MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014 SPORTS Pistorius defense enters Photo of the day critical phase at trial PRETORIA: Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial let door. He claims the killing was acciden- enters a critical phase today as his defense tal and he fired four times in quick succes- team attempts to recover from a faltering sion without thinking and while terrified, start and reinforce the disabled athlete’s believing that an intruder had climbed up a claim that he fatally shot girlfriend Reeva ladder and through a bathroom window of Steenkamp by mistake because he was his Pretoria villa in the pre-dawn hours and overwhelmed by a long-held fear of violent was about to come out of the cubicle and crime. attack him. Pistorius’ mindset when he stood on his Prosecutors charge that the story is an stumps in a bathroom and pulled the trig- intricate lie designed to cover up a murder. ger on his 9 mm pistol in the early hours of They say the couple fought, Steenkamp Feb. 14, 2013 remains the crux of the South fled to the toilet screaming and Pistorius African trial that has captured worldwide followed her and shot her through the attention and is about to start its seventh wood door while they were arguing. She week of globally televised proceedings. It was hit in the hip, arm and head. was initially scheduled to run for three Charged with premeditated murder, the weeks. first amputee to run at the Olympics faces Judge Thokozile Masipa will analyze 25 years to life in prison if convicted. He thousands of pages of testimony before was once widely admired for overcoming she reaches a verdict, but ultimately must the amputation of his lower legs as a baby ponder the pivotal question: Did Pistorius to earn the right to run against the world’s fire his gun with the intention to kill or out top able-bodied athletes. of a misplaced belief that his life was in The prosecution’s case appeared to be danger from a perceived intruder? bolstered as holes in Pistorius’ story were South Africa does not have trial by jury, exposed when the athlete was on the meaning Masipa will decide, with the help stand for a fierce five-day cross-examina- of two assessors, if Pistorius’ overall account tion by prosecutor Gerrie Nel. Nel also suc- is believable and whether the apparent ceeded in undermining the evidence given inconsistencies in his testimony count by the defense’s first two expert witnesses, against him or are unimportant in the big- a pathologist and a former police forensic ger picture. scientist. If Pistorius’ defense, which will resume But defense lawyers have only present- calling witnesses today after a two-week ed three of up to 17 witnesses they say trial recess, can show that his story of a they may ask to testify. At the outset of the Mansour Al Safran performs a tailwhip in Kuwait.— www.redbull.com tragic error is a reasonable explanation, defense’s case, lawyer Barry Roux said even the double-amputee runner’s shaky Pistorius’ actions on Valentine’s Day last testimony would be rendered irrelevant year centered on his “disability” and “vul- and the judge should acquit him of murder, nerability” and Pistorius’ team will likely legal experts say. While testifying, Pistorius seek to rebuild the overall argument that Sadler wins at Talladega sometimes contradicted earlier testimony his actions were guided by fear and not and other times said he did not remember anger in a country with a high rate of vio- details. lent home invasions. TALLADEGA: Most of Elliott Sadler’s memories “The test doesn’t end there,” former Roux said he will also show that a cru- of Talladega Superspeedway are unpleasant. state prosecutor Marius du Toit said of cial thread of the prosecution’s case is not They either involve a horrific 2003 crash in which Pistorius’ testimony. “It’s not over. They (the true; that neighbors heard a woman his car flipped several times and slid forever defense) can still show there is another screaming before and during the shots through the grass on its roof, or many different plausible scenario.” fired by Pistorius at around 3.17 a.m. on ways he’d come up empty racing for a win. Du Toit has over 20 years’ experience in the fatal night. The lawyer said neighbors Finally, he has a victory that tops all those South Africa’s criminal justice system and is who live closer to Pistorius’ house in an other disappointments. “I have such a love-hate following the trial closely. He said it must upscale gated community in the suburbs relationship with this race track. We always run be shown that Pistorius had the “sole inten- of South Africa’s capital never heard a good here, but I always doggone flip or wreck or tion” to kill Steenkamp to be convicted of woman scream. Instead, it was Pistorius’ hit hard or something,” Sadler said in Victory murder. high-pitched shrieks for help after realiz- Lane. “Every autograph session, everywhere I go, Pistorius, 27, doesn’t dispute that he ing his terrible mistake, the defense everybody always reminds me of the flip I had shot 29-year-old Steenkamp through a toi- argues. —AP down the backstraighaway here. Now maybe they can ask me about winning here.” Sadler won a three-lap shootout to the checkered flag in the Nationwide Series race. Serena, Sharapova cruise The race Saturday was stopped for a little more than nine minutes to clean the track fol- as Djokovic withdraws lowing a six-car accident that began when Jeremy Clement was turning into an outside wall MADRID: Serena Williams and Maria However she was then unable to cope and his car shot back into traffic. Sadler reflected Sharapova eased through their Madrid with Williams’ powerful groundstrokes as on many of his previous races during the stop- openers yesterday but Novak Djokovic the American raced through the rest of the page. withdrew with the right wrist injury which first set. “Under the red flag, I was playing all these could compromise his French Open dream. Williams was even more relentless as scenarios in my head,” Sadler said. “Really, how World number one Williams began the she moved into a 5-0 lead in the second set many races I’ve lost in the last couple laps not defence of her Madrid Open title with a and, despite some resistance from Bencic making the right decisions.” comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Swiss 17- to save match points in the sixth game, the There were three laps remaining on the year-old Belinda Bencic while Sharapova two-time Madrid champion went on to seal restart, and Sadler had to throw several blocks to was equally untroubled in a 6-1, 6-2 victory victory in just under an hour. hold off a charge from the pack of traffic behind over Czech Klara Koukalova. Such was her dominance that Williams him. Djokovic, the world number two who even racked up 21 consecutive points at It was the 10th Nationwide Series victory of had been targeting Rafael Nadal’s number one stage yesterday. Four-time Grand Slam Sadler’s career, first at Talladega, and first win one ranking, was forced to pull out after champion Sharapova made light work of since 2012. “We just stayed to the bottom and failing to recover from his ongoing wrist Czech veteran Koukalova. stuck to our guns,” Sadler said of his strategy. injury. Sharapova claimed her first title of the “We made the right blocks at the right time.” The six-time Grand Slam champion suf- year on clay in Stuttgart two weeks ago “I was disappointed last year we weren’t able to do it. It means a lot to me to get the JGR team fered the injury in losing to Roger Federer and continued her return to form after a TALLADEGA: Elliott Sadler celebrates winning the NASCAR Aaron’s 312 Nationwide series auto to Victory Lane - they work their butts off and we in the semi-final of the Monte Carlo Masters difficult start to the year to take victory in race at Talladega Superspeedway. —AP a fortnight ago. little over an hour. weren’t able to reward them.” “I am sorry for the tournament and the “It was a good start for me,” said eighth- After going winless last season, his first with the championship as strong as you want to, ning streak alive, but there’s a lot of races left,” Spanish fans that I have to pull out of the seeded Sharapova. “Obviously the first Joe Gibbs Racing, finally grabbing a victory was man, it weighed on me heavy,” Sadler said. Smith said. Elliott, who finished 19th, main- Madrid Open,” said the Serb star, the 2011 match at a new event is always challenging a heavy relief for Sadler. He left Richard “To be able to go to Victory Lane, and tained his lead as the Nationwide points leader. champion in the Spanish capital, in a state- because you don’t know what to expect, Childress Racing to join JGR in an attempt to (Gibbs) call me on the phone, was amazing to But Sadler’s victory pulled him to just one point ment. especially coming off the indoor tourna- race for the Nationwide title. Instead, after win- me. That was a feeling that is really hard to put behind Elliott. “I have done everything possible to be ment last week. ning four races in 2012 and finishing second into words, but it feels good.” David Ragan finished fourth and was fol- able to play in Madrid, which is one of the “It’s always an adjustment to get your- that year in the standings, Sadler had just nine Chris Buescher finished second and Regan lowed by Sam Hornish Jr., making his first race most important events of the year, but, self prepared for the first round.