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The Rog and Rod show in Paris
FIFA sanctions 10 artificial pitches for India
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Chelsea
beat Everton, win FA Cup
Figo to hang his boots
Rookie Pak opener wants to emulate Sehwag
Sandeep loses in final
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The Rog and Rod show in Paris
Paris, May 30 Roger Federer faced a few nervous moments before he navigated past plucky Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round. After saving five break points during his opening service games, Mathieu pounced on his only opportunity to break for 4-3 and the local favourite protected his advantage to bag the first set with a scorching ace. Federer, chasing a record-equalling 14th major, did not allow his opponent to stay on cloud nine for long as within minutes he had sneaked into a 3-0 lead in the second. He was happy to tease the French fans by allowing Mathieu to pull off some crowd-pleasing winners but when it mattered, the Swiss pulled rank and sealed victory with a thumping forehand winner to set up a last-16 encounter with Germany's Tommy Haas. Roland Garros has never been a happy hunting ground for Roddick as the highlight of his seven previous visits had been a third round appearance on his debut in 2001. He finally climbed over that hump with a brilliantly crafted 6-1 6-4 6-4 win over Marc Gicquel, holding his arms aloft in triumph as he watched the Frenchman's service return sail over his head and beyond the baseline on match point. "It's three matches, it's a lot better than I've done here before," a beaming Roddick said before he walked off court. While Roddick was enjoying a French Open renaissance,women's fourth seed Dementieva was already looking ahead to Wimbledon after fading to a 6-3 4-6 6-1 defeat by Australian Samantha Stosur. The Russian was lucky to survive the previous round as she was trailing by a set when another Australian, Jelena Dokic, was forced to quit injured. There was to be no respite on Saturday and after being dragged around court for more than two hours, a lethargic Dementieva looked almost relieved when Stosur's forehand winner flew past her outstretched racket on match point. "I'm far away from being in the good shape," said the 27-year-old Olympic champion, who became the second big name to fall after third seed Venus Williams went out on Friday. "It's a very physical game when it comes to the clay courts, so it's not good for me. Just too many unforced errors and not enough power from me. So I hope I have enough time to get ready for Wimbledon and physically feel much better than this week," added the Russian, who has gone past the fourth round twice in 11 visits to Paris. Although there were a few squeals of surprise when Dementieva lost, none matched the gasps heard in the news conference room when she suggested four-times champion Rafael Nadal would not retain his Roland Garros crown. "He actually looks a little bit tired to me. It doesn't look like he's fresh enough. I think it's going to be a tough challenge for him to win this time, actually." That prediction came less than 24 hours after Nadal, whose Roland Garros record stands at 31-0, had demolished former world number one Lleyton Hewitt for the loss of just five games. Svetlana Kuznetsova's pursuit of a maiden French Open title gathered momentum when she dispatched Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-1 6-3 with the minimum of fuss. The Russian seventh seed was one of the in-form players coming into the championships and she ominously moved into the last 16 for the sixth year running. — Reuters Sania-Bhupathi out of mixed doubles Indian mixed doubles pair of Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi suffered a straight set loss to French-Israeli duo of Nathalie Dechy and Andy Ram in the first round of the French Open here today. The Indian duo, who won the Australian Open title in January, lost 1-6, 5-7 to Dechy and Ram combine in one hour and two minute contest. With the loss, Sania's campaign at Rolland Garros ended as she had already exited from the singles and doubles competitions. Bhupathi though has advanced in the pre-quarterfinals in the doubles event. He and Mark Knowles of Bahamas defeated Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherland Antilles 7-6 6-7(4) 7-6 (3) in a gruelling second round match. Paes-Dlouhy enter quarters
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy edged past the local pair of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (3) 6-3 to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals at the French Open here today. It took the third seeded Indo-Czech pair more than an hour and a half to bury the challenge of their rivals, who fought valiantly. With this win, Paes and Dlouhy improved on their last year's performance here as they had lost in the pre-quarterfinals. Both the pairs played an engrossing first set, none conceding an inch. The first break opportunity came for Paes and Dlouhy as late as in the ninth game but they failed to convert the chance. In the tie breaker, Paes and Dlouhy raced away to a 5-2 lead and sealed the set comfortably. Unlike the first set, the Indo-Czech combine got numerous chances to break their rivals but squandered three breakpoints in the sixth game. However they made amends in the eighth game and converted the second chance to go up 5-3 and served out the match in the next game. They next face the winners of the match between Jaroslav Levinsky/Igor Zelenay and Bruno Soares/Kevin Ullyett. Bhupathi-Knowles advance
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles survived a stern test from Johan Brunstrom of Sweden and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherland Antilles before reaching the pre-quarterfinals of the men's doubles event at French Open here today. The fourth seeded Indo-Bahamian pair toiled for nearly three hours before edging out their opponents 7-6 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) in the gruelling second round match. Bhupathi and Knowles had a match point in the second set but their rivals displayed tremendous resilience to push the match to tie-breaker in the third set. Eventually, Bhupathi and Knowles' experience stood them in good stead as they held their nerve to move to the pre-quarters. The first set saw a curious fight as the first 11 games went with the serve. It looked that tie-breaker would come into play as Brunstorm and Rojer were up 40-0 love in the 12th game but Bhupathi-Knowles turned things around amazingly and went on to break them to seal the set. Brunstrom and Rojer bounced back in the second set as they held their serve throughout, saved a match point in the 10th game, won the set in a tie-breaker and forced the decisive third set. There was no break in the third set and eventually the match ended in favour of Bhupathi and Knowles, who reeled off five consecutive points to win the tie-breaker.
— PTI |
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FIFA sanctions 10 artificial pitches for India
Panaji, May 30 One of the proposed places is Goa," AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco wrote recently to the Goa Football Association (GFA), the association's secretary Savio Messais said. The AIFF is understood to have picked states where the I-League clubs are based and where the ambitious Asian Football Confederation programme 'Vision India' is being implemented to lay the turfs, the GFA secretary said. States like Goa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Manipur, Punjab, Delhi, Sikkim, Maharashtra and Karnataka stand a good chance to get the turfs, he said. FIFA is expected to handle the project independently in terms of bidding process, contract signing and testing. A seminar to educate member associations on how to maintain the quality of the artificial surfaces is also on the cards, the letter by Colaco to the GFA said. Each artificial turf is expected to cost a minimum of Rs four crore, it said. "The 'Win in India with India' programme supports the development of the national team, particularly in regards to infrastructure management and licensing. A similar project is being undertaken in Africa where a total of USD 70 million will be spent on 'Win in Africa with Africa', with USD 38m being spent on laying artificial pitches, the letter said. FIFA will pick one from the four artificial turf companies contracted to them -- Field Turf (Canada), Limonta (Italy), Greenfields (Holland) and Act Global (New Zealand) to lay the all weather turf. — PTI
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Chelsea beat Everton, win FA Cup Wembley, May 30 The comeback clinched Chelsea's first trophy in two years and gave Guus Hiddink the perfect farewell in his final match before stepping down as manager. The victory could have been even more convincing had the referee awarded Florent Malouda a goal in the 78th minute. The France winger's 30-meter shot hit the bar and bounced down, but he struck it so hard that it was impossible for the referee to tell whether it had gone over the line as television replays indicated it had. Chelsea had other chances, most notably when Nicolas Anelka lobbed wide with the outside of his boot and Malouda lifted a shot over goalkeeper Tim Howard and the bar from close range. The open nature of the match defied predictions from many fans and commentators of a cagey encounter.
— AP
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Figo to hang his boots
Rome, May 30 He started his career with Sporting, winning the Portuguese Cup in 1995 before his remarkable attacking talents prompted\ Barcelona to snap him up later that year. He won two league titles with the Catalan club and the European Cup Winners' Cup before his controversial move to bitter rivals Real Madrid in 2000 made him the first of the big-money 'Galacticos' signings. He helped the Madrid giants to win two league titles and the 2002 Champions League. His individual honours include the 2000 Ballon d'Or for European Footballer of the Year and the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year. He collected 127 international caps and scored 32 goals for the Portuguese national team between 1991 and 2006.
— Reuters |
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Ponting along with Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey, deliberately skipped IPL preferring rest ahead of a busy summer for them while players like Andrew Flintoff got injured and have been ruled out of the World Cup. Fitness of Kevin Pietersen is also under the scanner. "I don't really know the full extent of their injuries and how much cricket they had actually played leading into the IPL. I was only worried about the players in my side and what our workloads had been like," Ponting said. "With the amount of big tournaments we have coming up it was about making sure we were in the best shape," he was quoted as saying by 'The Independent'. "There was obviously great incentive with the amount of money that they both (Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen) went for," he added.— PTI
I'm not good at Twenty20: Pietersen London: The most expensive IPL player and flamboyant England batsman Kevin Pietersen has confessed he is not good at playing the hugely popular Twenty20 format but vowed to make amends during in the World Championships, beginning next week. "I'm not very good at Twenty20 cricket, am I?" Pietersen said on the eve of the World T20 Championships in England. "The more you play T20 cricket the better you become and I haven't played a lot of it, and I'm not very good at it," he was quoted as saying by 'The Mirror'. Pietersen, who was not a part of the inaugural edition of IPL, played only six matches in the IPL-II in South Africa and has made just one T20 50 for England, averaging 26. Pietersen disclosed he had developed new theories to suit his batting to the quickest format of the game. — PTI
Younus backs Pak to win this time around
We have the talent, but it's a tough competition where other eleven teams will do their best to finish at the top," Khan said. Khan hoped that his team carries on from where it left against Australia in the Twenty 20 match played in the UAE recently. "We beat Australia and then had a good conditioning camp," he said. — ANI
Karachi: Rookie opener Shahzaib Hasan, who was a surprise inclusion in Pakistan's squad for the Twenty20 World Championships, says he wants to emulate his explosive Indian counterpart Virender Sehwag in the mega-event that starts June 5 in England. "He is someone I would like to emulate and bat like. He dictates the pace of the game and I want to do that," Hasan said.
— PTI |
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Sandeep loses in final
New Delhi, May 30 Pin weight (46kg) pugilist Sandeep was the lone Indian to make it to the finals after Namit Bahadur (50kg), Shiva Thapa (52kg) and Vikas Khatri (54kg) lost in the semis to settle for bronze medals yesterday. Up against host Armenia's Koryun Soghomonyan, Sandeep was tied 1-1 with his rival at the end of the first round but it all went downhill for the Indian thereafter. The second round belonged to Soghomonyan, who landed a flurry of punches to notch up five points and establish a 6-3 lead over Sandeep. The deciding third round followed a similar script and Sandeep could add just one more point to his tally and Soghomonyan eventually won 10-4. India had sent an eight-member team for the International Boxing Association's premier junior event for 15 and 16 year olds. An impressive six of them had made the quarterfinals. Indian coach M S Dhaka said Sandeep gave the bout his all but didn't have the luck against the local favourite. "The Armenian was bound to get the home advantage. Sandeep fought really well. He attacked throughout the bout but just didn't get enough points for his effort. "I think the second round was crucial where Sandeep could get just two points," he added. The Indian team will return to the country in the early hours on June 1. — PTI
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Roger Federer and Andy Roddick advance to fourth round but in contrasting styles 
Paris, May 30
Panaji, May 30
Wembley,
May 30
London: Captain Ricky Ponting has dismissed talks of Australia being underprepared for the World Twenty20 Championships by missing the IPL and said his side was instead "in the best shape" following the break before the big event.
Karachi: Pakistan captain Younus Khan has said that his team could win the World Twenty20 Championship this time around. Pakistan was defeated by arch rivals India in the final match of the inaugural Championship two years ago. "We want to win the title. 
Keeping an ‘i’ on Beckham