American Biles Retains World All-Around Title
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SPORTS SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014 American Biles retains world all-around title NANNING: American Simone Biles retained her world women’s world all-around titles with Shannon Miller trailing the blaze in all-around gymnastics title yesterday fighting off a late challenge 1993 and 1994. from Romania’s Larisa Andreea Iordache. Bunched in an elite rotational group of top six qualifiers, Biles The 17-year-old Biles finished the four-apparatus final at took a 0.700-lead after her first apparatus, vault. But the cushion 60.231 points, 0.466 better than Iordache at 59.765. Fellow wore off with China’s Yao Jinnan topping the table on uneven American Kyla Ross, the 2013 runner-up to Biles, finished third at bars and Iordache dominated balance beam by landing safely on 58.232 in the final at the 4,000-seat Guangxi Gymnasium in the padded beam after a twisted back salto. Biles stood just 0.133 Nanning, China. points clear of the 18-year-old Romanian going into the final Biles had a capacity crowd behind her as they roared each event, floor exercise. But Iordache stepped out of bounds after time she made four dynamic tumbling passes on the floor in her one of her dynamic tumbling passes for a 0.1-point deduction to final rotation to beat the Romanian. score 14.733. “It means the world to me,” Biles said of the excitement she Biles, the defending world floor champion, performed last on gets from each competition. “It’s one of my favourite things to do the night. she soared high and landed clean in an overwhelming is compete for a crowd. It’s just really fun for me.” performance which left the crowd assured of her victory before The 145-centimetre (4ft 9in) gymnast admitted she was not her score of 15.066 was put on the board. immune to the pressure of being a defending champion. She won It was her second gold at these championships as she led her back-to-back US championships this year. 16-year-old and 17-year-old teammates to a second straight “Pressure from other people, but then I don’t take it, so it’s women’s team title on Wednesday. okay. But there’s a little bit.” There were scary moments on balance beam when Biles saved Iordache, the European floor champion, finished in the herself from the verge of falling. She lost her balance momentari- medals, climbing up from her fourth place finish last year. “I am ly after a triple back salto and after another back flip. quite pleased with what I did today, but that does not mean I can “I don’t really know. I don’t get nervous for it, but I try not to not do even better,” she said, insisting she could even catch Biles fall and then I end up almost falling,” she recalled. Ross, who turns any day now. “Everything is possible at any one competition. 18 at the end of this month, fought through the barrier pain as Today I did not get gold but next time there is always a chance.” she hurt her hip and thigh at a US training camp. Biles became the first female gymnast since Russia’s Svetlana “I wasn’t really sure how I would be able to compete at the NANNING: Simone Biles of the US performs on the uneven Khorkina in 2003 to win a second straight all-around world crown. world championships, but I was able to push through and I was bars during the women’s all-around final at the gymnastics She is also the second US woman to ever win back-to-back really proud of myself for that.” — AFP world championships. — AFP Djokovic and Federer to Bekele, Kipchoge clash in Shanghai semis set for Chicago showdown SHANGHAI: World number one Novak Djokovic and 17-times his opponent in the second to finish with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-0 score- Grand Slam winner Roger Federer will battle for a place in the line. Federer, the third seed in Shanghai, last faced Djokovic in CHICAGO: Ethiopia’s three-time Olympic gold medallist Kenenisa Shanghai Masters final after they powered through their quar- the epic Wimbledon final. The Swiss player is marginally ahead Bekele will take on a formidable Kenyan challenge spearheaded by ter-final matches yesterday. Gilles Simon of France and Spaniard in their previous meetings, winning 18 times, compared to 17 Eliud Kipchoge in tomorrow’s Chicago Marathon, with a course Feliciano Lopez will also meet in today’s semi-finals as the tour- for seven-times Grand Slam winner Djokovic. record in their sights. nament reaches its dramatic climax. “I think every time we play against each other, it’s a thriller,” Kenyan Dennis Kimetto set the Chicago Marathon record of 2hrs Federer won his evening match against Julien Benneteau of Shanghai top seed Djokovic said. “It’s really a big challenge for 03.45sec in winning last year, but he won’t be back to defend his title France, taking the first set at the tie-break, before demolishing both of us. We need to take the best out of us. We need to bring after a scintillating performance in last month’s Berlin Marathon, our ‘A game’ in order to win.” Federer has been in stunning form where his world record time of 2:02.57 made him the first person to this season, and is set to overtake world number two Rafael break 2:03 over 26.2 miles. Nadal in the rankings on the back of his run in Shanghai. Even without Kimetto the men’s elite field boasts plenty of fire- But both players are some distance behind Djokovic. “I think power, with five entrants who have run under 2:06. That includes we always play tough against each other,” Federer said on his Bekele, the 5,000m and 10,000m world record-holder who made his semi-final opponent. “We’ll see how much he can actually do, marathon debut in Paris in April and blitzed the field in 2:05:04. how much he can neutralise me, and how much I can do with Kipchoge is another track to road convert and has three impres- him.” sive marathon times on his resume, including a 2:04.05 which is the fastest personal best of anyone in the field. ‘GIVEN A SCARE’ Bekele has got the better of the Kenyan in a majority of their on- Djokovic marched into the semi-finals by overcoming David track duels, but Kipchoge’s greater marathon experience and his suc- Ferrer 6-4, 6-2 as he vies for his third successive title. cess at translating his sub-12:50 5,000m speed to the marathon dis- The Serb broke the Spaniard’s serve in the first game, but tance could give him the edge on the streets of Chicago. was given a scare as he was serving to take the first set with the Kipchoge has made no secret of the fact that the marathon world score at 5-4 in his favour. Ferrer, who dumped out Britain’s Andy record is something he’d like to achieve, but he says he won’t be put- Murray in the quarters, saved three set-points against the reign- ting pressure on himself to achieve the aim just yet. ing champion in Shanghai before earning two break points. “It is something we are not dwelling on so much since this is my But Djokovic snuffed out the challenge and finally closed the fourth marathon,” he said. “It is also my first time in the USA.” marathon 12-minute game at the net, pumping his fists with Kipchoge is joined in the field by fellow Kenyans Sammy Kitawara- relief as the crowd roared. running in Chicago for the third time-Dickson Chumba and Bernard He was more dominant in the second set, breaking fifth seed Koech, who was runner-up to Kipchoge in Rotterdam this year. Ferrer again at his first attempt before gaining a 5-2 lead with his Ethiopia’s Tadese Tola-with a personal best of 2:04:49 — and next break and closing out the match in one hour 24 minutes. Feyisa Lilesa (2:04:52) add further depth to the field. Meanwhile, Simon continued his great run in Shanghai, over- Tola has reportedly been training hard since a runner-up finish in whelming Tomas Berdych in a scintillating final set to claim his Tokyo in February and a victory in the Orlen Warsaw Marathon in second top-10 scalp in three days. April. On the Women’s side, Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo returns to defend her The world number 29 won 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-0 to enter his sec- title, hoping to add it to the Boston Marathon crown she captured in ond successive semi-final, after also making the last four in April with a course record of 2:18:57. Tokyo last week where he lost to Milos Raonic. That was a second faster than the 2:19:57 she produced in win- SHANGHAI: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic hits a return against Simon is yet to win a Masters title but he is in a rich vein of ning in Chicago last year. Now Jeptoo could become only the third David Ferrer of Spain in the men’s singles quarterfinal form and overpowered Australian Open champion Stan woman in marathon history to have three sub-2:20 marathons-a feat match at the Shanghai Masters 1000 tennis tournament Wawrinka on Wednesday in Shanghai.