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| Can Brazil Stop Iran |
| BRAZIL, the saying used to go, is the land of the future and always will be. But when Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, visits the White House next week, she will come as the leader of a country whose future has arrived.
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| A MIDDLE EAST PEACE PLAN |
| THERE is so much going on in the Middle East today, it's impossible to capture it all with one opinion. So here are two for the price of one. |
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 | Race one witnesses Cudlin on top ALEXANDER Cudlin got back into winning ways, claiming the first race of the fifth round of the Qatar International Road Racing Championship on Friday. As a support event to the MotoGP weekend, the 15-lap race turned out to be a one-man show for the Australian Cudlin...
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| | Spanish rider Sergio raises the stakes in Global Champions Tour | | SERGIO Alvarez Moya triumphed in the first big 5* class of the Global Champions Tour (GCT) season setting the stage for a thrilling Grand Prix on Saturday night with a convincing victory. The leading Spanish rider outpaced the field with a clear round in 62.09 on his bay gelding Abab van het Molenhof. Brazilian Alvaro de Miranda came in second on 63.66 on Rahmannshof's Bogeno. Speaking after his victory Sergio said, "I am very happy to win on the first day and I hope to keep it up. The course is very good for the horse. A lot of forward riding and its a big arena with long distances, so the horse can go really fast which he did." Runner up Alvaro, known as Doda, praised Sergio for beating him to first place and said, "It's between friends." Sergio's round was one of several excellent displays of super efficient riding with a series of extremely tight turns and big scopey jumps. Pius Schizer, of Switzerland, was third on 63.87 with French rider Simon Delestre, second in the previous class, fourth on 64.11. Both Sergio and Pius' rounds were deceptively fast and a clear sign the competition will be exceptionally hot for ranking points and a share of the 450,000 euros Grand Prix prize money. Under the night sky in Doha, some of the big stars of the sport of show jumping like Kevin Staut, Christian Ahlmann and Ludger Beerbaum all ended up with faults or time faults around the course designed by Uliano Vezzani. The fast-paced class offered the riders and horses a great chance for some limbering up before the first Grand Prix of GCT 2012.... |
| | Spain demolishes Austria on the opening day in Davis Cup | | David Ferrer demolished Austria on the opening day of their Davis Cup quarter-final on Friday as the five-time champions moved to the verge of the semi-finals. Almagro took just under two hours to see off Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in Castellon before world number five David Ferrer, Spain's top player in the absence of Rafael Nadal, needed just 85 minutes to crush Andreas Haider- Maurer 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. "I'm very happy with my match today, I think I played one of my best matches in Davis Cup," said Almagro, as Spain chase a first win over Austria since 1979. "The score was easy but the match wasn't. I had to fight for every point and I think I was more focused than him. I beat a great player in a great competition like Davis Cup so I'm very happy." Ferrer eased past world number 139 Haider-Maurer, who hadn't played a match since a Challenger tournament in February. The Spaniard was never tested as he took his Davis Cup singles record in Spain to 13-0 as Austria's first Davis Cup quarter-final appearance in 17 years began to turn sour. Doubles team Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez can wrap up victory for the defending champions ahead of time if they can see off Austrian counterparts Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya on Saturday. Victory in the tie would also extend Spain's winning record at home to 23 matches, a run stretching back to 1999 when they lost to Brazil. That defeat was also Spain's last on a clay court in the competition. The winners of the quarter- final will face either France or the United States in the semi-finals.... |
| | Faltering giants meet in French Ligue 1 Clasico | | PARIS Saint-Germain host Marseille in French football's biggest fixture on Sunday, with the capital club on the verge of a full-blown crisis and OM desperate to end the worst run of results in its history. PSG missed the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 when it lost 2-1 at Nancy last weekend, its first league defeat under Carlo Ancelotti meaning that it has now won just twice in eight matches in all competitions. Meanwhile, Marseille has gone a club record 10 matches without winning in all competitions following its exit from the Champions League to Bayern Munich at the quarter-final stage in midweek. That run has drained confidence from the ranks of a Marseille squad that previously appeared as dangerous outsiders in the title race, and it should be ideal opponents for a Paris side feeling the heat as its bid to win a first Ligue 1 crown in 18 years. However, PSG's Milan Bisevac is wary of the old adage that form counts for nothing on occasions such as this. "OM remain a very good side. Even though it is struggling a little, anything can happen in this type of match," insisted the Serbian international defender. Bisevac emphasised the importance of the occasion and admitted that his teammates want revenge for a 3-0 humbling at the Stade Velodrome in November. "We need to win this weekend to launch us back on the winning track for the final seven games of the season and the race for the title," he said. "No-one has forgotten (the game in Marseille). ... |
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