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| It is high five for Federer at Wimbledon |
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Roger Federer did not let down his fans, and most importantly himself, when he clinched his most favourite Wimbledon Championship trophy for a straight fifth time, equalling Bjorn Borg's record, at London on July 8. The Swiss fought off tough competition from Rafael Nadal, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 in the men's singles. It was an exciting match that vacillated with each point. Federer took the first set, the next went to the Spaniard, the third was Federer's and Nadal took the fourth. But |
Federer gathered himself in the fifth set and pocketed it, as also the match, with two break points.
The women's singles finals turned out to be a fight between two lowly-ranked players, for the first time in the history of Wimbledon . The 23rd-seed Venus Williams collected her fourth Championship with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over France 's Marion Bartoli, the 18th seed. The 22-year-old Bartoli was on a high after defeating top seed Justine Henin in the semis but failed to match the American's speed and strength in the final.
France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra dethroned reigning champions Bob and Mike Bryan of USA to be crowned the men's doubles champions. In their first appearance in a final as a pair, they ousted the top seeds, 6-7, (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. For the women's doubles title, Cara Black of Zimbabwe and South African Liezel Huber rallied back to beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovakia, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Scot Jamie Murray and Serb Jelena Jankovic registered a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Swede Jonas Bjorkman and Aussie Alicia Molik in the mixed doubles final. Murray became the first Briton to win a Wimbledon title since 1987. |
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| Vinokourov pedals to victory in the 15th stage |
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Alexandre Vinokourov of team Astana claimed his second victory this season with the 15th stage of the 94th Tour de France cycling race on July 23. Despite a knee injury, the Kazakh rider showed great courage in completing a 196-km route from Loudenvielle to Le Louron. Dane Michael Rasmussen retained the overall leader's yellow jersey. Spain 's Alberto Contador took the 14th stage between Mazamet and Plateau-de-Beille. The Discovery Channel rider pipped Rasmussen in a sprint at the end of the 197-km race. |
The 13th stage was a time trial raced over 54 kilometres from Cognac to Angouleme around Albi. Vinokourov won it in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 34 seconds. Cadel Evans of Australia came second and Andreas Kloeden of Germany was third. Belgian Tom Boonen emerged victorious in the 12th stage, a 178.5-km ride from Montpellier to Castres. The Quick Step rider outsprinted green jersey rival Erik Zabel of Germany at the finish.
The 11th stage went to Robert Hunter of Barloworld. He became the first South African to win a Tour stage. He crossed the 182.5 kilometres between Marseille and Montpellier , southern France in 3 hr., 47 min. and 50 sec. Quick Step's Cedric Vasseur became the first French rider to win this year when he took the 10th stage. He pedalled the 229.5 km from Tallard to Marseille, pipping four others in a sprint finish. Colombian Juan Mauricio Soler was the winner of the 9th stage that featured three tough climbs. The Barloworld rider traversed 159.5 km in 4 hr., 14 min. and 24 sec. |
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Rain helped two-time defending Formula One champ Fernando Alonso win the European Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring racetrack, Germany , on July 22. The McLaren driver completed the race in 2 hr.:06 min.:26.358 sec. Eight seconds behind him was Felipe Massa of Ferrari in second position.
With the third win of the season, Alonso moved closer to teammate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings. |
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Hamilton finished ninth; he did not feature in the top 3 for the first time in 10 races this season.
After four laps the race was stopped for 30 min. due to rains. Massa took the lead when it returned with 11 laps left. But it began to pour three laps later, forcing Alonso and Massa to go in for wet-weather tires. |
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| India all set for its fifth Test victory in England |
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India -England Test Series: India looks all set to win the second Test at Trent Bridge on July 31. They were on 32 for no loss in the second innings after having sent England packing at 355 aided by bowler Zaheer Khan's 5 for 75. They require 51 more runs to win. In the first innings, England collapsed on 198 while India went on to score 481. Dinesh Kaarthick (77) and Wasim Jaffer (62) made 147 runs in partnership which became India 's |
biggest opening stand in England since 1979. This was followed by sterling performances from Sachin Tendulkar (91), Sourav Ganguly (79) and VVS Laxman (54).
Sri Lanka-Bangladesh One-Day International, ODI, Series: Sri Lanka cruised to a 39-run win in the third and final ODI against Bangladesh and swept the series 3-0. The Lankans made 196 runs, banking on Jehan Mubarak's 72 and dismissed the opponents for 157.
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| India 's attempts get them bronze |
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India managed to keep a resurgent England in check and earned the bronze in the six-nation Champions Challenge Men's Hockey tournament at Boom , Belgium on July 1. The founding stone of India 's 4-3 win over England was placed by Tushar Khandekar who struck two field goals in the third and sixth minutes into the match. After 15 min., India added one more goal when Sandeep Singh flicked the ball into the net from three metres. The fourth goal came in the 23rd min. when Roshan Minz took a rebound off the pads of James Fair to make a backstick hit into the goalpost. However, India relaxed after a robust 4-0 lead. Their slack defence gave England a chance to score through Rob Moore in the 35th min. Richard Mantell converted a |
well-earned penalty corner in the 56th min. and Simon Mantell fired a third goal in the 64th.
Argentina emerged the clear winner when they rallied back to triumph over New Zealand 3-2 in the finals. Both the teams could not score in the first half. The deadlock was broken when Hayden Shaw converted two penalty corners in the 44th and 49th minutes for New Zealand . Argentina got lucky with comeback man, Jorge Maximiliano Lombi, who converted penalty corners in 65th and 67th min. That levelled the score and led the game into extra-time. Again, it was Lombi who rescued his team with a golden goal into the first-half of the extra-time. |
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| China lifts Sudirman Cup for the sixth time |
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Defending champions China retained the Sudirman Cup, routing Asian rivals Indonesia 3-0 in the final of the 10th World Badminton Team Championships at Glasgow , Scotland on June 17. China has managed to win six of 10 editions of the event since 1989. |
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| China 's mixed doubles pair Zheng Bo and Gao Ling fought back Limpele Flandy and Vita Marissa to triumph, 19-21, 21-17, 21-19. The men's duo Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng downed Kido Markis and Candra Wijaya, 21-11, 21-13. The women's singles champ Zhang Ning made 3-0 for her team with a 21-16, 21-9 win over Adriyanti Firdasari. The last two matches, the women's doubles and men's singles, were not played. Group B topper India bowed out to Group A leader France, 3-0 in the preliminary rounds. They lost a chance to enter the higher Division 2 for the first time. |
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