Football
The Rumour Mill: Wednesday’s football news and gossip
In today’s Rumour Mill: Rangers open talks with Ian Black despite transfer embargo; Celtic linked with Jordan Rhodes as Gary Hooper negotiations begin; Ian Murray released as Hibs begin rebuilding; plus the rest of the day’s football news and gossip.
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Rangers takeover: triple penalty punishment enough, says Johnston
KILMARNOCK chairman Michael Johnston believes a vote on changes to SPL rules dealing with clubs in administration is likely to be postponed for a third time next week as the ongoing crisis at Rangers unfolds.
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Ian Murray freed, Garry O’Connor on way as Hibs exodus begins
THE expected player exodus from Hibernian began yesterday, when it was confirmed that Ian Murray had left the club at the end of his testimonial season.
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USA friendly can put me in shop window, says Craig Gordon
CRAIG Gordon is confident he can reclaim the gloves for Scotland – if he can find the right club this summer.
The goalkeeper is on the lookout for a new team after being released by Sunderland, where a number of injury problems saw him lose his place in the team.
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Kenny Shiels signs for another two years of entertainment in Kilmarnock
IT is difficult to know who is more delighted by the news Kenny Shiels has committed himself to another two years as Kilmarnock manager – the club’s supporters or the Scottish football media.
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Rugby
Edinburgh capture Cheetahs lock Izak Van der Westhuizen
Edinburgh yesterday made a third southern-hemisphere swoop with the signing of Free State Cheetah’s lock Izak van der Westhuizen on a two-year contract.
Peter Wright: SRU ‘missing trick’ by snubbing club coaches
PETER Wright has been unveiled as the new head coach of Peebles after ending a long association with Glasgow Hawks at the end of the recent season.
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Gordon Ross leads Welsh raid on Pirates
FORMER Scotland stand-off Gordon Ross will seek to draw inspiration from his beloved Hearts in his quest to return to the English Premiership tonight when London Welsh head to Cornwall for the first leg of the Championship Final play-off.
Rugby: Edinburgh sign South African Izak van der Westhuizen.
Edinburgh Rugby re-entered the transfer market today by completing the signing of South African second row, Izak van der Westhuizen.
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Sir Moir Lockhead looks to Irish model as the way ahead for Scotland
SIR Moir Lockhead has kept a low profile since taking over as chairman of the SRU almost a year ago, but after watching two Irish teams contest a Heineken Cup Final for the first time he is beginning to believe that Scottish rugby has a plan to emerge from the Celtic shadows.
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Golf
Martin Laird hopes he’s tailor-made for Ryder Cup
MARTIN Laird may have been fitted for Ryder Cup clothing at Wentworth yesterday but the Scot will tee off in his first BMW PGA Championship at the Surrey venue this week determined not to become obsessed with the Chicago clash later this year.
Knox agony as he loses play-off for Open spots
IN a season of Scottish success stories so far, the first real dose of disappointment has been suffered by Russell Knox when the Inverness man agonisingly missed out on securing a spot in this year’s Open Championship.
1 commentTiger Woods: I’m heading in right direction
Tiger Woods insists he is close to contending on a weekly basis, even if recent results suggest otherwise. “I think I’m headed in the right direction,” Woods said at Congressional Country Club, where he was promoting the AT&T National which takes place from 28 June to 1 July.
Isaacs wins play-off at Deer Park
Nairn Dunbar’s Malcolm Isaacs holed a 10ft-birdie putt to beat Graeme Brown (Montrose Links) at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off to win the Deer Park Young Professionals 36-hole tournament at Deer Park in Livingston.
Deal gives Scottish Senior Open new energy
THIS year’s Scottish Senior Open will have a new title sponsor after SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) signed a deal along with their alliance of renewable energy partners to plug the gap left when Cleveland Golf/Srixon ended its partnership with the event last year.
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Tennis
Baker still on course for French Open appearance
Jamie Baker kept alive his hopes of joining Andy Murray in the men’s draw for next week’s French Open at Roland Garros by winning his first qualifying match yesterday, but James Ward and Josh Goodall bowed out.
Schools tennis: Perth in last eight in race for Scottish title
Perth High School took the plunge and entered the boys’ Scottish Schools’ Under-18 Tournament for a first time this season. And the quartet of Cameron Ritchie, Ryan Martin, Neil Robertson and Euan Holmes are now in the quarter-finals after a 6-0 win over Aboyne Academy. “The boys have grown up together and are all members of Kinnoull Tennis Club in Perth,” said Phil Coleman, the area’s Active Schools Sport Co-ordinator. “Coach Jane Morrison suggested they entered the schools’ event and it was a great win.”
Rafael Nadal overcomes Novak Djokovic for sixth Italian title
Rafael Nadal showed Novak Djokovic he’s still the man to beat on clay, defeating the top-ranked Serb 7-5, 6-3 in the rain-delayed final to win his record sixth Italian Open title.
Maria Sharapova triumphs in rain-hit Rome
Maria Sharapova saved a match point and defied a two-hour rain delay as she staged an extraordinary comeback to claim the Rome Masters tennis title with a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7/5) win over China’s reigning French Open champion Li Na.
Elena Baltacha suffers Prague semis defeat
SCOTLAND’s Elena Baltacha missed out on the chance to get to the final of the Sparta Prague Open yesterday when she went down in straight sets to the Czech No.2 seed Klara Zakopalova in the semis.
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Horse Racing
Racing: Kempton win gives Kauto Star top rating
KAUTO Star has regained his crown as the top-rated steeplechaser in the annual Anglo-Irish Jumps Classifications for the second time in his remarkable career.
Handicapper certain Frankel can improve
Dominic Gardiner-Hill believes Frankel is capable of taking his rating to even more astonishing levels after the British Horseracing Authority’s handicapper allotted the colt a mark of 138 for his victory in Saturday’s JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Frankel proves his pedigree in fine style
Frankel reaffirmed his position as the best racehorse in the world with a mesmerising display in the JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Frankel simply the best as he destroys rivals in effortless win
Frankel made it a perfect ten when putting up a typically brilliant performance to win the JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Frankel must bring ‘A-game’ to Newbury
Connections of Frankel believe the superstar colt will have to bring his “A-game” to the table if he is to land the JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury today.
Snooker
O’Sullivan in call for ‘compassion’
World champion Ronnie O’Sullivan has accused snooker chiefs of lacking “compassion”.
Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan mulls quitting after world final
Ronnie O’SULLIVAN could follow Stephen Hendry into retirement tonight even if he wins the Betfred.com World Championship for a fourth time.
Break of 141 helps O’Sullivan take control in final clash with Carter
Ronnie O’Sullivan claims he has never known a Crucible campaign so gruelling but a fourth world snooker title should be his reward today for lasting the pace.
Carrot-fuelled Carter hares into the final
Ali Carter marched into the Betfred.com World Championship final and revealed his title charge is being fuelled by a ten-bags-a-day carrot habit.
Snooker: Cool Ali Carter closes in on final spot as Stephen Maguire toils
ALI Carter was considering retirement at the turn of the year, but now a second appearance in the World Championship final beckons for the 32-year-old from Tiptree.
Cricket
Cricket: Dumfries building a challenge
They’re out in front already, albeit by the most slender of mathematical margins. Yet, with opening victories over Greenock and Clydesdale, ambitious Dumfries have hit the ground running in the newly-constituted Cricket Scotland Western Premier League.
Out-of-the-box thinking ensures a happy ending
They say more folk per head of population are involved in cricket in Aberdeenshire via the extended grades leagues than in Kent, Somerset and even Yorkshire.
Brian Watson – great loss to cricket
Scottish cricket has lost a footsoldier from its army of unsung heroes with the untimely passing of West of Scotland’s former bar steward and groundsman Brian Watson.
Pietersen pledges to keep on tweeting
Kevin Pietersen has brushed off concerns his latest Twitter outburst could land him in trouble with the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Cricket: Sensible batting got us home – Andrew Strauss
ANDREW Strauss paid tribute to Alastair Cook and Ian Bell’s “sensible batting” after the duo both registered half-centuries to help England record a five-wicket win over West Indies.
Boxing
Boxing: Amir Khan camp demand return of world titles
AMIR Khan last night called for the return of his WBA and IBF titles after claiming Lamont Peterson’s failed drugs test proves he was a “cheat”.
Boxing: City boxers given chance of GB funding
A TRIO of Capital boxers have the chance to be crowned the best in Britain at the GB Championships this month.
Boxing: Haye v Chisora bout sparks BBBoC threat
The British Boxing Board of Control has warned that all those involved in the impending heavyweight promotion between David Haye and Dereck Chisora will be automatically stripped of their licences.
Boxing: David Haye and Dereck Chisora set for London ‘grudge match’ Picture gallery
DAVID Haye vowed to inflict a “slow, concussive beating” on Dereck Chisora after their controversial all-British grudge match was confirmed on Tuesday.
Former Olympic champ Spink dies
BOXING: Terry Spinks, the youngest Briton to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, has died at his home in Essex following a long illness. He was 74.
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Athletics
Oscar Pistorius on form as he targets Olympic history
OSCAR Pistorius geared up for his latest attempt to seal a historic Olympic place by maintaining his winning record at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester yesterday.
Schools athletics: Bowie inspired by Olympic champion
It’s BEEN quite a month for Speyside High School’s Emma Bowie. She was one of four Scottish athletes to strike gold at the Sainsbury’s UK School Games in London and, on Saturday, she set a new personal best in the hammer at a Grand Prix Meet in Livingston.
Organisers ‘embarrassed’ by hurdles howler in Jessica Ennis race
Organisers of the Manchester event in which Jessica Ennis was robbed of a personal best in the 100 metres hurdles by the failure of bungling race officials to put up the correct number of barriers have admitted their embarrassment at the blunder and taken responsibility for it.
Oscar Pistorius sets his sights on two Olympics
OSCAR Pistorius insists his year will not be defined simply by whether or not he competes at the London Olympics.
Athletics: Emilys catch eye at Loughborough
While Eilidh Child (Pitreavie) won the 400 metres hurdles at the Loughborough International with her fastest time of the season– 55.92 seconds – it was two Emilys from the Capital who provided the talking points.
Motorsport
F!: Mercedes eye Di Resta for next season
Bathgate’s Paul di Resta is being lined up to replace seven-times F1 world champion Michael Schumacher at Mercedes GP next season.
Adam is in the driving seat at the Nurburgring
MOTORSPORT: Kirkcaldy’s Jonny Adam powered his Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 to its first victory of the British GT Championship. The Fifer won the first race of the double-header at the Nurburgring in Germany. “That was an awesome race,” former BTCC racer Adam said afterwards, “and fantastic to give the Vantage GT3 its first victory too.”
F1: Tyre problem lets Di Resta down . .
Bathgate’s Paul di Resta endured a difficult Spanish Grand Prix as his Sahara Force India car struggled to get the maximum out of his Pirelli tyres.
1 commentMaldonado’s maiden victory ends long drought for Williams
Pastor Maldonado ended Williams’ long wait for a Formula One victory by taking a historic chequered flag in yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Formula One: Williams celebrations up in smoke after garage fire
PASTOR Maldonado turned from grand prix winner to hero as Williams’ celebrations for his debut victory went up in flames.
Other sports
Bowls: Hogg’s last shot will be legendary
Edinburgh & Leith pulled off a sensational 115-113 last-bowl victory over Midlothian in the Cities & Counties clash at Sighthill.
Bowls: West Lothian demolish depleted East neighbours
West LOTHIAN sent a powerful message of intent to their East section rivals by inflicting a massive 154-90 defeat on defending champions East Lothian when the teams clashed in the Cities & Counties Championship at East Calder on Saturday.
Double joy for Scots in Adelaide Test Series
BOWLS: Paul Foster claimed a golden double by lifting the men’s pairs with his world championship winning partner Alex Marshall MBE before taking the singles title at the Adelaide Test Series at Holdfast Bay.
Lochaber oust holders to reach historic final
SHINTY: Lochaber knocked holders Kingussie out of the Co-operative MacTavish Cup to book a final date.
Bowls: Craigentinny’s prospects of victory reduced by big game
It’s the day after the night before (Scottish Cup Final) so that adds an unknown factor to the prospects of Edinburgh champions Craigentinny producing a winning performance in tomorrow’s first round action in The Co-operative Funeralcare sponsored Inter County Top Ten.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
