3-4 loss to South Africa shatters Pakistan's semifinal dreams

Published>Sat, Mar 06 10 08:52 PM

New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Pakistan's World Cup semifinal hopes were shattered as South Africa upset the four time champions 4-3 in the hockey World Cup here Saturday.

Down 0-1 at the breather, South Africa outpaced Pakistan to earn their first points in the tournament.

Rehan Butt drew first blood for Pakistan before Gareth Carr (penalty corner), Ian Haley, Taine Paton and Marvin Harper found the target for South Africa at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

Muhammad Imran and Waseem Ahmed converted two more penalty corners for Pakistan in the dying moments to reduce the margin.

Pakistan now have three points from four outings.

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Gangjee tied 10th after third round in Malaysian Open

Published>Sat, Mar 06 10 08:32 PM

Kuala Lumpur, March 6 (IANS) Rahil Gangjee struck a purple patch with six birdies and an eagle in a span of 10 holes to finally come back with a six-under 66 despite a late double bogey in the third round of the Maybank Malaysian Open golf Saturday. He was tied tenth and four off the lead.

The event, co-sanctioned by the Asian and European Tours, has Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat in the pole position. He was sharing the lead with Welshman Rhys Davies.

'I started out pretty alright. I made two birdies then I hit a wall when I made a double bogey on the 17th hole. Then I went to the first hole and shot six-under. I didn't expect six-under but I kept thinking to myself to just start all over again,' said Gangjee.

Talking of his eagle on par-5 fifth hole, Gangjee said, 'My eagle was a good one. I hit my drive just left of the fairway and from there I had a flyer (212 yards) with my six-iron and it landed to about nine feet.'

Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) and S.S.P. Chowrasia (72) are both at three-under in tied 25th, up 12 places from their 37th place at the end of the second round. Arjun Atwal with two double bogeys slipped to a 75 and tied 44th, down from tied 16th after two rounds. C. Muniyappa (72) in tied 56th and Digvijay Singh (75) in tied 68th were the other Indians to make the cut.

Shiv Kapur (73-73), Himmat Rai (73-73), Anirban Lahiri (75-73) and Jyoti Randhawa, who withdrew after the first round, missed the cut.

Kiradech, 20, brilliantly birdied three of his last four holes for a four-under-par 68 and a three-day total of 11-under-par 205. Davies tied the Thai rising star with a battling 71, which included three birdies against a double bogey.

The final round of the US$2 million event is poised for a photo finish as two-time champion Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (69), Soren Hansen of Denmark (69) and Koreans K.J. Choi (69) and Noh Seung-yul (67) are a shot back on 206.

The hefty Kiradech, a former junior world champion, nearly sank the first hole-in-one of the tournament when his six-iron tee shot on the 15th ended an inch behind the hole. Although disappointed to not win a car on offer, it sparked a stunning finish as he went on to birdie 17 and 18.

Choi, aiming for a unique Malaysian double after his victory in the Iskandar Johor Open last October, was delighted to be in contention after firing five birdies against two bogeys.

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Somdev has nothing to lose, can go all out: Misra

Published Sat, Mar 06 10 08:04 PM

Moscow, Mar 6 (PTI) Back in the tie after "superlative" win of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, India''s Davis Cup captain S P Misra today asked Somdev Devvarman to go all out in tomorrow''s tough reverse singles. Somdev is up against world number 13 Mikhail Youzhny in the first match tomorrow and his win is imperative for India to dream of a win. "Somdev''s match is very critical for us. Youzhny is a higher ranked player but reputations won''t count if Somdev plays well. He has nothing to lose and can go all out," Misra told PTI. The non-playing captain said he would be tempted to play Paes in the second reverse singles in place of Rohan Bopanna If Somdev go on to make it 2-2. "If Somdev wins then we have the option of Paes playing in the second singles, which will become decisive. I have that option in mind although Paes hasn''t played singles for a long time. But he has the game to win singles even today," he said. Misra was extremely happy with the way Paes and Bhupathi beat Igor Kunitsyn and Teimurza Gabashvili today. "They played superlative tennis. They have not played that good in recent times. They combined well. The other guys were not bad but Leander and Mahesh did not give them any chance," Misra said. More PTI AT

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Seve set for special St Andrews event - Federation chief

Published>Sat, Mar 06 10 07:42 PM

Seve Ballesteros is on course to make an emotional return to St Andrews in July for a special four-hole event on the eve of the British Open, according to the president of the Spanish Golf Federation (RFEG).

"He wants to be on the first tee at St Andrews for the four-hole tournament and he will probably be there," Gonzaga Escauriaza told Reuters in an interview.

"Seve is doing much better. He was doing very well last summer when he started playing again but then he went through radiotherapy and chemotherapy -- that weakened him a bit but now he's started to get better and better."

Five-times major winner Ballesteros was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour in 2008 which required four operations.

The 52-year-old Spaniard is among 32 former champions who have been invited to play four holes at St Andrews on July 14, the day before the 150th anniversary British Open.

Previous winners like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Peter Thomson, Gary Player and Nick Faldo are also scheduled to play the first, second, 17th and 18th holes on the Old Course.

"He (Ballesteros) will be very happy to be there and I've met his son and he said he wants to caddie for him," said Escauriaza. "All his family are very motivated for him to come back to the game.

"It will be very emotional for a lot of people and for him too because of course he won at St Andrews in 1984. He has started to practice again and is able to play some holes especially as his home is right near to a course."

Escauriaza also said Ballesteros was fully behind the RFEG's bid to host the 2018 Ryder Cup.

Sweden, Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and France are the other countries in the running, with the winning bid to be decided in April 2011.

"He (Ballesteros) wants the Ryder Cup to be held in Spain," said Escauriaza. "He is with us and that is very good news.

"Without Severiano we would probably still be playing Great Britain and Ireland v United States. It's because of him that GB and Ireland became a European team (in 1979).

"One of the strengths of our bid is we have Seve on board -- that's huge," added Escauriaza.

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Lajong stun East Bengal 1-0

Published Sat, Mar 06 10 07:32 PM

Shillong, Mar 6 (PTI) Title favourites East Bengal''s nightmare in the return leg of the I-League continued as they lost to Shillong Lajong FC 0-1 in a 15th round encounter here today. The home side extracted a sweet revenge of their Federation cup reverse as Nigerian Daniel Bidemi romped home in the 89th minute converting a cross pass from James Gibilee with one minute to go before the final whistle. Though the first and major part of the second half remained goalless, Lajong dominated the proceedings from the word go with their new forward combination of three Africans making repeated forays. Man-of-the-match Bidemi missed a number of chances. In the 24th minute, he took a shot off a pass from Anil Gurung which went out. In the 41st minute, the Nigerian dribbled past three East Bengal defenders and took a powerful shot which went straight into the hands of the Bengal goalkeeper Abhra Mondal. Lajong''s custodian R Lalthuammawia was rarely tested as the visitors put up a lackluster show in the forward line in absence of their talismatic striker Baichung Bhutia. Unmarked Gurung also missed a blinder from near the goalmouth in the 32nd minute. Three Lajong players were shown yellow cards, two of them Samson Ramengmawia and goalkeeper Lalthuammawia for ''excessive appeal''.

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Vonn secures downhill World Cup title

Published>Sat, Mar 06 10 07:24 PM

American Lindsey Vonn added the downhill World Cup title to her Olympic gold when she won Saturday's speed event in Crans Montana.

Vonn, needing to finish ahead of Maria Riesch to secure the title for a third successive year, powered down the Nationale course to beat Italian Johanna Schnarf by a hundredth of a second and grab her sixth World Cup downhill win this season.

Swiss Marianne Abderhalden, who like Schnarf benefited from improved conditions, claimed a surprise third place, while Germany's Riesch dropped back to sixth.

Riesch, who won two golds at the Vancouver Olympics, will need some fantastic performances on home snow if she is to deny Vonn the overall title.

Vonn has a 197-point lead over Riesch at the top of the overall World Cup standings going into the finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen next week.

"It is a relief for me to win this title here," said Vonn. "There is still a lot to come up... However, I'll be going to the finals with a light heart."

Vonn had already secured the super-G World Cup title going into the Olympics, where she won a bronze in super-G as well as the downhill gold.

On Friday, she was assured of finishing top of the super-combined World Cup standings after the race was cancelled. The International Ski Federation must decide whether she will officially be crowned super-combined champion, as only two races have been completed all season.

Vonn completed Saturday's downhill in foggy conditions, as did Riesch who was in second until several outsiders finished ahead of her when the light became better.

"That's Alpine skiing: sometimes you need some luck," Vonn told reporters after finishing in a time of one minute 35.26 seconds. "The conditions were not the same for everyone."

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Hockey World Cup: Australia beat Spain 2-0

Published>Sat, Mar 06 10 06:52 PM

New Delhi, March 6 (IANS) Australia defeated Spain 2-0 in a Pool B match of the hockey World Cup here Saturday.

Australia scored through Luke Doerner's penalty corner conversion and Glenn Turner's field goal to log three points from their penultimate match of the Pool.

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