Bolt makes triumphant 100m start to season
GEORGE TOWN - World 100- and 200-meter record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica opened his 2016 season Saturday with a 100m victory in 10.05 seconds at the Cayman Invitational. Making his fist strides on the road to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August, Bolt crossed the finish line .07 of a second ahead of American runner-up Dentarius Locke. "It wasn't the best, but as long as I come out injury free, that's the key thing," Bolt said. "I didn't feel as smooth as I wanted to, but as I always say, it's hard to just come into your first race and do extra well." Jamaican Kemar Bailey-Cole, who trains with Bolt at Racers Track Club, was third in 10.18 with a light tailwind of 0.1m/sec. Bolt is planning his campaign with the aim of defending his 100m, 200m and 4x100m Olympic crowns in Brazi.–AFP
Higuain breaks 66-year Serie A goal record
ROME - Gonzalo Higuain notched a hat-trick in Napoli's 4-0 win over Frosinone Saturday to break Gunnar Nordahl's 66-year record for most goals in a Serie A season. The Argentina striker ended the campaign on 36 goals, surpassing the mark set by Swede Nordahl for AC Milan in 1949-50. "I was desperate to break this record," the 28-year-old said. "I have to thank everyone, particularly my family, the fans, the backroom staff, the club and my team mates." Marek Hamsik opened the scoring for Napoli in the 44th minute and Higuain equalled Nordahl's record with two second-half goals before eclipsing it with a brilliant overhead kick in the 71st minute. "I needed to stay calm," said Higuain. "In the first half I struggled with my finishing but the team helped me and I got the hat-trick.”–Reuters
Spieth unfazed after missing Players cut
MIAMI - World number two Jordan Spieth missed the cut Saturday at the US PGA Players Championship, his first event since squandering a back-nine Sunday to lose last month's Masters. But Spieth, who defends his US Open crown next month at Oakmont, downplayed the notion he could be in a funk after his Masters meltdown, which denied him a second consecutive wire-to-wire win at Augusta National and handed England's Danny Willett a first major crown. "I don't think there's much of a connection to the Masters. I just didn't putt well," Spieth said. "Augusta seems like a long time ago to me." Adding to Spieth's pain, he was playing alongside top-ranked Jason Day as the Australian fired a 36-hole course record of 15-under 129 -- matching the 18-hole mark of 63 before completing a 66 on Saturday.–AFP
National Ranking Tennis starts
ISLAMABAD - The inaugural Hascol National Ranking Tennis Championship commenced here Sunday. Saqib Umer, Usman Ejaz, Syed Nofil Kaleem, Raja Shahid, Ilham Khan, Yousaf Khan, Huzaifa A Rehman and Hamza Bin Asif qualified for the main draw of men’s singles after registering victories against their respective opponents. Saqib Umer beat Kashif Khan 6-1, 6-3; Usman Ejaz beat Shakir Ullah 6-0, 6-0; Syed Nofil Kaleem beat Rashid Khan 6-1, 6-2; Raja Shahid beat Asad Ullah 6-3,6-2; Ilham Khan beat Musa Chaudhry 6-0, 6-0; Yousaf Khan beat Nadir Bhachani 6-1, 6-1; Huzaifa Abdul Rehman beat Husnain Mehmood 6-3 and 6-4 and Hamza bin Asif beat Farhan Ahmed 6-0,6-0. The organisers have received 150 entries and all outstation players are entitled to Rs 700 as daily allowance.–Staff Reporter
Trials for Islamabad U-16 soccer team
ISLAMABAD - Trials to select Islamabad Under-16 soccer team will be held today (Monday) at Mehran Football ground G-9/2. Secretary Islamabad Football Association, Syed Sharafat Hussain Bukhari said they have adopted a simple formula of inviting players for trials for selection of Islamabad teams, so entire process would remain transparent and every deserving player would get a chance to show performance and get selected. He further said that players, who are born after January 1, 2001are eligible to participate in the trials. The selection committee includes, Muhammad Zaman, Chairman while Muhammad Yamin and Raja Masood are the members. The selected team would take part in the Inter- Provincial U-16 Football Championship 2016, from May 27th at Gilgit.–Staff Reporter