TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2013 SPORTS Stoke’s Walters slams Isinbayeva shocked by Venus passes opening EPL fixture schedule attacks in hometown test in Auckland Classic LONDON: Stoke City forward Jon Walters has criticized the Premier MOSCOW: Russia’s double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva yesterday League’s jam-packed year-end fixture schedule after his side had to play AUCKLAND: Former world number one Venus Williams battled into the second round said she was devastated and shocked by two deadly attacks that have rocked her two away games in four days. Matches come thick and fast in England hometown of Volgograd in southern Russia. “It is hard for me to talk now,” of the Auckland Classic yesterday with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) win over Czech wildcard Andrea during the festive period, but whereas some clubs benefited from back- Hlavackova. The seven-time Grand Slam champion began Isinbayeva sid. “None of my family or loved ones suffered. But I feel ter- to-back home games, a number of teams had to play away from home confidently but could not dominate Hlavackova, ranked rible, simply terrible.” Isinbayeva, who enthralled Russia with her vic- twice. West Bromwich Albion travelled to Tottenham Hotspur and then 134 in the world, even though she never looked like losing tory in the World Athletics Championships in Moscow this sum- West Ham United on December 26 and 28, while Southampton had to the match. “I knew it was going to be tough and I was really mer, is probably the most famous living resident of the city. The visit Cardiff City and Everton. Stoke’s fans, meanwhile, had to make a 700- glad to close it out,” she said. Williams, now ranked 47, is athletics star was born in Volgograd in 1982 to a Russian moth- mile round trip to take in the 5-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Thursday seeking to rejoin the game’s elite after two years marred by er and father of Dagestan origin. She still trains in the city and Sunday’s 3-0 reverse at Tottenham Hotspur. “Got to say fair play to all auto-immune disease and injury, At 33, she is the oldest under the guidance of her coach since childhood, Yevgeny the Stoke fans who travelled to both away games at Christmas time and player at the Auckland tournament, a warm-up event for Trofimov. Volgograd is primarily known as the site of the never stopped singing! #hardcore,” Walters wrote on Twitter. “Also a big next month’s Australian Open. The American, who won her World War II Battle of Stalingrad, seen as a turning point in well done to whoever sorted out the fixtures over this period! It was nice last Grand Slam in 2008, produced a mixed display in her first the conflict which paved the way for the defeat of Nazi for every team who were at home on the 26th to be home again on the match of the season, committing 43 unforced errors in the 98- Germany by the USSR. At least 14 people were 28th/29th. “That’s a fair way of doing things for fans and players alike who minute clash. But her trademark booming serve clicked killed yesterday in a bombing that have to travel length and breadth of the country at Christmas time!!” This straight into gear as she fired down four aces, with her destroyed a packed trolleybus in season, Premier League clubs have been obliged to play four times in the vast experience showing as she closed out the second Volgograd, a day after 17 people died in a space of 12 days over the Christmas period, prompting complaints from set tie-breaker 7-1. Williams will meet Austria’s Yvonne suicide strike on the city’s main train sta- managers. — AFP Meusburger in the next round. — AFP tion.— AFP American baseball players thriving in Venezuela CARACAS: It’s about six weeks before pitchers and For players accustomed to the small crowds of ping mall. What they see of Venezuela is mostly what on the field you have to tune it all out,” said Omar catchers report to spring training in the US, but in minor league stadiums back home, the frequently sold passes the bus window on long road trips between Vizquel, one of Venezuela’s best contributions to the Venezuela, the nation’s fiercely competitive profession- out Estadio Universitario in Caracas can be daunting. games. Their families? Only on Skype. “You have to be big leagues. The former Cleveland Indians shortstop al league is in full swing, and it’s drawn the biggest Abundant servings of rum and whiskey and a nerve- smart,” said Tony DeFrancesco, a coach for the Houston helped manage the Leones this season to prepare for contingent of American players in decades. In the land rattling cacophony of drums pump up the 25,000 Astros’ AAA team who is making his managerial debut his debut as an infield coach with the Detroit Tigers. of Hugo Chavez, a place in many ways hostile to screaming fans who hang on every pitch. “It’s Friday in Venezuela with La Guaira. “I enjoy running, cycling But for those who roll with the punches, Venezuela Americans owing to its reputation for rampant crime, a night football every game, all the game,” said Jamie and mountain climbing, but I just can’t do it by myself is a showcase for second chances and the pursuit of crumbling economy and an anti-capitalist govern- Romak, a 28-year-old outfielder for La Guaira who here.” dreams. Take Retherford. Last May, he was given a 50- ment, hitters and hurlers from across the US are thriv- played for the St Louis Cardinal’s AAA team in While the Americans are insulated from the worst game suspension after testing positive for an amphet- ing as they try to impress big league scouts who flock Memphis, Tennessee. “You can have an eight run lead, of Venezuela’s economic woes, in the almost three amine, which he says he used to get going after long here for the winter season. blink your eyes twice and suddenly it’s a one-run months since the season started they’ve seen prices bus journeys. The Los Angeles Dodgers cut all ties with It’s not just about working on mechanics. Many game.” jump and store shelves go bare of basic goods as infla- its former minor league all-star, and he ended up with come for the paycheck. While Venezuela’s eight profes- Not everyone loves the experience. In addition to tion soared above 50 percent and the nation’s currency the RedHawks, a team not affiliated with major league sional teams no longer can compete with major league the challenges of playing abroad, from unfamiliar food plunged to a tenth of its official value in a flourishing baseball, earning barely enough to support his family. salaries as they did during the oil-fueled economic to a foreign language, Venezuela presents its own set black market. Players cut from the roster sometime In Venezuela he’s proven he still has some magic, boom of the 1960s, when Pete Rose wore a Caracas of daily problems. Foremost is security. Bodyguards have to wait a week to find a flight out because batting .322 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI. More than Leones jersey right after his rookie of the year season, lurk near the dugout, keeping a close eye on Venezuelans trying to skirt rigid currency controls have 5,000 followers on Twitter attest to his popularity they still pay from $10,000 to $20,000 a month, which Venezuelan big leaguers whose million-dollar con- bought up all the tickets. Then there was the home run among Venezuelan fans, who call him “El Conejo,” the can be two to three times what most players make in tracts make them prime kidnapping targets. Nobody derby at the All Star game, which abruptly ended after Rabbit, as much for his protruding teeth as for the luck the US minor leagues. wants to become the next Wilson Ramos, the one batter due to a nationwide power outage. provided by his hot bat. Fawning female fans approach “Diapers aren’t cheap,” said CJ Retherford, a 28-year- Washington Nationals catcher who was abducted in Venezuela’s politics are also a potential distraction. him for autographs when he leaves his Caracas hotel, old Arizona native who made $3,000 a month last sea- 2011 at gunpoint outside his family’s home in Valencia. This year’s season kicked off days after Chavez’s succes- but he says the star treatment was more intense in the son for the RedHawks of the sister cities of Fargo, North He was rescued two days later after a nationwide man- sor, President Nicolas Maduro, expelled the top US smaller city of Barquisimeto, where he played last sea- Dakota, and Moorhead, Minnesota. He now plays third hunt. diplomat in the country, and anti American graffiti son for the Cardinals. “I’d go to the mall and it was pic- base for the Tiburones, or Sharks, from the city of La The American players for La Guaira and rival Leones dominates a wall next to the Caracas stadium’s parking ture, picture, picture,” says Retherford, brandishing a Guaira outside Caracas - one of the nine “imports” the live a few blocks away from the ballpark at a five-star lot: “Not a dollar more for the capitalists.” “You can’t let new tattoo with a rabbit hiding behind baby blocks league allows each team to hire.