Triumphant return for Roddick after Wimbledon

Writer: AFP

Published: 6/08/2009 at 09:00 AM

US top seed Andy Roddick made a triumphant return in his first match since a heartbreaking Wimbledon final loss, defeating Germany's Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-2 at the ATP Washington Classic.

US top seed Andy Roddick, seen here, made a triumphant return in his first match since a heartbreaking Wimbledon final loss, defeating Germany's Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-2 at the ATP Washington Classic

Fifth-ranked Roddick fired eight aces and overpowered his 47th-ranked rival in 55 minutes to reach a third-round match against either countryman Sam Querrey or Russia's Igor Kunitsyn at the 1.4 million-dollar hardcourt event.

Swiss superstar Roger Federer outlasted Roddick in a five-set thriller at the All-England Club last month to claim his record 15th Grand Slam title, but not before Roddick pushed him through the longest fifth set in Slam history.

Roddick, a three-time champion at Washington, broke Becker in the second game of the match and lost only three points on his serve in the opening set, which he ended with his fifth ace.

Roddick, whose only Grand Slam title came at the 2003 US Open, broke Becker at love in the fifth game of the second set and cruised home from there.

Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero ousted Spanish Davis Cup teammate and seventh seed Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-2.

Ferrero, who snapped a five-year win drought in April at Casablanca and won the deciding match in Spain's Davis Cup quarter-final tie against Germany last month, advanced with ease to face German Tommy Haas for a quarter-final spot.

"I was a little bit surprised. I expected a tougher match," Ferrero said. "I was hitting the ball well. I put a lot of pressure on his backhand and he was making some mistakes. I pushed and pushed him all the way."

Ferrero, the 2003 French Open champion, lost to Russian Nikolay Davydenko in a clay final at Umag, Croatia. While playing well, Ferrero expects Rafael Nadal and others to lead the Spanish Davis Cup side in the semi-finals.

"It's going to be tough but there have been a few times I've had a chance to make a great result," Ferrero said. "I will have to keep playing at this same level."

Croatia's big-serving Ivo Karlovic fired 18 aces to defeat Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 7-5 and book a third-round match against India qualifier Somdev Devvarman, who upset Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic in the second round.

"If Ivo is serving well, it's hard to even get a look," Devvarman said.

Devvarman downed lanky Karlovic in January at Chennai in a run to the final in his hometown but lost the championship match to Cilic.

"He's extremely fast," Karlovic said of Devvarman. "In India, it was the first week of the year so I was not into it. Now it will be a different match and hopefully I will win."

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New York Times names new restaurant critic

Writer: AFP

Published: 6/08/2009 at 07:00 AM

The New York Times said Wednesday it has named one of its editors, Sam Sifton, as the paper's new chief restaurant critic, a post considered the highest authority on the subject in the United States.

The New York Times headquarters in New York City. The New York Times said Wednesday it has named one of its editors, Sam Sifton, as the paper's new chief restaurant critic, a post considered the highest authority on the subject in the United States.

Currently editor of the Culture section, Sifton is set to replace Frank Bruni, who announced in May he would be "hanging up his napkin," New York Times executive editor Bill Keller said in a statement.

"This is a marquee job for The Times, and our next critic will have the unenviable job of following Frank Bruni," he added.

Bruni was especially known for donning a whole range of convincing disguises and using pseudonyms when visiting restaurants to dodge the suspicion of restaurateurs he would review. His memoir, "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater," is due out later this month.

Sifton, 43, joined the Times in 2002, and has written occasional essays on food for the Sunday supplement of the newspaper, especially in a column devoted to cheap restaurants. He was also an editor of the Dining section.

He will take over the high-profile job in October, the Times said.

New York is the gastronomic capital of the United States, and the newspaper's specialized section has a reputation for making or breaking restaurants.

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Mickelson returns as wife, mother doing well in cancer fight

Writer: AFP

Published: 6/08/2009 at 07:00 AM

Phil Mickelson returns to competition after a six-week layoff helping his wife and mother through breast cancer treatments when the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational begins on Thursday.

Phil Mickelson of USA looks on during a practice round of the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Mickelson returns to competition after a six-week layoff helping his wife and mother through breast cancer treatments when the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational begins on Thursday.

The three-time major winner skipped last month's British Open at Turnberry, snapping the longest active run of playing in majors at 61, but has seen his wife Amy and his mother make significant improvement through treatment.

"Things at home are going much better. We've had a great six weeks," said Mickelson. "We're in a much better place now than we were. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the chance to play a little golf too."

World number two Mickelson has not played a competitive round since settling for his record fifth runner-up showing at the US Open in mid-June and returns in time to use this 8.5 million-dollar event as a tuneup for next week's PGA Championship.

"Mentally right now I'm in a much better place because we're just in a better place than where we were waiting to get (treatment) started," Mickelson said.

"I just feel very fortunate to be where we're at. We still have a lot to go through but we're just in a much better place.

"The most important thing is that Amy and my mom are doing well, I'm excited about that and it lets me practice a little bit with a better frame of mind. The week before the PGA is a great week to get ready."

Fiji's Vijay Singh won the Bridgestone event last year to become the winningest non-US player in PGA history and went on to win the Barclays and Deutsche Bank titles on the way to the US PGA playoff title.

World number one Tiger Woods, a six-time winner at this event, will make the second of three starts in a row this week after taking his fourth title of the season last week at the Buick Open.

Woods won the Bridgestone from 1999-2001 and again from 2005-2007.

Mickelson put away his clubs for a month to concentrate on caring for his family but has practiced over the past two weeks and is confident his game will be competitive.

"I won't know exactly until I play, but I'm optimistic," Mickelson said. "I expect to play like I always have. I expect to play well. I think that mental rehearsal is every bit as important as physical rehearsal.

"When I had my nurse gown on, I would mentally rehearse shots and stuff to just keep myself sharp, even though I wasn't touching a club. So when I came back and was finally able to swing a club, I was able to play fairly decently."

Having his wife and mother detect their cancer early is a greater break than Mickelson has ever found on a golf course.

"We've been able to have some wonderful care. Not only have the doctors been incredible in their science, but they've also been very compassionate to us. We feel lucky to be, for a bad situation, in as good a situation as it can be.

"As we did research and saw there was a lot of treatment and had many of our questions answered, it got easier and easier. Although it'll never be easy. It's a life-long disease and it's something that's never easy."

Mickelson would not commit to October's Presidents Cup, saying it would be at least a year before he could plan on competing in an event two months ahead.

"If you had asked me two months ago would I be able to play again in August, I didn't think that would be possible, but we've had some good things happen," Mickelson said. "I just don't want to commit to anything long-term."

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Football: Samaras creates European history for Celtic

Writer: AFP

Published: 6/08/2009 at 02:59 AM

Greek international Georgios Samaras scored a goal in added on time here on Wednesday to give Scottish giants Celtic a superb 2-0 victory over Dynamo Moscow in their Champions League third preliminary round second leg clash to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Greek international Georgios Samaras, seen here in 2008, scored a goal in added on time here on Wednesday to give Scottish giants Celtic a superb 2-0 victory over Dynamo Moscow in their Champions League third preliminary round second leg clash to progress 2-1 on aggregate.

Samaras - who was sent on by new manager Tony Mowbray in the 79th minute to replace the other goalscorer Australian Scott McDonald - notched his first goal in European competition for the club and created history as Celtic overturned a first leg deficit away from home for the first time in Europe.

Celtic - who were ending a dismal 22-game winless spell for the Old Firm giants away from home - dominated the match and will hope for a kindly draw on Friday for the final qualifying round which if they are successful in will see them make the lucrative group stage.

Mowbray said his side more than merited the victory.

"Over the two matches I think the better team came through the tie," said Mowbray, who played for Celtic from 1991-95.

"I thought we controlled the game for long spells and we got what we deserved in the end."

McDonald had given them the lead a minute before half-time when he headed Andreas Hinkel's cross past Vladamir Gabulov.

And with the game looking to be heading to extra-time it was Samaras who went on a mazy run before slotting past the keeper.

In what was a must win game Mowbray made only one change to the side which lost against the Russians in Glasgow with new signing Daniel Fox coming in for the injured Lee Naylor in defence.

Last week's Dynamo goalscorer Alexander Korobin dropped to the bench as Dynamo welcomed back captain Dmitry Khokhlov, who was suspended for the first leg.

Celtic looked up for the challenge right from the start as they enjoyed lots of early possession but failed to create any clear cut chances as McDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune failed to click up front.

It was Dynamo who fashioned the first shooting opportunity with Alexander Kerzhakov curling a tame effort at Artur Boruc from 25 yards which the keeper easily gathered.

Celtic took until the half-hour mark to have their first shot on target with Shaun Maloney firing in a shot from 25 yards out but it trundled into the arms of Gabulov.

After some good build-up play from Celtic's loan signing Landry Nguemo was next to try his luck from distance but his tame effort didn't trouble the keeper.

In the 44th minute - and with the half looking like ending goalless - McDonald popped up to head Celtic into the lead.

Fortune laid the ball off for German international Hinkel to send a deep cross to the back post where the diminutive Australian rose above Denis Kolodin to steer his header past Gabulov and level the tie.

Dynamo looked to respond immediately and from a corner Khokhlov lashed in a shot at the back post but his effort was cleared off the line.

Dynamo started the second-half positively as they looked for a goal that would avoid extra-time. With 52 minutes gone a mistake by Hinkel allowed the ball to break to Dmitry Kombarov at the edge of the box and he drilled a low shot just past Boruc's post.

The Russians came agonisingly close to equalising three minutes later when Kirill Kombarov's header from twin Dmitry's corner was cleared off the line by Hinkel, who atoned for his earlier mistake, with Polish international Boruc beaten.

With seconds remaining it was Samaras who went on a mazy run in the Dynamo box before sending a low shot past Gabulov to seal a memorable win.

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Cambodia to lift entry visa restrictions

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, right, and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhongafter signing a prisoner exchange agreement in Bangkok yesterday. (JETJARASNARANONG)

6/08/2009
Writer: THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Bangkok Post

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to waive visa requirements for each other's citizens starting next year to mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.

The agreement was reached yesterday at the Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission meeting led by Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong. The meeting was the first by the commission since talks were suspended three years ago.

The agreement to waive the visas for holders of ordinary passports is expected to be signed next year as part of activities celebrating the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries 60 years ago.

The decision leaves Burma as the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations requiring Thais wishing to enter the country to apply for a visa.

Hor Namhong said Thailand and Cambodia also agreed to strengthen cooperation on tourism by jointly promoting the sector under the Two Kingdoms, One Destination project and would expedite the single visa policy between the two countries.

He said the two sides would hasten the next Joint Boundary Commission meeting, chaired by former Thai ambassador to Seoul Vasin Teeravechyan and his Cambodian counterpart Var Kim Hong, and resume the Joint Technical Committee meeting on overlapping maritime claims which has been suspended since 2006.

Mr Kasit said all obstacles to border negotiations would soon be resolved.

In a joint statement, the two ministers said they would work together to identify the area bridging Sa Kaeo province and Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province before setting up a new international checkpoint.

An Emerald Triangle meeting would be held soon to help develop human resources, Hor Namhong said.

Mr Kasit and Hor Namhong yesterday also signed an agreement that would allow some prisoners, after serving minimum periods of imprisonment, to be transferred in order to serve their remaining sentences in their own country.

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