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Gillings keen for Olympic run-in

Posted by admin under Winter sports

Ride the slopes with Zoe Gillings
Manx snowboard cross racer Zoe Gillings says training is going well ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The British number one and world number five said: “I had some great results last season and I’m confident I can improve again this year.
“The Winter Olympics will be a massive test for me with huge crowds but when I’m nervous I perform at my best.”
The 24-year-old’s first race of the season will be in South America on the 11 September.

Danny Crates Paralympic gold medal-winning athlet

Posted by admin under Disability Sport

Paralympic gold medal-winning athlete Danny Crates came third in his last race at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

The 36-year-old from Essex, who lost his right arm in a car accident in Australia in 1994, has announced his retirement following a successful career.

The undoubted highlight was his victory in the T46 800m at the Athens Paralympics in 2004.

Here he tells BBC Sport about some of the best and worst moments of his athletics career.

Hundreds on Armstrong Tweet ride

Posted by admin under Cycling

About 300 people have joined an impromptu bike ride with cycling legend Lance Armstrong after he issued an open invitation on a Twitter post.

The seven-times Tour de France winner alerted fans that he was coming to Scotland during a Tweet on Monday.

He posted: “Hey Glasgow, Scotland! I’m coming your way tomorrow. Who wants to go for a bike ride?”

Armstrong set off from Ashtree House Hotel, Paisley, Renfrewshire, shortly after 1230 BST on Tuesday.
Up to 300 people are thought to have turned out for the event - including Scottish former cycling champion, Graeme Obree.

After the event, Armstrong posted the Tweets: “Thanks to everyone who turned up to ride in Paisley! I figured we’d have a nice ride for a dozen or so. But 100’s came. Haha! Awesome!

“And yes, next time I’ll try to bring some sun. You bring the translator (Scottish to Texan) and I’ll bring the rays. Seriously, thanks again.

“And how great was it that the Flying Scotsman Graeme Obree came out? Legend.”

BBC Scotland reporter Mark Daly spoke briefly to Armstrong before he set off at the head of a 300-strong pack of cyclists.

Tour preparation

Speaking while cycling with Armstrong, he said: “He told me he hadn’t been doing too much training but he was in advance preparation of putting his team together for his assault on next year’s Tour de France.
“What we’ve been told is that he is going to do a 90-minute route which, depending on how fast he wants to go, could be anything between 30 and 40 kilometres.

“The pace is already beginning to quicken and perhaps some of the more fun cyclists may soon drop off.”

BBC Scotland news website reader Leigh McConnell, from Beith in Ayreshire, said: “Went along, after getting my Tweet, to wait for the inspirational Lance Armstrong and was not disappointed.

“My best friend Jules lost her mum to cancer and Steven suffered just like Lance and all find him the most incredible person giving hope and guidance to all.”

Armstrong returned to competitive cycling this year after retiring in 2005. He finished third in the 2009 Tour de France.

The 37-year-old American’s achievements in the sport are considered remarkable as he has undergone several treatments for cancer after being diagnosed at the age of 25.

GB’s Cawthorn just out of medals

Posted by admin under Canoeing

Rachel Cawthorn, Great Britain’s leading female sprint kayaker, suffered a second near-miss on the final day of the World Championships in Canada.

Having come fifth in a four-woman crew on Saturday, she was 0.6 seconds off a podium place in Sunday’s singles final.

Cawthorn was beaten to bronze by Italy’s Josefa Idem, who she had pipped to third spot in the European Champs.

“I am a little disappointed that I didn’t medal but its a good end to the season,” said the 21-year-old.

“The results this year confirm that we are on the right track.

“If we continue training and preparing as we have, we will be on the podium in the not too distant future.”
Britain’s four-man kayak were seventh on Saturday after becoming the GB crew to reach a world final in that class.

Ben Farrell, Stuart Hastings, Paul Wycherley and Andy Daniels were three seconds behind winners Belarus in Dartmouth.

The kayak double of Lucy Wainwright and Lani Belcher also raced in a final on Sunday but their eighth-place finish behind champions Hungary was two short of the pre-championships aim.

And performance director John Anderson was impressed, particularly with the women, saying: “These are the best results at a Worlds for GB ever.
“Rachel’s fourth place in the K1 and the women’s K2 and K4 results are fantastic; they are consistently reaching the finals.”

A young Great Britain squad were without double Olympic medallist Tim Brabants, who is taking a year out from competition to concentrate on his medical career.

Live ice hockey from BBC Spor

Posted by admin under Ice hockey

Follow live GB, Elite League and Premier League ice hockey with BBC Sport.

BBC local radio brings you live commentaries, interviews and reports from rinks across the UK.

Find out where you can hear more about your local team, and how to tune in.

List may be incomplete - check your local station’s listings for more details.
Many commentaries will be available online only.
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire are the media partner for the Great Britain senior team.

All GB matches at the 2009 World Championships in Poland will be broadcast live.
Cardiff Devils - BBC Wales

BBC Wales offer some live commentaries of home games, interviews, and features on Sportstime (Tuesday nights).

Coventry Blaze - BBC Coventry & Warwickshire
Comprehensive coverage - key home games live on air and a dedicated show, Face-Off (7pm, first Thurs each month).

Hull Stingrays
BBC Humber offer interviews, web features and match reports from most Stingrays home games.

Newcastle Vipers
BBC Tyne offer news from the Vipers and live commentaries from big Cup and Play-off matches.

Nottingham Panthers - BBC Nottingham
Tune in for match previews (6-7pm Fri, 5.45pm Sat), live radio updates, all the reaction, and reports online.

Sheffield Steelers - BBC South Yorkshire
The best Steelers coverage including Steelers Hockey (Fridays 7-8pm), interviews and some commentaries.

Basingstoke Bison
BBC Berkshire are following the Bison with reports and updates throughout the season.

Bracknell Bees
BBC Berkshire offer live coverage of selected Bees home games, plus interviews, scores and reports.

Peterborough Phantoms - BBC Cambridgeshire
Tune to BBC Cambs the morning after each Phantoms game for reports, plus interviews and news on air and online.

Slough Jets
BBC Berkshire offer live coverage of selected Jets home games, plus interviews, scores and reports.

Swindon Wildcats
BBC Wiltshire offer regular interviews, match reports and news from the Wildcats.

Telford Tigers
BBC Shropshire offer interviews, previews and match reaction online and on radio.

Blackburn Hawks
BBC Lancashire offer Hawks results in sports bulletins with previews and web features each week.

Invicta Dynamos
BBC Kent offer regular interviews with the Dynamos, plus guests from the team on sports programmes.

Christiansen eyes new challenge

Posted by admin under Equestrian

Paralympic dressage champion Sophie Christiansen is hoping a new horse will help her continue her medal success.

The 21-year-old from Berkshire will debut Rivaldo of Berkeley, known as Robin, at this week’s Para-Dressage European Championships in Norway.

Christiansen goes to Norway as defending champion in both the Grade 1a championship and freestyle categories.

“I’m looking forward to the Europeans but nervous at the same time,” she told BBC Sport.

“I have posted good results this year on Lambrusco, who I rode in Hong Kong, and also on Robin, so I am in a very good position, but trying not to get complacent.”

Christiansen has cerebral palsy, which affects all her muscles, and rides in the category for the most disabled riders.

She won two golds and a silver as Britain dominated the equestrian events in Hong Kong and is one of three Beijing medallists on the British team, along with Lee Pearson and Simon Laurens for the event which starts on Thursday.

Emma Sheardown, who competes in the same category as Christiansen, and Sophie Wells will make their European debuts with Athens Paralympian Jo Pitt completing the line-up.

As well as the individual competitions, Britain will be hoping to continue their long unbeaten run in the team event, which stretches back to the sport’s Paralympic introduction in 1996.

But Christiansen will be hoping to ease Robin into international competition as she looks ahead to the London 2012 Paralympics

“I’ve had Robin about three months and he’s coming on really well,” she explained.

“It’s been a sharp learning curve for him as he’s had to understand that my involuntary movements aren’t always instructions to him - for example, not to canter when my leg goes back.

“One of my strengths as a rider is that I can get almost any horse and get the best out of it. It is probably because I have never had my own horse and have had to rely on borrowing from the South Bucks Riding for the Disabled Association group.
“It is important that a rider has a back-up as you never know what could happen. For the Worlds in 2007, my main horse went lame two weeks before the competition so I had to quickly get used to another one and I still won a gold and a bronze.

“Robin’s improvement is shown by the fact he has beaten Lambrusco a few times, but although he has what it takes to compete at this level, we think it’s a bit too early for him to go to the Europeans.

“He needs to trust us and there is no need to rush him when Lambrusco is still coming up with the results.”

Christiansen warmed up for Norway with an impressive display at the recent Festival of Dressage at Hartpury where she rode both horses and finished first and second in all three classes and won the Supreme Individual Championship ahead of Pearson.

“I was very pleased with both horses that week - they performed impeccably, which made my life easier,” she said.

“It was my first big competition with Robin so we weren’t sure how he would be. The fact that I could transfer my skills on to another horse within a couple hours also impressed people, I think.”

With a new horse, Christiansen also had to think about the music to use in the freestyle event in Norway after becoming European, World and Paralympic freestyle champion on Lambrusco with music from Lord of the Rings.

“I wanted different music for Robin as a new horse and I also wanted something that would represent me more,” she explained.

“I thought Penny Lane by The Beatles with an intro from Live and Let Die by Wings was halfway there, since I was involved in Sir Paul McCartney’s Paralympic campaign last year.

“I still need to figure out how to get Eric Clapton or Kasabian into a music test though - somehow I don’t think the judges would appreciate it.”

Daley and Brick struggle in final

Posted by admin under Diving

British divers Tom Daley and Max Brick finished ninth in the men’s 10m synchro final in an inconsistent showing at the World Championships in Rome.

In the first major international final for the new pair, they were a promising fifth after two dives.

Daley, who won the 10m individual gold, was the more solid of the duo while Brick struggled a little as they ended with 390.36 points after six rounds.

Olympic champions Huo Liang and Lin Yue of China won gold with 482.58 points.

Daley and Brick were shown a masterclass by the champions but will have also gained encouragement from their performance after only joining forces in April.
Brick, 17, was mainly to blame for a poor third round dive as he gave up a huge splash on his entry into the water, which indicated his execution was lacking.

That dropped the pair from fifth to last in 12th and, although they moved up to 10th with their next effort, both struggled on their fifth effort as they languished in 11th.

But an excellent final dive showed what Daley and Brick are capable of as they moved up two places to finish in ninth.

“Training with Tom and going to Plymouth has been really good,” said Brick as he reflected on their first three months together.

Despite finishing some way off the medals, Daley was also content with a week in which he became Britain’s first individual world champion.

“I feel like I have been watching someone else do it,” he said.
“It has just been great. It has been a pretty cool week to say the least.

“It has been highs and there have been a couple of lows, but that is what you get with being a diver because anything can happen.”

But Brick is confident that his partner’s new status as a world champion will not affect his synchro work.

“He is still Tom,” he said.

Alexei Evangulov, who was overseeing his first major international competition as national performance director, was happy with the way the duo and the British team as a whole had performed.

“We have had nine finalists, seven top eight finishes and one gold medal,” he said.

“The performance of the team has made me hopeful of future successful performances because we have been mainly successful here.”

Meanwhile, elsewhere at the World Championships the British synchronised swimming team finished 10th in their final.

Blackburn seal signing of Salgado

Posted by admin under Football

Former Real Madrid right-back Michel Salgado has signed for Blackburn.

The 33-year-old, who has been capped 53 times for Spain, was available on a free transfer after Real cancelled his contract a year early.

Salgado spent 10 years at the Bernabeu, winning two Champions League medals as well as a host of domestic honours.

He has signed a two-year deal but will return to Madrid on Monday for a match in his honour while awaiting international clearance for Rovers.

Speaking after signing his contract, Salgado said he turned down a move to Chelsea five years ago.

“I had a chance to come to Chelsea but I was lucky too because my team was Real Madrid,” he told the Blackburn website.

“I love the club, I was there 10 years - it is a lifetime. I am proud of playing for them for so long.
“Now I want to enjoy the next two years, playing in the Premier League. It is one of the best in the world.

“Not only that it is pure football - fantastic games and a fantastic atmosphere. This will be a good experience for me, my wife and children. I have joined a historic club.”

It is something of a trademark move by Rovers manager Sam Allardyce, who gained a reputation while at Bolton for signing veteran players such as Youri Djorkaeff, Fernando Hierro and Ivan Campo.

Blackburn lost their opening match of the Premier League season 2-0 to Manchester City.

Rings star Van Gelder fails test

Posted by admin under Gymnastics

Former rings world champion gymnast Yuri van Gelder is facing a two-year ban after testing positive for cocaine.

The Dutch Gymnastics Union (KNGU) said it had suspended Van Gelder, 26, after a positive urine test result following a national competition in June.

Van Gelder, nicknamed ‘Lord of the Rings’ by the Dutch media, described his cocaine use as “idiotic”.

“I only did it for the fun,” he told a news conference. “I’m devastated about what’s happened.”

Van Gelder said the Dutch Defence Ministry had suspended him from his post as a sergeant ahead of disciplinary proceedings.

He added that he hoped to carry on his sporting career after the suspension and he would be seeking help for his drug use.

Van Gelder won the rings gold medal at the 2005 world championships and is the current European champion on the apparatus.

Baseball mourns youngest DiMaggio

Posted by admin under Baseball

Dom DiMaggio, the youngest of the three famous baseball-playing brothers, has died at the age of 92.

Dom’s middle sibling Joe is one of the sport’s legends whose 56-game hitting streak is a record that still stands.

A seven-time All Star himself, Dom still holds the record for the longest hitting streak for the Boston Red Sox - 34 games in the 1949 season.

Vince, the oldest DiMaggio brother, also played for five Major League teams. All three were centre-fielders.

Vince died aged 74 in 1986, while Hall of Famer Joe, a former husband of Marilyn Monroe, died in 1999 at the age of 84.