Sport I 13 The Epoch Times July 18–24, 2007 Hockeyroos let third match slip to Japan Australia and Japan drew 3–3 in the third women’s hockey Test in Melbourne on Sunday July 15 to leave Australia with a 2–0 lead in the six-match series. After scoring twice in the first ten minutes, the Hockeyroos began to tire, three games in four days taking its toll, and let the disciplined Japanese team back into the match. Nikki Hudson got Australia rolling when she was given too much room at the top of the circle, her strike with too much heat for the keeper in the seventh minute. Two minutes later it was 2–0 when Megan Rivers scored her second goal in two games after deflecting a long baseline pass from Lambert into the net. Japan got one back in the 13th minute through Miyuki Nakagawa, but the lead was soon back out to two shortly after when Emily Halliday struck through a penalty corner just before half-time. At 3–1 up the Hockeyroos were in a great position and had some good opportunities to extend that lead, but Japan rallied, piling on two unanswered goals as they ran over the top of the home team. They scored the first from a penalty corner, while the equaliser came in the 63rd minute from a well scrapped goal from Sakae Morimoto. “I was disappointed with the performance today,” said Australian coach Frank Murray. “We were quite tired and flat I thought. We got a couple of goals early, but then just got tired. Players weren’t presenting, or running, and our skills let us down. You just can’t play like that against a good team like Japan.” On Saturday July 14 the Australians won 3–1 in game two. The Hockeyroos will use the last three Tests of their current series against Japan, which they lead 2–0 after two wins and a draw in the opening three matches, to prepare for the trip to Beijing. The squad for that tournament, from August 8 to August 13, was announced Monday. After the Good Luck Beijing Tournament, the Australians return here for September Olympic qualification matches in Queensland against New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji. Team: Nicole Arrold (ACT), Teneal Attard (QLD), Madonna Blyth (QLD), Toni Cronk (NSW), Emily Halliday (WA), Kate Hollywood (NSW), Nikki Hudson (QLD), Rachel Imison (VIC), Angie Lambert (QLD), Shelly Liddelow (WA), Hope Munro (WA), Megan Rivers (NSW), Rebecca Sanders (NSW), Emma Stewart (QLD), Sarah Taylor (ACT), Renee Trost (VIC), Melanie Twitt (NSW), Kim Walker (WA). AAP Without Lockyer, but don’t write off Broncos Former Brisbane captains Allan Langer and Gorden Tallis have warned against writing off Brisbane’s NRL premiership chances without inspirational leader Darren Lockyer. The former premiership winners said the road would be tough without Lockyer, but not impossible. Statistics revealed on Sunday showed Brisbane’s success rate plummeted from 65.8 per cent to just 41 per cent when Lockyer wasn’t on the field. “It’s up to the forwards to give whoever fills Locky’s boots an opportunity,” Tallis said. Obviously, losing a player like Lockyer makes it really hard, but I wouldn’t write them off.” Bookmakers, punters and fans alike, however, have done just that. They believe Brisbane face a “mission impossible” assignment without Lockyer after scans at the weekend confirmed Lockyer’s 2007 season was finished. The champion five-eighth ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee late in Brisbane’s 24–16 win over North Queensland on Friday night July 13. The match was his record-breaking 275th appearance for the club. He’ll undergo a full knee reconstruction next week under the watchful eye of leading specialist Dr Peter Myers and faces nine months of rehabilitation. Langer, a member of Brisbane’s first two premiership wins in 1992–93 and a veteran of 228 games in a career that stretched over 15 years, said losing Lockyer left a “huge hole”. “Brisbane have been playing very well at the moment and it’s a challenge for all the players to do something special,” he said. Tallis, who played 169 games and featured in three premiership wins for the club, said Lockyer’s amazing courage and refusal to let his team- Sidelined…It’s not “mission impossible”, said former Broncos greats after Brisbane lost their leader, Darren Lockyer, to a serious injury. Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images mates down had ultimately cost him dearly. “He’s far too tough for his own good; he should have come off when he hurt it the first time,” Tallis said. “But his side was in trouble and he was thinking about his team-mates instead of himself. “There’s only a few guys in the Broncos tough enough to do that, like Petero [Civoniceva]. “That’s why you love playing with some guys and why Darren is such a wonderful leader. “It typified what he was prepared to do for his mates.” Sport Briefs A-League pre-season Cup results: Soccer Grand Final replay a draw Defending A-League champions Melbourne Victory have started their pre season Cup campaign with a 1–1 draw with Adelaide United at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium. Travis Dodd put Adelaide ahead in the ninth minute, but Daniel Allsopp equalised in the 77th minute. In other opening rounds games, Perth beat Newcastle 1–0 in Port Macquarie, Central Coast defeated Wellington Phoenix 2–0 in Gosford and Queensland Roar and Sydney SC drew 0–0 in Maroochydore. Australia not bidding for 2010 Youth Olympics The Australian Olympic Committee has decided not to bid to host the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010. The timetable made it difficult to secure the necessary venues, the AOC said in a statement released on Friday. “The main obstacle is that the Games have been set down to take place for eleven to twelve days of competition during the 2nd, 3rd or 4th weeks of August and that international standard venues would have to be provided for all of the 26 sports that are on the London 2012 program,” AOC president John Coates said. “After we have experienced the first Youth Olympic Games we can review the decision.” Fed Cup results: Australian tennis loses to Ukraine Australia ended a disastrous weekend losing their Fed Cup women’s dead rubber doubles match against Ukraine on Sunday on the Gold Coast. concept to us is exciting.” “Tasmanians, population 480,000, are more supportive of AFL...per capita than any other community in Australia. “They are rabid followers of the AFL and if there was an opportunity for us, if we were in the position to be playing a final in Tasmania, we’d love to do it for the Tasmanians. “We should never lose sight of the fact that for this game to grow it requires...as many people [as possible] to have a touch-point.” The Hawks already play four home and away matches per season at Aurora Stadium and have the Tasmanian Government as their major sponsor. While capacity at the few years of football will be absolutely red hot,” he said. Tallis said Brisbane had been presented with a wonderful challenge and called on the club’s forwards to lead the way. “As a player, I’d really look forward to it,” he said. AAP Services NOTICES Optometrist SYDNEY: Mobile eye exams done at home. Perfect for elderly & busy working people. A/H possible. Bulkbilling & all health funds. Frame selection. Ph: 0425 752 398 Dental Clinic Nicole Pratt of Australia at the Fed Cup 2007. Australia lost the tennis tie against Ukraine – an emphatic 4–1 victory – following Nicole Pratt’s straight-sets defeat to Alona Bondarenko. A determined Pratt fought hard against the world No.22 in a gutsy display but still fell short 7–5, 6–4 at Royal Pines Resort. Bondarenko’s victory handed Ukraine an unassailable 3–0 lead in the best-of-five Getty Images tie and secured their place in the World II group. Alicia Molik and Rennae Stubbs went down to Kateryna Bondarenko and Yulia Beygelzimer 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the dead doubles rubber. Australia, which lost both their singles matches, have been relegated to the AsiaOceania zonal competition. Tasmanian ground is only about 22,000, Kennett said some finals in Melbourne, involving a non-Victorian team, had drawn small crowds. Most notably, just 25,195 watched the Kangaroos play Port Adelaide in an elimination final at Telstra Dome in 2005. “Therefore, if it was ever to arise that there was an opportunity to play a final in Tasmania, I think it would be wonderful for the Tasmanian community and certainly would reinforce the importance of our relationship with Tasmania, as they’re now a major sponsor,” he said. “What happens, time will tell; obviously, that won’t be decided until much closer to Flexible dentures, new technology for improved retention, implant overdentures, mouth guards. 20% off for Epoch Times readers. Bondi Junction. 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Kennett said that while the AFL decides the venues for finals matches, the Hawks would support the idea of playing a home final at Launceston’s Aurora Stadium. “Obviously, this is not something we control, but the Tallis tipped Lockyer would burst back to football next year refreshed and claimed that his injury, while shattering, may yet prove a “blessing in disguise” given the amount of football he’s played in recent years. “I think when Darren has the break, refreshes, his last the end of the season when the make-up of the final eight is known to us all.” Hosting a final in Tasmania would be sure to anger many Hawks’ fans in Melbourne, with the club having not contested a finals series since 2001. In that year, they played two finals in Melbourne, with 32,910 attending an elimination final against Sydney at Telstra Dome and 86,468 watching them play Essendon in a preliminary final at the MCG. Kennett said of the divide between the Hawks’ two home bases: “Our loyalty and our heart in many senses is still in Hawthorn, but our opportunity is in Tasmania.” AAP Pal Sheng Tang Chinese Medication Specialising in treatment of peptic/duodenal/gastric ulcers, gastric pain, bloated stomach, distension, gastric hyperacidity, stomach cramps, gastrorrhagia, hiccups, nausea, dry & bitter mouth, blenching, habitual constipation, anal fistula, haemorrhoids, chronic colitis/nephritis, cystitis, ureehritis, prostatitis. Specialising in treatment of various pains, rheumatic arthritis, sciatic nerve, waist, back, neck, knee, calf, sole pain. Specialising in treatment of gynaecopathy, failing sexual ability, menorrhoea, amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, ovarian cyst, itching, etc. 5 Henley Road, Homebush West NSW. (02) 9706 3829 or 0402 028 478 (English) Friendship Honest, kind Aussie man, own home, secure income, divorced, no children, nonsmoker. 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Heated swimming pool, gym, spa, sauna & 24/7 concierge. Great investment with good returns. Contact Judy Savage 0416 042 420 Boomers’ “last hurrah”? A final shot at Olympic glory is the driving force behind a handful of veteran Australian basketballers desperate to ensure the Boomers qualify for Beijing next year. An 18-man Boomers squad has gathered on the Gold Coast to prepare for next month’s crunch Olympic qualifying series against New Zealand. Veterans Jason Smith, Sam Mackinnon, Glen Saville and Darnell Mee are hell-bent on defeating the Tall Blacks in a three-game series in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from August 20 to August 24 to book a passage to Beijing. For these players, it will be their last opportunity to clinch an elusive Olympic medal before they retire from international basketball. “We’ve got four or five guys and it’s their last hurrah,” two-time Olympian Smith said last Friday. “It’s their last shot to make it so there is no tomorrow. There’s plenty of personal motivation – player’s national pride aside, a loss against New Zealand would deliver a major blow to the game in Australia. Defeat would leave an extremely difficult qualifying campaign in Europe next year as the Boomers’ only avenue to Beijing. “We need to play in the Olympic Games and in order to do that we must beat New Zealand. There’s no other option,” Boomers’ coach Brian Goorjian said. “We’re certainly not thinking about spending time in Europe. We’ve got to win this series.” Goorjian believes Australia deserves to be favourite against the Tall Blacks, despite the loss of key men Chris Anstey, CJ Bruton, Andrew Bogut, Matt Nielsen and Stephen Black. “There’s a great deal of respect now within the playing group...of this particular group of Kiwis,” Goorjian Two-time Olympian Jason Smith. Junko Kimura/Getty Images remarked. “I don’t see them as favourites, but it’s going to be a battle and we’re going to have to bring our A-game.” Goorjian will select a 12man squad at the end of the 10-day training camp on the Gold Coast for a European tour in which the Boomers will take on Turkey and Italy. The battle for spots to face New Zealand will be intense and even Smith is looking over his shoulder at the younger talent snapping at his heels. “I’ve got some young guys coming through that are very, very talented at the moment. “Brad Newley, who I’m up against, has just been drafted into the NBA [by the Houston Rockets]. “I’m up against it just to secure my own position.” With the Boomers short on big men, the pressure will be on David Andersen to make his mark, but the CSKA Moscow centre preferred to talk about the importance of his experience to the squad. “I know a lot of guys on the international scene,” he said. “I can help out the guys in Australia and offer them a little bit of insight into what needs to be done to compete at that level.” AAP ET Classifieds Get your ad noticed in Australia’s only international and national classifieds... 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