Maia Lumsden, the 14-year-old from Glasgow, won her first match at Challenger level when beat England's Pippa Horn, a fellow wildcard, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in the first round of qualifying for the AEGON Pro Series event at Scotstoun. She takes on Oman's Fatma Al Nabhani, the second seed and world No.463, today for a place in the main draw, starting at 10am.
Euan McIntosh, a 17-year-old from Edinburgh's Blackhall club, failed in his bid to join Jamie Baker in the main draw of the men's Futures event when he lost his final qualifying round match to England's David Porter 7-6 (7-3) 6-3. Baker, the No.2 seed, opens on the show court against Sean Thornley in a match scheduled to start not before 4pm. He is seeded to meet his fellow Davis Cup team member Josh Goodall in Saturday's final. Entry to the spectators' stand is free.
cricket
Ryan Watson, the veteran former Saltires all-rounder, has agreed to guide Glenrothes through their first season in the national league, writes William Dick. He came out of retirement this year to help the Fife club gain promotion to Cricket Scotland's Eastern Division 1, and officials have persuaded him to carry on playing for at least another summer. He will also undertake coaching duties along with his former Saltires team-mate Dewald Nel.
Cycling
Rab Wardell, the Scotland internationalist, made a solid start to the six day Langkawi Mountain Bike Challenge in Malaysia when he finished 14th in the prologue, writes Colin Renton. The Alpine Bikes rider is the only Briton in the 80-strong field for an event that carries a prize fund of $125,000 and features stages in the jungle before concluding with a beach criterium. Florian Vogel, of Switzerland, took the honours in yesterday's opener, 28 seconds ahead of Wardell.
hockey
Scotland's two team status in the EuroLeague, the top club tournament in the world, rests solely with Glynhill Kelbune, is a massive assignment for the Paisley club who play the German side Rot-Weiss Koln and AHTC Wien from Austria at East Grinstead in two weeks' time, writes Craig Madden.
Grange having taken no points from their thrashings by Rotterdam and Berlin in Barcelona last weekend, Scotland is in danger of slipping back in the rankings hand having only one team in the competition, or perhaps no team at all. The Scots were 14th equal in the rankings last season with no representation in the EuroLeague, but Kelburne's good showing in the lesser European Club Trophy lifted the national ranking to eighth, the lowest place to earn two places.
The Scottish champions must now take points at East Grinstead to stave off the challenge of Ireland, Poland, Belarus and Austria, the four nations below them in the EuroLeague table. Kelburne's game against Wien is therefore crucial; a victory in it would almost certainly propel them into the knockout stages and keep Austria below Scotland in the table. Harry Coles, Kelburne's manager, will also be keeping an eye on the performances of Lisnagarvey (Ireland) and Stroitel Brest (Belarus) at East Grinstead to see if they pick up any points in their pool matches.
The Scottish cause was not helped by a couple of surprise results in Barcelona; the Russians Dinamo Kazan beat Spain's Club de Campo 3-2 and earned five valuable points, while Grunwald Poznan, of Poland, drew 2-2 with Amsterdam and collected two most unexpected points.
SPEEDWAY
Craig Cook, the Edinburgh Monarchs' No.1, admitted yesterday that his victory in the Premier League Riders' Championship had still not sunk in, writes Nigel Duncan. The 25-year-old Cumbrian emerged victorious from a star-studded field at Sheffield on Sunday and the personal success helped to erase some bitter memories of an injury-blighted season.
Whitehaven-based Cook was top scorer in the qualifiers even though he had been on the unfavourable outside gates three times. He won his first two races comfortably from the better inside gates, then showed coolness and skill to work his way into second place in each of his other races.
He was joined in the final by Workington Comets' Rene Bach, Anders Mellgren (Rye House Rockets) and Somerset Rebels' Jason Doyle. The final requred three attempts to run. Cook, from Gate 2, did not get away well because of clutch problems but he was probing for a way through when Bach catapulted off a rut and into the fence round the first/second bend. The same thing happened the second time, with Jason Doyle suffering the same fate. After a lengthy delay, Cook made a brilliant start which allowed him to move across and prevent Mellgren making any kind of move. He then rode an untroubled four laps.
Cook, who was National League Riders' champion three years ago, follows Peter Carr into Monarchs' record books as a winner of the prestigious event. "I don't know how I stayed calm," he said. "I hope I get some publicity now"
Contextual targeting label:
