China’s Yang Wei continued the host nation’s gymnastics gold rush at the Beijing Olympics Thursday with an emphatic win in the men’s individual all-around event.
   Yang, the reigning world champion, was feted like a rock star by 18,000 fans in the National Indoor Stadium as he swept to victory.
   Blowing kisses to the crowd after his final routine, Yang won China’s third gymnastics gold in Beijing with a score of 94.575, 2.6 points ahead of Japan’s Kohei Uchimura on 91.975, with Frenchman Benoit Caranobe third on 91.925.
   ‘The result is very good, tremendous, that’s the feeling I was looking for and I really like,’ he said after the win.
   It a was dominant display from Yang, 28, who was a silver medallist in the event at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but came seventh at the Athens Games four years ago, a disappointment which left him considering retirement.
   Yang was part of the Chinese men’s team that won here on Tuesday and also has a team gold from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, taking his tally to three.
   The Chinese gymnast suffered an early setback when he stepped out of bounds on the on exercise floor but maintained his composure even though he was in eighth place after the second of six rounds.
   Yang closed the gap on his rivals after scoring 16.625 on the rings and was in second place behind Korea’s Tae-young Yang at the halfway mark.
   He then surged to the lead with a blistering 16.55 on the vault as the crowd urged him on chanting ‘Yang Wei, jia you (let’s go)’.
   A score of 16.1 on parallel bars extended his lead and meant Yang went into his final round on the high bar ahead by 2.5 points, a massive lead under the new gymnastics scoring system being used at these Olympics for the first time.
   Yang needed 12.175 on the high bar to secure gold and took no risks, scoring a solid but unspectacular 14.775 to claim the title.
   The Chinese gymnast was so confident of making the score that he blew kisses to the stands raised his arms in victory and waved a Chinese flag before his final score had even flashed up on the scoreboard.
   Yang has the chance to win more gold on Sunday, when he competes in the pommel horse and rings finals.
   His dominance left the rest of field fighting for silver and bronze, with Uchimura securing second spot despite falling twice from the pommel horse.
   Caranobe said he was shocked but thrilled to win bronze, France’s first medal in the individual all-around since the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp.
   The Frenchman said he came to Beijing to concentrate on vault and entered the all-around just to have some fun on the various apparatus.
   ‘I got the scores of my life,’ he said.
   Any hope the 2005 individual world champion, Hiroyuki Tomita of Japan, had of a podium finish ended when he fell to the floor during his rings routine.
   Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen’s hopes were also dashed when he slipped from the high beam, an apparatus on which he is world champion.
   ‘Boom. I just went down,’ he said. ‘I was very shocked when I realised I was down. I just thought ‘I have to go back and try my best’. There was a very small chance to medal if I did everything perfect but it was not meant to be.’
   With defending Olympic individual champion Paul Hamm of the United States absent from Beijing due to injury, the highest placed American was Jonathan Horton who was ninth

Michael Phelps came up for air Thursday, swimming just the 200m individual medley semi-finals and 100m butterfly heats as he prepared for the final stages of his race toward Olympic history.
   ‘I can’t complain not having a final,’ Phelps said. ‘It was a bit more relaxing.’
   Phelps won two golds on Wednesday, in the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, taking his tally in Beijing to five.
   With his six golds from Athens he now owns the most golds of any Olympian in any sport.
   If he can win the 200m medley and the 100m butterfly, and help the United States to victory in the 4x100m medley relay, Phelps will break US swimmer Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven golds at one Games.
   Well into a schedule that includes 17 swims in nine days, Phelps was doing all he could to conserve energy.
   ‘I just wanted to win my heat,’ he said after the medley semi-finals, and he did in 1min 57.70.
   That put him second-quickest heading into the final behind the 1:57.69 of teammate Ryan Lochte.
   ‘I guess it’s going to be me and Ryan in the middle tomorrow,’ said Phelps, who owns the world record in the event of 1:54.80 but has Lochte hot in pursuit.
   ‘Tomorrow is going to be the real battle.’
   Phelps took a similarly relaxed approach in the 100m fly heats.
   ‘I didn’t have much trouble after the first 50m,’ he said after notching the second-fastest time of the night. ‘I came home pretty good, I seemed to put myself out in the first 50m.
   ‘It’s the prelims, nothing really counts until the finals.’
   Phelps’s coach Bob Bowman said the swimmer was able to get a later start than usual on Thursday, breakfasting at eight instead of seven.
   ‘At 8:30 we were on a bus to here (the Water Cube), then we did some stretching and warm-ups for 30-40 minutes. Then he puts on his suit and does more warm-ups,’ Bowman said.
   ‘Then he swims, he always has a massage. Then he’ll eat, take a nap and then come back on the bus and do it all again, usually twice a day.’
   ‘I feel fine,’ Phelps said. ‘I think over the next few days the biggest thing is going to be trying to get as much rest as I can. If I can do that, I’ll be fine.’
   Bowman, who has coached Phelps since he was 11, was full of praise for his swimmer.
   ‘I think his performance so far has been spectacular,’ Bowman said. ‘He’s doing very well. He’s handling his work schedule and other things are going exceedingly well.’
   But Bowman said Russian swimmer Alexander Sukhorukov was off-target when he said Phelps was from another planet.
   ‘I’ve seen his Earthly side,’ Bowman said of Phelps. ‘I guarantee he’s human.’
   The hoopla attending Phelps’s history-making run has buoyed the entire US team, backstroker Aaron Peirsol said.
   But Peirsol added that the superstar’s teammates - including Lochte and Crocker - have their own golden ambitions that they want to fulfill, even at Phelps’s expense.
   ‘It’s elevating the entire team,’ Peirsol said. ‘However, we’ve all got our own goals. No one is racing for second.’

There’s an Old and a Young, a Fischer and an Octopus. There’s even Brad Pitt.
   When it comes to the Beijing Olympics, most of the 10,000 athletes taking part won’t win medals but their exotic names mean they certainly won’t go unnoticed.
   A prime contender for best name of the Games must surely be featherweight boxer Prince Octopus Dzanie of Ghana.
   Not only does he have a one off name, but also appears to be a one hit wonder judging by his performance in a first-round loss to Idel Torriente, a bout stopped several times because of problems with Dzanie’s headgear.
   ‘It was unfortunate that the headgear broke, but I wasn’t thinking about it. I was thinking about the fight,’ said Prince Octopus, who should be wary of Germany’s Fanny Fischer, angling for success in the kayaks.
   We have a Ma (Liyun) and a Pappa (Papavasilopoulou), which isn’t the longest name in Beijing.
   That distinction though goes to Thai weightlifter Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakon, who won gold in the 53kg division.
   It wasn’t always so unpronouncable. She changed it last year for good luck.
   ‘The fortune teller told me, ‘If you change your name you will win the gold’,’ said the 24-year-old, who used to be plain Chanpim Kantatian.
   ‘Some people believe in fortunetellers and I am one of them, so I followed her advice,’ she explained
   The shortest name is undoubtably North Korean weightlifter O Jong Ae, who threw a giant tantrum after seeing her Olympic record—as well as her gold medal bid—vanish in a flash this week.
   O, the 58kg bronze medallist ranked number three in the world, initially refused to attend the mandatory press conference for medallists after the awarding ceremony.
   ‘I was very sad and disappointed with my score.’ the teary-eyed O said after she was coaxed to change her mind.
   If ever there was an appropriate name for an athlete it is Yolande Speedy, who will need inspiration from her surname if she wants to win the cross country mountain bike event.
   Beth Storry of Great Britain will have a yarn or two to tell her friends back home about her experiences in Beijing, but she won’t be raving about the weather.
   She’ll leave that to Li Sun, a Chinese softball player, and teammate Ying Tan, who’s been catching some rays through the Beijing smog.
   Then there’s Australia’s Amanda Beard, one of the few swimmers who didn’t shave time off a world record here. And who can forget about Precious Dede, the Nigerian women’s football team goalkeeper who is worth her weight in gold.
   Which brings us to Brad Pitt, nicknamed ‘Hollywood’. Apparently jokes about him in the Australian camp are starting to wear thin, and who’s going to argue with a Commonwealth boxing champion.
   Finally, there’s German high jumper Raul-Roland Spank, about whom the less said the better. Perhaps he should be introduced to Korean basketball player, Jungja Sin or Jamaican runner Andrea Bliss.

More than two billion people around the world watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics last week, a private global information and media company said Thursday.
   The figure was based on a survey of 38 international markets, including Australia, Brazil, China, Italy, South Africa and the United States, The Nielsen Company said in a statement.
   In terms of regions, television audiences in Asia-Pacific showed the most interest, with half of viewers watching the ceremony, followed by Europe with 30 percent and North America with 24 percent, Nielsen said.
   As for individual markets, China had the largest percentage of its population watching the ceremony, followed by South Korea, Greece and Australia, the statement said.
   In the US — where the broadcast was delayed by 14 hours — an estimated 65 million people tuned in, the statement said.

US Olympic 100-meter hurdles runner Lolo Jones says she is not going to be racing a horse at a casino in her hometown.
   David Adelman, a lawyer representing the world indoor 60m hurdles champion told the Des Moines Register that Jones was considering the possibility of running a thoroughbred horse at a casino race track for which she filmed an ad.
   But Jones said Thursday on the eve of the launch of athletics competition at Beijing that she will be sticking to two-legged foes in the near future.
   ‘I do not know how that got started,’ Jones said. ‘I have a hard enough time with humans with two legs than to go race a horse with four.’
   Jones, who struggled to escape poverty through college and her track career, then teased reporters with a quip.
   ‘I will do anything for some extra cash,’ she said, then smiled. ‘Joking. No horse race.’

Japan’s breaststroke king Kosuke Kitajima, basking in the glow of his Olympic double-double, admitted he was glad US phenomenon Michael Phelps isn’t a breaststroker.
   ‘I’m glad that he’s not a breaststroke specialist, to give it to you frankly,’ said Kitajima, whose 100m-200m triumph in Beijing was his second straight Olympic double in the highly technical stroke.
   ‘He’s a fabulous swimmer with great technique. He’s tough and strong and he has all the elements of a great swimmer.
   ‘In the breaststroke, I don’t want to challenge him. But he’s not suited to breaststroke. I think he’s more of a freestyle guy.’
   Phelps’s 11 Olympic gold medals, accumulated in Athens and Beijing, have all come in either the freestyle or the butterfly.

Roger Federer’s troubled season took another turn for the worse when he was sent crashing out of the Olympic Games in a shock quarter-final defeat to US number one James Blake on Thursday.
   Federer, who hands over his number one crown to Rafael Nadal on Monday, was broken when serving for the first set and crushed in the second-set tie-break by Blake, who ended it 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
   Blake, 28, collapsed to his knees and roared with delight as he celebrated his first win against the Swiss in nine attempts stretching back to 2003. He had only taken one set off Federer previously.
   ‘I would say beating the number one player in the world has got to be up there,’ he said, describing it as one of the best moments of his career.
   ‘The feeling, the emotion involved is huge. It’s something I have to not think about right now because there’s still work to be done in this tournament.’
   For Federer, it was his third defeat in six matches since losing his five-year Wimbledon crown to Nadal five weeks ago. The 12-time Grand Slam winner has spent a record four-and-a-half years as world number.
   A dismal start to the American hardcourt season, with defeats to Gilles Simon and Ivo Karlovic, gave his rivals hope and Blake, wearing a red headband to go with his white shirt and blue shorts, started with grim intent.
   Federer needed a service winner to stave off a break point in game eight but Blake earned another chance at 5-4 when the Swiss went long after a pulsating rally. The top seed then produced an incredible leaping backhand from behind the baseline but dunked his next shot into the net to go a set down.
   Federer lacked his usual aggression, looking content to rally and misfiring with the serve and forehand. Blake capitalised by forcing three break points in game two of the second set, going ahead when Federer put a backhand long.
   The scare seemed to spark Federer into action and he broke back at 1-3 when Blake swiped a backhand into the tramlines.
   Boos erupted when a camera-toting spectator started snapping Federer while he was serving at 3-4, earning sharp words from the Swiss and a rebuke from the chair umpire. As tension mounted, Federer held off Blake in two service games to force the tie-break. But the aggressive Blake, pummelling his big forehand, raced to a 4-1 lead and put away his first match point when Federer’s service return went long.
   The American missed the 2004 Games during a traumatic spell when he broke his neck, lost his father to cancer and developed shingles.
   Federer finished fourth in 2000 but was shocked in round two four years ago early in his reign as world number one.

Huge crowds beat drums and sang to welcome India’s first ever individual Olympic gold medalist, shooter Abhinav Bindra, on his triumphant return home Thursday from the Beijing Games.
   ‘As long as the sun and moon remain, the nation will remember your name,’ chanted the crowd at New Delhi’s international airport as a smiling but composed Bindra emerged to dozens of waiting television vans.
   ‘A very happy independence day,’ Bindra told the thronging mass a day ahead of independence celebrations, showing off the medal he won Monday.
   The 25-year-old Bindra took gold in the men’s 10m Air Rifle event, capping at least a decade of training, mostly funded by his wealthy business family from northern Punjab state.
   ‘I am very happy to have done the nation proud,’ Bindra told reporters. ‘The gold medal was the dream of my life and I am happy to achieve it.’
   His gold also marked a long-awaited dream for India, which has watched for years as neighbour and Asian rival China has
   racked up medals at Olympic competitions for which Indian athletes have rarely even qualified.
   There are hopes it could even drag India’s one-billion population away from cricket for a change, and lead to more medals at future Games.
   Bindra’s feat is arguably India’s finest sporting achievement, a fact conceded by the country’s lone cricket World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.
   ‘It is not easy for an Indian to win an Olympic medal, let alone a gold because there is no sporting culture in our country,’ Dev told AFP.
   ‘I hope this will make sports a way of life in India.’
   Politicians lined up to congratulate Bindra on his return, including President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
   ‘I feel extremely overwhelmed. I’m happy that I’ve done it,’ said Bindra after a breakfast of his favourite dishes with Patil.
   Funding for sports is still scarce in India and facilities are often old and dilapidated.
   Most sports commentators noted Bindra’s win could not have come without private assistance—steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s Olympic Trust helped Bindra out when his supply of ammunition dried up due to government controls.
   ‘It means a lot to the country,’ Mittal told NDTV news channel hailing Bindra’s achievement. ‘We are very proud of it.’
   Bindra’s parents, meanwhile, who met him at the airport with hugs and kisses, now have their eyes on a less lofty prize for the sportsman who his mother quickly dubbed India’s ‘most eligible bachelor’—getting him married.

Football big guns Brazil, Argentina and Italy are primed to fire on Saturday when Olympic semi-finals berths are at stake, with their dreams of a gold medal starting to take shape.
   Brazil might have won five World Cups but they have never captured the Olympic title and they have a burning desire to put that right.
   And with the prospect of a semi-final against neighbours Argentina at stake they have plenty of motivation to beat Cameroon.
   Boasting a team featuring Manchester United playmaker Anderson, Manchester City striker Jo, Liverpool’s Lucas and AC Milan’s Ronaldinho, the samba boys should have enough firepower, but coach Dunga is wary of the African threat.
   ‘We are looking forward to our battle with Cameroon. We are in the knock-out stages where each game is a matter of survival,’ he said.
   ‘We respect Cameroon and we are going to be prepared and try to play better than in the last game.’
   Ronaldinho’s performances are being closely scrutinised after his off-field troubles last season and his subsequent move to Milan from Barcelona, but he insists Saturday’s game is about more than just him.
   ‘This is an important game for Brazil, but it is not a day of destiny for Ronaldinho,’ said the two-time World Player of the Year.
   ‘It is important because we have a dream of winning gold medals, so we need to get past Cameroon.’
   In the other quarter-finals, Argentina take on the Netherlands, Italy play Belgium, and in an all-African derby Ivory Coast are up against Nigeria.
   Defending champions Argentina kept Lionel Messi on the bench against Serbia on Wednesday for their ninth consecutive Games win, an Olympic record after going through unbeaten in Athens four years ago
   But he is certain to be back against the Dutch.
   The decision to keep one of the world’s top talents in reserve did not prove popular with the football obsessed Chinese fans, but coach Sergio Batista said he had to put the gold medal target first.
   ‘We must put the benefit of the team first. I can’t keep all my famous players on the pitch all the time,’ he said.
   Batista added that they won’t be underestimating a Netherlands side anchored by veteran Roy Makaay and Liverpool youngster Ryan Babel.
   ‘We must take it seriously. They have good players and a strong team,’ he said.
   Argentina captain, Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano, said he was confident his team could go all the way.
   ‘I am so proud to be part of this team, I hope we can win another Olympic gold,’ he said. ‘I believe this team is strong enough.’
   Ivory Coast, led by Chelsea striker Salomon Kalou, comfortably finished second behind Argentina in their group but have a tough task ahead against Nigeria, spearheaded up front by Everton marksman Victor Anichebe.
   ‘It will be a match between two African teams who are very familiar with each other,’ said Ivory Coast’s French coach Gerard Gili.
   ‘Because of this, I expect the performances from both sides to be excellent.’
   The other game is an all-European affair between giants Italy and minnows Belgium, with the Belgians pleased to get this far on their first appearance in the Olympic football tournament since 1928.
   ‘It is fantastic to be one of the top eight in the world,’ said coach Jean Francois De Sart.
   ‘We have realised our aim just by being in the quarter-finals.’

With raucous chants of ‘Jia You’, Chinese fans have created an electric atmosphere inside many Olympic venues and dampened fears that unruly spectators would tarnish the nation’s image.
   After six days of competition, praise for the Chinese fans who turn up at venues in their thousands waving national flags and pennants, clapping, stomping and shouting, has been almost universal.
   The Olympic fever inside the venues is clearly a factor in China’s runaway lead in the gold medal standings with Chinese athletes getting a tangible boost from the roar of fanatical crowds.
   After China’s women beat the United States in a tight contest for the team title in gymnastics, team coach Lu Shanzhen credited the power of home support for lifting the team to victory.
   ‘The great atmosphere here in China allowed everyone to be filled with enthusiasm and good morale,’ said Lu.
   Non-Chinese competitors are also enjoying and benefitting from the highly-charged atmosphere and the non-stop chants of ‘Jia You’, which roughly translates as ‘Let’s Go’.
   US gymnast Joey Hagerty was buzzing after appearing before the biggest and most vocal audience of his life.
   ‘The crowd was unbelievable, they were cheering very loud, it was great fun,’ he said after competing for the US team .
   Opposing teams note, too, that patriotic Chinese crowds are good humoured and their enthusiasm has not spilled over into anti-foreign nationalism.
   In the past, particularly in competition against Japan, an ugly side of Chinese sporting nationalism has often emerged.
   Japan invaded and occupied parts of China in the 1930s and that past aggression still triggers passionate resentment here. That was on show in February this year at the East Asian football championships in Chongqing, China, when they booed Japanese players and showered Japanese supporters and players with trash thrown onto the pitch.
   There has been no recurrence during the Games, although booing the opposition in basketball, a tradition in China, is alive and well. Every time a Spanish player touched the ball during a preliminary men’s game against China this week, the crowd let rip with cat-calls and boos.
   When China played the United States, however, it was hard to know which was the home team. NBA players are idolised in China and it was noticeable that during the Olympic Games opening ceremony last Friday, the crowd cheered loud and long for US NBA star Kobe Bryant.
   The US team, which is the key rival of China for overall victory in the medal chase at the Games, also got a long burst of sporting applause with swimming icon Michael Phelps treated to a special ovation.
   Two years ago the Chinese government was so worried about the potential for crowd trouble tarnishing the Olympics that it launched a crash course in sports etiquette and cheers squads were sent to factories, schools and offices across Beijing to educate the Chinese in how to behave at Olympic events.
   At the opening ceremony, special cheer squads fanned out through the 91,000 National Stadium, telling the crowd how to cheer and leading them in chanting and clapping.
   However, some Chinese fans still have a way to go before mastering the finer points of some competitions.
   Chinese number one tennis player Zheng Jie said that she loved the support she was getting from fans but felt she had to tell them to stop cheering at the wrong moments.
   ‘Sometimes they may cheer too early, which will interfere with the players. I hope that next time maybe they can pay attention to that,’ she said.

US Olympic guard Kobe Bryant has the top selling jersey in China of any National Basketball Association player for the second year in a row, the league announced without revealing sales figures.
   Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers into the NBA Finals but they were beaten four games to two in the best-of-seven series by the Boston Celtics who have no players on the US team that is off to a 3-0 Olympic start.
   Boston star big man Kevin Garnett, whose jersey in the top seller for US supporters, ranked second in China with Houston’s Tracy McGrady - a teammate of Chinese 2.26m center Yao Ming, ranking third.
   Paul Pierce, the Boston standout who was named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals, jumped to fourth after not making the top 10 last year with Denver’s Allen Iverson fifth.
   Yao, a former top seller, slid from sixth to 10th on the list, seemingly meaning that most of those wanting a replica of his Rockets’ uniform have already purchased one.
   Washington’s Gilbert Arenas ranked sixth this year, followed by Cleveland star LeBron James, Miami playmaker Dwyane Wade and Orlando center Dwight Howard. Wade, Howard and James are all on the US Olympic squad.
   NBA souvenir sales revenues from China are expected to jump 60 per cent this year, in part thanks to the first two NBA Stores located outside US cities opening in Beijing on July 15.
   Shop sales were 70 per cent ahead of projections in the first two weeks of operation and that was before tourists from around the world began arriving for the Olympics.

Former Olympic and world judo champion Keiji Suzuki said he felt ‘empty’ and was considering his future in the sport after suffering a humiliating -100kg first round defeat at the Beijing Games on Thursday.
   ‘I didn’t do what I wanted to. I couldn’t use any of my techniques. I have nothing left,’ a tearful Suzuki said after he was defeated by Mongolia’s Naidan Tuvshinbayar with a tackle throw (morote-gari).
   ‘If I step onto the tatami again, I may probably be thrown again. I’m really empty now,’ he said.
   Suzuki, 29, who stepped up to +100kg in Athens to claim a sensational gold medal, was back fighting at his preferred -100kg, the weight at which he won the world title in 2005.
   He also has the 2003 world open-weight title to his name as he has been shuffled around different categories due to the depth of heavyweight talent at home. No open-class title is fought in the Olympics.
   Suzuki was given a second chance for a bronze medal in the repechage round of losers to the eventual semi-finalists. But he again was floored by German Benjamin Behrla with a shoulder wheel.
   ‘I’ll go home amd closely look back at myself and what I have been doing. That’s what I would do first,’ said the crew-cut judoka who had targeted the Beijing Games as the ‘culimination’ of his career. ‘If I feel like doing it again, I may start with running or something like that. But for now I am empty.’
   Suzuki has not won any tournament abroad since the 2005 World Championships in Cairo.

A last-minute decision to enter the men’s individual all-around gymnastics competition paid off with Olympic bronze for Benoit Caranobe Thursday, ending France’s 88-year medal drought in the event.
   Caranobe shocked even himself with his third place in the competition to find the best gymnast at the Games, saying he had only entered for fun and had expected his Beijing campaign to focus on his specialist apparatus, the vault.
   The 28-year-old’s success is the first podium finish for France in the men’s individual all-around since the Antwerp Olympics in 1920.
   ‘(A medal) was not in my expectations,’ he said. ‘I came here to have fun on the six apparatus.
   ‘It was so unexpected that I don’t think I’ll become fully aware of it until later. Eighty eight years, it will take me time to realize.’
   Caranobe said he started off well on the pommel horse, normally one of his weakest apparatus, and continued to build momentum as the competition progressed.
   His coaches, realising he was in top form, did not tell him he was on track for a medal because they feared distracting him.
   Caranobe said he did not know his scores on the chaos of the competition floor, where gymnasts are competing on six apparatus simultaneously, and only realised he had won bronze at the end of the competition.
   ‘I never even looked at my scores, or my opponents’, because I didn’t want them to influence me,’ he said.
   ‘I remained in my bubble, concentrated on my competition, and I made the scores of my life.’
   Carabone said his celebrations would remain on hold while he focuses on his vault final on Sunday, where he has a strong chance of adding to his medal tally after scoring the highest mark on the apparatus in the individual final.
   ‘It’s necessary for me to remain concentrated on the final of the vault,’ he said. ‘I just want to make two good jumps.’

Spain’s new coach Vicente del Bosque has included Barcelona’s teen sensation Bojan Krkic in his squad for next week’s friendly against Denmark, the nation’s first match since winning Euro 2008.
   Krkic, who turns 18 later this month, has yet to win his first cap, but was called into the squad by former coach Luis Aragones for a friendly against France in February.
   The striker, whose Serbian father, also named Bojan Krkic, played for Red Star Belgrade, missed out on Euro 2008 due to fatigue.
   Del Bosque also included three new faces: Atletico Bilbao defenders Andoni Iraola and Fernando Amorebieta and Seville winger Diego Capel.

Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian of Sweden refused to receive his bronze medal on Thursday as the Beijing Olympics was treated to a raised-fist protest.
   The Swede, who won the silver in the Athens Olympics last year, grudgingly climbed the podium but stormed off in a huff after receiving his prize, which he left at the center of the competition mat before stalking off the stage with a raised clenched right fist.
   Abrahamian thought he had beaten Andrea Minguzzi, the eventual gold medallist in the 84kg division in the semi-finals, but the match was awarded to the Italian.
   The Swede came back strongly in the repechages to claim one of the two bronzes alongside Nazmi Avluca of Turkey.
   The medal was later returned to the sport’s governing body.

Europe’s big guns Barcelona, Juventus and Arsenal are in pole position to shoot into the group stages though Liverpool have work to do as the 2008/09 Champions League began in earnest on Wednesday.
   With 41 weeks to go to the May 27 final at Rome’s Olympic stadium, club football’s most prestigious and richest competition hotted up as top clubs fought it out for a ticket to the money-spinning pool stages.
   Barcelona and Juventus both had 4-0 victories, over Wisla Krakow and Artmedia Bratislava, but Arsenal were far from convincing in a 2-0 victory at Dutch club FC Twente and Liverpool were simply mediocre in a 0-0 draw at Standard Liege in third qualifying round, first leg action.
   William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor were on target for Arsenal who were outplayed for much of the match before going ahead against the run of play.
   ‘They imposed a very physical game on us, with man marking all over the pitch. They did that with a lot of belief and spirit,’ said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger afterwards.
   ‘In the first half, they had some chances, but in the second half we slowly took over.
   ‘They have given so much in the first half, they could not keep the same pace and tightness in their marking. From then on, we looked more comfortable.’
   Wenger added: ‘We were a very young team and we did not lose our nerve, did not panic. ‘In the end maybe our technical superiority allowed us to score two goals - that is a massive advantage for the second leg, but we will be on our toes.’
   Former England manager Steve McClaren, now the FC Twente boss, was thrust into the spotlight once more against glamorous opponents when the draw was made. On the night however his team did not have the lucky breaks when needed.
   ‘I think we should have scored in the first half,’ McClaren said. ‘You don’t get many chances and you have to take them. We didn’t do that. We lost concentration on two occasions and got punished.
   ‘That’s what happens in Europe against the top teams. The inexperience in the dressing room showed and we have to learn from it. But I can’t fault the performance. We had Arsenal rattled, especially in the first half.’
   It was disappointment for the Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane strike duo as Liverpool stuttered to a goalless draw against Standard Liege.
   Kick-off was delayed to allow groundsmen to clear toilet rolls from the pitch and, when the action got underway, Liverpool had to weather an early goal scare which would have changed the complexion of the tie.
   In the sixth minute, Alvaro Arbeloa gave away a cheap free-kick from which the ever-present Marouane Fellaini rattled a header against the post.
   It was criminally sloppy defending that should have cost Liverpool more than it did, with many in the stadium justifiably claiming that the ball had gone over the line.
   After the match Liverpool keeper Jose Reina told ITV television that he wasn’t sure if the ball had crossed the line.
   ‘I don’t know,’ Reina said. ‘I still don’t know. We will have to see it on TV because it’s much easier to see. The important thing is we got a result and we have to improve for the second leg.’
   Barcelona, who have gone two seasons without a trophy, began their planned comeback in style by disposing of Wisla Krakow 4-0. Two goals came from Samuel Eto’o and Xavi Hernandez and Thierry Henry got the others.
   As for Juventus, they made a confident return to European action, thrashing Slovak champions Artmedia Bratislava with goals from Mauro Camoranesi, Alessandro Del Piero, Giorgio Chiellini and Nicola Legrottaglie.

Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal’s gritty Champions League victory over Steve McClaren’s FC Twente proved his young guns are ready to take centre-stage.
   Wenger’s side are within touching distance of the lucrative Champions League group stages after snatching a 2-0 win in the third qualifying round first leg in the Netherlands.
   With Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure sidelined through injury, Arsenal struggled to impose themselves for long periods as McClaren’s fired-up players tried to impress their new manager.
   But the Gunners refused to be overwhelmed and Wenger took heart from the way midfielders Denilson, 20, and Aaron Ramsey, 17, kept going even when the team was out of sorts.
   The French coach is confident both youngsters are now capable of filling the void in Arsenal’s central midfield left by the departures of Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva.
   ‘We stood up well because we were so young in the middle of the park,’ Wenger said. ‘Of course for a game of that level you could be worried but I have confidence in them and I must say I have been paid back very well.
   ‘We expected a difficult game and we were not disappointed. They man-marked us all over the pitch and we needed to be patient and not make any mistakes at the back.
   ‘We changed a bit tactically at half time but most important they dropped their level a bit. To do what they did in the first half, to tackle for every ball, is of course very difficult and from then on we looked a bit more comfortable.’
   Wenger, who revealed Middlesbrough have made an enquiry about right-back Justin Hoyte, knows his team will have to do better if they want to advance through the competition.
   But at least they have plenty of time to improve. McClaren, taking charge of Twente for the first time, may not get another chance in Europe’s elite competition for some while.
   The former England coach was last seen sheltering forlornly under an umbrella on the Wembley touchline during the last rites of his country’s ill-fated attempt to qualify for Euro 2008.
   That defeat against Croatia left his reputation in tatters but he believes he can be reborn in the Netherlands, even if Twente’s European hopes can’t.
   ‘It’s a massive mountain to climb. It’s bigger than Everest but we take heart from the performance,’ McClaren said.
   ‘I said before that this game isn’t just about now but also the future. I like what I see of this team. We showed we are a good team who can compete with the likes of Arsenal.
   ‘We go away thinking 2-0 is an unbelievable result because of the performance we put in.
   ‘That’s what happens in Europe against the top teams. The inexperience in the dressing room showed and we have to learn from it. But I can’t fault the performance. We had Arsenal rattled, especially in the first half.’
   Twente carved out the first half-chance when Roman Denneboom rose above Gael Clichy to head over in the fourth minute.
   The best chance of the half fell to Marko Arnautovic. He beat Arsenal’s confused offside trap and had only Almunia to beat but, let down by a poor first touch, his shot was too close to the keeper

English football clubs are spending hundreds of millions of pounds on new players ahead of the 2008/09 Premier League season but are also selling big stars to balance their books amid the credit crunch.
   Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool are among the biggest spenders this close season as they seek to snatch the Premier League crown from Manchester United, but all three have also sold key players for large sums.
   Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood warned in July that the ongoing credit crunch, which has caused banks around the world to substantially reduce their lending, should be a serious concern for England’s biggest clubs.
   ‘People need to be waking up to the realities of the world and that the days of easy money have come to a pretty sudden end,’ Hill-Wood told Arsenal.com.
   ‘There is an awful lot of talk about big transfers and major demands of players but you will find throughout the UK and Europe that money is not quite as easy to obtain as it used to be.’
   Ahead of the new Premier League campaign that kicks-off on Saturday, Manchester United are expected to land Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham for about 25 million pounds (31 million euros, 47 million dollars).
   United manager Alex Ferguson’s priority this summer has been to fend off an attempt by Real Madrid to table a world record bid for Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo.
   Favourites to break into the top four of the Premier League by the end of the new campaign are Tottenham, who during the summer break have spent 46.2 million pounds on stars including Luka Modric, David Bentley and Heurelho Gomes.
   The north London club have recouped more than 20 million pounds with the sale of Irish forward Robbie Keane to Liverpool. The sale of Berbatov would more than wipe out Tottenham’s spending on new recruits, although they are expected to land a top striker should he depart.
   ‘We’re expecting the levels (of transfer fees) this summer to still to be quite high but probably not as high as the record that was set last summer,’ Alex Byars, senior consultant at Deloitte & Touche sports business group, told AFP.
   A year ago, England’s top 20 football clubs spent a combined 450 million pounds on new players, including Fernando Torres, Florent Malouda and Owen Hargreaves.
   This time around Portuguese internationals Jose Bosingwa and Deco have joined Chelsea, French midfielder Samir Nasri has signed for Arsenal and the Brazilian Jo for Manchester City in massive deals.
   Byars cited three reasons why spending would be down this summer transfer window compared to a year ago—Euro 2008, the absence of a new television broadcasting deal for live matches and because clubs were not facing takeovers amid the global squeeze on credit.
   ‘Euro 2008 happened towards the start of the summer transfer window’ that ends on August 31, said Byars. ‘The level of transfer activity at the start of a window sometimes decreases when there is a major tournament taking place.
   ‘Another factor is that the 2008/09 season is the second year of a three-year broadcast deal and the level of broadcasting revenues to clubs this year will be broadly similar to what they received last year.
   ‘So we’re not seeing a step change in the amount of revenues that clubs are getting year-on-year.
   ‘Another point is we’ve not seen anything like the number of changes in club ownership in the last 12 months compared to the previous 12 months.
   ‘There aren’t several new owners of Premier League clubs for whom this window is their first opportunity to buy and sell players. So I think that’s another factor,’ added Byars.
   Yet clubs are still spending heavily, including Bolton and Fulham, who both just avoided relegation from England’s top division last term. Each have spent a club-record 10 million pounds on a striker as they seek a more comfortable ride in 2008/09.
   Swedish hitman Johan Elmander has swapped Toulouse for Bolton’s Reebok Stadium and Andrew Johnston has returned to London from Everton.
   Among the three newly-promoted teams, West Brom have spent the most—more than 15 million pounds in total.
   Last season’s FA Cup winners Portsmouth have enticed Peter Crouch and Younes Kaboul for a total of 16 million pounds as the club looks for glory in Europe as well on the domestic front.
   Crouch arrived at Fratton Park from Liverpool, who have also sold John Arne Riise and Scott Carson to help to finance the purchase of Keane.
   More players may have to depart Anfield should the Reds decide to spend the 18 million pounds that Aston Villa are demanding for England midfielder Gareth Barry.
   Chelsea, meanwhile, have offloaded Tal Ben Haim, Steve Sidwell and Khalid Boulahrouz for a total of 14 million pounds during the transfer window and London rivals Arsenal have said goodbye to Alex Hleb, the Belarus international midfielder who has joined Barcelona for 15 million pounds.
   The Spanish giants have also bought defender Gerard Pique, who returns to the Nou Camp from Manchester United in a deal worth five million pounds.

Liverpool can look forward to qualifying for the money-spinning group stages of the Champions League but it was a close-run thing after their exploits in Belgium.
   Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez admitted they could easily have let in a number of goals and that 0-0 was not a bad result in this third qualifying round, first leg tie.
   ‘We were not surprised by the fine performance of the Liege side, we had seen enough of them to know they were a good, aggressive side,’ Benitez said.
   ‘The real surprise for me was the way Liverpool played. The only positive to take from the match was the fact that we did not concede a goal.
   ‘We will have to be a lot better in the second leg at Anfield, much better.
   ‘We have been playing well in pre-season, looking confident and passing the ball well.
   ‘But we did not do any of those things. I did not want to bring Steven Gerrard on because the doctors had told me he was not fit enough to start the match.
   ‘We waited until well into the second-half before using him, but we were not controlling the game and I had to bring him on.’

There will be intense interest - both in Germany and abroad - when one of the Bundesliga’s new recruits makes his debut as Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann leads the champions in their title defence.
   The 44-year-old innovator likes a challenge and he will have his work cut out in Munich, where Bayern’s senior figures crave their first Champions League title since 2001.
   Having been crowned German champions for the 21st time last season, Bayern swept aside all comers on the domestic front winning the league, cup and league cup titles, but were found wanting in Europe.
   They spent last season slumming in the UEFA Cup, having finished fourth in the Bundesliga the previous season, and were subsequently hammered by Dick Advocaat’s Zenit St Petersburg side in the semi-finals.
   Klinsmann inherits an impressive squad with stars like Franck Ribery, Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger at his disposal.
   Last season, Bayern charged into an early lead in the league, which they never relinquished, as Klose and Toni combined to score 34 league goals between them.
   Having swept all-comers aside in Germany, the former Tottenham Hotspur and Sampdoria striker was recruited in January to replace Ottmar Hitzfeld and he shook things up in Munich before the season even began.
   Bayern’s professionals were presented with an eight-hour training day, encouraged to study and learn languages.
   An oasis of calm was built for them in a high-tech training centre which included beds to make sure they had plenty of rest and was decorated with Buddhist statues - Munich had never seen anything like it.
   The players have been rigorously fitness tested and Klinsmann is preaching a philosophy of fast-paced football to blitz the Bundesliga next season.
   ‘The squad is packed with quality,’ said Klinsmann.
   ‘We have two players for every position, and every position will be fought over.’
   Bayern’s delegation of die Mannschaft players are sure to prosper under the same coach who steered Germany to third in the 2006 World Cup.
   Both striker Podolski and midfielder Schweinsteiger laboured under Hitzfeld last season and were over-shadowed by the arrivals of Toni and Ribery respectively.
   But both shone at Euro 2008 and looked sharp in Bayern’s 4-2 drubbing of Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds in Japan at the end of July.
   Dutch international Mark van Bommel has been handed the captain’s armband.

Brazil international Robinho is determined to join English Premiership side Chelsea but Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon does not want to let him go, Spanish media reported Thursday.
   The 24-year-old, accompanied by his agent Wagner Ribeiro, met with Calderon on Wednesday to express his desire to join Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chelsea, sports dailies AS and Marca reported.
   Robinho cited a lack of recognition for his talents on the part of the Spanish champions and the yearly salary which the English club are offering as his reasons for wanting to leave Real, the newspapers said.
   Chelsea have offered Real Madrid 25 million euros (37 million dollars) for Robinho and are reportedly willing to pay the player a yearly salary of six million euros.
   Calderon however told the player that he could not be sold for the amount being offered by Chelsea.
   Robinho has said he feels Real is trying to price him out of a move after the club failed in its bid to lure Portuguese playmaker Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.
   ‘The money Madrid are asking for is exaggerated in today’s market,’ British daily the Telegraph quoted him as saying on Thursday.
   If Robinho does join Chelsea, Real Madrid could try to sign Dutch international Klas Jan Huntelaar from Ajax as a replacement, Marca reported.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard ended speculation about his future by signing a new five-year contract with the Premier League club on Wednesday.
   Lampard, 30, had been repeatedly linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge during the last year, but he finally agreed to stay just four days before Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Portsmouth.
   ‘We’ve signed my new contract today (Wednesday),’ Lampard told Chelsea TV. ‘I’m personally very happy and I hope I’ve made the Chelsea fans happy. I’ve had seven great seasons here and now I can have many more.
   ‘It’s been a difficult summer for many reasons and that was one of the frustrating things, a lot of things were said that were untrue, some things were said that were slightly true and that was frustrating. Now we can put that to bed and concentrate on football.’
   The England star had been negotiating a new contract since last season, with Chelsea offering a four-year deal and Lampard holding out for an extra year.
   Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, now in charge at Inter Milan, tried to take advantage of the stalemate during the close-season when he made an offer for Lampard.
   Chelsea rejected Inter’s bid but they were aware Lampard would have been out of contract at the end of this season and could walk away on a free transfer.
   The Blues have avoided that scenario by agreeing to Lampard’s demands and the former West Ham player, who is now contracted until 2014, should finish his career in west London.
   Lampard, who cost Chelsea 11 million pounds (13.7 million euros) from the Hammers in June 2001, thanked the club for giving him time to decide on his future following the death of his mother last season.
   ‘My world got turned upside down and I don’t think it is anything anyone appreciates until you go through it,’ Lampard said. ‘The club gave me time and I appreciate that.
   ‘I feel for sure I’ve made 100 percent the right decision, for myself, for my family and for Chelsea Football Club.
   ‘This has always been a very important contract for me, I’ve just turned 30 and I see it as my final big contract to see my playing days out at Chelsea.’
   Blues manager Luiz Felipe Scolari believes the dynamic midfielder’s decision bodes well for Chelsea’s bid to overhaul Premier League champions Manchester United.
   ‘I am delighted that Frank has committed his future to the club,’ Scolari said. ‘He is a key player for me and vital to Chelsea’s future successes.

Liu Zige led China to a battling one-two finish in the women’s 200m butterfly on Thursday, seizing the chance to shine as US superstar Michael Phelps took a breather at the Water Cube.
   With no golds on the horizon for Phelps - who swam only the semi-finals of the men’s 200m medley and heats of the 100m butterfly - Asian swimmers were to the fore.
   Liu smashed the 200m fly world record, out-dueling previous world record-holder Jessicah Schipper of Australia to win in 2min 04.18sec with compatriot Jiao Liuyang taking silver.
   Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima won the 200m breaststroke, repeating his 100m-200m double of Athens four years ago.
   In the anticipated men’s 100m freestyle final, Alain Bernard gave France just its third-ever Olympic swimming gold, and Australia’s women set a world record in winning the 4x200m freestyle relay as the day’s four finals ended without a gold for the United States.
   Liu, 19, and 17-year-old teammate Jiao whipped up the crowd with their surprise finish in the fly.
   ‘I didn’t expect that I could swim so fast,’ Liu admitted. ‘I have never imagined that I could win gold in the Olympic Games.’
   Schipper was on world record pace through 100m, but Liu managed to gain a slight edge by the final turn.
   Jiao, lying third going into the final 50m, claimed the silver in 2:04.72, also under Schipper’s previous world mark of 2:05.40, while the Australian settled for bronze in 2:06.26.
   ‘The Chinese girls swam an awesome race,’ Schipper said of the duo, who emerged from the pool to a deafening ovation.
   Bernard, who arrived in Beijing as the 100m free world record-holder, gained a measure of revenge with his victory in swimming’s blue riband event.
   He overtook Eamon Sullivan on the closing length to triumph over the Australian who had seized his world mark.
   ‘My first thought after I touched the wall was, ‘Wow, I’ve won an Olympic final’,’ the Frenchman said. ‘I just didn’t want to lose, I hate losing.’
   Bernard didn’t add to the flurry of 100m free world records produced in Beijing, but he atoned for France’s heartbreaking loss to a Phelps-led squad in the 4x100m free relay.
   Bernard won in 47.21sec, with Sullivan second in 47.32.
   Cesar Cielo of Brazil and US relay hero Jason Lezak shared bronze, in a dead heat of 47.67.
   For Bernard, gold was all that mattered.
   ‘The best moment is when I turned back and I saw the number one next to my name,’ he said.
   Pieter van den Hoogenband, winner of the 100m free in Sydney and Athens, was vying to become the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three games in a row.
   The 30-year-old Dutchman was fifth in 47.75 and said it was the last race of his career.
   ‘It’s a new generation and now it’s time to step aside,’ he said. ‘That was my last race.’
   Like Bernard, Kitajima was delighted with gold, even without a record.
   Winner of the 100m breaststroke on Monday in world-record time, Kitajima settled for an Olympic record of 2:07.64, just outside his world record of 2:07.51.
   He held off a late challenge from Australian Brenton Rickard, who was second in 2:08.88, with France’s Hugues Duboscq taking the bronze in 2:08.94.
   ‘I’m very relieved that I got the gold medal,’ Kitajima said.
   Australia’s world record-setting victory in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay gave Stephanie Rice her third gold medal of the Games, after record-breaking wins in the 200m and 400m individual medleys.
   Rice led off the quartet that also included Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer and Linda MacKenzie that won in 7:44.31.
   China captured silver in 7:45.93 as the United States settled for bronze in 7:46.33.
   Phelps, meanwhile, positioned himself for a shot at a sixth gold medal, posting the second-quickest time in winning his 200m medley semi-final and posting the second-fastest time in the heats for the 100m fly.
   Teammate Ian Crocker, the world record-holder in the 100m fly, was 13th-fastest heading into Friday’s semi-finals.
   On Wednesday, Phelps became the supreme Olympian of all time with his 10th and 11th career golds - the fourth and fifth of these Games. He needs three more victories to surpass Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of seven golds at one Games.
   ‘I think medals mean more than times, so that’s what I’m going to be focusing on over the next three days,’ Phelps said.

Frenchman Alain Bernard put aside the demons of an agonising relay defeat to vanquish Australian rival Eamon Sullivan for the men’s 100m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Games Thursday.
   Bernard became the first Frenchman since Jean Boiteux in the 400m freestyle at Helsinki in 1952 to win a swimming gold medal after overhauling the world record holder near the finish.
   This time there was no world record from the pair who have swapped best times this year.
   Bernard won in 47.21 seconds, 0.16sec outside Sullivan’s day-old mark.
   Significantly, for the strapping 25-year-old Frenchman it atoned for being reeled in by Jason Lezak in the anchor leg of America’s sensational 4x100 freestyle relay victory on Monday.
   ‘It’s huge. I can’t believe it. After the relay I could have sunk, but I told myself that after all these years of hard work I can’t let myself go down,’ Bernard said.
   ‘It was in the last five metres that I got into position to win, but I knew it wasn’t until I touched the wall. ‘I had already been beaten on the wall, and I didn’t want it to happen again.
   ‘It was a big victory for me, I had to pick myself up after the relay and I knew I had to prove myself. I had to keep going.’
   Bernard won in 47.21sec, with Sullivan second in 47.32.
   Cesar Cielo of Brazil and US relay hero Lezak shared bronze, in a dead heat of 47.67.
   Bernard said he felt tense as he stood on the starting blocks.
   ‘My legs were shaking. I thought it didn’t look good, and it was the first time that I felt it that strongly,’ he said.
   ‘There is so much stress in a final, you don’t know if your body will respond the way you want to do, as it did in the morning.’
   The world record in the event had fallen three times in Beijing.
   Sullivan seized the mark from Bernard with a lead-off leg of 47.24sec in the 4x100m freestyle relay on Monday.
   Bernard regained the mark with a time of 47.20 in the first semi-final on Wednesday, and Sullivan snatched it back with his astonishing 47.05 in the second semi.
   ‘Full credit to Alain, he swam a great race and really worked on my weaknesses,’ Sullivan said.
   ‘I was maybe caught into swimming other people’s races, I gave it 100 percent, as I always do when I race. Putting in that great relay and the world record probably took its toll. ‘I am looking forward to the 50m now.’
   Dutch star Pieter van den Hoogenband, vying to become the first man to win the same Olympic swimming event at three games in a row, was fifth in 47.75 and said he was retiring from swimming.
   ‘Mentally, this is a big step for Alain after the relay defeat in a sensational race,’ van den Hoogenband said.
   ‘Now he won the biggest final. He’s a man of the future, he and Sullivan. Bernard did what he had to do.’

They may be a little hazy on the rules, but raucous fans and packed Olympic stands underline the lightning growth of tennis in China.
   In just a few years, tennis has gone from a little-known elite pursuit to a top-line sport with mass appeal.
   Constant chants of ‘Jia You’, or ‘Let’s Go’, have echoed around Olympic Green Tennis Centre as thousands of spectators roar on women’s players Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai.
   ‘I have so many supporters here that make me so motivated, and they’ve given me a lot of mental support,’ said Zheng.
   ‘So it’s very helpful for me at important points.’
   Excitement is at fever pitch—and not always at the right moments.
   Enthusiastic fans cheer serves, balls which have gone out, and even double faults.
   When the point is chalked up to the other player, mutters of consternation ripple through the stands.
   Cheering and clapping mid-rally has distracted many players, earning a stern rebuke from Zheng.
   ‘Some may not be familiar with the requirements of tennis,’ she said.
   ‘Sometimes they may cheer too early, which will interfere with the players. I hope that next time maybe they can pay attention to that.’
   Visiting stars enjoy the atmosphere but admit the crowd reactions a little strange.
   ‘They go, ‘ooh’. They’re quite sad you didn’t make the ball over the net,’ said world number one Jelena Jankovic.
   ‘Sometimes they get quite excited during the point, which is quite distracting for us.
   ‘But it’s very difficult to explain to them in Chinese. During the point, we are really fighting hard to play each ball and you hear such loud applause you kind of get confused.’
   Top US player Serena Williams said the excitement was ‘kind of cool’.
   ‘I noticed that in the long rallies, they were living and dying with each point. I thought it was kind of funny,’ she said.
   ‘It actually makes me get excited they’re so into the point. It’s actually kind of cool. I like it.’
   Men’s top seed Roger Federer put the unique atmosphere down to cultural differences.
   ‘They get excited for different reasons here in China, it seems,’ he said.
   ‘Sometimes before the point is over, sometimes on a double fault. They’re like, oh no, how bad for the other guy, or something like that.
   ‘So it’s actually quite a unique experience. It’s a different cultural experience, in a way.’
   Tennis shot into the public consciousness when Li Ting and Sun Tiantian claimed women’s doubles gold four years ago in Athens.
   Li Na became the first Chinese top 20 player and the first to reach a Grand Slam quarter-finals in 2006. Last month, Zheng went one better when she made it to the Wimbledon semis.
   Beijing has held an Open tournament since 1993 and Shanghai has hosted the the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, featuring the top eight men, four times since 2003.
   Participation has also rocketed. Even in the early 1990s, Beijing had just 20 courts with players coming exclusively from the ranks of the super-rich.
   Now more than two million Chinese play regularly, according to official figures, with eight amateur events in Beijing last year.
   However, despite the popularity of the sport here, China is a long way from unearthing their own Federer - the country’s top-ranked man is Bai Yan at a lowly 498 in the world.

Pieter van den Hoogenband brought the curtain down on his glittering career on Thursday after being swept aside by swimming’s new generation in the Olympic Games 100m freestyle final.
   The 30-year-old ‘Flying Dutchman’, bidding to become the first man to win three consecutive events at the Olympics, couldn’t match Alain Bernard and Eamon Sullivan, missing out on the bronze by 8/100ths of a second with his time of 47.75sec.
   ‘Hoogie’ bows out after his fourth Olympics with seven medals—three gold, two silver and two bronze and no regrets.
   ‘They’re strong, way too fast,’ van den Hoogenband conceded after Thursday’s final won by Frenchman Bernard in 47.21 seconds. ‘It’s a new generation and now it’s time to step aside. They did a great job.
   ‘I’m from the generation of (Russian) Alex Popov, 48.21, you don’t make the final with that time now - and that was a fantastic record. These are fantastic new swimmers. That was my last race.’
   The signs were there for ‘Hoogie’ back at the European championships in Eindhoven in March when Bernard smashed his world record of 47.60sec which had stood for almost eight years.
   Now Australian speedster Sullivan holds the world mark at a mind-blowing 47.05 amid a frenetic year of world record brinkmanship with Bernard.
   ‘Alain was fantastic, after what he did at the European Championships, he’s a great, great guy,’ he said.
   ‘He’s a man of the future, he and Sullivan. Bernard did what he had to do.’
   Van den Hoogenband reminisced about his magnificent Olympic career, which started back in Atlanta in 1996.

Tennis had Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, swimming paired Australia’s Eamon Sullivan and Stephanie Rice, but badminton can trump them all with at least three power couples in the sport.
   Not that many of the romancing shuttlers are willing to talk about it—at least not during the Beijing Olympics, when, with gold medals up for grabs, steely focus is required.
   China’s world champion Lin Dan virtually ignored his girlfriend, fellow world number one Xie Xingfang, during their early round match this week.
   Playing side by side, the pair trounced their opponents within seconds of one another, but as they filed past reporters and cheering spectators, did not speak to one another.
   In a country where badminton is a passion, China’s golden couple, both hot favourites to take the men’s and women’s titles this weekend, are used to adoring fans and media attention.
   But with strict discipline demanded by China’s athletes and under enormous pressure to succeed on home soil, the pair are reluctant to lose their focus of winning gold.
   ‘No, I didn’t know about her game,’ Lin, known as Super Dan to his legion of fans, told Chinese reporters after the match, waving away questions.
   Malaysian star Lee Chong Wei, however, is more relaxed about his relationship with teammate Wong Mew Choo, the nation’s top women’s shuttler.
   The eighth seed Wong, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals, has been diligently watching her man from the stands as he guns for his country’s first ever Olympic gold.

China’s Zhang Juanjuan broke one of the Olympics’ tightest strangleholds on Thursday by upsetting South Korean defending champion Park Sung-Hyun to win the individual archery gold medal.
   Few expected her to do it with Korean women archers winning every Olympic gold since Seo Hyang-Soon first stepped up and took the
   title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
   But roared on by a raucous home crowd, Zhang beat Park 110-109 in a tense final on a rainswept course for a famous victory.
   The bronze went to Yun Ok-Hee also of South Korea, who was desperate to win a medal for her coach Moon Hyung-Cgul who is fighting thyroid cancer.
   Zhang beat all three South Koreans on her way to the title, setting a new Olympic record of 115 in her semi-final against world record holder Yun.
   ‘I have won honour for all archers in China and I believe the future will be brighter,’ said Zhang.
   ‘I dreamed I could win a gold medal every day. I was well prepared. It was a hard journey but I finally made it. The solidarity and the trust within the team led to my success. I really did believe I could win.’