WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2 , 2013 SPORTS Uchimura excels at worlds Photo of the day ANTWERP: Kohei Uchimura proved he is ly wows any crowd. There he goes against the overwhelming favorite to win a record Olympic champion Epke Zonderland of the fourth all-around world championship by Netherlands, Mikulak and Fabian qualifying for tomorrow’s final by a big Hambuechen of Germany, the silver medal- margin. ist at the London Games. On the floor, Uchimura also qualified for the weekend Uchimura might be upstaged by 17-year- floor exercise, high bar and parallel bar old teammate Kenzo Shirai, who dominat- finals yesterday. But what really counts for ed the floor with a performance of an the Olympic champion is to become the exceptionally difficulty degree. On the first male or female gymnast to win four all- vault, too, the high school student was around world titles that would further impressive. cement claims he is the greatest gymnast Overall, Japan has eight places in the six ever. apparatus finals, compared to five each for With only one of four qualifying groups the US and China. Russia has only two left, Japanese teammate Ryohei Kato places. moved into third place with 89.474 points, If most world championships after an still trailing Uchimura’s big 91.924. Sam Olympic year are packed with surprises, it Mikulak of the United States was third on was still stunning to see double defending 89.532. Japan, China and the United States and Olympic champion Krisztian Berki of were top of qualifying, while Russia disap- Hungary fall off the pommel horse and pointed with David Belyavskiy as its top crash out of the final. performer in 14th place for the all-around, The first round of women’s qualifying showing there is no easy replacement for was all set for Kyla Ross, a member of the injured University Games winner Mykola US Olympic gold medal team last year. Still Kuksenkov. 16, she is heading for her first world cham- The qualifying marks are scratched for pionship final and already showed the the final, making Uchimura’s show of force poise coming from owning an Olympic only an exercise in psychological domina- title. tion. She dominated a weak first qualifying The triple defending and reigning group and with 59.198 points towered over Olympic all-around champion produced his everyone else. Especially on beam, she felt traditional show of elegance and power to she could have earned more. sweep past early leader Mikulak, the US “I don’t want to create too much contro- champion, to top the standings. versy but I know that I was a little bit disap- Amelia & the Wright Bros. perform at Red Bull Flugtag in Miami, FL, USA. —www.redbull.com Though Uchimura holds the men’s pointed,” she said. record for all-around world titles, he still She should be a certainty to make the shares it with retired women’s gymnast top 24 for Friday’s all-around final, but since Svetlana Khorkina of Russia. only two per country are allowed in, she Djokovic, Nadal cruise as For good measure, he could win more will have to wait and see what her team- medals in the apparatus finals. Look for a mates Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney highlight in the high bar, which traditional- do in today’s sessions. —AP Serena struggles in China BEIJING: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal-vying for the world’s top ranking-powered through their openers at the China Open yester- day but women’s top seed Serena Williams stumbled her way into the third round. Djokovic signalled his intent to reclaim the title he won in the Chinese capital last year, sweeping aside Lukas Rosol 6-0, 6-3. The Serbian world number one-and top seed-defeated his Czech challenger in just 53 minutes. Nadal, who could unseat Djokovic in the world rankings depending what happens in Beijing, faced slightly more resist- ANTWERP: US gymnast Kyla Ross competes in the balance beam qualifications at the ance from Santiago Giraldo, with 44th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships.—AFP the Spaniard claiming a 6-2, 6-4 win in about 90 minutes. “Today is an important victory Asian cage-fighter strikes for me against an important oppo- nent like Giraldo,” Nadal said. “If I’m blow for region’s women able to keep playing well every day and at the same level I will have the SINGAPORE: A young Singaporean is hoping there’s a lot of position and timing and also chance to be there, to be number her fast hands and feet can strike a blow for the right amount of strength needs to be one in the future.” Asian women when she joins the region’s tiny applied at the right time.” The second seed will now face ranks of female cage-fighters next month. As recently as two years ago, Lim could German Philipp Kohlschreiber, Sherilyn Lim is polite and pretty but not do a full push-up (“I used to do the girly while Djokovic will meet Spain’s beyond that, the stereotypes crumble as the push-ups, the one with your knees on the Fernando Verdasco in the second round. 23-year-old sweats through a tough routine ground”) or a pull-up. CHINA: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic serves against Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic during their men’s sin- Third seed David Ferrer won his in a small, downtown gym. But an urge to raise her commitment to gles match at the China Open tennis tournament. —AFP Lim, who first took up martial arts to lose martial arts led her to an amateur fight this opening match against Canadian In the women’s draw Williams, to boil over, with Williams ranting less pressure this year, after twice weight, aims fists and elbows at a punching- year, which she won. Footage of the bout Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), set- the world number one, only and Schiavone smashing balls into failing to get past the semi-final bag before hitting the ring to fire jabs at a prompted the offer from One FC. ting up a second-round clash with showed rare moments of her trade- the barriers at the side of the court. stage previously at China’s biggest trainer. “When I first started Muay Thai I wanted to Marinko Matosevic, who beat mark power-play and at times But Williams seemed calmer-and tennis tournament. The 2011 Then she drops to the floor, straddles a lose weight but the dedication was not there,” France’s Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/5), appeared agitated as she overcame quieter-as she closed in on a hard- French Open winner’s decisive vic- prone bag and grimly pummels it with her she said. “And then slowly, slowly I realised 6-3. Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-5 earned victory. “I was able to save tory earns her a last-16 tie against knuckles and forearms, pretending it’s an this thing has to be consistent, there’s got to Fifth seed Richard Gasquet and in her second-round match. some energy, so I started walking Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki. opponent. be discipline and a certain number of hours sixth seed Stanislas Wawrinka both The American gained the upper slower and taking my time more. The German booked her place Beaded with sweat and with a large tattoo or days. safely negotiated their way hand in the first set via a mistake When I did that, I actually won with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Serena’s sis- across her back, Lim is training up to seven “Then you learn about nutrition and through. France’s Gasquet defeated from her opponent, who double- three or four games in a row,” she ter Venus, who failed to replicate hours a day ahead of her debut in mixed mar- everything and then you put it all together Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 7-6 faulted on set point. said. her recent form at the Pan Pacific tial arts (MMA), or cage-fighting. like a puzzle.” Outside of Japan, which already (7/2), while Switzerland’s Wawrinka But Williams was forced to Williams will face Maria Kirilenko Open in Tokyo, where she reached She will take on another Asian debutante, has a presence in MMA, few Asian women needed three sets to overcome become more aggressive in the in the next round after the Russian the semi-finals. Malaysia’s Ann ‘Athena’ Osman, in Singapore have ventured into the cage. In many parts of Italian Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. second set after her serve was bro- beat Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-4. It The 12th seed Carla Suarez on October 18 in a One Fighting the region, attitudes are conservative. Verdasco claimed victory over ken in the first game by Schiavone, was another storming performance Navarro defeated American Championship (One FC) promotion stacked But Lim says her fight against Osman Somdev Devvarman of India 7-6 Italy’s first Grand Slam winner, at from Chinese star Li Na, who swept Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-2 to seal her with male fighters. shows that women in Asia can do more than (8/6), 6-3 and American Sam Roland Garros in 2010, and the cur- aside Serbian Bojana Jovanovski 6- place in the last 16, while seventh Anything-goes displays of kicking, punch- is sometimes assumed. “Asia, in general, if you Querrey defeated Mikhail Youzhny rent world number 50. 0, 6-1.