London City » Sports

St. Louis Rams to play regular-season game

musiclover — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 07:00:00 +0000

The St. Louis Rams will play a regular-season NFL game in London in each of the next three seasons, first facing the New England Patriots in 2012. The Rams and Patriots will play on Oct. 28 at Wembley Stadium, the NFL said Friday. It’s the sixth straight year the league will play regular-season games in More >

Tsonga sends Nadal crashing out in London

musiclover — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:31:37 +0000

Rafael Nadal crashed out of the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday as France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-3 in a thrilling shoot-out for a place in the semi-finals.

World No.2 Nadal had to win his final Group B match to join Roger Federer and David Ferrer in the last four at London’s O2 Arena, but last year’s runner-up bowed out after his second successive defeat in the season finale.

Tsonga’s victory means he will play the winner of Group A Ferrer in Saturday’s semi-finals, while Nadal – who is yet to win this tournament – will return home to rest his aching limbs before leading Spain’s challenge in the Davis Cup final against Argentina.

With Federer safely through as group winner and Mardy Fish already eliminated, it was a straight fight between Nadal and Tsonga to qualify alongside the Swiss star.

Right from the first point, it was clear Tsonga would try to keep Nadal at bay by serve-volleying whenever possible. It was a tactic that worked beautifully.

Tsonga was never threatened on his own serve and the only break-points fell to the Frenchman in the fourth game, although he was unable to convert them as Nadal displayed all his battling qualities.

It was fitting that such a high-quality set needed a tie-break to settle it and Tsonga was finally able to edge in front as his brilliantly cushioned volley secured a 4-2 lead.

Nadal had no response and Tsonga seized his chance, serving an ace to take the set.

The Spaniard kept fighting in a tense second set that exploded into life in the 10th game.

Nadal had three set points on Tsonga’s serve but looked to have blown his chance as the Frenchman saved them all.

However Nadal kept pressing and secured a fourth set point. This time Tsonga cracked, sending a forehand wide to concede the set.

Tsonga hit back quickly to earn three break points in the third game of the final set.

Nadal saved one but a miscued forehand on the second gave Tsonga the breakthrough.

Tsonga looked home when he broke again to move 5-2 ahead, yet the Frenchman double-faulted on break point as he tried to serve out the match.

That gave Nadal a glimmer of hope which was swiftly snuffed out as Tsonga regained his composure to break for the last time.

London ceremony must be over by midnight

musiclover — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:59:11 +0000

The opening ceremony of next year’s London Olympics must finish by midnight so athletes will be encouraged to march and still get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Denis Oswald, head of the International Olympic Committee’s coordination commission for London, said Friday arrangements also should be made to allow athletes to leave before the end of the ceremony.

Some athletes at recent Olympic opening ceremonies have complained they have to stand for hours as the show ran over the scheduled time. Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries will be marching into London’s Olympic Stadium on July 27, 2012.

The London ceremony, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle, is expected to start about 9 p.m.

“We insisted the ceremony should not finish after midnight so the athletes can get to the Olympic village quickly,” Oswald said at the close of a three-day visit to check on games’ preparations. “They can even leave the opening ceremony before the end if they wish to do so.”

The length of the ceremony will also affect the 80,000 spectators trying to get home before public transport closes at 1:30 a.m.

Many Olympic athletes choose not to take part in opening ceremonies, especially those competing on the following day.

“It’s a choice that you make but we would like to have an opening ceremony with as many athletes as possible, and that’s why we insisted that the ceremony would be over at midnight at the latest,” Oswald said.