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Venus Williams withdraws from Sony Ericsson Open in Miami

• Three-times champion still struggling with abdominal injury
• Serena Williams will also miss the tournament




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 March 2011 11.58 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Venus-Williams-still-has--007.jpg
    Venus Williams still has the injury that forced her to retire from the Australian Open in January. Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP Venus Williams has withdrawn from next week's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami after failing to recover from an abdominal injury.
    The three-times champion is still struggling with the problem that forced her to retire in the second game of her Australian Open match with the Serbian-born German player Andrea Petkovic in January.
    "I am very sorry to not be playing in the Sony Ericsson Open this year," said the American. "It is one of my favourite tournaments on the circuit, especially because it is so close to my home in south Florida. I look forward to returning to the tour soon."
    Williams' sister Serena is also missing as she recovers from a foot injury and a blood clot while the defending champion Kim Clijsters, who beat Venus in last year's final, is a doubt with a shoulder problem.

 
Pirelli introduces colour-coded tyres to Formula One

&#8226; Manufacturer's idea is to help fans
&#8226; Pirelli replaces Bridgestone as sole supplier




  • Reuters
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 March 2011 23.31 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Red-Bull-testing-session--007.jpg
    Red Bull's mechanics using Pirelli tyres during a pre-season testing session at Montmelo, near Barcelona. Photograph: Alejandro Garcia/EPA Formula One tyres will be colour-coded from the season-opener in Australia on 27 March to help fans tell which of six kinds are being used by drivers, the new tyre supplier, Pirelli, has announced.
    The Italian company said that prominent logos on the sidewall of each tyre would carry distinct colouring depending on the type.
    Only two of four possible compounds of slick tyre will be available in each race, plus intermediate and wet tyres in the event of rain.
    Pirelli said the wets used in heavy rain conditions would be coded orange, while intermediates suited to a damp and drying track would be light blue.
    Supersoft compounds, providing speed at the expense of durability, will be coded red. Soft tyres that last slightly longer will be yellow, medium tyres white and hards &#8211; the most durable of all &#8211; silver.
    "The first three grands prix of the year &#8211; Australia, Malaysia and China &#8211; will be hard and soft compounds, meaning that silver and yellow tyres will be first to make an appearance in Melbourne," the company said.
    Pirelli has replaced Bridgestone as sole supplier, with tyres expected to be less durable and play a bigger part in race strategy by increasing the amount of overtaking and producing more pit stops.

 
Anthony Wall takes halfway lead at Sicilian Open thanks to phone app

&#8226; Golfer took phone tips about greens from Dave Stockton
&#8226; 'He's an amazing putter and you listen to those guys more'




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 18 March 2011 23.01 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Anthony-Wall-has-taken-th-005.jpg
    Anthony Wall has taken the halfway lead at the Sicilian Open at the Donnafugata golf resort. Photograph: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Anthony Wall hailed the influence of an unusual piece of golfing technology after surging to the halfway lead at the Sicilian Open.
    The Englishman began the day in a four-way tie for fourth after a 66 and he produced another consistent round to take the clubhouse lead at the Donnafugata Golf Resort.
    Wall enjoyed birdies on the 4th and 6th holes before hitting an eagle on the 12th as he finished the round on four under par.
    And the 35-year-old, whose only European Tour title came back in 2000, revealed: "I bought a Dave Stockton iPhone app about reading greens and that is the best 59 pence I have ever spent because his tips have really simplified a few things for me. I haven't holed everything but I have hit my putts a lot better.
    "It was a bargain, I have to say. You don't get many valuable lessons for 59 pence these days. Dave Stockton is and always was an amazing putter and you tend to listen to those guys a bit more."
    He added: "I have played great for the last two days. This is a tough course and I have played really well again today. I haven't really had a tough par putt for the last two days and that tells you how well I have been playing. If I can stay strong mentally, then I should have a good chance to win here."
    Raphael Jacquelin and Richard Green are tied for second, though the pair both marred otherwise excellent rounds with double bogeys.
    Jacquelin had been joint third overnight and made a superb start, hitting a birdie on the 1st hole.
    However, the Frenchman then took six at the par-four 6th and, although he managed to sink three more birdies, his 69 meant he finished with a four-under-par 135.
    Green, of Australia, started at the 10th with a double-bogey six but also hit six birdies to finish on 67.
    Five players share fourth place on five under after Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti mustered a four-under homeward nine of 32 and the Spaniard Alejandro Canizares birdied two of his last three holes to join Sweden's Oscar Floren, the Welshman Stephen Dodd and Marco Crespi of Italy.
    Another Englishman, Chris Wood, bogeyed the last two holes to drop out of that group and into a share of 10th, level with Colin Montgomerie.
    Europe's successful Ryder Cup captain, who resumed in a tie for 17th after a first-round score of 69, produced a fine bogey-free round despite struggling with illness, hitting two birdies for another 69.
    "I'm not feeling very well &#8211; terrible flu &#8211;so I did well today," he said. "That was OK, to not drop a shot. I haven't dropped a shot since the first two holes of round one. Things are looking up."
    The joint overnight leader José Manuel Lara, by contrast, had five bogeys and one birdie in a 75.

 

Odlanier Solís may be fighting Vitali Klitschko at just the right time

Vitali Klitschko has fists like rocks but the 39-year-old has lost some speed and the Cuban defector Odlanier Solís may be the man to take advantage when they meet in Cologne on Saturday




  • Vitali-Klitschko-lands-a--005.jpg
    Vitali Klitschko, right, lands a right on Shannon Briggs of the US during the Ukrainian's successful defence of his WBC heavyweight title in October 2010. Photograph: Christian Charisius/Reuters Vitali Klitschko has come a long way since Birmingham's Pelé Reid knocked him out in the 89kg final of the European kick-boxing championships 19 years ago.
    Both went on to box exclusively with gloves and their fortunes describe all the highs and lows of the fight game. Reid's chin eventually gave up on him and he never lived up to the excitement he created at the start of his career, when he knocked out 12 opponents in a row, eight of them in the first round, all of them anonymous. He has not fought since a rare win in the Bingley Hall, Birmingham, two years ago.
    Klitschko, meanwhile, went on to conquer the world. On Saturday night in his adopted Germany, the 39-year-old Ukrainian with a PhD and fists like rocks defends his WBC heayvweight title against Odlanier Solís, the Cuban runaway who won Olympic gold in 2004 but has lingered on the edge of the big time in the pro game since defecting in 2006.
    He is a smart, unbeaten boxer, heavy-handed but heavy-bellied. If he trained as hard as he talks, he might even be starting as favourite in the Lanxess Arena in Cologne against an opponent whose many injuries have drained his speed and are surely leading him towards retirement.
    What Klitschko has not lost are his power and accuracy, and these tools, allied to his height and reach, should be too much for Solís, who is built in the mould of the champion's most recent challenger, Shannon Briggs.
    The Cuban has his fans, though, among them the 6ft 8in Liverpool heavyweight David Price, who has been sparring with him in Spain. "An upset wouldn't surprise me," says Price, who is unbeaten in nine fights since turning professional after wining an Olympic bronze in Beijing.
    "But I was baffled by Solís. There were times we sparred when I thought he was one of the very best. On other occasions I thought either I was world-class right now or he was ordinary.
    "I watched a DVD on Thursday of Lennox Lewis beating Vitali [in 2003]. Back then, Vitali was five times faster than he seems now and Solís could be in the right place at the right time.
    "I wouldn't be surprised if he fought similar to what David Haye did against Nikolai Valuev [when the Londoner won the WBA title in 2009] and used footwork to stay out of trouble and nick rounds."
    It would be a twist in Haye's story if Solís shocked the world and took the elder Klitschko out of the Londoner's retirement plans. Haye, who fights Vitali's brother, Wladimir, soon for their three versions of the title, had Solís reeling in the first round when they met in the heavyweight final at the world amateur finals in Belfast 10 years ago before running out of steam in the third round.
    But, as Pelé Reid discovered, the boxing world moves on; on Saturday night the reluctant, surly challenger now based in Miami has his chance to turn it on its head. If he takes it, Haye will have another reason to curse him.

 
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