A round-up of today’s other stories in brief
Thomas fails to muster up win
TENNIS: Former world number one Thomas Muster lost in straight sets to a fellow Austrian little more than half his age as he returned to the ATP circuit after an 11-year absence yesterday.
Andreas Haider-Maurer, 23, beat Muster 6-2 7-6 in front of a crowd of around 8,000 at the Vienna Open.
Muster, the 43-year-old former French Open champion, got a standing ovation after losing the first-round tie.
IOC delay call on Winter Games
OLYMPIC GAMES: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has delayed until next year a decision on adding new events, including women’s ski jumping, to the Winter Games.
The IOC’s executive board (EB) was expected to ratify the addition of women’s ski jumping, which has been campaigning for years, at a meeting in Acapulco but said it wanted more time although it was “looking favourably at the inclusion.”
The board said the final decision would now be made in April, after the next round of world championships, and the verdict would be reached solely by IOC president Jacques Rogge.
The board said the other events up for consideration were: ski halfpipe, ski slopestyle, snowboard slopestyle, biathlon mixed team relay, figure skating team event and luge team relay.
The board also agreed all of the events that were on the program in Vancouver this year, including freestyle ski cross, which was a provisional sport, would remain.
Perske probe damaging Japan tour
GOLF: An Australian golfer’s arrest for suspected cocaine possession has seriously damaged the integrity of Japan’s professional tour, a senior official said.
Wayne Perske was taken into custody last week after being found with 1.25 grams of cocaine while at a bar in Chiba, east of Tokyo, after missing the cut at a JGTO Tour event.
“The news has damaged and depressed everyone,” JGTO executive director Andy Yamanaka said. “He has been one of our (tour) members for several years and won a tournament. It’s a very disappointing situation for the fans and sponsors.
“We’ve made huge efforts to get the tour to where it is now with great young stars like Ryo Ishikawa but this has damaged the image and integrity of the game.”
The JGTO has already sent a memo to some 200 players, including teenage star Ishikawa, warning them about their behaviour.
Manassero faces visa race to make Shanghai event
GOLF: Italian Matteo Manassero faces a race against time to get a visa for next week’s big-money WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai.
The 17-year-old, who last Sunday became the youngest winner on the European Tour when he claimed the Castello Masters in Spain, is even skipping this week’s Andalucia Masters and instead dashed to Rome to arrange a visa from the China Embassy.
“To get his visa first Matteo needs a letter of invitation from the China Sports Ministry and getting that is not going to be easy,” said Manassero’s manager Gorka Guillen.
“You would have thought that because the winner of the Castello Masters was always going to qualify to play in Shanghai that some sort of arrangement would have been made in advance for a letter. But that is clearly not the case,” Guillen added. “So Matteo’s flown back to Italy to try and sort things out, but we cannot say he will be going to Shanghai until he gets the visa.”
Manassero was just 17 years and 188 days old when he won by four strokes at Castellon to take him to 88 in the world rankings.
Another golfer facing Manassero’s predicament is Australian Richard Green, who captured the Portugal Masters but then had to arrange for his caddie to travel from Spain to London to organise a visa.
Green is competing in Spain but will almost certainly need a replacement caddie for at least the opening round at Valderrama.
Wozniacki’s in a world of her own
TENNIS: Caroline Wozniacki crushed Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-1 at the WTA Championships in Doha yesterday to serve up a timely reminder to critics of her world number one ranking.
Wozniacki was in a different world at times, blasting away from the baseline, while Russian Dementieva could offer little in return.
The Dane, who has reached the pinnacle of women’s tennis without winning a Grand Slam, wrapped up the Maroon Group opener in 53 minutes at the Khalifa Tennis Complex.
In the White Group opener, world number two Vera Zvonareva powered past a lethargic Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-0 to keep alive her slender hopes of grabbing the year-end number one spot from Wozniacki.
Pakistan want home Davis Cup ties
TENNIS: Pakistan said it was confident that international matches would return to the country after an International Federation (ITF) security visit. “We have asked the ITF to allot international events, including Davis Cup ties, to Pakistan once again as we are capable of hosting them without any problems, Federation president Dilawar Abbas said.
The ITF moved Pakistan’s “home” Davis Cup matches against Oman, Phillipines, Hong Kong and New Zealand because of security concerns. “We have suffered because we lost our home advantage in these Davis Cup ties,” Abbas said. The ITF confirmed the security assessment had taken place and that they were expecting a full report. We are hopeful something positive will happen soon as this is necessary for the promotion of the sport in Pakistan, Abbas added.
