WCBN Sports News
Posted at 6:58 am April 7, 2009 admin

Domenicali plots Ferrari comeback

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali is refusing to panic despite his teams “unacceptable” start to the new Formula One season.

The legendary marque, who have won the constructors’ championship a record 16 times, are without a point from the opening two races for the first time since 1992.

Mistakes and problems in Australia and Malaysia have been rife, and Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa have suffered the consequences.

Ferrari now have a chance to regroup ahead of the next grand prix in Shanghai in a fortnight’s time when Domenicali will be demanding an end to their woes.

“The team is not happy. How can we be happy about these two grands prix? We cannot be,” said a frustrated Domenicali.

“But this is sport, this is our life. We need to react immediately, so there is no reason to cry on our shoulders.

“We have to extricate ourselves from this situation, without panicking, but with everyone of us taking on our responsibilities.

“When things are not going well, that is what people have to do, either from a performance or management point of view.

“We want to make sure that people with certain responsibilities are taking the right decisions in the right way.

“But the one thing I think the team has learned over these past two weekends is that we were very strong in the past, even in difficult moments, and we need to be strong now.

“We know our car is not the number one, so this is the reason why all the people need to understand this difficult situation and we need to react.

“That is the only medicine we need because what has happened is not acceptable. I am not accepting it.”

It would be easy for fingers to be pointed, particularly relating to the call that saw Massa sit in his garage late in qualifying on Saturday believing his time was acceptable, only to start 16th.

Then during yesterday’s storm-lashed race, Raikkonen was placed on the wrong tyre during his first pit stop, forcing him in again soon after when the torrential rain eventually hit.

They were choices that cost Ferrari points, leaving Domenicali to add: “With hindsight it’s clear we took some wrong decisions, especially in Kimi’s case at his first pit stop.

“The information we had at the time was the storm was due to hit in a very short time, when in fact it took a few more minutes for the rain to come.

“Felipe was very unlucky because another 40 seconds or so and he could have stayed on track with the extreme wet tyres, finishing in a good position at the end of the race.

“It means that from now we have to dig deep and react, to change our mentality and accept we are in a different situation to the past.

“It means we have to tackle it with a different approach, both on track and in Maranello.”

Domenicali is refusing to allow blame to be attached to seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher, who in his role of advisor appears to have made little impact.

When asked whether such mistakes should be made with Schumacher on board, a stern Domenicali replied: “I was expecting that question.

“But I do not want to give an answer, just as I don’t want to say who decided what during this race.

“It is something we will discuss internally, not something we will discuss outside.”

Posted at 6:57 am admin

Latest Men’s World Golf Rankings

Paul Casey is the biggest mover in the top 20 while Tiger Woods continues to lead the rankings for 200 straight weeks.

South Korean KJ Choi falls two places to the 23rd spot.

Casey becomes the leading OWGR points earner for 2009 so far and jumps to a career high position of sixth in the Official World Golf Ranking, an improvement of 6 positions.

Video: Golf Focus Chat - How many trophies will Tiger win this year?

Masters Comment: Sex sells!

This
Week		 Last
Week
 Name Country
 Average Pts
1 1 Tiger Woods USA 9.83
2 2 Phil Mickelson USA 8.37
3 3 Sergio Garcia Spain 7.28
4 4 Geoff Ogilvy Australia 6.43
5 5 Padraig Harrington Ireland 5.86
6 12 Paul Casey England 5.55
7 6 Vijay Singh Fiji 5.52
8 10 Henrik Stenson Sweden 5.12
9 7 Robert Karlsson Sweden 4.94
10 8 Camilo Villegas Colombia 4.84
11 9 Kenny Perry USA 4.79
12 11 Steve Stricker England 4.29
13 14 Lee Westwood England 4.28
14 13 Anthony Kim USA 4.21
15 15 Jim Furyk USA 4.13
16 16 Ernie Els S Africa 4.09
17 17 Rory McIlroy N Ireland 3.96
18 18 Stewart Cink USA 3.63
19 19 Mike Weir Canada 3.59
20 20 Martin Kaymer Germany 3.40

Others: 21 Retief Goosen 3.353, 22 Adam Scott 3.335, 23 KJ Choi 3.283, 24 Zach Johnson 3.239, 25 Justin Rose 3.231, 31 Jeev Milkha Singh 3.959, 32 Trevor Immelman 2.895, 43 Shingo Katayama 2.413, 50 Prayad Marksaeng 2.256, 53 Davis Love-III 2.237,  62 Lin Wen-Tang 2.023, 70 Thongchai Jaidee 1.837, 73 Ryuji Imada 1.8, 74 Ryo Ishikawa 1.793.

Posted in Golf | [74] Comments;
Posted at 6:55 am admin

Ronaldo rejects Real speculation

United’s Cristiano Ronaldo has once again reaffirmed he is “at the right club” amid fresh speculation over his future.

Neither the player nor his manager Sir Alex Ferguson were happy that the issue was raised again ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League tie with FC Porto.

Ferguson wondered aloud “how many times” more he would have to endure this line of questioning before describing the continued speculation as “pathetic”. Ronaldo shrugged and said: “We always have this question.”

The 23-year-old simply repeated the position he has stuck to since reaffirming his commitment to United last summer after a face-to-face meeting with Ferguson appeared to stop the rumblings linking him with a move to Real Madrid.

“I am happy at this club. I think it is the right club,” said Ronaldo.

It has once again been suggested a deal has been done between United and Real for the transfer of the 2008 European and World Player of the Year this summer.

Yet at the Club World Cup last December, Ferguson claimed he would not sell Real “a virus”, a position that does not appear to have softened judging by his pointed response this afternoon.

One of the reasons Ronaldo is said to favour a move to La Liga is that he has become fed up of being targeted by opposition defenders, eager to stop the former Sporting Lisbon star by whatever means possible.

Yet Ronaldo does not feel he is suffering any more than he has done at other stages since arriving in England six years ago.

“It has always been like that,” he said.

“It is not only this season that defenders have kicked me to try and stop me. It is just normal.”

Ronaldo played a major role in taking United back to the top of the Barclays Premier League yesterday with his two-goal haul against Aston Villa that took his seasonal tally to 20.

United are now a point ahead of Liverpool, with a game in hand.

“We are the best team in England,” Ronaldo said.

“We have shown that by being top of the table. That speaks for itself.

“We respect all our opponents but if we carry on winning, we will win the title again.”

Indeed, United are still on track to record an unprecedented quintuple, with Ronaldo not quite being as dismissive about the project as Ferguson.

“We have a chance to win everything this season,” said Ronaldo.

“First we have to beat FC Porto. After that, we must carry on.”

Posted in Football | [2] Comments;
Posted at 6:21 am admin

3rd Test beween India and NZ ends up as draw

Third test match between India and NZ ends up as draw due to rain and bad weather conditions. India manage to come closer with sending 8 players back to pavilion but play could not get started after lunch and in end mach was declared as draw.

Sachin took 2 wickets and Harbhajan also chips in with 4 wickets. It was close some catches went down and with 1 or 2 decisions going against India. However never the less India won the Test series after 41 years in NZ. Man of the match was no guessing Gautam for his brilliant batting.

Posted in Cricket | [57] Comments;
« Previous Page