TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Wright scores 34, No. 14 Hoyas beat Harvard 86-70 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Chris Wright scored a career-high 34 points, Greg Monroe added 16 points and 16 rebounds, and No. 14 Georgetown used a half-ending 11-0 run to break open a tight game and beat Harvard 86-70 Wednesday, avoiding a second consecutive loss.... hosted.ap.org |
Levy Board to fund two all-weather races • Lingfield and Kempton abandon on blank day for sport• Racing losing £10,000 for every race called offThe Levy Board, which passes a share of betting revenue back to the sport, said yesterday that funds will be made available to schedule at least two all-weather meetings a day "for the foreseeable future" after racing suffered its first unplanned blank day for nearly a year yesterday. The tracks at Lingfield and Kempton were still raceable yesterday morning despite heavy overnight snow, but both meetings were abandoned as roads around the track were impassable."It's hard to be specific about the cost," Alan Delmonte, the Levy Board's operations director, said yesterday. "So much depends on footfall in betting shops, and the number of people betting when the weather is bad goes down anyway."The amount of levy generated per race is very variable too, but it's not a bad rule of thumb that £10,000 is lost every time a race doesn't happen. Tuesday had four fixtures scheduled originally, which would be about £250,000, and we make an abandonment payment of £10,000 to each course too, but at the same time, we will not be paying out prize money of £115,000. That would mean an estimated loss to the levy of just under £200,000."All-weather racing was introduced into Britain in October 1989, and while the meetings do not generate as much turnover, and therefore levy, as jumping on turf, they are still vital to stabilise income in the winter months."It is very important for us to ensure that punters have British racing to bet on," Delmonte said. "We have informed the British Horseracing Authority that funding will be available for a second all-weather meeting every day for the foreseeable future. The benefit of a second fixture in betting shops is very significant. It's much better for the levy to have two fixtures with races 15 minutes apart than one race every half an hour."Kempton and Lingfield will both hold inspections this morning ahead of planned meetings today, while Wolverhampton's card tomorrow is subject to an inspection this afternoon. Saturday's meeting at Sedgefield has been abandoned, while Ayr will inspect today, with prospects for next Monday's card already described as "bleak".Horse racingSport bettingWeatherGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Hard to see value in Patrick Vieira On a previous shopping trip to Milan, Manchester City’s swaggering belief in the raw power of their money predictably ran headlong into a wall of embarrassing rejection, and the jolting realisation that all their recently bestowed wealth didn’t give them the football credit rating needed to bring Kaka to England. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
David Sullivan and David Gold expose West Ham United's £100m debt David Sullivan and David Gold laid bare the extent of West Ham United's crippling debts after completing a takeover they have described as "the realisation of a dream". feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Juan MartÃn del Potro defeat offers Andy Murray glimpse of glory • US Open champion loses 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3• Marin Cilic will now play Andy RoddickIt is hard to think of anything more dangerous than looking past Rafael Nadal when the Spaniard is your next opponent and, as he prepares for his showdown with the defending champion here on Tuesday, Andy Murray is experienced enough to know that. But should he find a way past Nadal then the path to the final was theoretically eased today after a surprise defeat for Juan MartÃn del Potro.The US Open champion was edged out 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 by the Croatian 14th seed Marin Cilic, who will now play Andy Roddick, himself a gutsy 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 winner over the Chilean Fernando González in the night match. On paper a semi-final against Cilic or Roddick is a more attractive proposition than taking on Del Potro, though Murray will be well aware of the dangers they pose, having lost to Roddick in the semi-finals at Wimbledon last summer and then to Cilic in the fourth round of the US Open last September.Del Potro had survived an epic five-set match with James Blake in the second round on his way to the last 16, but today he simply ran out of steam. It was not without a fight but in the end Cilic proved too strong. "We played a hard match, five sets again," Del Potro said. "Marin is playing great tennis. I think he did better than me and he won."Nagging pain in his right wrist had almost stopped Del Potro from competing here and the Argentinian said he would go home to recover for the tournaments ahead. As for Cilic, he has now made consecutive grand slam quarter-finals, his movement has improved enormously in the past 12 months and as Murray can testify, he is a dangerous shot-maker.At the rate she is going, former world No1 Justine Henin will surely be back near the top of the women's rankings before too long. In only her second tournament after returning from retirement, the Belgian fended off compatriot Yanina Wickmayer 7-6, 1-6, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.Next up is the Russian Nadia Petrova, who followed up her shock win over Kim Clijsters by beating another Russian, the third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Clijsters won the US Open last September in just her third tournament back after two years off but Henin said it was too soon to say if she could complete what would be an incredible Belgian double. "Of course, I have dreams," she said. "I'll try to go as far as possible and if it's until the end, it would be amazing, but it's still too early to talk about that."The second seed Dinara Safina withdrew during the first set of her match with the Russian Maria Kirilenko because of a back injury. Kirilenko will play Jie Zheng of China for a semi-final spot.Australian OpenJuan MartÃn del PotroAndy RoddickJustine HeninTennisSimon Cambersguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |