Defending champ Feng leads in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR - Defending champion Feng Shanshan of China fired a bogey-free 65 to lead in the second round of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia on Friday. Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom continued her impressive debut in the $1.8 million tournament, firing a five-under-par 66 to sit one shot behind Feng. America's Cristie Kerr posted a 63 for the best score of the round and was in third, followed by South Korean Kim Sei-Young, trailing one shot behind in fourth. Kiwi Lydia Ko faltered with four bogeys to finish the day one-over par 72 in tied sixth, alongside tournament debutante Su Oh. A tropical downpour, which delayed proceedings for close to four hours, did not hamper two-time defending champion Feng. "I was really relaxed. I had my feet up, and then I was actually taking a nap," she said.–AFP

 Vonn targets Olympic glory

SÖLDEN - American star Lindsey Vonn begins her road to Olympic redemption as the alpine skiing season starts this weekend at the Austrian resort of Soelden. Vonn missed the 2014 Sochi Games with a right knee injury, leaving her unable to add to downhill gold and a bronze in the Super-G from Vancouver. But the four-time overall World Cup champion will line up in Saturday's season-opening giant slalom for her first race in the technical discipline in almost two years. "I have been training well these past few days on the Italian glacier of Val Senales and I feel good," said Vonn. "I'm really going to focus on the Olympics," Vonn said. "I have decided to ski another year past the Olympics to focus on the World Cup record after that, so that I don't have too much pressure on myself next season."–AFP

 Guard Group face Sherwood in polo final

LAHORE - Guard Group booked berth in the Polo in Pink 2017 main final against Sherwood which will take place today (Saturday) here at the Lahore Polo Club ground. Black Horse Paints will vie against Total Nutrition in the subsidiary final. On the fourth day of the Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital-sponsored Polo in Pink event, as many as six matches were played and Guard Group and Black Horse Paints emerged as winners and qualified for the main final and subsidiary final respectively. In the first two-chukker match played under American system, Guard Group defeated Jalpana by 5-4½ with Mian Iftikhar Hussain scoring three and Taimur Ali Malik two goals and then they outlasted Qatalpur 3-1 to qualify for the main final. Earlier, Jalpana beat Qatalpur 3-2½. On the other hand, three teams also vied for the spot in subsidiary final and Black Horse won both of their matches to earn that place. Newage routed Diamond Paints 5-3 in the first match but Black Horse Paints then outpaced Newage 5-2 and Diamond Paints also with same margin of 5-2 to set subsidiary final clash against Total Nutrition.–Staff Reporter

 RISJA general council meeting held

ISLAMABAD – Rawalpindi Islamabad Sports Journalists Association (RISJA) general council meeting was held here Friday which was convened by senior sports journalist Abdul Mohi Shah. RISJA unification committee headed by Mohi Shah with Shahryar Khan, M Faheem Anwar Khan, Aamir Bashir and Afzal Javed as other members presented detailed report and after long debate/suggestions, senior sports journalist Rizwan Joji was appointed election commissioner and he was given the right to select two other members of election committee which will announce the schedule of RISJA elections next week. The members congratulated Abdul Mohi Shah, Faheem Anwar and Shakeel Awan for receiving ‘life time achievement awards’ during the recently-concluded AIPSA Asia meeting in Islamabad.–Staff Reporter