Document 6562113

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2014
S P ORTS
Yao, Liu strike
gold for China
NANNING: Yao Jinnan and Liu Yang
upset the established order as they
claimed gold for hosts China with their
maiden individual titles at the world
gymnastics championships yesterday.
Yao, 19, pipped defending champion
and compatriot Huang Huidan by a
razor-thin 0.067 points in the women’s
uneven bars for her first world crown,
which follows her four-gold rampage at
the Asian Games last month.
And Liu, 20, stunned Olympic and
world champion Arthur Nabarrete
Zanetti of Brazil on the men’s rings in a
show of strength that lifted him from last
year’s fourth place.
Yao, sixth on the uneven bars last year,
outdid Huang in qualifying and she carried her momentum into the eight-way
final at the Guangxi Gymnasium in
Nanning. She was seen rushing to the
athletes’ passage after seeing her winning score. “Nothing happened. I was just
very happy,” Yao explained later. She also
had to console her defeated teammate.
“When I saw Huang Huidan crying, I really thought that she did better than me.”
“So it’s just a feeling that I don’t know
how to express.” Yao has changed her
given name this year to Ziyi because
Jinnan phonetically sounds similar to
words meaning “hard to get gold.”
She will start using the new name in
competition next year but the change
has paid off with her successful defence
of the national title in May and her Asiad
one-woman show in South Korea.
But having finished only fifth in the
world all-around on Friday, Yao said she
was not using elements of extreme difficulty which she usually practises.
“I think I have done 80 per cent of
myself,” she said. “I think my performance
still had several tiny flaws. “I will continue
working hard, making up for my poor
events and keeping doing well in my
skilled events.” As the last performer, Yao
dazzled with high-level pirouetting and
aerial skills and finished with a lofty double layout somersault.
She earned 15.633 points with Huang
at 15.566. Russian Daria Spiridonova
came in third at 15.283. Yao won balance
beam silver and team bronze at the 2011
worlds when she was also third in the allaround. but dogged by a thigh injury,
she failed to medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Liu, who contributed to China’s men’s
team victory over Japan with a top rings
score, outdid the 24-year-old Zanetti in
both difficulty and execution.
Displaying solid strength moves and
clockwork swings, Liu collected 15.933
points against Zanetti’s 15.733. Another
Chinese competitor, You Hao, tied for
third spot with Russia’s Denis Abliazin.
Liu, 20, said his performance was not
“text book”, as some reports had admiringly described it, as his young age
meant he still had much to learn. “I still
have a long way to go, so I still need
work hard,” he said.
In the other apparatus events, North
Korea’s Olympic champion Hong UnJong won the women’s vault, beating allaround champion Simone Biles of the
United States into second spot.
Hungary ’s Olympic champion
Krisztian Berki won his third world pommel horse title, following his triumphs in
2010 and 2011.
European champion Abliazin won the
men’s floor gold at 15.750, with defending champion Kenzo Shirai of Japan second on 15.733 after he was hit with a 0.1point deduction for stepping out of
bounds after one of his tumbling passes.
The championships close today with
the remaining event-by-event finals:
women’s balance beam and floor exercise, and men’s vault, parallel bars and
high bar. —AFP
ARLINGTON: Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray (29) fights off a tackle attempt by New Orleans Saints’ Junior Galette (93) during
the second half of an NFL football game in this file photo. —AP
Who owns the Bills: The Patriots, of course
NEW YORK: Even though the Pegulas just
bought the Buffalo Bills, everyone knows who
really owns them: The New England Patriots.
New England has won 20 of the past 21
matchups, and when it journeys to Buffalo on
Sunday, it will face a festive atmosphere. Buffalo
folk have been busy celebrating the $1.4 billion
sale of the NFL franchise to Terry and Kim
Pegula, who also own the NHL’s Sabres. The
Pegulas are keeping the team in the area. “It
would be big for them being their first game as
new owners, but it would be better for us,” Bills
running back Fred Jackson said. “If we don’t handle business, we’ll all feel rather sour.”
Buffalo is off to a better-than-expected start,
and riding momentum following a come-frombehind 17-14 win at Detroit.
There are questions about whether New
England’s decade-plus run of divisional dominance is showing signs of decay. The Patriots
were blown out 41-14 at Kansas City two weeks
ago before rebounding with a 43-17 win over
Cincinnati. Which are the real Patriots?
“ We’re really past that now,” coach Bill
Belichick said. “I don’t think that has anything to
do with this week.” What the Dallas Cowboys
have done, to win four successive games, especially with a banged-up defense minus any star
players, has been impressive. Beating the
defending Super Bowl champs in Seattle would
be stupendous - and stamp Dallas as a surprise
title contender.
The Cowboys have defied expectations
thanks to the running of DeMarco Murray, just
the third running back in league history - and
first since OJ Simpson in 1975 - to start the season with five straight 100-yard games.
A sixth against the Seahawks’ stingy and
physical defense that leads the NFL in stopping
the run would be another huge achievement.
Seattle is coming off a short week following a
27-17 win on Monday night in Washington
thanks to the wizardry of Russell Wilson. It’s now
accepted that Wilson is going to pull off a trick or
two, but his big night could have been part of a
blowout win if not for Seattle’s penalty issues.
The New York Giants are at Philadelphia in the
primetime matchup late today. After dropping
their first two games, the Giants stopped being
so generous turning over the ball, and began
grasping the offense new coordinator Ben
McAdoo brought from Green Bay. This is the first
of six successive games against teams with winning records for New York.
This is also Eli Month: Giants quarterback
Manning is 30-7 in October. The Eagles have
been dynamic on special teams, with four touchdowns, and also have three defensive touchdowns.
Elsewhere today, it’s Denver at the New York
Jets, San Diego at Oakland, Green Bay at Miami,
Carolina at Cincinnati, Baltimore at Tampa Bay,
Pittsburgh at Cleveland, Washington at Arizona,
Chicago at Atlanta, Detroit at Minnesota, and
Jacksonville at Tennessee.
Tomorrow, San Francisco is at St. Louis. The
action began on Thursday with Indianapolis taking sole possession of first place in the AFC
South by beating Houston 33-28. The Colts won
their fourth straight by building a 24-0 lead and
holding on.
Colts passer Andrew Luck threw for 370 yards
and three touchdowns, with TY Hilton making
nine receptions for 223 yards with one touchdown. That was enough to beat Houston, even
though defensive end JJ Watt scored his third
touchdown of the season, returning a fumble 45
yards.—AP
Federer halts Djokovic
to reach Shanghai final
SHANGHAI: Roger Federer brought world number one Novak Djokovic’s juggernaut to a halt
when a 6-4 6-4 victory in the Shanghai Masters
yesterday set up a final against unseeded
Frenchman Gilles Simon. The 33-year-old Swiss
was in aggressive mood against his younger
opponent, who was on a 28-match winning
streak in China, and converted his third match
point with a backhand volley to end a semi-final
slugfest that lasted one hour 35 minutes.
Federer, who will return to second in the
rankings on Monday, broke serve in the fifth
game of the first set after a couple of unforced
errors from the twice Shanghai Masters champion. The 17-times grand slam winner broke again
in the opening game of the second set and went
on to exact sweet revenge for his defeat in their
last meeting, at the Wimbledon final in July.
Earlier, Simon moved into his first Masters
Series final in six years after outclassing big-serving Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
The world number 29 faced little pressure on
his serve and dominated the match from the
baseline with some sumptuous groundstrokes
to beat the 33-year-old Lopez 6-2 7-6 (1).
Lopez, who knocked out world number two
Rafa Nadal in the second round, netted a backhand volley to hand Simon the first break of the
match in the third game and the tall Spaniard
only had himself to blame as a double fault gifted a second break.
The frazzled world number 21, under pressure from Simon’s winners, finally held to make it
5-2 but the Frenchman wrapped up the set in 25
minutes with an ace down the middle that
SHANGHAI: Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot against Julien Benneteau of France
during their men’s singles quarterfinal match of Shanghai Masters Tennis Tournament. —AP
swerved teasingly away from the left hander.
Lopez mixed up his tactics in the second set,
opting to attack the net more to hustle his
opponent, whose only previous Masters Series
final appearance came in 2008 in Madrid, with
some success.
The Spaniard came through seven deuces in
the third game to avoid another break while
Simon only dropped four points on his serve in
the set.
The pressure finally told on Lopez in the
tiebreak as he crumbled under a mix of double
faults, netted returns and wild smashes to lose it
7-1.—Reuters
Pornanong takes 3-shot
lead at LPGA Malaysia
CHINA: Hong Un Jong of North Korea performs during the women’s vault final at the
gymnastics world championships in Nanning. —AFP
Kuwait defeat Jordan
AMMAN: Former England international
Ray Wilkins began his tenure as Jordan
coach in defeat after a late goal by Yusuf
Nasser gave Kuwait a 1-0 win in a friendly
on Friday.
The striker found space between two
Jordanian defenders to hit a first time
right foot shot into the corner of the net in
the 85th minute of the friendly in Amman.
Former Chelsea, AC Milan and
Manchester United midfielder Wilkins only
took charge of the Asian Cup finalists last
month.
Jordan, who have been drawn in Group
D of Januar y ’s Asian Cup in Australia
alongside holders Japan, Iraq and
Palestine, will take on Kuwait again tomorrow.—Reuters
KUALA LUMPUR: Thailand’s Pornanong
Phatlum made six birdies on the front
nine on her way to a 6-under 65 yesterday that gave her a three-shot lead after
the third round of the LPGA Malaysia
tournament. Pornanong closed in on her
first LPGA victory as she moved to 14under 199 at Kuala Lumpur Golf and
Country Club.
Japan’s Ayako Uehara had three consecutive birdies from the 12th hole in a
round of 69 to sit alone in second place.
Four players were tied for third a stroke
further back, including second-round
leader So Hyeon Ryu, who had double
bogeys at both the 17th and 18th to give
up her lead.
Her South Korean compatriot Chella
Choi was also at 10 under after a 68
which included a quadruple-bogey 8 at
the 14th hole. They were joined by
China’s Shanshan Feng (69) and 17-yearold New Zealander Lydia Ko (70), who can
take over the No. 1 ranking if she wins on
Sunday and the currently top-ranked
Stacy Lewis finishes tied for 12th or
worse.
Lewis was at 5 under, tied for 20th,
after shooting a 72 which included a double-bogey at the par-3 seventh, where
she also dropped a shot in the second
round.
Pornanong made the turn in 29 - the
first time she’s gone under 30 at the midpoint of a round - but had a more routine
back nine with two birdies balanced out
by two bogeys.
“The front nine was amazing,” the 25year-old Thai player said. “Like I make
everything. Back nine I just feel a little bit
nervous.”
Her Thai compatriot Ariya Jutanugarn
had the round of day with a 64 that
included nine birdies. She was five shots
off the lead as she chases an LPGA Tour
card for next season. Ariya and
Pornanong are aiming to become the
first Thai player to win on the tour. —AP
MALAYSIA: Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand throws the
ball to her caddie on the 16th hole during the third
round of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia 2014 golf tournament. —AFP