| Ricky Hatton's confession threatens to upstage future contenders • Former world champion admits his days as a boxer are over• Details emerge as Kell Brook wins Birmingham boutIt was with wicked timing that Ricky Hatton laid bare some of his soul, finally admitting his fighting days were done, just as the next generation were turning it on for his one-time promoter and subsequent adversary, Frank Warren. Hatton's muted confession in today's News of the World arrived as the welterweight Kell Brook, who threatens to be a star in the 10-stone-plus mix occupied by Hatton's conquerors Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, was winning the 22nd contest of his unblemished career on Warren's expanded bill in Birmingham.Nathan Cleverly and James DeGale also won important fights for Warren that will lead to world title opportunities in the coming months, as word leaked of Hatton's reappearance in the paper that exposed him the previous weekend as a voracious user of cocaine. Cleverly, one fight from owning the WBO light-heavyweight belt, said: "I hope, after his problems, I can do something to give boxing a little bit of a boost."There is widespread sympathy in the business for Hatton, who has friends across the spectrum among fighters and fans (if not all promoters), but bewilderment that he continues to play down the extent of his struggle with alcohol and drugs, perhaps the worst kept secrets in boxing. While he fell short of admitting addiction to either vice, but did confront his depression, Hatton also finally put the cap on speculation about his future. "I know I am never going to fight in the ring again," he told the paper.In a confrontational interview that clearly did not go according to the wishes of the people paying for it, Hatton danced around the facts with as much skill as he once showed in the ring. "Problem?" he said in answer to questions about his cocaine use. "What problem?" Neither does Hatton regard his alcohol intake with the same concern as those close to him. "You would associate alcoholism with shorts like whisky and vodka – but I have never really had that."As much as that sparring suggests denial, he revealed worrying details about his health. Hatton could not explain why he had suffered random blackouts, even "when I was stone cold sober", which induced panic attacks and pains in his chest that restricted his breathing. He had no idea, either, why recently he had been watching footage of his brutal knockout by Pacquiao, in his last fight 16 months ago, "every day".Ricky HattonBoxingJames DeGaleKevin Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Alonso to start out in front in Singapore • Alonso continues late title push by edging out Sebastian Vettel• Lewis Hamilton to start third, Jenson Button fourthFernando Alonso maintained the thrilling momentum of his championship charge when he took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, his second time in as many races and the 20th of his career, with the fastest lap driven at the floodlit Marina Bay circuit.The build-up to the qualifying session had been dominated by Red Bull as the team revelled in a return to a high-downforce circuit, but a frustrated Sebastian Vettel was squeezed into second place on the grid while the championship leader, Mark Webber, will start on the third row alongside Rubens Barrichello's Williams.The British pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have locked out the second row with Hamilton once again proving the marginally quicker of the McLaren drivers.The Singapore Flyer is the name they give to the Ferris wheel beside the track but Alonso might claim it now after moving into joint 10th place, alongside Damon Hill, on the all-time pole winners list.Two weeks ago Ferrari went into the Italian Grand Prix without a pole position in 29 races, but now they have turned round their season, though the disconsolate Felipe Massa may beg to differ; the Brazilian will start last on the grid after gearbox problems in the first part of the session.It was another compelling qualifying, played out on the dampness of the Singapore street circuit, where the humidity had prevented the track from drying out completely after afternoon rain."As you saw, it was not an easy qualifying session," said Alonso. "We had very little time to race in dry conditions and it seemed to remain damp here throughout."There are some circuits where pole is important and this is one of them. If it is wet again today pole will mean less. But it is still the best position to start from."Vettel, despite his smile, was keenly disappointed, for he had come out on top in the final practice and again looked sensationally quick in the first stages of qualifying."We should have been on pole today but we didn't achieve our optimum," he said. "It was a pretty messy qualifying for us. There was too much traffic and too many mistakes. I never really got into the rhythm. In the first run I misjudged the gap to the car ahead. After four or five corners I was already in the back of Michael Schumacher. Fernando got the maximum out and this is what we did not do, so we are second. But we are on the front row and have a quick car and we should have a strong race."Hamilton was also bullish in mood. "It was not such a bad qualifying session," he said. "I am on the right side of the grid, the car is working well and hopefully that continues into tomorrow and puts us in a good position."Red Bull don't have the two-second lead they did have. They are beatable, as Fernando proved today. And our starts have been good this season."Button said he cannot see the chance of making as much progress at the start as he did in Italy two weeks ago when he jumped Alonso but thinks all is not lost. "My problem is that I've got the same car as my team-mate in front, and he'll get as good a start as me so I'll not be able to overtake him at the start – although you never know into Turn 1," said the world champion.Red Bull, who have had consistently the fastest cars this season, took 12 poles from the first 14 races, but their relative failure here, following that in Italy, will give more credence to the view that they have been hit by the stringent new rules on flexible bodywork.Alonso, meanwhile, has made the interesting claim that drivers should not be blamed for all the mistakes they have been making. The Spaniard, who has made two glaring errors this season, in China and Monaco, feels that the tightness of the title race is putting the leading drivers under more pressure."I think when you have a car that is better than all the rest, your approach or the way you do races is very different," he said. "In terms of driving style, in terms of starts, aggressiveness, the team itself prefers to race much calmer. You don't need to push, so when you have tough competition, everything is on the limit and you risk much more – the team, the drivers, the engineers, everyone."So I think it is unfair to say that this year there were more errors for anyone. But it is true that they are more visible as well, because there are six drivers with the possibility to win races."Sorry Fernando, there has always been pressure and it how the drivers handle it that ultimately counts. As he showed himself under the lightstoday.Leading positions after qualifying1 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Ferrari 1min 45.390secs, 2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:45.457, 3 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1:45.571, 4 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 1:45.944, 5 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:45.977, 6 Rubens Barrichello (Br) Williams 1:46.236, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:46.443, 8 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:46.593, 9 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:46.702, 10 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 1:47.884, 11 Jaime Alguersuari (Sp) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:47.666, 12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:47.674, 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:48.165, 14 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:48.502, 15 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:48.557, 16 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:48.899, 17 Vitantonio Liuzzi (It) Force India 1:48.961, 18 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:50.721, 19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 1:50.915, 20 Lucas di Grassi (Br) Virgin Racing 1:51.107, 21 Jarno Trulli (It) Lotus F1 1:51.641, 22 Christian Klien (Aut) HRT-F1 1:52.946, 23 Bruno Senna (Br) HRT-F1 1:54.174, 24 Felipe Massa (Br) Ferrari No Time(Nico Hulkenberg qualified 12th but will start from 17th, due to his five-place grid penalty)Formula OneMotor sportPaul Weaverguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Pain no obstacle for England's Danielle Brown as she claims Commonwealth gold • Danielle Brown wins Commonwealth archery gold• First Paralympian to win able-bodied medal for England• Get all the latest from the Games with our live blogAny of the athletes in Delhi worrying about their gippy tummies should seek out Danielle Brown in the athletes' village tonight. If they want a lesson in just what it is possible to achieve in sport when you are suffering, the 22-year-old English archer is a good place to start.Brown was a key part of the English team that won gold in the compound archery today, and has a lot more to worry about than a bout of diarrhoea. She suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which means she is in constant pain and unable to stand for any length of time. Brown competes leaning on a stool ("a bike seat on a tripod" she calls it) which was designed and built for her at Loughborough University. Brown stood once during the final – to embrace her team-mates, Nichola Simpson and Nicky Hunt, after they had won the gold.Brown has already won four para-sport world championships, and a Paralympic gold. Now she is the first disabled English athlete to win a medal for the able-bodied team at the Commonwealth Games. "It's an amazing feeling," she said. "I can't put it into words." The team were one point short of the world record as they beat Canada by 232 points to 229 in the final.Her emotions were not the only thing she could not articulate. Brown had stayed up all night trying to learn the words to England's new team anthem, Jerusalem, just in case they won. "I had it down to a tee," laughed Brown, "but when I got on the podium my brain just scrambled and I couldn't remember a thing."You can understand why she was overwhelmed. Brown fell ill in 2001. As a child she had played a lot of sport, but suddenly every time she went running her feet started to hurt. She was 11, when on a walking holiday with her family in Scotland it struck. "I just couldn't do it, I was in too much pain." By the time she was 13 illness had become "a full-blown condition, suddenly all of that activity was taken away from me"."I'd get home, do my homework and then had nothing to do," she said in a recent interview, "[it] drove me nuts. I needed something to do. Someone on my school bus said her dad did archery at Aire Valley near Bingley and, because it didn't involve running, it sounded like something I could do. My parents bought me a beginner's course for my 15th birthday. I was absolutely awful but really enjoyed it and it went from there."At that point her condition had not been diagnosed. It was only when she was 16 that doctors at Great Ormond Street finally realised what was wrong. Until that point she had tried all kinds of treatments, from acupuncture through kinesiology to physiotherapy. None of them worked. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy has no cure."I'd get home from school every day and cry," she said, "because I'd been walking around all day and was in so much pain. I was walking like a drunk person but my friends were brilliant. I'd veer off in one direction and they would grab my arm and off we'd go again. You're going through that really horrible period growing up and I was also trying to cope with a disability I didn't have a name for."As good as she was at it, archery was just a hobby. In 2007 she started a law degree at Leicester University. That same year she won two golds at the world archery championships and decided to put her degree course on hold to compete at the Beijing Paralympics, where she claimed another gold. Brown has since completed her degree this year, earning a first. That was despite having to commute three times a week from Leicester to Lilleshall to train.It seems incredible that anyone should be able to summon the self-control required to excel at archery when suffering from the kind of pain Brown deals with on a daily basis, but she thinks that, in a way, her illness has been a help as well as a hindrance. "With my disability I had to be mentally strong. For me, the worst time of the day is morning when I have to get out of bed and it is just a nightmare being in so much pain. I just have to put all that to one side. So I guess in sports that also helps me. I had to develop strategies to cope with the pain."Her boyfriend, Ali Jawad, is an amazing character himself. He was born without legs, but competes at these Games in the para-sport weightlifting. It was only because of his encouragement that Brown is in Delhi at all. Making the switch to the able-bodied team was never something that motivated her greatly."I've never really thought of it in those terms," she said, "but there's been quite a lot of media interest, which has opened my eyes to it. To be honest, I was not going to turn up for the selection trials. I qualified three days before the closing dates because I was in Arizona at that time. I thought to myself: 'Do I really want to go back and within five days turn up for the trials?' I'm glad I did."Commonwealth Games 2010Andy Bullguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Wayne Gretzky's son commits to play baseball at San Diego State Trevor Gretzky, son of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has committed to play baseball at San Diego State. He is a first baseman who hit .341 with ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Browns' Joshua Cribbs back at practice By TOM WITHERS 2010-10-22T16:27:04ZBEREA, Ohio (AP) -- Browns wide receiver Joshua Cribbs is practicing after a concussion last week from a helmet-to-helmet hit by Steelers linebacker James Harrison.... hosted.ap.org |