Sports

By Tony Cozier In LONDON It may be the shortest of all the series between the West Indies and England, and only a fill-in at that.

Godfrey Pollydore will be in the saddle to defend his title at the National Sports Commission (NSC) 27th Annual three-stage cycle road race this year, thanks of the generosity of Director of Sport Neil Kumar.

MADRID (Reuters) – World number two Serena Williams retired from her first-round match against Francesca Schiavone at the Madrid Open yesterday with a knee injury after losing the first set to the Italian.

LONDON, England, CMC – Discarded West Indies batsman Wavell Hinds stroked a half-century on Sunday to help Derbyshire beat Northamptonshire in the Friends Provident Trophy one-day tournament.

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The Houston Rockets shrugged off the loss of Yao Ming to stun the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers 99-87 on Sunday and level their Western Conference semi-final series at 2-2.

BALTIMORE (Reuters) – Champion filly Rachel Alexandra is poised to run in the Preakness Stakes after the owners of several horses set to run in the race changed their minds about entering additional colts.

CHESTER-LE-STREET, England, CMC – Brendan Nash says he is sure the Windies can bounce back from their emphatic loss to England, especially against the backdrop of their recent series win in the Caribbean last month.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher and Barcelona pair Eric Abidal and Daniel Alves will miss the Champions League final after UEFA said yesterday there were no grounds for overturning their suspensions.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Guyana’s Walter Moore scored an early goal for Caledonia AIA, but they went on to lose 2-3 to Joe Public as the Trinidad and Tobago Pro-League kicked off its 2009 season this past weekend.

KIMBERLEY, South Africa (Reuters) – Rohit Sharma snared three wickets as the Deccan Chargers humbled the Rajasthan Royals by 53 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday.

POINTE-A-PIERRE, Trinidad, CMC – Barbadian club Maple suffered at the hands of Kieron Pollard’s all-round performance, losing by eight wickets to Queen’s Park in the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) Twenty20 Club Champions League on Sunday night.

…as North Ruimveldt, Lodge/Meadowbrook take opening honours By Rawle Toney North Ruimveldt demolished Republic Park/Mocha 85-55, while Lodge/Meadowbrook got past McDoom/Houston 85-63, to become the first two teams to record victories in this year’s Hits and Jams Inter-Ward Basketball extravaganza which opened on Saturday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

MSC, Everest, GCC record victories Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC), Everest Cricket Club and the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) all recorded victories in the latest round of matches in the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA)/ Cellink Plus sponsored first division two-day competition yesterday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Jamaican opener Xavier Marshall has gained a stunning recall to the West Indies team in a 15-man squad announced Saturday for the World Twenty20 Championships in England next month.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – West Indies batting star Shivnarine Chanderpaul has lost the number one spot in the Reliance Mobile International Cricket Council player rankings for Test batsmen.

HOUSTON, (Reuters) – The Houston Rockets stunned the  top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, winning 99-87 without big man Yao  Ming, to level their NBA Western Conference semi-final series at  2-2 yesterday.

CHENNAI, India, (Reuters) – Cricket’s governing body  will hold a two-day meeting in London to discuss the  possibility of playing day-night test matches and to find ways  of keeping the one-day format relevant amid Twenty20’s growing  popularity.

PARIS, (Reuters) – French tennis player Richard  Gasquet tested positive for cocaine at a tournament in Miami  last month, the world number 23 said yesterday.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida,  (Reuters) – Sweden’s  Henrik Stenson kept his cool in 90 degree heat to win the  Players Championship by four shots, as a frustrated Tiger Woods  crashed out of contention at the TPC Sawgrass course yesterday.

MADRID, (Reuters) – World number two Roger Federer  believes his form is improving all the time and that he still  has what it takes to rattle number one Rafael Nadal and steal  the Spaniard’s French Open crown.