Richie Moloney And Carrabis Z Take Top Honors At The Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping $215,000 American Gold Cup in New York

An accurate jump-off effort from Richie Moloney (IRL) resulted in the only clear round in a six-man field and earned the win at yesterday’s Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping $215,000 American Gold Cup in New York.

The impressive, 1.60-metre track designed by Alan Wade (IRL) featured 14 obstacles with 17 jumping attempts. Utilising the arena’s graded terrain and natural barriers, Wade’s course managed to hold 31 horse-and-rider pairs, out of the original field of 37, from the final round. Liubov Kochetova (RUS) aboard Veyron was the second in the order of go, and navigated a rail-free round, but with less than a second over the time allowed she recorded the only one-fault score in the first round.

Otherwise, rails fell in a variety of places throughout the course, with increased incidents at the triple and double combinations. “Wade is a horse-friendly, competitor-friendly designer,” according to Frank Madden, the class’ commentator and resident trainer. “He uses no gimmicks and no trickery.”

Daniel Bluman (COL) and Conconcreto Sancha LS recorded the first clear as the third horse-and-rider team to enter the ring. “I had an early draw today in the first round, so I couldn’t really see many people jump before me,” Bluman said. “I just wanted to ride my plan. I found it extremely technical and careful, and it took extremely good horses and riders to jump a clear round today. I was very satisfied with the way my mare jumped. We’ve been together for five or six years, and it never gets old to jump a clear round.”

The next clear didn’t come for another eight rounds, when Catherine Tyree (USA), a 21-year-old student at Northwestern University, piloted Enjoy Louis around a fault-free effort, making for a jump off. Olympic gold medalist Laura Kraut (USA), Moloney, hometown favorite Peter Lutz (USA) and André Thieme (GER) shortly followed with impressive, clear rounds of their own.

Winning time

When the first three jump off attempts each pulled a rail, the door was wide open for a clear round to claim the victory. “The first round was quite technical,” Moloney said. “The course needed quite a bit of scope. In the jump off, there was no-one clear before I went, so the first four jumps in the jump off I stuck to my plan and went a little bit forward, then toward the end of the jump-off round, I got a little bit careful and made sure I jumped a clear round.”

The strategy of an efficient and accurate ride – albeit slower than the four-fault jump off rounds – landed Moloney at the top, after the two final jump-off performances from Lutz and Thieme recorded faults.

“Richie’s due for a win like this,” Madden commented during Moloney’s round.

“The difference between synthetic sand and grass footing is that it’s not necessarily the fastest round that’s going to be the best on grass,” he added.

Moloney’s winning round was on Carrabis Z, also his winning mount at the CSI4* $210,000 Tryon Grand Prix earlier in the summer. “He’s a 12-year-old stallion and quite a small horse,” Moloney said. “He’s very scopey and very careful. He has a lot of blood, is a little bit hot, and he’s actually green. I got him when he was nine; he’s getting better all the time.”

The Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping Final in Las Vegas (USA) in April was not an original goal for Moloney, until he won the second qualifier of the East Coast league. “We go to Central Park next then Tryon in October,” Moloney said.

“My goals are to try and be competitive and that’s kind of it, really,” he added. “Long term, I have a few very nice horses, and it would be nice to do Europe next summer and maybe a few Nations Cup classes.”

“I went to World Cup Finals this year in Vegas, and I saw how hard it was and I wasn’t sure I had a horse, or two horses, that it would suit. We’ll see. You never know by the time the end of April comes.”

Although Moloney rides for Ireland, he is currently based in Wellington during the winter and splits his time between Tryon (North Carolina) and Riverhead (New York) during the summer.

“It was great to win here today,” he said. “My horse jumped amazing. He’s been jumping great lately, and it’s nice for him to get the win here today.”

Richie Moloney and Carrabis Z take top honors at the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping $215,000 American Gold Cup in New York (13 September) (StockImageServices.com/FEI)

Best in show

The American Gold Cup earned the top ranking for the best show in the United States earlier this year by the North American Riders Group. “Everything went as planned today,” said Michael Morrissey, the president of stadium jumping and show manager of the American Gold Cup. “It was a picture-perfect day with standing room, only.”

All four riders involved in the press conference praised the Old Salem Farm venue for providing the best facilities for the class and for the show. Kraut noted that whether she went first or went 60th in a class throughout the week, the footing remained the same.

“I’m from North Salem and grew up in Fairfield, just 20 minutes from here,” said Lutz. “I’ve been coming to this horse show almost my whole life. I’m so happy that the American Gold Cup is here because we live here.”

“It’s very good to jump on the grass,” added Moloney. “I think there should be more grass fields like this because I’ve been jumping on sand all year and the last two shows, Hamptons and here, have been on the grass. I think most horses prefer (jumping on grass). The atmosphere here was great.”

“It was a very good class,” concluded Morrissey. “The field held up really well. Alan Wade did a really remarkable job today and the whole week. It was great, a great class.”

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the annual American Gold Cup and the fourth year that Old Salem Farm has hosted the show.

Results
1. Carrabis Z (Richie Moloney), IRL, 0 faults/45.74 seconds (JO);
2. Deauville S (Laura Kraut), USA, 4/43.27 (JO);
3. Conconcreto Sancha LS (Daniel Bluman), COL, 4/43.38 (JO);
4. Robin de Ponthual (Peter Lutz), USA, 4/43.95 (JO);
5. Enjoy Louis (Catherine Tyree), USA, 4/44.59 (JO);
6. Conthendrix (Andre Thieme), GER, 8/46.11 (JO);
7. Veyron (Liubov Kochetova), RUS, 1/93.63;
8. Chaqui Z (Shane Sweetnam), IRL, 4/86.92.

See full results: http://bit.ly/1iaRawr

Facts & Figures

In the first round of the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping $215,000 American Gold Cup there were six clear rounds, one with one fault, six with four faults and twelve with eight faults. Four horse-and-rider pairs were eliminated.

Conor Swail and Viva Columbia won Friday’s $85,000 American Gold Cup Qualifier, presented by Windsor Show Stables, but missed the jump off with twelve faults in the first round. There were 14 clear rounds in last Friday’s qualifying class, in comparison to only six clear rounds on Sunday.

The top five horses in the Longines FEI World Cup™ Jumping $215,000 American Gold Cup were all bays; two were stallions, two were geldings and one was a mare.

Esther Hahn

SEB COE – IAAF: “ATHLETE CENTRED AND HERE TO SERVE ITS MEMBER FEDERATIONS”

Newly elected IAAF President Sebastian Coe today met the entire IAAF HQ staff in Monaco. The gathering took place at the association’s new offices which are situated on Quai Antoine, Port Hercules, Monaco.

“Not only am I happy to be here, I’m relieved,” said Coe, who took office as IAAF President on Monday 31 August. “The last year has been a great test of character for all candidates for IAAF positions, whether president, council, committees and commissions. Today is one of the proudest days of my life.

“I have only had five predecessors as president, each one making an indelible mark on our sport.

“The election has been a good process. It has given the member federations the chance to decide what sport they want. I have flown 778,000km since Christmas, meeting and listening to our member federations. I’m better prepared to serve this sport having gone through that journey.

“The IAAF is here to serve its member federations. We must be a member-federation-focused organisation at all times. They are our strength.

“I see a very bright future for athletics. To deliver this future we must ensure we are open and transparent, that we are relevant and exciting to young people.

“My job is to remove all inhibitors in this organisation so that you (IAAF staff) can do the best work of your life. So that together we can deliver a world class organisation which has respect across the sporting landscape. The IAAF must be a template for best practise and most importantly athlete centred.

SEB COE
© Philippe Fitte / IAAF

“This is a dream come true to be able to shape a sport. We should wake up each morning excited to serve, knowing we have the greatest job in the world. We should be very proud that we are working in this sport. It also needs to be fun. I want people to fall in love with athletics for all the reasons we did.

“The first steps are the review of the structures and resources in Monaco. We must ensure we are an organisation fit for purpose.

“Two members of our senior management team are already known, Nick Davies will be the Director of the President’s Office and Huw Roberts will serve as the IAAF’s senior counsel. Huw is leading a review of our constitution and corporate governances as part of our modernisation process.”

Seb Coe concluded his address by reminding the staff of the Council’s endorsement of his proposal to appoint Sergey Bubka as Senior Vice President, reiterating that “my object as president is to bring the athletics family together”.

IAAF

Stuttgart Signs On For 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) signed a contract Sunday officially attributing the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to the city of Stuttgart (GER).

To be held less than a year before the 2020 Olympic Games, these World Championships, scheduled to take place from October 4 to 13, will be especially important because they will serve as a major Olympic qualification event for the Tokyo Games.

FIG President Bruno Grandi (ITA) and DTB President Rainer Brechtken (GER) took advantage of the 2015 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart this week to sign the contract, which follows a vote in favor of the German bid to host the Championships during the FIG Council last May.

Bruno Grandi and Rainer Brechtken

“This is the third time that we are allocating Stuttgart the organisation of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. After the success of the 2007 edition, Stuttgart was an obvious choice: it is a city with high-quality infrastructures and has proven extremely capable of putting on first-rate sports events, as we’ve seen demonstrated again this week,” Grandi said.

“With the German Federation as our partner, we know that our highlight competitions are in good hands,” he added.

“We’re looking forward to organising the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. We wanted to host these Worlds because of their importance to Gymnastics, the athletes and our federation,” remarked Brechtken. “We have already successfully hosted the World Championships in 2007, the year before an Olympic Games, which had a durable impact.”

Upcoming editions of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships will be held in Glasgow (GBR) from October 23-November 1, 2015; in Montreal (CAN) from September 27-October 9, 2017; and in Doha (QAT) from October 25-November 3, 2018.

Russia’s Vasily Mosin Wins Double Trap World Title In Lonato

The Russian athlete beat Great Britain’s Tim Kneale in the Gold medal match. Kneale claimed Silver and an Olympic quota place. The Bronze medal and the second spot for Rio 2016 went to Kuwait’s Ahmad Alafasi.

At 43, Russian Federation’s Vasily Mosin finally grabbed one of the few awards he was missing: the World Championship Gold medal in the Double Trap Men event. He did it in Lonato (ITA), where he prevailed over Great Britain’s Tim Kneale in the Gold medal match after they both shot perfectly for the first six doubles.

After two mistakes of the British shooter, however, Mosin built a comfortable lead and never turned back anymore, closing the Gold medal match with 29 hits against Kneale’s 26.

“Since I came here for the first time in 1995 I have been dreaming about winning a championship in Lonato,” said Mosin. “Finally, my dream came true. It’s an amazing feeling to win this title in front of my friends, of my sponsors, and the whole shooting sport family.”

“This range is amazing, but at the same time it’s very difficult. I put a lot of efforts into this competition, coming here 11 days in advance to train and to get used to the facility.” Concluded the Russian athlete.

As Mosin had already collected a Rio 2016 quota place in Al-Ain (UAE) during this year’s World Cup, Kneale pocketed an Olympic spot for his country along with the Silver medal.

In the semifinal round Mosin led the group since the first doubles, and despite missing his very last target he still concluded in 1st position with 28 hits, while Kneale, shuttering 19 of his last 20 clays, climbed into the second position and earned his spot in the Gold medal match with 27 hits.

Another tie-breaking shoot-off between three athletes was necessary to determine the Bronze medal match participants, as Willett, Alafasi and Al-Athba all concluded the semifinal with 26 points.

An early mistake from the Qatari shooter opened the way for the Australian and the Kuwaiti, who took part in a third shoot-off to decide the Bronze medallist after they concluded with 24 hits each. Alafasi, the Silver medallist at the 2014 Asian Championship, won the tie-breaker by 4 hits to 3, collecting the second Olympic quota along with the Bronze.

Russia’s Vasily Mosin wins Double Trap world title in Lonato

The 2008 Olympic Gold medallist, United States’ Walton Eller, concluded the semifinal in 6th place with 24 hits.

In the team competition, Kneale, Matthew John Coward-Holley and Matthew French led Great Britain to the Gold medal with a total of 414 points, followed by the Russian Federation’s team (Mosin, Vitaly Fokeev and Artem Nekrasov) with 406. On the third step of the team’s podium, finally, India were represented by Asab Mohd, Ankur Mittal and Sangram Dahiya, with a total of 400 points.

In the Double Trap Men Junior event, China’s Huang Xiaomin claimed the Gold medal after besting Russian shooter Kirill Fokeev in the Gold medal match with a 28-to-27 score. The Junior Bronze medal went to Conner James Gorsuch of Great Britain, who prevailed over another Russian shooter, Kamil Khusaenov, finishing the Bronze medal match with a 27-to-26 score.

The Italian squad composed by Jacopo Dal Moro, Ignazio Maria Tronca and Lorenzo Ferrari collected the Junior Team Gold medal, marking a score of 393 hits, while Russians juniors Fokeev, Khusaenov and Viacheslav Yukhimenko finished in 2nd place with 387. The Junior Team Bronze medal, finally, was awarded to People’s Republic of China, who concluded with 378 hits thanks to the shooting of Gold medallist Huang along with Zhao Shiqi and Cai Jinzhan.

The ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña and the ISSF Secretary General Franz Schreiber welcomed the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), Giovanni Malagò, who visited the range and attended the two finals.

The World Championship will continue tomorrow with the Skeet Men pre-event training, and it will conclude on Thursday with the Skeet Men final, scheduled at 5:15 PM (GMT+2), and with the Skeet Men Junior final at 6:15 PM.

All finals will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org and on the Eurovision network.

NO. 1 TV RATINGS IN JAPAN FOR FINALE OF WBSC U-18 BASEBALL WORLD CUP IN OSAKA

The Sunday night, 6 September, prime time finale of the XXVII WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup at historic Koshien Stadium in Osaka generated a nationwide sensation across Japan, outperforming the nation’s most popular television programmes during some of the most valuable prime-time hours, according to multiple media reports.

A snapshot into Japan’s biggest region, Kanto, which has a potential reach of 18.1 million households, showed the electric and close-fought youth baseball world championship finale between the U-18 National Teams of host nation Japan (world No. 1) and the United States (world No. 2) generated an average TV rating of 18.6 and spiked to an incredible 27.2 during the final moments of the game, which ran just under three hours from 18:30 to 21:24 JST.

The thrilling U-18 world championship finale, attended by over 15,000 in-stadium spectators, was featured live and free-to-air across Japan on TV Asahi, one of the most wide-reaching broadcasting networks in Japan. Deciding to feature the finale live and in prime time against other popular programmes in Japan, TV Asahi executives were praised by the broadcast industry for their shrewd decision to offer blanket coverage through their terrestrial channels nationwide.

Online viewers from 93 countries and territories worldwide tuned in to the finale of the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup via live-stream.

According to Twitter Japan, the 2015 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup finale was the second highest trending topic on Twitter in Japan on the night of 6 September, with celebrities, pop singers, authors, fans and Nippon Professional Baseball clubs sharing in the real-time thrilling moments.

A record 4.2 million impressions were generated through WBSC’s official Twitter account (@wbsc), the highest ever one-day reach for WBSC.

The highlight video of the United States’ 2-1 world championship victory over Japan at Koshien Stadium has become the most viewed video across WBSC’s official platforms, having been viewed over 1.2 million times to date.

“The credit for the excitement and impressive viewership ratings belong to the athletes and to the National Federations who’s difficult task it is to identify and select the next generation of young, elite athletes to represent their countries at the highest level,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari, “and also to our broadcast partners who are vital in promoting the exposure of our sport globally. The outstanding showing in Osaka highlights the power of our youth base, the bright future our sport has and the future generation of superstars who will help lead our sport to new heights.”

The strong ratings of the U-18 youth baseball flagship finale come at a time when the organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are evaluating a shortlist of sports, baseball and softball included, to potentially add to the Olympic Programme, to enhance engagement levels and add youth appeal, among other criteria.

The XXVI WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2013 in Taichung, Taiwan had a potential broadcast reach of 144 million homes and potential online/mobile reach of 20 million users. A full report on the overall broadcast reach of the 2015 edition will be complied and released in the coming weeks, and it is anticipated that the 2013 numbers will be surpassed.

NFF Hooks Zenith For Grassroots Development

A new, epochal chapter was open in Nigeria football on Monday when the Nigeria Football Federation and Zenith Bank PLC announced a partnership for youth football development and capacity building programs.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick led the NFF top hierarchy to the brief but colourful event at Zenith Bank’s headquarters in Lagos, where the topmost financial institution’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Amangbo emphasized that “we are ready to empower the new crop of young and accountable administrators at the NFF to reach lofty heights.”

The partnership announcement began with a presentation by NFF 1st Vice President Seyi Akinwunmi, who in his capacity as Chairman of the Youth Football Committee, regaled the gathering with NFF’s comprehensive youth development program, including but not limited to grassroots, U-13, U-15 sub-heads, which will be in the framework of what he called The Next Eagles Championship.

NFF and Zenith Executives

“We have a holistic Future Generation Plan, which is aimed at engendering a pool of talented youngmen and women for all categories of the National Teams at all times. Today, everybody talks about the Senior National Team. That should not be so. We want to create a situation whereby people will also talk about grassroots and youth competitions.

“The NFF is committed to working hand-in-hand with every organ that has to something to do with the youth, in order to realize our objectives. In the next two weeks, we will unveil our detailed program at a world press conference.”

NFF President Amaju Pinnick stated that apart from capacity building programs for all workers in football, the youth development program is the next big commitment of the present NFF administration.

“The impact of our capacity building program for referees has been immediate, with the improvement in the League. Now, it is time for a comprehensive youth development program that will see to the constant feeding of all the National Teams.

“We cannot thank Zenith Bank PLC, a financial institution with impeccable records and with a solid reputation, enough for their support for this program. They have indeed opened the way for real development of Nigeria football.”

Pinnick highlighted that the kernel of the partnership is for the Nigeria Football Federation to invoice Zenith Bank PLC for the various youth development programs, as well as for capacity building of adminstrators (Chairmen of State Football Associations) and the salary of Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh.

“Both the NFF and Zenith Bank have agreed not to put a price tag on this partnership. We will invoice Zenith Bank for the various programs and all these will be captured in our audited account in the annual report.

“It is a transparent path that we have both chosen, and we believe that this marriage is made in heaven.”

NFF President Amaju Pinnick With Zenith Bank’s Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Amangbo

Mr. Amangbo declared that Zenith Bank sees the partnership as a worthwhile Corporate Social Responsibility cause, and that the coming of a crop of young, passionate, intelligent and transparent persons to the helm of affairs at the NFF was indeed pleasing.

“This is a crop of people you see doing things and benchmarking them against global best practices. For a very long time, we have not seen this in Nigeria football administration.

“The quality of people leading the NFF has spurred us to commit to giving them support. We are ready and happy to empower them to reach the lofty heights they have set for themselves.”

1st Vice President Seyi Akinwunmi, 2nd Vice President/LMC Chairman Shehu Dikko, Board Members Emeka Inyama and Sunday Dele-Ajayi, General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi, NFF Marketing Committee member Colin Udoh, NFF’s Head of Communications Ademola Olajire and LMC’s Head of Special Projects Harry Iwuala were also at the event, while Mr. Amangbo was supported by his Board of Directors.

Singh Scoops Player Of The Tournament Award As Suriname Are Crowned World Cricket League Division 6 Champions

Vanuatu finish third after rain-delayed match with Norway; Wesele stars as Fiji finish fifth…,

Gavin Singh delivered a master class again to pick up Player of the Match and Player of the Tournament awards to help Suriname beat Guernsey and lift the ICC World Cricket League Division 6 trophy.

The all-rounder scored 61 and took 5-42 as his side eased to a six-wicket win in the final of the week-long event at Essex’s County Ground on Sunday. Singh, who already had two Player of the Match prizes from group games, said: “I feel great but everybody chipped in. It was a big team effort and we really played well. We played to the basics and that’s good, and I enjoyed the atmosphere at this ground. Coming up to the tournament, we had really nice preparation, now we’re very excited to be in Division 5. We’ve just got to wait and see who our opposition will be and then plan what’s next.”

Suriname are ICC World Cricket League Division 6 winners

After Guernsey were put into bat, openers Matt Stokes and Oliver Nightingale got off to a steady start and brought up the 50 in ten overs. Then Muneshwar Patandin and Singh made the breakthrough for the South Americans.
Patandin had Stokes caught by Singh for 31 and then Oliver Newey was sent back to the pavilion on one as he was caught by Vejai Hirlal off the bowling of Singh. New man Tim Ravenscroft was stumped by Hirlal, and then Tom Nightingale joined his brother Oliver at the crease; the siblings both made their way to half centuries, with Tom making to 65 and Oliver 59. Singh then dominated the lower order to finish with a five-fer as Guernsey were all out for 237 in 49.5 overs.

Suriname captain Mohindra Boodram and Singh anchored their innings with a 122-run partnership. Boodram crashed his way to 65 and then was caught by David Hooper off Ravenscroft, while Singh continued on to his 61. Sauid Ahmed Drepaul joined Singh at the crease and hit a quick 30 off 37 deliveries to see Suriname over the line with 4.5 overs to spare. The result also meant Suriname exacted some revenge after Guernsey beat them by 43 runs in a Group A match at Halstead on Thursday. Both sides had already secured promotion to next year’s ICC World Cricket League Division 5 by making the final.

Vanuatu eased their semi-final disappointment with a 91-run Duckworth Lewis victory over Norway to finish third in the tournament. Vanuatu excelled in the early stages, scoring at over a run a ball as Jonathon Dunn and Joshua Rasu shared a 120-run opening stand. Dunn top scored with 114 as his side registered an imposing total of 309-3. Then came the rain in Colchester and, after an hour-and-half delay, Norway were set the total of 251 to win via the DL method. But their innings never really got going after captain Raza Iqbal was dismissed for three in the fourth over. Waqas Ahmed, with 46, top scored for Norway as they ended at 159-8.

Fiji avenged Thursday’s Group B defeat to Botswana by beating them in the fifth-place play-off match at Bishop’s Stortford by 133 runs. For the first time in the tournament the Fijians batted out their entire 50 overs and got up to their highest score with 235-9. Their success was set up by a partnership between Player of the Match Jone Wesele (96) and Sekove Ravoka (60), as they put on 99 for the fourth wicket. Wesele’s knock included nine fours and three sixes. Botswana’s innings got off to a disastrous start and they were 64-6 in the 15th over. Their top scorer was skipper and wicket keeper Karabo Motlhanka with 30.

Essex batsman, Jesse Ryder who has been following the tournament with a keen interest said: “It is great seeing a global tournament here in Essex, I remember playing back at home in New Zealand in the Pacifica Cup and we had all the island teams like Fiji and Vanuatu come over and play and it was a fantastic event, this is a great opportunity for the teams playing and to help them develop as cricketing nations.”

Tournament ambassador Ryan Ten Doeschate said: “This has been a fantastic week for Essex bringing together teams from all across the world to play in the ICC World Cricket League Division 6, as someone who has played in this structure, I know what it must mean to the players and would like to congratulate all the teams who participated and to Suriname for being crowned winners.”

Player of the Tournament Surniname’s Gavin Singh

Scores in brief:
Final at the Essex County Ground, Chelmsford
Guernsey 237 all out, 49.5 overs (Oliver Nightingale 59, Tom Nightingale 65; G Singh 5-42)
Suriname 239-4, 45.1 overs (Mohindra Boodram 65, Gavin Singh 61 not out)
Suriname won by six wickets
Player of the Match: Gavin Singh (Suriname)

3rd v 4th Play-Off at Castle Park, Colchester
Vanuatu 309-3 (50 overs) (Jonathan Dunn 114, P Matautaava 50, Nalin Nipiko 58 not out)
Norway 159-8, 36 overs (Waqas Ahmed 46)
Vanuatu won by 91 runs (Duckworth Lewis Method)
Player of the Match: Jonathan Dunn (Vanuatu)

5th v 6th Play-Off at Cricketfield Lane, Bishop’s Stortford
Fiji 235-9 (50 overs) (Jone Wesele 96, Sekove Ravoka 60; Russel Withey 4-41)
Botswana 102 all out, 27.3 overs (Karabo Motlhanka 30)
Fiji won by 133 runs
Player of the Match: Jone Wesele (Fiji)

Italy, Russia golden on final day of Worlds

Russia and Italy split the titles up for grabs in Group competition as the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships came to a close Sunday in Stuttgart (GER).

The Russian Team: Diana Borisova, Daria Kleshcheva, Anastasiia Maksimova, Sofya Skomorokh, Anastasiia Tartareva and Maria Tolkacheva

WIth a gold medal in the Five Ribbons event, Italy ruined a potential Russian sweep of the golds in Group competition. The Russian Group, already gold medallists from Saturday’s All-around final, avenged themselves almost immediately by winning the Clubs and Hoops event.

The Italian Group — Martina Centofanti, Sofia Lodi, Alessia Maurelli, Marta Pagnini, Camilla Patriarca and Andreea Stefanescu — took advantage of their last-up position in the final with the 5 Ribbons, delivering a clean and exceptionally dramatic performance that earned them a standing ovation from the nearly sold out crowd at the Porsche Arena and gold from the judges (17.900 points).

Looking fresh and confident after winning the Group All-around Saturday, the Russians earned a 17.850 for their Ribbons performance, which included a higher execution score from the judges. But the Italians trumped them on difficulty, the difference being enough for gold.

The Russian Group — Diana Borisova, Daria Kleshcheva, Anastasia Maksimova, Sofya Skomorokh, Anastasia Tartareva and Maria Tolkacheva — returned to center stage less than half an hour later after a solid performance with the Hoops and Clubs (18.125) to win the final event, just 0.025 ahead of the surcharged Italians (18.100).

The Italian Group: Martina Centofanti, Sofia Lodi, Alessia Maurelli, Marta Pagnini, Camilla Patriarca and Andreea Stefanescu

Japan surprised to take bronze with the 5 Ribbons (17.366), the country’s first medal at a Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships since 1975. Bulgaria, the only Group to come within striking distance of the Russians in the overall competition, took bronze with the Clubs and Hoops (17.866) to go with their silver from the All-around competition.

Russia emerges as the big winner of this 34th World Championships, taking eight of the nine gold medals available.

Hard Fighting Dolphins Drown In Aba

Relegation threatened Dolphins FC fought hard in Aba for sixty five minutes but two goals by two substitutes saw the home side, Enyimba win 2-0.

Dolphins hadn’t had a result in Aba since 2004 though it seemed they were on their way there until the 65th minute when substitute Andrew Abalogu headed home from close range.

Dolphins had been under siege all game long and it took spectacular saves from Sunday Rotimi in goal and top notch defending from Joseph Douhadji, Festus Austin and Godwin Obinze to have kept Dolphins hope alive.

Twice in the early minutes of the game, Sunday Rotimi slipped and fell on the wet pitch and it took Joseph Douhadji and then Festus Austin to clear of the line.

Mfon Udoh had a clear cut opportunity in the 30th minute when Alooma’s pass freed him and he tried to put the ball between the legs of on rushing Sunday Rotimi.

Udoh thought he had scored but Rotimi held the ball between his legs.

Six minutes later, it was Enyimba on rampage once again and it took point blank saves from Rotimi in the six yard box and a Douhadji clearance off the line to save their blushes.

A minute before half time, more Enyimba pressure saw Chigozie Ihunda clear off the line.

Dolphins had a few forays up front but no clear cut chance as the trio of Oghogho Oduokpe, Ebitimi Agogu and Omoh Johnson failed to ask questions of the Enyimba defence.

Six minutes into the 2nd half and it was Joseph Douhadji to the rescue again as he saved a Chinedu Udoji header off the line.

But with pressure mounting, the inevitable goal was scored in the 65th minute.

Chigozie Ihunda got a yellow card for time wasting and Godwin Obinze upended Alooma to get a yellow but Ifeanyi Anaemena’s free header from a corner gave Enyimba a second goal and all three points at stake.

Christian Weli, dolphins fc

“It was a bad day at the office for us though we played well,” Dolphins midfielder, Christian Weli said after the game.

“We played well, especially in the first half but we lost concentration in the 2nd half,” Weli said

Enyimba Coach Kadiri Ikhana

Enyimba’s coach, Kadiri Ikhana said his players missed lots of first half chances but came out strongly in the second.

“We played better in the first half than in the second but it was unfortunate that we didn’t take all the chances we got then.

“Good thing we were able to convert our second half chances to win the game,” Ikhana said.

Usa’s Craft Beats Teammate Connor To Win Skeet World Title And A Spot In The US Olympic Team

The US shooting team celebrated two individual medals (Gold and Silver) and a teams’ Gold medal at yesterday’s Skeet Women event, during the ISSF Shotgun World Championship held in Lonato (ITA). Three more medals came at the Junior event: individual Silver and Bronze, and teams’ Gold.

USA’s Morgan Craft (22) became the new Skeet Women world champion, today, at the 2015 ISSF Shotgun World Championship in Lonato, Italy.

The American shooter defeated her teammate Caitlin Connor (24) in the Gold medal match by 15 to 13 hits, finishing atop of the world championship podium for the first time in her career.

The duel between the two teammates involved more than just the world title. In a competition within the competition, Craft gained a spot in the Rio 2016 US Olympic team by finishing ahead of Connor. The second member of the US Olympic women’s Skeet team will be selected at the USA Shooting Fall and Spring Selection Matches (2 October 2015, 2 May 2016).

The two American shooters had qualified for the final phases of the competition with 73 hits, and then tied again atop of the semi-final leaderboard with 15 hits each. But before advancing to the Gold medal match, they had to beat China’s Wei Ning in a shoot-off (Wei had also scored 15 targets in the semi-final).

“Eight years ago I never thought I would be at this spot. This is what I worked for, what I believed I can do, for the last couple of years. I’m exactly where I want to be now, I just achieved my lifetime goal!” Craft said. She had won silver at the last world cup stage of the year in Gabala, last August, climbing the world raking up to the second place, and today’s victory will certainly place her atop of the ranking.

USA’s Morgan Craft,

“It definitely wasn’t easy, today. We had some crazy wind and torrential downpours this afternoon, but I did my best and got through it just fine. I was extremely happy with my results.”

“I love Caitlin and I’m so happy that we got Gold and Silver. I couldn’t be happier to share the podium with my teammate.” she added.

“I’m a little disappointed just because we were also shooting for a spot at the Olympics, but I think my shooting was really good.” Said silver medallist Connor. “I shot really well today and it’s a plus going into the next year.

The two-time Olympic Silver medallist Wei Ning of the People’s Republic’s of China (33), ended up on the third step of the podium, as she beat Thailand’s Sutia Jiewchaloemmit (29) in the Bronze medal match.

The two Rio 2016 Olympic quota places to be awarded today went to Libuse Jahodova of the Czech Republic (8th with 71+5 hits) and to Cyprus’ Andri Eleftheriou (10th with 71+1 hits).

The United States of America collected another medal by finishing atop of the teams’ podium with an equalled world record of 215 clays scored by Craft, Connor and their teammate Kimberly Rhode. Italy (Katiuscia Spada, Diana Bacosi, Chiara Cainero) followed in second place with 212 hits, while bronze went to the People’s Republic of China with 209 hits (Wei Ning, Wei Meng, Piao Piao Lin).

At the women’s junior Skeet event, it was China’s Che Yufei who won Gold, beating USA’s Sydney Carson in a shoot-off by 4 to 3 hits. The two athletes had tied atop of the gold medal match’s scoreboard with 11 hits. The second US finalist, Dania Jo Vizzi, took Bronze beating Italy’s Francesca Del Prete by 14 to 9 hits. The excellent results of Carson and Vizzi, and of their teammate Monika Katharina Jacob (6th place in the individual competition), lifted USA atop of the junior teams’ podium with an overall score of 206 targets. The Russian Federation junior team followed in second with 192 targets scored by Alina Fazylzyanova, Victoria Ostapets and Ekaterina Filimonova, while the teams’ bronze went to Italy (Francesca Del Prete, Chiara Di Marziantonio, Francesca Grieco) with 190 hits.

The ISSF Shotgun World Championship in Lonato (ITA), where 800 athletes from 92 countries are competing in the five Olympic shotgun shooting events from the 10th through the 18th of September, will continue today with the men’s Double Trap and the men’s junior Double Trap finals, scheduled at 16.30 and 17.30 (GMT+2) respectively.

All finals will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org and on the Eurovision network.

Nigeria Reclaims Men’s Throne In Table Tennis At All African Games As Egypt Retains Women’s Title

With much efforts and a lot of tactical discipline, Egypt defeated Nigeria to retain the women’s team title at the 2015 African Games.

It was two wins from Dina Meshref and a win from Nadeen El-Dawlatly that salvaged the victory for Egypt in an epic final.

Also, veteran Segun Toriola turned back the clock when he recorded an emphatic victory over Mohamed El-Beiali and Omar Assar to help Nigeria reclaim the men’s team throne ahead of the North Africans. Since the tournament began, Toriola remained unbeaten with this needed victory for Nigeria.

“This is not the first time I will be playing the deciding match but my coach told me to concentrate. But I must say it was more difficult for me in the match. I remained focus and I am happy that I won the match for my country. I feel good winning the title again and I am now strong mentally,” said elated EL-DAWLATLY Nadeen.

Dina MESHREF, Egypt

Meshref Dina added: “I am very proud that we won the title this year because looking at the roll of honours, Nigeria has won the African Games title more than any country in Africa. So I am very happy that we were able to retain the title we won four years ago in Mozambique. This goes to show the Egypt is improving and our generation has really worked hard for this success.”

Segun Toriola explaining a point to Nigerian teammates

On the victory over Egypt, Toriola said: “I think the competition just started with this victory because we still have five medals to fight four. But prior to the match I told my teammates that we should have confidence even when we were down 2-1. I knew that if I had to beat Omar Assar I need to be confident and not to play with any caution. If I am too conscious I will make mistakes against Omar. I think it was the confidence in the team that gave us the victory.”

Aruna Quadri

For the 2014 ITTF Star Player, Aruna Quadri, it was a sweet victory. “In our last meeting he defeated me but I could remember that I had also beaten him twice. But today I found an answer to him because we play the same style and he believes my style suits him. I am so grateful to God that I was able to find an answer to Mohammed El-Beiali tonight. This is a big victory for our country after our women’s team narrowly lost to Egypt earlier,” Quadri said.

Angola Men And Nigeria Women Crowned All Africa Games Beach Volleyball Champions

All Africa Games Beach Volleyball- Finals

Angola Men and Nigeria Women’s Beach volleyball teams claimed the gold medals at the Beach Volleyball competition of 2015 All Africa Games held at Kintele Stadium in Brazzaville, Congo on Sunday.

Angola Men’s team pulled off a tough victory over neighbours Mozambique 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) in the final match to capture the gold medal after a great fought.

Men medallists during the national anthem

Nigeria Women’s team had to play a long tiebreaker to beat the favourites South Africa 2-1 (11-21, 21-13, 15-13) to claim their first gold medal in a senior championship.

South Africa men’s made the medal podium fully coming from zone 6 after they overcame Rwanda in the bronze medal match 2-0 (21-13, 21-15).

Rwanda made the podium in women’s competition after they won the bronze medal following their 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) victory over Kenya.

Men and women winners on the podium together with officials

Men’s Final ranking
1. Angola
2. Mozambique
3. South Africa
4. Rwanda
5. Tunisia
6. Sierra Leone
7. Ghana
8. Burundi

Women’s Final ranking
1. Nigeria
2. South Africa
3. Rwanda
4. Kenya
5. Mozambique
6. Algeria
7. Guinea
8. Congo Brazzaville

Nigeria’s Women Beach Volleyball team during National anthem

CAVB web site http://www.cavb.org