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WORLD SPORT
Gulf Daily News Monday, 17th November 2014
Email: [email protected]
Saina and Srikanth sweep China titles
FUZHOU, China: In a historic day
for Indian badminton, top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth
clinched the women’s and men’s
singles title respectively in the $700,000
China Open Super Series Premier.
While Olympic bronze-medallist
Saina had to draw from her reservoir
of experience to stave off the challenge
of Akane Yamaguchi of Japan, young
Srikanth notched up a stunning straightgame victory over two-time Olympic
champion Lin Dan of China to claim his
maiden Super Series title.
In her sixth appearance in the prestigious tournament, World No 5 Indian
prevailed over the 17-year-old Akane
21-12, 22-20 in 42 minutes.
The 21-year-old Srikanth showed
nerves of steel to produce a dominating
performance which helped him see off
five-time world champion Lin 21-19,
21-17 in in 46 minutes.
This is the first time an Indian male
shuttler has won a Super Series Premier
event ever since the Super Series and
Premier tournaments were introduced.
In a battle of nerves, Srikanth led 11-7
n Saina ...
women’s
champion
initially but Lin came back to narrow it
down to 11-10. The 31-year-old showed
tremendous control in his strokes but the
Indian used his sharp angled net dribbles
and powerful smash to keep his nose
ahead at 14-12.
Lin, however, soon started bothering
the Indian with his delayed and precise
strokes to turn the tables, reaching 1917. Srikanth found his bearing in time
and not only clawed his way back with
a couple of points but also earned his
game point after winning a referral.
The Indian then produced a body line
n Srikanth ...
men’s winner
smash to snatch the opening game from
his fancied rival.
The second game started on a similar
note as both put their best foot forward
to move together till 8-8 before Lin entered the interval with a 11-9 lead.
Srikanth soon drew parity at 12-12 and
then moved neck and neck till 15-15.
Srikanth then slowly eked out a lead
and soon gained a healthy four-match
point lead. Lin saved one but the Indian
grabbed the next point to etch his name
in the history books.
Srikanth, who won the Thailand Open
Grand Prix Gold last year, had finished
runners-up at the 2014 India Open
Grand Prix Gold event in Lucknow and
was a quarter-finalist in this year’s Malaysian Open.
The Andhra Pradesh lad was also a
part of the Indian badminton contingent
that reached the semi-finals of the mixed
team event at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
In the women’s final, Saina led 3-1
early on in the opening game and extended it to 8-4. She lost a few points
due to miscued strokes but the Indian
managed to go into the interval with a
four-point lead with the help of an angled stroke and a down-the-line smash.
Saina controlled the shuttle and the
pace of the game and forced her young
rival to commit errors, opening up a
healthy 14-7 lead.
Akane showed sparks of brilliance but
it was not enough to threaten Saina, who
moved into game point with a delicate
net shot and then a disguised return to
seal the game.
Akane produced a better performance
in the second game.
Netherlands hit
six past Latvia
AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands outclassed Latvia
in a morale-boosting 6-0 win yesterday that eased
pressure on coach Guus Hiddink after four defeats
in his first five matches.
Arjen Robben and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar both scored twice while
Robin van Persie and Jeffrey Bruma also found the net as the
Dutch got their European Championship Group A qualifying campaign back on track.
After losing three of his first
EURO 2016 QUALIFIERS
four matches in charge, HidGROUP A
dink suggested last week that
Netherlands 6 Latvia
0
he would quit if the Netherlands
(Van Persie 6, Robben 35, 82,
failed to beat Latvia. His team
Huntelaar 42, 89, Bruma 77)
Czech Rep
2 Iceland
1
also lost Wednesday to Mexico
(Kaderabek 45, Bodvarsson 61og)
in a friendly to make it four de(Sigurdsson 9)
feats out of five matches since
Turkey
3 Kazakhstan 1
finishing third at the World Cup
(Yilmaz 26pen, 29, Aziz 82) (Smain Brazil under Louis van Gaal.
kov 87pen)
He never looked likely to
GROUP B
lose his job. And Hiddink was
Belgium
0 Wales
0
safe by half time as his front
Cyprus
5 Andorra
0
three of Van Persie, Robben and
(Merkis 8, Efrem 31, 42, 59, ChrisHuntelaar gave him a comforttofi 87pen)
able 3-0 cushion at the break.
Israel
3 Bosnia
0
(Vermouth 36, Damari 45, Zahavi 70)
Italy battled Croatia to a 1-1
draw. Their match was interruptGROUP H
ed and players went off the pitch
Azerbaijan
0 Norway
1
(Nordtveit 25)
after visiting fans threw flares and
Bulgaria
1 Malta
1
firecrackers onto the pitch.
(Galabinov 6) (Failla 49pen)
The players went off after
Italy
1 Croatia
1
around 70 minutes as a number
(Candreva 11) (Perisic 15)
of flares landed on the pitch and
smoke filled the San Siro stadi- wasted chances in the first half,
um. Riot police were then seen the best of which saw Nicolas
entering the section where the Lombaerts hit the post, but
Croatia fans were located.
stubborn Welsh resistance and
Flares were also thrown onto a touch of luck made the underthe field after Croatia scored their dogs well worth a point. Wales
goal and play was interrupted for are unbeaten after four games.
around three minutes although
The Czech Republic fought
the players stayed on the field.
back to beat Iceland 2-1 with a
Wales survived a late onslaught Pavel Kaderabek header and an
to force a goalless draw against own goal giving the home side
Belgium with their key man Ga- four wins out of four in Group A.
reth Bale making a game-saving
Van Persie opened the scorintervention in the dying seconds. ing, rising to head home a RobThe Real Madrid star Bale, ben cross in just the 6th minute.
who had earlier come close to Robben – the Netherlands’
earning Wales a winner, cleared most dangerous player – doua header from Christian Bente- bled the lead in the 35th when
ke off the line in the sixth min- he sent a trademark curling leftute of added time.
foot shot over goalkeeper AlekBelgium were left to rue sandrs Kolinko/
n Netherlands’ Arjen Robben,
right, scores against Latvia
n Bryan brothers
lift doubles crown
LONDON: Top-ranked Bob and
Mike Bryan claimed their fourth
doubles title at the ATP Finals
with a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-7 win over
seventh-seeded Ivan Dodig and
Marcelo Melo yesterday.
Playing in the final at the year-end
tournament for the sixth time, the
top-seeded pair won their 103rd
title.
Dodig and Melo saved four break
points in the first set that saw Bob
Bryan accidentally send a first
serve into the back of his partner’s
head.
Bob Bryan joked “that was going
to be an ace, by the way.”
Mike Bryan was uninjured and the
Californians rallied in the second
set before winning the match
tiebreaker.
n Koepka bags trophy
BELEK, Turkey: Young American
Brooks Koepka looked as cool as
a cucumber as he won a battle
royal with Ian Poulter to claim
the first regular tour victory
of his career at the $7 million
Turkish Airlines Open yesterday.
The 24-year-old’s triumph
also meant Rory McIlroy was
confirmed as Europe’s 2013-14
money-list winner ahead of next
week’s season-ending DP World
Tour Championship in Dubai.
Koepka and the 38-year-old
Poulter were locked together
at the top of the leaderboard
until the youngster struck a
majestic approach at the 13th and
nonchalantly rolled in a 12-foot
eagle putt to burst two strokes
clear.
The Englishman, playing in the
match behind, had to make do
with a birdie at the 13th and the
destiny of the title eventually rested
on developments at the 18th.
The bearded Koepka could only
manage a par five at the last
after pushing his tee shot into
the tall pine trees that line the
Montgomerie Maxx Royal and
being forced to chip the ball out
sideways.
n Khan triumphs in style
CHIANG MAI, Thailand: Rashid
Khan lifted his second Asian
Tour trophy after beating Jyoti
Randhawa and Thanyakon
Khrongpha by one shot in the
Chiang Mai Classic yesterday.
The 23-year-old Indian, who won
his maiden tour trophy in New
Delhi in February, shot 4-under 68
for an overall 17-under 271.
Khan, who trailed overnight leader
Thanyakon (71) by two strokes at
the Alpine Golf Resort, recovered
from an opening bogey in the final
round which was halted by rain
for an hour after both players had
completed three holes.
Khan came back strongly with solid
putting, highlighted by a 15-footer
from the bunker on the 15th.
Randhawa, the eight-time Asian Tour
winner from India, shot 69 to finish
on 16-under 272 with Thanyakorn.
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat
(69) was fourth on 14-under 274.
Former US PGA Championship
winner Jason Dufner fired 66 for
his best score of the week and an
11-under 277 total.
n Bohn takes one-shot lead
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico:
Blind adds to United woes
AMSTERDAM: Manchester United midfielder Daley Blind could be out for a
lengthy period after coming off after 20
minutes of the Netherlands’ 6-0 win over
Latvia in a Euro 2016 qualifier yesterday.
United said on their website that it looked like a
thigh problem but Netherlands coach Guus Hiddink
suggested it was a knee injury, with some media reports speculating he could be out for six weeks.
“I’m not a doctor, but it doesn’t look good. It
looks like he twisted his medial ligament, but it
could be a rupture as well,” Hiddink said.
Such news would be a big blow to compatriot Louis van Gaal, whose stuttering United
side have been riddled by injuries this season as
they attempt to recover from last term’s dreadful
showing.
Blind had made a decent start to his Old Trafford career as a defensive midfielder, also being
employed by Van Gaal as an emergency centre
back.
United, currently seventh in the Premier
League, will again have to reshuffle their pack as
they prepare to visit Arsenal on Saturday.
Jason Bohn maintained ice-cool
composure in tricky scoring
conditions and took advantage of
an erratic finish by Shawn Stefani
to lead by one shot after the third
round of the OHL Classic at
Mayakoba in Mexico on Saturday.
In pursuit of his third career
victory on the PGA Tour,
American Bohn ground
out a four-under-par 67
after contending with heavy
downpours on a saturated El
Camaleon course at the ocean
resort of Playa del Carmen.
Though the 41-year-old Bohn
ran up a three-putt bogey at the
last to post a 15-under total of
198, he ended the day one ahead
of his compatriot and playing
partner Stefani, who closed
bogey-bogey-birdie for a 68.