insult to us. The selectors should never have invited us to the camp if they were not interested in selecting us," Abbasi said.

Abhijeet jumps to joint lead

Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta give out an impeccable performance to beat compatriot G N Gopal and jump into joint lead after the seventh round of the Asian continental chess championship in Subic Bay, Philippines. Grandmaster Ni Hua of China ended the dream run of local boy Wesley So in a finely crafted game with black pieces on the top board. The Chinese trio of Ni Hua, Ding Liren and LI Chao emerged as the new joint leaders along with Gupta. While the leaders have 5.5 points apiece, a pack of four players, including second seed Krishnan Sasikiran, are also in contention, with just two rounds to come.

Bopanna-Qureshi in quarters

The top seeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi advanced to the doubles quarter-finals of the ATP Tunis Open in Tunisia after a getting a walkover from Theirry Ascione and Arnaud Clement in the first round. The French pair opted our of the contest due to an elbow injury to Clement. Bopanna and Qureshi will fight it out with Frederico Gel of Portugal and Marcelo Melo of Brazil for a place in the semi-finals of the $125,000 clay court event. Gil and Melo beat the wild card pair of Reda El Amrani and Malek Jaziri.

LeBron wants to own NBA team

Cavaliers star LeBron James can see himself following idol Michael Jordan into NBA ownership. James, whose path to superstardom has followed a similar trajectory as Jordan's, said Tuesday night before Cleveland faced Chicago in Game 5 of the playoffs that he would "love" to someday own an NBA team. Jordan assumed ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats in March, buying the club for $275 million from Bob Johnson. "I would love to be in that position," James said. "It's a great position to be able to own a team and be able to put pieces together and make decisions."

Man City sign Hungarian Fulop

Manchester City have signed Hungary international Martin Fulop on an emergency loan from Sunderland after goalkeeper Shay Given dislocated his shoulder. Given injured his shoulder against Arsenal on Saturday and backup keeper Stuart Taylor was already sidelined, leaving City with just one fit senior goalkeeper: Faroe Islands international Gunnar Nielsen. City failed in their attempts to recall Joe Hart, who is on loan at Birmingham, for the final three games of the Premier League.

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