Ferraris forge ahead

After a disappointing start to the season Massa made amends with a win at Bahrain as his teammate, and defending champion, Raikkonen took away the lead from Hamilton in a blistering display of Formula One driving, 
writes Alan Baldwin

Brazilian Felipe Massa led Ferrari to a one-two victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with team mate Kimi Raikkonen seizing the championship lead from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Massa ’s sixth career win brought him his first points of the Formula One season and came at the same Sakhir desert circuit where he fired up his title challenge last year with a pole-to-flag victory.

World champion Raikkonen collected the 50th podium finish of his grand prix career and the Finnish 'Iceman' took over at the top with 19 points, three clear of BMW Sauber's German Nick Heidfeld, after three races. Hamilton, McLaren team mate Heikki Kovalainen and Poland 's Robert Kubica are level on 14. Britain 's Hamilton endured a nightmare afternoon, finishing 13th and lapped by the Ferraris after making an agonisingly slow start and then running into the back of former team mate Fernando Alonso's Renault.

BMW Sauber also leapfrogged McLaren at the top of the constructors’ standings. Kubica finished third, after becoming the first BMW Sauber driver to start a grand prix from pole position, with Heidfeld a close fourth. BMW Sauber have now finished on the podium in all of the first three races of the season, a feat unmatched by Ferrari or McLaren. They have 30 points to Ferrari's 29 and McLaren’s 28. Kovalainen was fifth, ahead of Toyota’s Italian Jarno Trulli and Australian Mark Webber in a Red Bull. Germany 's Nico Rosberg took the final point for Williams.

Massa made a faster getaway than Kubica while Hamilton was engulfed by the field, and took the chequered flag 3.3 seconds ahead of Raikkonen. “The race was really difficult at the beginning, there was a lot of oil on the track," said the Brazilian. “Then during the race the car was just very good and I didn't push to the limit. It's not the first time and it won't be the last. I had a two bad days in the first two races but I always knew that we were quick. I wanted to win but we've been a bit off the pace all weekend,” Raikkonen added. “But I’m leading the championship so if we can score second places on the bad weekends, I’m not too disappointed.” Kubica said he had been hampered by wheelspin at the start and then struggled with the oil on the track, with Raikkonen barging past on lap two.

While the two Ferrari’s celebrated a double podium finish, another F1 team riding on a Ferrari, celebrated their first finish for both the drivers. The newly created, rather rechristened, Force India had both their drivers back in safety and infact Giancarlo Fisichella outpaced Lewis Hamilton and cut through a cluttered midfield to finish an impressive 12th .

Starting 18th on the grid, three-time race winner Fisichella proved why he is considered such a high-quality driver and the Italian came up with a sublime show to finish 12th in the race, ahead of, among others, McLaren’s Hamilton, Williams driver Kazuki Nakazima, Toro Rosso's Sibastien Bourdais and Red Bull's David Coulthard. Hamilton had a chaotic start and things just did not fall in place for the Briton who eventually finished behind Fisichella.

The other Force India driver Adrian Sutil, however, was involved in an opening lap mess and had to pit his car early with a broken nose. The German would still be happy with his 19th place, especially after failing to finish the races in Melbourne and Sepang.. — Reuters

IN THE NEWS
Advantage Mankad

Making a comeback in tennis and that too with Davis Cup team is always a tough ask. And Harsh Mankad is up against that challenge. After spending a year rehabiliting from a knee injury, the 28-year-old Mumbaikar made a comeback in the circuit last November. And now he has been selected as the fifth member for the Indian team after three years for an important tie against formidable Japan in the Davis Cup.

“I had a good run in the last few weeks. I started playing again in November last year and I knew that it would take a few months to get the rhythm back as my rehabilitation process took little longer,” said Mankad, who won the ITF Futures in Chandigarh after Rohan Bopanna conceded the final to rest his inflamed knee ahead of the Davis Cup encounter.

“Last week has been a big boost for me and I will use my last few week’s performance as a stepping stone,” he added. Mankad is happy to return to the national squad after a long gap and is set to give his all in the tie against Japan, where India start with a slight edge. He had already enrolled his name for the $75,000 Challenger tournament in Busan , South Korea, starting April 14, but Harsh looks set to serve his country first.

“I was not at all surprised to return to the Davis Cup team. I knew that the fifth spot is always open. If I play well and perform consistently there is always an opportunity,” Mankad said after a strenuous practice session with coach Nandan Bal at the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association.

When he was asked whether he would skip the Busan Challenger for national duty, Mankad had said, “I leave it to the team management. I will take a decision only when I am clear about my role in the squad.” Mankad, who had reached a career-best singles ranking of 222 in December 2005, started from the scratch and gained 17 rating points by virtue of his last few weeks’ consistent performance in the circuit.

Meanwhile, coach Bal sounded optimistic and said India had an upper hand over Japan in the upcoming tie because of the playing conditions. “All the Japanese players are gliders and they prefer to play from the back of the court. But they will have to face an Indian team who will be slicing a lot and the key will be to put a little doubt in their minds regarding the bounce,” said Bal.

“The surface is tailor-made for us.” Asked whether there will be cordial atmosphere in the team following Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj and Mahesh Bhupathi’s unprecedented revolt against captain Leander Paes during the last tie against Uzbekistan, he said: “Absolutely, there will be cordial atmosphere in the team. Everybody is mature and we all are here for a purpose as we have given a commitment.” All that will be clear once the action on court takes its course, but the way things are shaping up it looks like it’s a match point for Mankad, and Indian tennis might emerge the overall winner. — IANS

Fedex yet to deliver
Vaibhav Sharma

During an interview some time last year, World No.1 Roger Federer had said, “I can’t stay No.1 for fifty years, you know. We’ll see what happens”. Even while he had said it he must’ve known that fifty years was too long a time for one man’s, almost complete, domination over a game not to be challenged. Four months into the year and the World No.1 is still looking for a title to claim. Every one had touted this to be the year when he would surpass Pete Samparas’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles. Not to say that he can’t do it anymore, but the signs this year have not been very encouraging.

In January, Roger pulled out from the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament, disrupting his warm-up to the Australian Open. He came to the Australian Open as the defending champion, but not in the pink of health. He had a few hiccups before reaching the semi-final, but eventually he got the better of them. But just when everyone thought Roger was all set to extend his record string of Grand Slam finals, Roger ran into the eventual champion Novak Ðjokoviæ, losing (7–5, 6–3, 7–6).

The loss to Djokovic ended his 37-match winning streak in best-of-five set matches on hard courts. Ever since losing to Gustavo Kuerten (6–4, 6–4, 6–4) at the third round of the 2004 Rolland Garros, Roger had not lost in straight sets in a Grand Slam singles match. But all that was before the Serbian Djokovic cut short Roger’s visit to Australia .

Federer then returned to the Dubai Tennis Championships as the top seed and was also the defending champion. Once again Federer was not at his best and Andy Murray got the better of him (6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4), in the very first round.

Apart form beating the now-retired Sampras in an exhibition match, there hasn’t been much to cheer for Federer. At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, the first Tennis Masters Series event of the year, America’s Mardy Fish got the better of Federer (6–3, 6–2), in the semifinals. This ended his 41-match winning streak against American players. This record was further hit as Andy Roddick (who has a career record of 12-2 against Roger) defeated the champion (7–6, 4–6, 6–3) at the Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinal, in Florida .

So does this mean that the golden run for the man touted as ‘the most complete tennis player ever’ is over? Has the Fedex finally come to a halt? The answers to all these questions will come only with time, but one thing is for sure that Roger’s dominance over the game will not be as absolute as it was till last year.

The reason for that is partly his performance and also the way the other players have stepped a level up to match him. The likes of Djokovic, Nalbandian, Roddick and the ever-looming Nadal have been waiting in the wings long enough to know that like every great man’s era, Roger’s time has to end. But that might not be as soon as the naysayer would like to believe. He still is the favourite for the Wimbledon and personally he would be gearing up for the French Open, the one title still elusive to him. He has the game and the temperament to better Sampras, and be beyond comparisons for a while. Time catches up with every one and it’s up to the Fedex as to till when he is able to outpace it.

Time to stick it out

The Indian Women’s Hockey team left for their Olympic qualifiers in Russia, full of confidence despite not having the opportunity to play in many international events. The reason for this well-found confidence was that the team relyed heavily on the video analysis of their formidable opponents to ensure a berth in the Beijing Games.

The focus had shifted to women’s hockey after the men failed to qualify for the Olympics at the Santiago qualifier. The players sure know the enormity of the challenge ahead as they will be going to the qualifiers without having played some frontline teams like the United States and the Netherlands Antilles. “The Americans and the Dutch will be the biggest hurdles for us. We have not played them before and do not know much about their style of play. We have seen the US in the World Cup. We have managed to get their videos and we are seeing them every day and analysing their game,” said skipper Mamta Kharb.

A good part of their training schedule in Lucknow went into studying the videos of the teams they are going to play in Russia, but that can hardly be the substitute for actually playing them. India is to fight it out with Belgium, France, the Netherlands Antilles, Russia and the US in the nine-day tournament, beginning April 19.

“The biggest drawback for our preparation is that we hardly play in international tournaments and we never get the so-called exposure trips. We are taking note of various players while watching the videos,” she said. “We are very sad that the men’s team failed to qualify. We know people will want us to qualify, but we are not putting ourselves under any pressure because that will make our job even more difficult. We are practising very hard and realise that the women’s team has qualified only once in 1980. We are going to give it our best shot.”

Mamta said the team was an experienced one and coach Maharaj Krishan Kaushik had prepared them well to have a real crack at the Olympic berth. “He (Kaushik) established himself as an international coach and won us many medals. We are back to playing in the same formation that fetched us good results under him and that has helped us work out a good combination quickly,” she said.

Despite the money constraints of money and exposure, the women’s team won a silver medal at the last Commonwealth Games and bronze at the Asian Games. We hope that they are as well prepared this time around as well and restore some pride to the game which otherwise finds itself in tatters in India. — IANS

For a shuttle to Beijing

Despite setbacks on and off the court, Chetan Anand is not giving up on his chances to make it to the Beijing Olympics

Reigning National Champion Chetan Anand knows his chances of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics are fading fast, but he can still find reason to be optimistic. After all he knows all about the games luck plays. He started his senior career at a time when Pullela Gopichand had pulled out of the Asian satellite tournament, just after winning the All England Championship in 2001, due to an injury. Not only did he reach the final, but also won the tournament.

The National champion’s dream of winning his first Grand Prix title remains unfulfilled as Thailand ’s Boonsak Ponsana outplayed him in the finals of the Indian Grand Prix at Hyderabad . To the obvious disappointment of the home fans, Anand failed to get past Ponsana’s craftiness, who took the control of the match in the early stages and lost the final 21-16, 21-12 at the Gachibowli Stadium.

Anand made it within striking distance at times but every time he dropped the slightest hint of being a little defensive or unsure, Ponsana stepped on the gas. The closest the Indian could get in the second game was 7-9, and the lead kept getting bigger as the Thai refused to let him get any sort of rhythm and wrapped up the final game 21-12.

So where does Anand go from here? Well there is still an outside chance of him making it to the Olympics, so it goes without saying that he definitely has a fight on his hands. The BWF rankings on 1 st Ma y, 2008 are to be used while deciding the players for the Olympics. Before the Indian Open, Chetan was ranked ranked 61, and he has to be in the top-30 before the cut-off date. He had received a severe setback last year when he dropped out of the top-30 bracket after the Badminton Association of India (BAI) restricted the players from participating in international tournaments outside the country. “I am not thinking about Olympics. My focus is on doing really well in the tournaments prior to the Olympics. If that happens I will still have an outside chance of qualifying,” he says with optimism. Looks like if there’s still a shuttle to Beijing , Chetan wants to be the one navigating it. — Agencies