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AllFlying |
News archive, November
2005 Click
to return to our archives Hingis
back in 2006 (Nov
30)
Former World Number One
Martina Hingis has declared herself completely over her nagging foot injuries
and is set to return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2006.
The 25-year-old
tennis star told a press conference that she had recovered from ankle problems
which forced her to retire in 2002, at the tender age of 22.
“I was never
happy that my injuries cut my career short and ultimately forced my decision to
step away from tennis,” said Hingis to the WTA Tour web.
“I miss
the game and the challenge of competing at the highest level of tennis, and I
want to gauge whether I can stay healthy and compete against today's top players.”
Hingis
was the youngest ever World Number One player, reaching the coveted position at
only the age of 16 and six months. She stayed at the top of women's tennis for
seven straight seasons, winning 76 singles and doubles tournaments including 14
Grand Slam titles during her tenure.
For the CEO of the WTA Tour, Larry Scott,
Hingis' return can only add another level of excitement to an already entertaining
lineup.
Martina Hingis is one of the game's great champions and unique personalities,"
he said.
"For fans of women's tennis, Martina's return will add another
level of excitement to the sport and enhance the incredible rivalries and roster
of big-name stars. Her passion for the game has never wavered and we look forward
to her return."
Hingis will play her first tournament in Australia, when
the tennis season kick off in January.
By Rick D'Andrea & Danielle Tralli
Hockeyroos
off to a flyer in Champions Trophy (Nov 29)
The Hockeyroos are firing
on all cylinders in the early stages of the Champions Trophy, currently being
contested in Canberra between six of the world's top women's hockey nations. In
their first three matches the Hockeyroos are yet to concede a goal, and now join
the Netherlands at the top of the table undefeated. They will play Argentina,
who they last week convincingly defeated in two friendly matches, and then on
Saturday, in what is shaping as a preview to the gold-medal match, they will face
off against the Netherlands.
But to keep their expectations in perspective,
they need to look no further than the world's number one team. The Netherlands
have scored 13 goals from their first three matches, and conceded just two.
But
if the Hockeyroos can once again defeat Argentina, they will have booked a place
in Sunday's gold-medal playoff regardless of the result on Saturday.
All the
action from the tournament can be seen on ABC-TV, with round 4 highlights on Thursday
night, and full coverage of Australia v Netherlands broadcast on Saturday from
2pm and the gold-medal match on Sunday from 2pm. Highlights from other weekend
matches will be shown on Saturday and Sunday night.
The Hockeyroos are aiming
for their seventh Champions Trophy since the tournament was first played in 1987.
By
Sam Ryan
Matildas
keep China to nil-all draw (Nov 28)
 The
Qantas Matildas have again impressed against a quality international opponent,
drawing their match against ninth-ranked China 0-0 in Gosford on Friday. The Matildas'
defence have not conceded a goal in their past four matches, as they prepare for
World Cup qualifying matches in July next year.
For a brief moment the crowd
celebrated what seemed to be the breakthrough for Australia when striker Kate
Gill sent the ball into the back of the net with 20 minutes left in the game.
But the goal was disallowed, with Gill deemed to have been offside.
Coach Tom
Sermanni was pleased with the effort, and his teams continued competitiveness
against top quality opposition. “The fact that players were able to come
on and make an impression shows we are developing good depth in the squad, “
he said after the match.
The two teams will play a second international match
this Saturday night as a curtain raiser to the A-League contest between Sydney
FC and Melbourne Victory at Aussie Stadium in Sydney. China will also play a practice
match against the Qantas young Matildas on Thursday 1 December, in Mingara.
By
Sam Ryan
Football Australia website
Travel
unravels Victorian dominance in WNBL (Nov 28)
The WNBL's top two
teams, the Dandenong Rangers and Bulleen Boomers, both lost on the road on Friday
night, briefly allowing Adelaide and Canberra to move with a single game of second
spot.
Despite both having a strong record on the road this season, Dandenong
lost just their second of 11 games and Bulleen lost their third of 12. Dandenong
succumbed to the fifth-placed Townsville 78-65, and fourth-placed Adelaide won
their fifth match in a row by defeating Bulleen 73-63.
Canberra held onto third
spot with a thumping win over the AIS 95-37, leaving the AIS still winless after
10 games.
But Dandenong and Bulleen restored their two game lead from Canberra
and Adelaide, both winning the second leg of their round 9 road-trips. Dandenong
defeated Sydney Uni 68-53 to keep top spot, and Bulleen kept Perth winless at
home with a 94-75 win.
Adelaide and Canberra will get their chance to close
in on the Victorians again this weekend however, with both scheduled to play two
games. But as they play each other on Saturday night in what should be a thrilling
contest, only one of them has the chance to come out of the weekend with two wins,
and possibly equal first spot on the ladder.
By Sam Ryan
WNBL website
Monette
Russo makes gymnastics history (Nov 23)
 Victorian
17-year-old Monette Russo has rewritten the history books by becoming the first
Australian female gymnast to qualify for more than one apparatus final at a world
championship event.
Russo made her way through to the finals which will take
place from Friday to Sunday on both beam and uneven bars.
The young gymnast
has a number of titles already under her belt, the first of these being in 2001
where she won the Junior National division.
In 2004, Russo represented Australia
in the Athens Olympics where she finished in eighth place, competing despite a
serious leg injury.
Her best international result to date was at the AA Olympic
Test Event in 2004 where she came second.
Now Russo's sights are set on the
2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne where she hopes to make Australia proud and
perhaps become the first Australian female gymnast to win a major individual medal.
Coach
Peggy Liddick has high hopes for Russo and will try to build the rest of the team
around her.
"She's prepared and we're just trying to treat it like any
other competition," said Liddick.
"She's experienced. She knows what
it's all about.”
By Danielle Tralli
Russo
web site
Russo
profile at Gymnastics.org.au
Hockeyroos
demolish Argentinians (Nov 23)
 The
Australian Hockeyroos have put on a blistering performance and demolished the
Argentinian women's hockey team 5-2 in a final hit-out before the Champions Trophy
tournament next week.
The Hockeyroos took a 2-1 lead into half time thanks
to goals from Angie Skirving and Nicole Arrold, and never looked back with Nikki
Hudson, Emily Halliday and Kim Walker completing the impressive win by scoring
in the second half.
"That was very pleasing," Coach Frank Murray
told Seven.com.au.
"That (win) will give the girls a lot of confidence
(coming into the Champions Trophy tournament)".
Argentina are ranked as
the top nation in women's hockey, and with other nations such as Olympic gold
medallists Germany and powerhouses Holland, China and Korea all coming to Canberra
to contest the Champions Trophy, this win over the South Americans will give the
Hockeyroos some confidence.
The official squad for the Champions Trophy is:
Wendy
Alcorn, Nicole Arrold, Madonna Blyth, Suzie Faulkner, Deanne Gilbert, Emily Halliday,
Kate Hollywood, Nikki Hudson, Amy Korner, Kobie McGurk, Emma Meyer, Donna-Lee
Patrick, Megan Rivers, Rebecca Sanders, Angie Skirving, Karen Smith, Melanie Twitt,
Kim Walker.
By Rick D'Andrea & Sam Ryan
Hockey
Australia web World
gym champs (Nov 22)
Melbourne began hosting the world gymnastics
championships yesterday.
See this
link for the championship website.
CRI Online has run an interesting piece
on some of the competitors, tracing back their family heritage in the sport. See
this
link.
Downhill
for UK award (Nov 21)
 British
junior downhill cycling champion Rachel Atherton has taken out the UK Sportswoman
of the Year award.
The Sunday Times sponsored gong would normally be expected
to go to a more mainstream sport, and completely surprised the 17-year-old.
"I
was in shock. This was a real surprise. I honestly had no idea that I would win.
It is a real honour to be nominated against other such impressive sports women,
such high profile sports, so I'm really happy for the sport that we got noticed
this way,” she said.
Webb's
climb to fame (Nov 16)
Karrie Webb has been inducted in the World
Golf Hall of Fame, like fellow Australian and childhood hero, Greg Norman.
Webb has always been a high-achiever, winning the LPGA Tour twice, finishing in
the top ten in her first six tournaments and in 1996, being the first woman to
break the $1 million barrier. “It’s something that I never dreamed I
would achieve,” Webb said in the Daily Telegraph. “I still feel like
a little girl with big dreams from a small town called Ayr.”
Webb has
also won other LPGA awards such as the 1996 Webb won the Rolex Rookie of the Year,
the Vare Trophy in 1997 and back-to-back Rolex Player of the Year in 1999-2000.
By Stephen Ritchie WTA
goes French in LA (Nov 14)
 Mary
Pierce and Amelie Mauresmo have made the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championship final
an all-French affair after both won their respective semi-finals.
Pierce knocked
out World Number One Lindsay Davenport in a very tightly fought match 7-6 7-6,
whilst Mauresmo fended off Russian Maria Sharapova 7-6 6-3 in the other semi-final.
"It
came down to two close tie-breaks," Davenport reported to the WTA Tour website,
"It was very tough to kind of get any kind of momentum going.”
“Every
time I felt like that was a good hold, a close one, let's get it going here, she
would hold at love or make one ball in that game. She played really well when
it got close for the lines, made them, and I made a few errors in each tie-break,
like one shot in each tie break I would love to take back - and the year is over.”
Pierce
added that she wants this title to cap off an already stellar year, in which she
has won 29 or her last 32 matches and reached third in the world.
“I am
very proud of myself for the year I have had, especially since Roland Garros,”
Pierce said.
“I just enjoy what I do. I do it because I feel this is
my purpose in life right now. Just one more match this year and I'm going to give
everything that I have, enjoy it, and see what happens in the end.”
Mauresmo
had a slightly easier match than Pierce after Sharapova complained of soreness
in her playing (right) arm during the second set.
“My arm is still not
one hundred percent. Especially in the second set, I couldn't serve very big.
And I couldn't hit a really big forehand,” Sharapova said in a post-match
press conference.
“So that obviously is not very good when you are playing
a top player in the semis.”
The final will be the second time that the
Frenchwomen will have met this week with the result going in favour of the 30-year-old
Pierce 2-6 6-4 6-2.
By Rick D'Andrea
Davenport
on top for second year (Nov 12)
American Lindsay Davenport has already
assured herself of remaining the World's Number One for the fourth time in her
career after the final event currently being held in Los Angeles.
Davenport
assured her place at the top of women's tennis after making the semi-final of
the Sony Ericsson WTA Championships where she will face Frenchwoman Mary Pierce
for a spot in the final and a chance to win $1 million.
"It's unbelievable
to do it four times," Davenport told the WTATour website. "I wouldn't
have felt last year that I would have a chance to do that again.”
“It's
been a great year; I came close to winning a Grand Slam a couple of times. This
is just a really nice way to end the season.”
The only person who had
a slim chance of taking the coveted position away from the American was Belgian
Kim Clijsters, but had a poor round-robin tournament, with only a win over Russian
Nadia Petrova.
The Belgian was glad to end her memorable year like this, after
she had won nine previous tournaments and 67 matches leading into Los Angeles,
which included her first Grand Slam title. She had risen from 134th in the world
to second, and was glad that the season was had come to an end.
"It sounds
very good to say that," Clijsters told ABC News.
By Rick D'Andrea Dokic
set to became Aussie -- again (Nov 12)
Serbian tennis star Jelena
Dokic is set to re-apply for her Australian citizenship when she visits Melbourne
next month to prepare for the Australian Open in January.
Dokic renounced her
Australian citizenship back in 2001, after her eccentric father, Damir, accused
the Australian tennis officialdom of rigging the draw against his daughter.
"Jelena
phoned her mother and told her she plans to travel to Melbourne in December to
prepare for the Australian Open," Damir Dokic told Kurir, a Serbian newspaper.
"She
wants to take Australian citizenship when she is there and to play at the Australian
Open as an Australian citizen."
The Serbian's ranking has plummeted this
past two years, from being in the top ten at the end of last year, into the 300s,
where she currently sits. She has also estranged herself from her father after
the antics he caused at both the US Open and Wimbledon Grand Slams.
"She
phoned my wife from Croatia saying she was OK," Damir Dokic told Sportal.
"I thought she had been kidnapped or something."
"She did not
call for three months and I was about to ring the police."
The 22-year-old
has not won a Grand Slam match since the first round of the US open back in 2003.
By
Rick D'Andrea Mauresmo
wins, but Dementieva claims last spot (Nov 7)
 Number
one seed Amelie Mauresmo has won the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia after
she defeated Russian and number four seed Elena Dementieva 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
The Frenchwoman was given a real scare when she was up 4-1 in the final set, when
Dementieva won the next four games to take the score to 5-4. But the tournament’s
Number One seed was strong enough to hold on and win her third title of the season,
as well as defend her crown that she had won last year and in 2003.
Speaking
to the Daily Times, Mauresmo admitted that she did not have it all her
own way.
“There were a lot of ups and downs for me but also for her,”
she said.
“I lost my rhythm in the second set and felt like I let her
back in the match. I wasn’t aggressive and started to feel it physically,
but I still managed to stay in control of the points in the third.”
But
the real winner on the night was the Russian Dementieva, who claimed the final
spot in the lucrative Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships to be held at the Staples
Centre in Los Angeles.
The top eight female singles and doubles players will
compete for over $3 million in prize money, and with a field including Belgian
Kim Clijsters, American World Number One Lindsay Davenport, former World Number
One Amelie Mauresmo and former Wimbledon champion, Maria Sharapova, the competition
is set to tough.
By Rick D’Andrea Australia
wins All Nations Champs (Nov 1)
 The
Australian teams that competed at the All Nations Touch Championships in New Zealand
recently have done what many teams before them have failed to do, defeat the “Touch
Blacks” at home.
The ten finals included women’s, men’s and
mixed open, women’s, men’s and mixed 30s, women’s and men’s
35s, men’s 40s and men’s 45s, of which Australia recorded victories
in seven.
The Australian women’s open team defeated New Zealand 4-3 in
a drop-off, the women’s 30s defeated New Zealand 1-0 and the 35s defeated
Oceania 6-0. Unfortunately for the mixed open and mixed 35s teams, they were unable
to emerge victorious over arch-rival New Zealand, however, all other Australian
teams recorded victories.
The All Nations tournament served as a warm-up to
the 2007 Touch Football World Cup in South Africa, of which Australia will be
favourite in many divisions.
By Stephen Ritchie  Return
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