Daily Sports News

Brazilian Felipe Massa is said to be showing improvements post the surgery to fix his multiple skull injuries which the Ferrari driver suffered on Saturday during the qualifying. He has started passive communication with the hospital doctors and his medical scans are also showing positive signs of recovery. He was operated in the defense hospital and the spokesman Istvan Bocskai told press that although he was not speaking but was responding to doctors by moving his hands and feet.

Massa suffered a life threatening concussion when loose shrapnel hit his helmet and he lost control of his car and hit the tyre wall at the speed of 190 kilometers per hour. He was air lifted in the medical helicopter and was taken to the AEK hospital where he was operated within an hour. As of now he is in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

The weekend at Hungaroring circuit was quite a serious blow on F1’s governing body’s efforts to increase driver safety. First it was Massa’s crash and then during the race, Renault driver and former world champion Fernando Alonso lost his wheel during the race. Fernando Alonso has been banned for the next race post this incident. Renault team should have informed Alonso about his wheel problem and thus could have avoided such an incident, but they failed to communicate at the rite time.

These two accidents remind all of us about the tragedy that happened 15 years ago when Ayrton Senna died in a crash at Imola. Senna was the three times World Formula 1 Champion but lost his life due to head injuries suffered in that violent crash.

Fellow Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo visited the hospital to check on the status of Massa’s health. Also present at the hospital was Massa’s pregnant wife Anna Rafaela.

The second last day of a tour was full of surprises and some great riding. The two opportunists took away the glory of the final climb from the General Category riders. Team Rabobank got its first stage victory of the tour when Spanish rider Juan Manuel Garate crossed the line first at Mont Ventoux, he was closely followed by the German rider Tony Martin from Team Colombia-HTC. They both managed to cross the line 38 sec ahead of the tour leader.

Also there was great display of riding skills by the while jersey leader Andy Schleck. He is an amazing young rider and will be a great star in future tours. Though his work to get elder brother and teammate Frank went to vain as the old tour horse Lance Armstrong made sure that he is lined up for a podium finish tomorrow in Paris.

The 167 Kilometer stage from Montelimar to Mont Ventoux and was considered to set the tone for the final day. There were two intermediate sprints Les Pilles at 48 kilometers and Mormoiron at 138.5 kilometers. The stage also had five climbs. The cote de Citelle a category-3 at 14 kilometers, col d’Ey a catagory-3 at 65.5 kilometers, col de Fontaube a category-4 at 87 kilometers, col des Abeilles a catagory-3 at 121.5 kilometers and the most dreaded of all the the hors category at the finish at Mont Ventoux which is 1912 meters above sea level. Mont Ventoux has a 10% plus gradient on its ascent and riders had to face winds of upto 40 km/h.

It is now clear that Spanish rider Alberto Contador of Team Astana is sure to take this year tour victory and will carry his yellow jersey on the final day. Andy Schleck is most likely to take the second podium spot in Paris followed by Lance Armstrong. Team started the tour with the goal of finishing as the No.1 team and the have achieved it and are certain to carry it to Paris. Tho Hushovd has just won a single stage but he will continue to wear his green jersey on the last day of the tour.

is always said that the last time trial of the tour is a day that the yellow jersey driver should take pride in winning and Alberto Contador came out on flying colors. He not only surprised everyone with a victory, but also increased his lead margin over Andy Schleck. He and Fabian Cancellara were the only two riders to have ridden the time trial with average speed above the 50 Kilometers per hour. He really left Olympic gold medalist clueless today.

The 18th stage of the tour started with mild weather conditions but it gave way to warm and sunny as the temperature climbed to early 30s. The first rider and last in the classification standing to start the time trial was Yauheni Hutarovich of team Francaise Des Jeux. There was one retirement in the form of Kenny van Hummel who had a crash in the stage 17.

The first to setup a quality time was Russian rider Mikhail Ignatiev of team Team Katusha although he started 19th in the time trial. He rode so well that even Fabian Cancellara could not beat this time at the first two intermediate checks. During the last part of the time trial there was a change in weather with 19 riders yet to take the time trial. The showers did not last long and it was quite dry by the time general classification riders started.

There were some impressive performances by Cadel Evans of Team Silence Lotto, Christophe Moreau of Agritubel and Bradley Wiggins of Garmin – Slipstream. There was not change in any of the jersey standings. Lance climbed up in the overall standings to third place with best young driver Andy in second.

Alberto Contador the dark horse of the race and the Astana strong man took the first climb of the Alps in style. He powered ahead on the base of the final climb and took away the yellow jersey. He is now ahead of his Astana teammate and seven times champion Lance Armstrong with a gap of one minute and thirty seven seconds. Andy Schleck of team Saxo Bank finished an impressive second behind Contador.

As the tour returned to the mountains the 15th stage after a rest day was from Pontarlier to Verbier. The 207.5 kilometers stage had 6 climbs and two intermediate sprints. There were four category-3 climbs the cote du Rafour at 8 kilometers, cote des Etroits at 18.5 kilometers, cote de la Carrière at 54 kilometers and the cote de Prévonloup at 74 kilometers, a category-2 climb: col des Mosses at 135.5 kilometers and a category-1 climb to the finish at Verbier. The two sprints were Thierrens at 56.5 kilometer mark and Martigny at 181 kilometer mark.

Although the pace of peloton was dictated by Milram, Liquigas and Saxo Bank but just 6 kilometers from the finish and the final ascent Contador surprised everyone and took the lead. He quickly crossed all the escaped riders and finished the race with a 43 second gap.

Yellow jersey holder Nocentini was dropped at 5 kilometers and could just watch the yellow jersey going away from his hand. Thor Hushovd keeps the green jersey and is ahead of Cavindish by 18 points. In a post match interview Contador said that he was a different rider as compared to team mate Lance Armstrong and was looking for a tour victory this time and was not here to make records like Armstrong’s seven tour victories. Team Astana also had a good outing as it came back to the number one spot in the team standings and taking the place away from AG2R La Mondiale.

Finally the 75 year wait is over; an Ashes test victory at Lords for England over rivals Australia at Lords. England are now 1-0 ahead in the Ashes as the first test at Cardiff resulted in a draw.

England gave the visitors a mammoth target of 552 to win, but Australia was bowled out by England for 406 in the post lunch session on the fifth day. The day belonged to Andrew Flintoff who just before the start of the match announced his retirement from test cricket after the ongoing Ashes series. He took five wickets in 27 over’s giving away just 115 runs with three on the fifth day. This is Flintoff’s third five wicket haul in test career of 77 matches. He was also awarded the Man of the match for his excellent effort.

Michael Clarke’s effort in the form of 136 runs to rescue Australia went in vain as the Aussie batting tumbled against England. There was good support from Off-spinner Graeme Swann who took four wickets for 87 runs.

A generous Ricky Ponting accepted defeat with grace and in a post match interview said that the Aussie team was outplayed by England from the very first delivery of the match. He also added that he looks forward to the next test at Edgbaston and his team would come back strongly in the third test. The biggest concern for the Punter is now his bowling attack, especially Mitchell Johnson.

SCORECARD

The Ashes 2009 – 2nd Test, Australia vs England,Played at Lord’s, 16-20 July 2009

Result – England beat Australia by 115 runs

Nicki Sorenson of Team Saxo Bank won the 12th satage of Tour de France with an impressive ride. Danish rider has been a veteran of the tour and showed his skills when he attacked the breakaway and caught then at the 60 kilometers mark. Just 23 kilometers to the finish, Sorensen went into top gear and finished a race much and finished the race on a winning note.

The 12th stage of Tour de France was from Tonnere to the city of miniral water, Vittel. The stage was 211.5 km long and had 169 ridders at the start. Missing was Faria Da Costa after a ligament tear in his shoulder suffered during a crash the previous day. The stage was the second longest stage in this year’s tour. The stage had five category four climbs and one category five climb. On grab were point for polka dot jersey and awarded at cote de Baon at 19 kilometers, cote de Gye-de-Seine at 55 kilometers, cote d’Essoyes at 64.5 kilometers, cote des Grands-Bois at 150 kilometers, cote de Morlaix at 156.5 kilometers and cote de Bourmont at 170.5 kilometers. Also on offer were points for the green jersey with three intermediate sprints Channes at 32 kilometers, Longchamp-su-Aujon at 90 kilometers and St-Thiebault at 169 kilometers.

Cavendish although has been saying thought the tour that he was not interested in the intermediate sprints but he surprised everyone including Hushovd  when he crossed the like in Channes and increased his lead in the green jersey standings.

There was one successful break away which happened at the 64 kilometers mark and the peloton was never able to catch-up. Nick Sorenson crossed the line first giving his tem Saxo Bank a second stage victory. Cavendish led the peloton in the sprint and finished 5 minutes and 58 second behind Sorenson. In the final 3 kilometers there was a crash and Evans was part of it but managed to finish the race along with the peloton. There was no change in the yellow jersey standings and Iralian Nocentini will wear the yellow jersey on Saturday. He is followed by the Astana duo of Contador and Armstrong.

There was an escape in the early minutes of the 10th stage and for most of the race they stayed ahead by 150 seconds but were finely caught by the sprinters as the wonder by Mark Cavendish crossed the line in Issoudun. Thor Hushovd tried his best but the Colombia boys were as usually on the top and made sure there sprinter took the victory. Even though Hushovd lost but he still leads the green jersey points table at 147 points with Cavendish following him at second with 141 points.

Benoit Vaugrenard, Samuel Dumoulin, Thierry Hupond and Mikhail Ignatiev were part of the breakaway and could only hold with 1400 meters to the end. The train formed by Colombia caught the three Russians just 1900 to the finish and Mikhail Ignatiev was caught in the end with just 1400 meters to finish. For a change team Astana did not do any hard work and did not take part in the chase, maybe this was a way to show the tour officials a sign of protest against the banning of the radio contact.

The stage was a 194.5 kilometers from Limoges to Issoudun and was slow as it was just after a rest day and also one with banned radio contact between riders and the team cars. The stage had there category four climbs cote de Salvanet at 12.5 kilometers, cote de Saint-Laurent-les-Eglise at 27.5 kilometers and the cote de Benevent-L’Abbaye at 58.5 kilometers. The stage also had three sprints which were dispersed evenly. The three sprints were at Lauriere at 44 kilometers, Aigurande at 122.5 kilometers and Saint-Aout at 167.5kilometers.

The experienced duo of Ramnaresh Sarwan & Shivnarine Chanderpaul put up a fine show at the end of the day to help Windies reach the final four. The game brought memories of 2004 Champions Trophy win over England which helped the team take their first major tournament home since the 79 World Cup also in England, seems UK is their favourite hunting ground. But after their horrific show in England this summer who gave them a chance as they were blown away two nil in both the test & one day series & failed to win a single game on this tour. The partnership of 37 from 20 balls helped them reach a target of 80 easily in the end even though the loss of five early wickets left them in more than a spot of bother. It might well be another pointer of things to come as Windies might just relive their glorious past in England where they’ve won 2 World Cups in a row, including the inaugural One Day World Cup in 1975, before their juggernaut came to a halt against the mighty Indians, who had won a single match in the previous two editions of the tournament, ending their reign at the top.

The result came as no surprise as the Windies’ captain was vindicated in his views of upholding T-20’s as his preferred format of the game. The match though was even shorter as the game was curtailed in the end with heavy showers which persisted throughout the match. England scored 161 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss & electing to bat. They never had any momentum to their innings as wickets fell regularly in their laborious effort at the end of which Ravi Bopara was the top scorer with 55 off 47 balls. England were hit hard as Luke Wright failed yet again at the top of the innings falling to Pollard in the second over scoring 6 runs. Pieterson was in form though as he scored 31 off 23 before Simmons got him out. There onwards wickets fell regularly as the batsmen to follow failed to convert their starts into big score especially since the next five batsman went to double figures without getting past 20 runs. In the end this might have been the thing which helped Windies as they chased a revised total of 80 from 9 overs successfully, M/S Duckworth Lewis favouring them this time.