Venus denied fastest serve in absence of technology

Tokyo: Venus Williams was denied a chance to better her world record for fastest serve in women’s tennis in absence of proper measuring technology at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Williams blasted a 209 km/hour serve during Thursday’s 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3 win over Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard in the quarter-final match.

The WTA uses IDS radar guns to measure service speeds but they are not deployed in Tokyo, the governing body said in an email response to Reuters. It meant that the 33-year-old American’s serve of 207.6 km/per hour, hit during the 2007 US Open, stands as the fastest serve in women’s tennis till date. The multiple grand slam-winner, who has suffered a spate of injuries in the last two years, was herself surprised with the reading on the speed gun on Thursday.

“I saw that but I was like: ‘Is that real?’ So I don’t know if that’s real,” Williams told the WTA in an interview. “I know I’ve been serving a lot harder this tournament than since I’ve come back from my back injury.

“I couldn’t really serve that hard at the US Open and this summer. It feels good but I don’t know if it was that hard. I hope it was... that’s insane, it’s awesome.”

Williams, who beat world number two and top seed Victoria Azarenka in the second round, lost to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (2) in the semi-finals on Friday. —Reuters

Iran knock Pakistan

Pakistan colts were sent packing when they lost to Iran 0-2 in their Group E match of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-16 Championship Qualifiers at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore on Friday. This was the second successive loss for the Greenshirts who were also beaten by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 2-0 in their opener on Wednesday.

Iran, who had crushed Sri Lanka 8-0 in their first match the other day, went ahead through Nima Mukhtari Dehabneh in the 30th minute. At half time, they were leading 1-0. In the second half the visitors added to their tally when Mohammad Shamsi scored for them in the 78th minute.

In spite of the second win, Iran’s position is not yet confirmed. Their main rivals are UAE and the lone qualifiers from the group to the next year’s main round in Thailand will be decided after the key battle between the two on Sunday (tomorrow).

In spite of the loss Pakistan coach Sajjad Mehmood was satisfied with his team’s performance. “Iran were a tough side as their players were physically very strong and our boys had problem in body contact. But still we restricted them to only two goals,” Sajjad told ‘The News’ after the match.

“We also got three chances but could not be availed. But overall it were Iran who played technically solid game,” Sajjad observed. However he was quick to add that substantial improvement was seen in the team’s performance as compared to the SAFF Championship.

“In the SAFF Championship we played with the teams of our region and there we held Bhutan and Afghanistan and lost to Nepal. But here you see we played against tough sides of the UAE and Iran who have strong structure but still we put them in trouble and it’s a good sign,” he said.

“Previously we were losing to Iran with eight, ten and even 14 goals margin but now we have brought down the same ratio to just two goals which shows that we have made improvement,” Sajajd pointed out.

Meanwhile, in the match of the day, UAE were leading 5-0 against Sri Lanka in the first half till filing of the story. Pakistan will now face minnows Sri Lanka in their last game on Sunday.

In Orange County Open, Maria falls at first hurdle

Pakistan’s Maria Toor Pakay lost in the first round of the $10,000 Orange County Open at Irvine, United States, on Thursday.

Second seed Emily Whitlock of England defeated Maria 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 in 40 minutes.

Sindh (Pakistan) Swimming begins

KARACHI:- Over 300 swimmers will be featuring in the 52nd edition of Sindh Open and Junior Age Group Swimming Championship which starts at Karachi Gymkhana on Saturday (today).

Mazhar Naqvi, who represented Pakistan in the World Swimming Championship and Ghulam Muhammad, who has featured in several international competitions are star attractions in the open category. International Saad Amin and Hasan Paracha will be battling for top honours in junior category.

The Open category Swimmers will be able to compete in only four events as compared to juniors, who can compete in four open and as many age group events. This may lead to disparity in the selection of Group Champions for overall performance in the championship.  

However Secretary of Sindh Swimming Association (SSA) Muhammad Ali Shishmahal said Group Champion in Open will be determined separately. SSA Secretary said they are using state of the art computer program to run the championship and for the first time two official video cameras will be installed for referrals.

Apart from top clubs, leading schools like Karachi Grammar, Beaconhouse, Bayview Academy, DA SKBZ College, DUA Swimming Club, Habib Public School, DHA Moin Khan Academy,Karachi American School, Karachi Dolphin, Links, Lyceum, Metropolitan Academy, St Patricks High School, The City School, Karachi Club and host Karachi Gymkhana will be taking part.

The events to be contested include freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Individual medley and freestyle relays and Medley relays in Under 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and open age group.

UEFA Champions League 2013-14

UEFA will organise Europe's premier club football tournament, 2013–14 UEFA Champions League which is the 59th season of this tournament.Also, this happens to be the 22nd season since it underwent a change in the name, from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.

The finals of 2014 UEFA Champions League Final will be played at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. First time in the history, the teams who qualified for the group stage will also automatically qualify for the newly formed 2013–14 UEFA Youth League, a competition meant for players aged 19 or under.

Totally 76 teams from 52 of the 54 UEFA member associations will take part in the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League (the exceptions are Liechtenstein, as it does not conduct  a domestic league, and Gibraltar, which starts contesting in the 2014–15 season , having been admitted as a UEFA member in May 2013). The ranking of the association is based on the UEFA country coefficientsand used to fix the number of partaking teams for each association.

Tournament details:

2 July – 28 August 2013 (qualifying)
17 September 2013 – 24 May 2014 (competition proper)

Bayern Munich who won 2013-13 tournament, are the defending champions.The final (2013-13) was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Though Wembley had hosted the 2011 finals, the competition final was again played in Wembley, in view of its completion of 150 years since the establishment of the English Football Association which also, happens to be the world’s oldest foot ball association. This is the seventh instancethat Wembley Stadium hosted the Champions League final. Bayern Munich, which had ended the season as runner-up last year, defeated Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund by 2–1 in the 89th minute -the goalwas scored by Arjen Robben, in the final. This happens to be Bayern's tenth final, their first European Cup in twelve years, and their fifth, on the whole. This was the fourth final contested by the teams from the same league. The other three occasions are 2000, 2003, and 2008, and the first all-German final.

Malaysia maul Pakistan out of Johor Cup

A day after a 0-4 thrashing from arch-rivals India, Pakistan suffered a 2-4 defeat at the hands of hosts Malaysia, which sent the Green-shirts out of the title race in Sultan of Johor Junior Hockey Cup in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Thursday.

The fourth consecutive win for the hosts helped them accumulate 12 points to secure their berth in Sunday’s final where they will face India, who have also won four straight matches to accumulate 12 points, which gave them an unassailable lead over the third-placed Pakistan.

Pakistan have six points after winning two and losing as many matches. Pakistan will be playing their last league match against Argentina on Saturday.

Malaysia started the match as favourites with some strong showings from their players. Backed by the home crowd, Malaysia forced penalty corners in the 6th and 7th minutes, but failed to capitalise on them.

The forceful show helped the Malaysians gain confidence and they came close to scoring the lead in the 10th minute, but Firhan Ashaari was a bit too late to take an attempt on the Pakistani goal, as the defenders cleared the ball from the danger area.

Pakistani colts tried to put some pressure on the hosts at this stage. Muhammad Dilber, Pakistan’s top scorer in the tournament, put up a brilliant show as he broke through the defence and his shot from the edge of the circle raced past goalkeeper Muhammad Hafizuddin Othman, inches away from the goal in the 13th minute.

Dilber eventually earned his side a 1-0 lead when he deflected a cross from Muhammad Suleman into the goal in the 26th minute.

However, Malaysia took only two minutes to level the arrears when Mohammad Zulhairi Hashim converted a penalty corner, sending his drag flick past Pakistani goalkeeper Mazhar Abbas.

The hosts took the lead when Shahril Saabah, the joint top scorer with India’s Ramandeep Singh in the event, converted a penalty corner, when his shot hit Mazhar’s pads and crept over the goal line.

Pakistan forced three penalty corners in the 45th, 47th and 48th minutes and the team was finally rewarded when defender Muhammad Tousiq’s third attempt on the goal hit Malaysian skipper Fitri Saari on the foot and were awarded penalty stroke by umpire Grant Hudley. Tousiq converted it to equalise the score-line at 2-2.

Malaysia again took the lead in the 52nd minute when Fitri Saari tucked the rebound into the goal after the initial attempt by Shahril was charged down by Pakistani  defenders. Mohammad Syamim Yusof then deflected a cross by Rashid Baharom in the 65th minute into the goal to make it 4-2.

Earlier in the day, India thrashed South Korea 6-1, recording their fourth consecutive win in the tournament. Pakistan’s defeat to Malaysia confirmed India’s place in the climax.

Venus enters semi-final

The 33-year-old American, who won the last of her seven grand slam singles titles in 2008, recovered from a poor second set tiebreak with a series of electrifying shots and acrobatic volleys in the decider, completing victory with another ferocious forehand cross-court after a shade over three hours.

“It’s hard to believe it’s my first semi-final in Tokyo after all these years,” said Williams, currently languishing at 63rd in the world after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder in 2011.

“I’ve played against so many great players over a couple of generations, it seems,” added Williams, who giggled when reminded Thursday was sister Serena’s 32nd birthday.

“I’ve put a lot into the game and I’m not going to give it up easily. As a professional athlete you have a window. My window’s still open and I’m going to take advantage of it.”