A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Shanklin forced to call it a day
RUGBY:Wales centre Tom Shanklin has announced his retirement from rugby due to a knee injury.
The 31-year-old Cardiff Blues player underwent surgery earlier this year in an attempt to cure the problem. But Shanklin, who won 70 Wales caps and toured New Zealand with the 2005 British and Irish Lions, has followed medical advice and will end his playing career. “The advice from Rhys Williams, the surgeon, was to retire.”
Selby looking to put icing on cake
SNOOKER:Mark Selby has ducked out of arranging his own wedding but would love to put "the icing on the cake" ahead of next month's nuptials by winning the World Championship.
The 27-year-old Leicester man is strongly fancied to land his maiden Crucible title this year and completed a first-round 10-1 win over debutant Jimmy Robertson with the minimum of fuss yesterday, having led 8-1 overnight.
Selby acknowledged Robertson made it easy for him, freezing on his first visit to Sheffield, and expects Stephen Hendry in round two to present an entirely different challenge. But Selby, who marries fiancee Vicki in Cancun, Mexico, on May 24th, has his eye on making this a fortnight to remember, before he looks ahead to his big day.
“Before this tournament I don’t know if I was more nervous about the wedding or the World Championship,” Selby said.
“It’ll be a great occasion anyway, the wedding, but it’d be nice to put the icing on the cake and to go there as world champion.”
Crucible spectators were struggling to stay awake during Wednesday’s turgid final session of the first-round tussle between Rory McLeod and Ricky Walden.
However there was a welcome antidote yesterday as Mark Williams sprinted into a 7-1 lead against Jamie Cope in the first second-round match to get under way. Williams won the opening four frames in less time – 43 minutes – than it took McLeod and Walden to complete their opener on Wednesday morning. The Welshman’s potting exhibition was briefly interrupted when Cope pulled a frame back, but former champion Williams reeled off a further three in a row inside 32 minutes to close in on the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, John Higgins finished off Stephen Lee last night to advance. Higgins briefly came under pressure when Lee fought back from 8-3 to 8-5 at the mid-session interval, but breaks of 74 and 81 saw him make sure of his place in the second round, 10-5.
Nadal cruises into last eight at Barcelona Open
TENNIS:World number one Rafa Nadal cruised into the Barcelona Open quarter-finals yesterday with a 6-3 6-1 victory over unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo.
The Spanish top seed, who won a seventh straight Monte Carlo Masters crown on his favoured clay surface on Sunday, is bidding for a sixth title in the Catalan capital in seven years. He took his winning record on the red dust since 2005 to 183-6 to set up a clash with Frenchman Gael Monfils.
“Beating Giraldo 6-3 6-1 is good news because he can hit winners from anywhere on the court,” the Wimbledon, French Open and US Open champion said afterwards.
Looking ahead to today’s clash with seventh seed Monfils, who beat compatriot and ninth seed Richard Gasquet 6-4 7-6 earlier yesterday Nadal added: “It’s going to be a very tough match. Monfils is one of those players who can attack as well as defend and you never know how he is going to come out and play. Hell probably have to come out and attack.”
Contador among Giro competitors
CYCLING:Three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador was among 207 riders from 23 teams named yesterday on the official list of competitors for Mays Giro dItalia.
The Spaniard is waiting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to rule on an appeal by the International Cycling Union (UCI) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over the Spanish federation clearing him of doping. Saxo Banks Contador, Giro winner in 2008, has not competed in the worlds second biggest stage race since as he has concentrated on Julys Tour each year. However, following the fallout from his positive test last year for clenbuterol, which Contador has blamed on contaminated meat, the 28-year-old is heading to Italy with his Tour place possibly in doubt.
CAS has said it is confident it can rule on his case before Julys event.
Last years Giro winner Ivan Basso is among the big names skipping this years race to focus on the Tour.
Kubica hoping to leave hospital soon
FORMULA ONE: Polish Formula One driver Robert Kubica plans to leave hospital in Italy within days to start the next stage of his recovery from a career-threatening rally accident in February. "I am starting to feel a lot better now. My recovery is moving in the right direction: my strength and weight are increasing day on day and as a result I will leave the Santa Corona hospital very soon," he said yesterday.
“I dont have a precise date as yet but I hope to be able to leave within the next 10 days,” he added.
Kubica suffered severe arm, leg and hand injuries when he crashed in a minor rally in Italy on February 6th and has had multiple rounds of surgery.
He said the mobility to his hand was still limited, although that was normal in such a situation because the muscles were still weak due to a long period of immobility, but improving steadily.
