OSLO: Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon yesterday finished a disappointing sixth in the showpiece 100 metres race at the Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.
Winner was Mark Lewis-Francis who beat countryman Dwain Chambers, upset conqueror of world record holder Tim Montgomery and Olympic champion Maurice Greene here last year. Lewis-Francis timed 10.12 and beat Chambers for the second time this month by three-hundreths of a second. Berhane Adere of Ethiopia missed the women’s 5,000-metre world record by 1.23 seconds also yesterday. And sprint favourites Kelli White of the United States like Chambers of Britain, who train together in California, also had to settle for second in the 100-metre race. Adere’s time of 14 minutes, 29 point 32 seconds was an Ethiopian and African record. She ran before a near-sellout crowd that included former Norwegian running greats Grete Waitz and Ingrid Kristiansen. China’s Jiang Bo set the world mark of 14:28.09 in 1997. “It was a fantastic race,” said Adere, who led an Ethiopian sweep of the first four placings. “I thought it was possible to break the world record. But there was only one pacemaker and that’s probably why I didn’t make it. Hopefully I’ll break it next time.” Werknesh Kidane was second in a personal-best 14:33.04. Third-placed Tirunesh Diababa, 17, broke the world junior record in 14:39.94, and Meseret Defar set a personal-best 14:43.46 in fourth.
White was shaded in the women’s 100 by the Bahamas’ Chandra Sturrup, who clocked 10.96 seconds and won by one-hundredth of a second. “This was a top race,” Sturrup said. “After being injured last season I have trained hard to come back. I ran relaxed the first part of the race. I thought this could be my race and gave my very best in the finish.” White ran a personal-best 10.93 last weekend in the US Nationals at Palo Alto, the fastest time in the world this year. Only three others, among them Marion Jones, have run faster in the last two years. Jones, last year’s winner here, didn’t compete. She’s expecting a baby in July with boyfriend Tim Montgomery, the world 100-metre record holder.
LONDON: West Indies captain Brian Lara has returned to the top spot in the world batting rankings, according to the PriceWaterhouse Coopers Test ratings.
The double world batting record holder’s double century against Sri Lanka in the drawn first Cable and Wireless Test match against Sri Lanka was enough to leapfrog him four places above him. Lara’s amazing run-spree — 742 runs in his last five Tests — has ensured that he has overtaken Australian Matthew Hayden as the best batsman in the world, the latest PWC Ratings showed this week.
The 34-year-old Lara scored 533 runs in the four-Test series against Australia, and then sealed the issue with 209 against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. With 881 points in the computerised ranking system, Lara holds a 22-point lead over Hayden, with Australian captain Ricky Ponting third and India’s Sachin Tendulkar fourth. South African pacer Shaun Pollock retains the number one position in the bowlers’ list, ahead of Australian Glenn McGrath and Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Lara, who holds both individual batting world records, Test (375) and First-Class (501 not out), is the only West Indies player in the world’s top-10 — batting or bowling — in the PWC Ratings.
RATINGS/POINTS
Batting: 1 Brian Lara 881; 2 Matthew Hayden 859; 3 Rick Ponting 849; 4 Sachin Tendulkar 843; 5 Michael Vaughan 839; 6 Jacques Kallis 820; 7 Adam Gilchrist 814; 8 Inzamam-ul-Haq 793; 9 Rahul Dravis 789; 10 Herschelle Gibbs 778.
Bowling: 1 Shaun Pollock 873; 2 Glenn McGrath 861; 3 Muttiah Muralitharan 856 ; 4 Harbhajan Singh 746; 5 Jason Gillespie 723; 6 Andrew Caddick 705; 7 Makhaya Ntini 692; 8 Shoaib Akhtar 691; 9 Anil Kumble 688 ; 10 Jacques Kallis 682.
Trinidad and Tobago football coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier has made a good impression on the nation’s highest profiled player, Stern John.
Fevrier conducted a two-hour session at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo as the team prepared for Thursday’s friendly international against Venezuela at the same venue from 6 pm. Apart from John, also working under Charles-Fevrier for the first time was English-based defender Dennis Lawrence while Wrexham duo Carlos Edwards and Hector Sam completed the quota of overseas-based players involved in the training.
John, the top scorer with Birmingham City last season, was quick to speak of his admiration for Fevrier after one session. “The session went well. You could see that the coach has a plan, he has a good idea of what he’s doing. The set up of the staff looked purposeful,” John said. “They are not making things up as they go along and things like this makes the preparations go even smoother. It was an enjoyable session,” he added. “The session went quite well. I’ve worked with Stern before when he was on a Caribbean All Star team and I’ve also worked with Dennis when he was a guest player with W Connection so it was good to get together with them again. It wasn’t difficult to make any adjustments,” said Charles-Fevrier. The coach said the only hiccup was midfielder Travis Mulraine who may be out of the contest because of a thigh strain and he will also be searching for replacements for Brent Rahim and Brent Sancho who are occupied with business regarding their club careers. The Venezuelans arrive on Tuesday. They will be coming off a slim 1-0 defeat to Peru at the Orange Bowl, Miami on Thursday.
W CONNECTION will be aiming for their seventh successive triumph in the Under-15 and U-17 divisions of the TT Pro League today.
Connection, who have won their six matches so far in both categories, will have a tricky matchup against fellow Southerners —- South West Institute of Football (SWIF) at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva. SWIF, based in Palo Seco, are currently sixth in the U-15s and third in the U-17s, and will pose a tough test for the rampaging Connection outfit. Other matches today, from 8.30 am, will see Arima Fire hosting CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, Arima, Defence Force meeting North East Stars at the Hasely Crawford Stadium and Joe Public facing South Starworld Strikers at the Marvin Lee Stadium, Macoya.
GLASGOW: Scottish First Division champions Falkirk, with Trinidadians Russell Latapy and Colin Samuel on their roster, are considering legal action against a decision not to promote them — as division champions — to the Premier League.
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) had refused to grant Falkirk promotion in May because the club’s stadium did not meet the necessary requirements. The Scottish Football Association rejected an appeal on Thursday against the SPL’s decision to refuse the club entry to the top league next season. “Obviously we’re hugely disappointed with the outcome of the appeal. We will consider our position and take stock of the decision with our legal advisors to decide where we should go from now,” club chairman Campbell Christie told reporters yesterday.
The appeal board ruled on Thursday that Falkirk should not be granted promotion because they did not own a 10,000 all-seated stadium — the minimum criteria demanded by SPL rules. Two weeks ago, Falkirk signed the 34-year-old Latapy on a one-year contract as their player-coach for the 2003/2004 season. Samuel started his first season with Falkirk last year and proved very influential in attack as they comfortably topped the standings with 81 points, nine clear of Clyde.
The Wu-Shu Association of Trinidad and Tobago will host their National Kung-Fu/Tai-Chi Championships at the Rienzi Complex, Couva, tomorrow.
The event which is sanctioned by the Pan American, USA Kung-Fu and Caribbean Wu-Shu Federations, will feature traditional, contemporary and free style forms and will serve as trials for selection of the national team to train toward the 2008 Olympics in China. Admission is children $10 and adults $15. For further information call R Khabir at 696-0876 or 681-0908; I Rosales at 653-5045 and WRamsamooj at 764-8018.
Trinidad and Tobago left-arm fast bowler Asif Jan was in magnificent form last weekend steering Brook Cricket Club to a six-wicket win in the Admiral Dunlop Cup cricket series in England.
Used as an off-spinner in the match, Jan finished with the excellent figures of three wickets for 21 runs from four overs. He then returned with the bat to score a quickfire unbeaten 37 to take his team home over Camberley St Andrews. Last Saturday Jan was also in ripping form but this time his fellow players did not follow suit and they went down to a four-wicket defeat. Batting first Brook got 160 for eight in their allotted 30 overs with Jan getting 27. Just as he was getting into stride he struck a full toss to long-on and was dismissed. He then bowled medium pace and grabbed three for 33 but his team still went under by four wickets.
Meanwhile his twin brother Imran who enjoyed a successful season with the Trinidad and Tobago team in the Carib Beer Cup regional tournament, has also been doing well. To date he has clobbered 423 runs in the Durham League for Blackhall Cricket Club. His last innings was a hard-hit 162 runs two weeks ago but since then he has been idle. However he isexpected to get back into action this weekend.
FIFA’s Confederations Cup comes to a climax this weekend with the third place playoff and the Final and football fans can only catch the action on DIRECTV
The action heats up on Channel 320 at noon today with the third place play-off in St. Etienne between Turkey and Colombia. Then the tournament reaches its peak tomorrow at 3 pm when France meet Cameroon in the final, at the Stade de France. Hosts France are the favourites to win the title before their home crowd against the Lions of Cameroon. For football fans, who missed the live action or for those who simply want to relive every action packed moment, DIRECTV will have the added benefit of back-to-back replays for both the third place play-off and the final. Fans can get replays of the third place play-off today at 3 pm, 6 pm and 8.30 pm. Replays of the final will be aired tomorrow at 6 pm, 8.30 pm and 11 pm. All of this world-class football action, in dynamic digital picture, is on DIRECTV channel 320.
ONE of the biggest snooker tournament in recent times cues off on Thursday, July 3 at The Triangle, Aranguez, San Juan.
More than 90 players have entered the contest sponsored by Mr Billiards Ltd, Pepsi and Stag Beer. Prizes at stake total more than $16,000. On Thursday, Aslam Ali plays Michael Max Martin; Waheeda Ali cues against Richard Sookdeo; Natalie Soo Hon versus Nigel St Clair; Peter Scott plays A Mohammed; Mario Ali tackles Dennis Tyson; and Desmond S. Nicholls plays John Eastman. Games continue on Saturday with Terry Layne vs Ian Austin; A Bajnath vs Francis Lee Kim; Alvin Daniel vs Krshna Bridgelall; Joseph Angai vs Junior Modeste; S Ali vs Ronnie MC Jack vs Debra Dottin. The tournament continues next week.
TRIPLE Crown winner Carnival Messiah is aiming for a quick double at Santa Rosa Park, Arima, today, having won very easily on CLICO Midsummer Classic Day.
But Wilma Primus’ five-year-old who has thrived since returning from a failed stint of racing in the United States, will find a very hard nut to crack in the Maniram “Boboy” Maharaj-owned and trained Man Of Class in today’s feature Allowance race over 1200 metres. Man Of Class is a very consistent soert, particularly over the shorter distances and will be receiving two kilos from The Messiah. Jockey tactics could decide this race however, with the cagey Ricky Jadoo up against a bang in form Rajpaul Rajkumar. Another seeking a quick repeat is Joan Of Arc who gave the popular David Ojar his maiden victory as a trainer. This filly cleverly won a maiden event, but the manner in which she battled on after leading most of the way gives confidence to backers.
Copy Cat, another from the “Boboy” Maharaj barn who failed when well fancied on the Labour Day programme, should go very close in the three-year-old turf event over 1100 metres on the turf course. This filly will have most to fear from the speedy Mary Magdalene, Never Ever Worrie and Sir Vidia. The first optional claiming event should go to City Of Lights with Brian Harding in the saddle, and the rider can double up astride Sea Spider. Harding looks like the jockey to follow today, with Fantastic Lad holding a good chance in the day’s opener, and has Touch Wood as his mount in the other optional claimer over 1200 metres. He also rides Affirm Decision in the Handicap event on the turf track over 1100 metres.
