age 54 stories
Venus wins in Cincinnati to set up Ivanovic clash
Venus Williams held off young challenger Zarina Diyas 7-6 (6) 6-4 late Monday to reach the second round of WTA Cincinnati, where she will meet Ana Ivanovic.
Diyas, a rising 21-year-old from Kazakhstan, fell behind in both sets but refused to back down.
Veteran Williams managed to win the opening set tie-breaker 8-6 and hit 32 winners in the match, sending a brief reminder of her old form.
A seven-time Grand Slam champion, Williams has long fallen into the background behind younger sister Serena, who will be shooting for the Calendar Year Grand Slam and attempt to win her 22nd major title at the US Open in a couple of weeks.
“Preparations are underway (for the US Open) but it still doesn’t feel that close,” Venus told reporters. “My opponent (Diyas) played so well today. She was so determined out there.”
Venus will now face ninth-ranked Ivanovic, seeded sixth in the tournament, in the second round.
The tournament’s opening day featured a couple of upsets as ninth seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain went down to Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 7-6. Timea Bacsinszky, the 12th seed, also fell to Madison Keys 6-4 6-3.
Germany’s Andrea Petkovic and former world number one Jelena Jankovic both advanced.
Woods confirms Wyndham Championship participation
Tiger Woods on Monday confirmed his participation in this week’s Wyndham Championship, after previously hedging his bet on whether he would play the PGA Tour event in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Woods entered the tournament before the deadline last Friday but, after missing the cut at the PGA Championship in Wisconsin the following day, he was non-committal.
“I’m just going to sit back and I’ll go through with my team, we’ll talk about it, what I need to do and see if that’s the right move or not. We’ll decide next couple days,” Woods said at Whistling Straits.
But on Monday, tournament director Mark Brazil confirmed the participation of Woods, as did the golfer on his website.
The Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield starting on Thursday is the last event before the four-event PGA Tour playoffs and Woods, 187th in the standings, needs to win in Greensboro to qualify.
Even though his best golf appears to be a distant memory and he has been overtaken on the course by a wave of younger talent, the first appearance by the 39-year-old in Greensboro is nonetheless a big boost to the tournament.
Sandwiched between the final major of the year and the playoffs, the event falls in a week when most top players prefer to have a short break.
Farah backs Coe to change athletics
Lord Coe will “change athletics” if he becomes head of the sport’s world governing body, according to double-Olympic champion Mo Farah.
Coe, vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, finds out on Wednesday if he will succeed Lamine Diack.
The 58-year-old is running against Ukrainian ex-pole vaulter Sergey Bubka to lead the IAAF, as the sport faces widespread doping claims.
“He can do a great job,” Farah said.
“I hope Seb gets the job because he can change athletics.”
Former London 2012 chairman Coe has pledged to increase resources in the “battle for the sport’s integrity” and has vowed to set up an independent anti-doping agency for athletics.
World 5,000m and 10,000m champion Farah, 32, added: “What Lord Coe did for London 2012 was incredible.
“I don’t want to see anything bad in athletics because it’s the sport that I do every day and the sport that I love.”
Doping allegations were recently made about Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar in a BBC Panorama investigation.
Salazar denies the claims and a separate UK Athletics investigation found no reason to question Farah’s training regime at the Oregon Project base.
Outgoing IAAF president Diack says he is confident about the future as the sport prepares to elect his replacement.
The 82-year-old Senegalese has run the governing body for 16 years. He told the opening day of the 99th IAAF Council on Monday: “I have laid the foundations for the future of the IAAF with our two great champions.
“Whoever the athletics family elects he will be a bona fide son of our sport. I am all the more confident of what we have in store.”
Amuneke: Eaglets performance in training encouraging
By Joshua Odeyemi @josh_flexy
Head Coach of Nigeria’s U-17 male football team, Emmanuel Amuneke has said the performance of the boys in training ahead of the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile has been encouraging so far.
Amuneke who spoke to thenff.com after the team’s training session at the Karkanda Stadium in Katsina yesterday said the process of successfully defending the trophy won two years ago has begun in full force.
According to the Nigeria Football Federation website, the World Cup-bound Eaglets began routine training on Monday with much of the morning session geared towards players’ conditioning and physical fitness while there was serious ball work in Monday’s evening and Tuesday’s sessions.
“We are here for business and you must be ready to do your best and conduct yourselves because only 21 players would eventually be picked for the World Cup in Chile.”
Meanwhile, the team has been given a set of internal code of conduct in order to enhance team discipline on and off the field.
The team’s Coordinator, Prince Udofia said discipline is sacrosanct, adding that there are sanctions already put in place for any erring player or official.
“The technical crew in line with the Nigeria Football (NFF) directives would not condone any undisciplined conduct and the players have been told in clear terms that discipline is not negotiable,” said Udofia.
The FIFA U-17 World Cup will be held between October 17 and November 8 and the Golden Eaglets have been drawn in Group A with host Chile, Croatia and USA.
