A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Russia to hold Fomula One race
MOTOR SPORT: The Russian government plans to spend nearly €144 million building a motor racing circuit in Sochi to host the country’s first Formula One Grand Prix in 2014, a senior government official said yesterday.
“The federal government has allocated 5.846 billion roubles (€140 million) for this project,” Alaxander Ivanov, deputy governor of the Krasnodar region, said. He added the construction of the track itself will cost about ,€144 million. The rest of the money will come from sponsorship and private investors, officials said. Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone signed a seven-year deal with the regional governor last year to stage a Russian Grand Prix in the Black Sea resort from 2014 until 2020. Sochi is also hosting the 2014 Winter Games and the opening race could be put back a year if it hinders preparations for the Olympics.
With prime minister Vladimir Putin backing the project, Russian officials are optimistic that it would be built on time.
Pakistan spinners do the damage
CRICKET: The Pakistan spinners got in on the act after pace duo Umar Gul and Junaid Khan ripped through the Sri Lankan top order to bundle out the tourists for 239 in their first innings on day one of the second Test in Dubai yesterday.
Pakistan openers Taufeeq Umar (20) and Mohammad Hafeez (18) scored 42 runs in the remaining nine overs to trail Sri Lanka by 197 at the close. Gul extracted enough movement off the Dubai International Cricket Stadium pitch to trouble the batsmen throughout his 10-over opening spell, picking up three wickets before lunch.
Left-armer Junaid kept up the pressure and took the remaining two wickets to fall before the interval after Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan had won the toss.
Sri Lanka got off to a bad start when opener Lahiru Thirimanne fell lbw to Gul, before the paceman struck twice in the ninth over to remove Tharanga Paranavitana and Mahela Jayawardene.
Ireland primed for Hong Kong Sixes
CRICKET: Ireland will make their debut in the Hong Kong Sixes tournament tomorrow as they look to earn a share of the €157,000 (€113,000) prize money on offer to the 12 competing teams.
Kevin O’Brien leads the side for the opening game against Bangladesh in a format which sees six-a-side teams play five-over matches, with every player bar the wicket-keeper bowling one over.
Ireland will be looking to make a good start against a Tigers side that beat them in the opening clash of the 50-over World Cup in Dhaka back in February before a much tougher outing against defending champions Australia.
The Hills all-rounder Max Sorensen is the only uncapped player in Ireland’s seven-man squad.
SQUAD: Kevin O’Brien (Gloucestershire, capt), Alex Cusack (Clontarf), George Dockrell (Somerset), John Mooney (North County), Niall O’Brien (Northants, wkts), Max Sorensen (The Hills), Paul Stirling (Middlesex).
Donald questions delay in voting
GOLF: Luke Donald has expressed frustration at a last-minute delay in voting for the PGA Tour Player of the Year award.
Ballot papers will not now be sent out until after next week’s WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai. PGA Tour players had been expecting the papers to arrive this week in the wake of the world number one’s victory in Florida. The 33-year-old said: “Why suddenly change the rule the day after Disney? It doesn’t make much sense to me.”
Stosur crashes back to earth after loss to Azarenka
TENNIS: Samantha Stosur came crashing back to earth yesterday when the Australian was beaten in her second match at the WTA Championships in Istanbul by a fired-up Victoria Azarenka.
Less than 24 hours after recording a first victory in 10 attempts over Maria Sharapova to open her White Group campaign, Stosur failed to trouble Azarenka, losing 6-2 6-2 to the Belarusian in the Sinan Erdem Arena.
Azarenka, who did not play on Tuesday, looked far fresher than the US Open champion, keeping the 27-year-old on the back foot with searing groundstrokes, most of which were accompanied by her trademark whine.
Stosur’s heavy topspin and slice had little effect and she never looked like breaking a second jinx, slipped to a fifth loss in five against world number four Azarenka in one hour and 18 minutes.
All is not lost, however, as Stosur can still qualify for the semi-finals if she beats China’s Li Na in her last round-robin match.
