The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Nadal wastes little time in reaching last 16 Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:46 AM PDT LONDON, June 25 – Top seed and defending champion Rafa Nadal upped his game at the key moments to overcome the spirited challenge of wildcard Gilles Muller 7-6 7-6 6-0 and advance to the last 16 at Wimbledon today. Muller had wasted two set points yesterday's opening set before the match was called off due to rain and went toe to toe with the champion in a high-quality second set today. However, Nadal kept his composure on the big points in the tiebreak to break the spirit of the Luxembourger, who knocked the Spaniard out of the competition in 2005. Nadal then raced through the third set in top gear to complete the win. – Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Paula the Octopus in action for women’s World Cup Posted: 25 Jun 2011 07:32 AM PDT  Paula the octopus predicted a win for Canada against Germany in the opening match of the FIFA Women's World Cup in the southern German city of Konstanz on June 24, 2011. – AFP pic The tentacled tipster was put through her paces yesterday in Konstanz in southern Germany, but made the shock choice that Canada will win tomorrow's opening match against the hosts in Berlin. The octopus, whose gender is actually unknown, had to choose between two compartments in a plastic box in its tank, one with a Germany flag and one with a Canada one, with each containing a tasty morsel. The prediction is a bold one as Germany, whose women are hoping to win their third consecutive World Cup, have never lost any of their previous nine matches to Canada. Paula, however, is only one of eight salty soothsayers housed at eight different Sea Life centres in Germany competing to become the official successor to British-born Paul, who lived in an aquarium in Oberhausen. All eight will be asked to predict the outcome of all Germany's matches in the June 26-July 17 women's competition. While Paula and an eight-legged colleague in Munich both backed Canada yesterday, the fishy forecasters in Berlin, Koenigswinter and Oberhausen plumped for Germany, making the combined predictions 3-2 in the hosts' favour. But the method of enticing the underwater oracles to predict the winner proved to be far from fool-proof – three octopuses in other locations in Germany snubbed the treats on offer and ignored both boxes. This was determined by aquarium officials to mean that they expect a draw. Meanwhile one-year-old African elephant Nelly got in on the forecasting act at the Serengeti Park in Hodenhagen, near Hanover, by predicting a win for Germany after opting to kick a ball into the Canada net when given a choice. But it is all a far cry so far from last summer's performances by Paul – who has become something of an icon here – after he kept a clean sheet in the men's competition in South Africa. He correctly foretold the outcome of all Germany's games, even a defeat to Serbia in the group stage and to Spain in the semi-finals, as well as Spain's eventual victory in the final. In the process he cost bookmakers a fortune and won worldwide fame, with rolling news channels in Germany carrying live coverage when he was asked to choose – as they did with Paula yesterday. Paul died aged nearly three in October, sparking hundreds of messages of condolence from his fan club on social networking website Facebook, whose ranks have more than tripled since his death to more than 200,000. – AFP Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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