D Tuesday, October 6, 2009 METROSPORT 21 SPORTDigest Raikkonen: I will quit if Im not fighting for drivers title FORMULA ONE: Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen has revealed he may quit Formula One if he can not find a competitive car for next season. Raikkonen, who won the world title with Ferrari in 2007, will leave the Italian marque after the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi to make way for Fernando Alonso. The Finn (pictured) has been linked with a return to McLaren but insists he will only remain in F1 if he can find a car that allows him to fight for the title next year. If I want to race, I want to have a car that is ready there next year to win the championship, Raikkonen told Autosport. I have no interest to drive around just in tenth place. I get nothing from that. I would rather stay home and do something else. If I cannot have the proper team, with a proper winning car, then I will think about it [quitting]. GOLF: Matt Kuchar won the Turning Stone Championship on the sixth hole of a sudden-death playoff yesterday after fellow American Vaughn Taylor hit his tee shot at the par-four 13th into the water. Kuchar (pictured) made par on the 439-yard hole, while Taylor took a double-bogey, to win a $1.08million (730,000) top prize and his first tour title since his maiden victory at the 2002 Honda Classic. Kuchar and Taylor, who tied on 17 under par through 72 holes of regulation, played two sudden-death holes on Sunday before failing light forced a suspension of play. Its hard to believe its been since 2002, 31-year-old Kuchar said about getting back in the winners circle. TENNIS: Dinara Safina looks set to lose her world No.1 ranking after a shock defeat by wild card Shuai Zhang in the second round of the China Open yesterday. The Russian (pictured) has held the top spot since April despite failing to win a grand- slam title, provoking fierce criticism of the rankings system. Serena Williams, who has won two of the four major titles this season, has made her feelings known but she is now set to overtake her rival if she wins her second-round match today. Top seed Safina had her chances against Shuai, ranked 226th in the world, particularly when squandering a set point in the second set, before going down 7-5, 7-6. Third seed Venus Williams also crashed out, beaten by Russian teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the second tournament in a row. Kuchar claims second victory Stuttering Safina set to lose No.1 rank after another exit Leinster determined to deliver strong defenceBy GAreTH MAKIM They say the only thing more diffi- cult than winning a title is defending it, but Leinster are relishing the chal- lenge of repeating their heineken Cup success in next Mays final in Paris. The european champions step out at the RDS this Friday against London Irish on a high after their 30-0 demo- lition of Munster last weekend with the high-flying Guinness Premiership side set to provide another stiff test, but captain Leo Cullen claims expec- tation within the camp is building. I think everyone is excited about the new challenge, Cullen said. London Irish are a team in really good form at the moment, playing a really attacking brand of rugby, scor- ing a lot of tries and theyre probably the form team in the Premiership. Its been a bit disjointed with fellas coming back at different stages. Now everyone is back and really excited about the next couple of weeks. Leinster would be the first team since Leicester eight years ago to de- fend the trophy and Cullen revealed the squad are determined to prove their success was no fluke. We might have had [the tag of] under-achievers in the past. Now that tag is gone, theres a different pres- sure in the group. It comes more from within, from the players. even at the end of last season, we talked about not being a once-off team. The squad are hungry to move on and be successful, but its obviously a very, very tough competition to win and the standard gets better every year. So its going to be a massive challenge. Cullen will come eye-to-eye with a familiar face on Friday in the form of exiles lock Bob Casey, who was Cul- lens room-mate at school. We go back quite far we used to share a room together in school, when we were both boarders in Blackrock, Cullen said. Ive known Bob for a long, long time and was actually away with him on holidays during the sum- mer, so... weve gotten to know each other pretty well! Casey came out on the winning side when London Irish won a preseason friendlybetweenthesidesthatshowed Cullen just how good the visitors are. I think we saw just how dangerous they are, he added. Theyve a lot of powerful runners and are physically very strong, and theyve been on an upward curve over the past couple of years. Theyre a re- ally well-coached team and are going to be a real handful. Hats all folks: From left, Captains Paul OConnell (Munster) Paddy Wallace (Ulster) and Leo Cullen (Leinster) at yesterdays Heineken Cup launch in St Stephens Green in Dublin Picture: Sportsfile rugby HeIneKen CUP Munster captain Paul OConnell insists there will little need to deliver a rousing speech to his team- mates ahead of saturdays trip to northampton as the province bid to bounce back from last weekends humiliating 30-0 defeat by Leinster. OConnells second-row partner Donncha OCallaghan admitted Munster were embarrassed at the rDs and the twice european champions will be looking to reassert their credentials on a tricky trip to Franklins Gardens. I dont think it will take much from me to motivate the guys this week, said OConnell yesterday. Its Heineken Cup. It was obviously disappointing at the weekend so there probably wont be a lot for me to do this week. If we dont bounce back from a performance like that or produce something after a performance like that well be facing a very long year, so I think we should be well motivated for this weeks game. A lot of our problems were mindset and attitude problems. Wed be in trouble if it needed me or some of the senior players to sort that [attitude] out. the guys know that being beaten 30-0 by Leinster means a shift in mindset is needed. I dont think that will have a lot to do with me, guys will be looking at themselves this week and making sure that we all produce a performance. Munster will have all their Lions available for selection for the first time after OConnell, Jerry Flannery and David Wallace made their seasonal debuts as substitutes last time out, but coach tony McGahan must wait until this evenings hearing before learning whether prop John Hayes will face a suspension for his red card. Hearing: Hayes No shortage of motivation in Munster DavID huMPhReyS believes ulster are back on the right track after six miserable seasons in the heineken Cup. The former Ireland outside half captained ulster to glory against Colomiers at the old Lansdowne Road back in 1999 but is now the operations director at Ravenhill and has witnessed the provinces failure to win more than half their pool matches during any of the last six campaigns. But after an encouraging start to the Magners League, humphreys believes a return to the days when Ravenhill was a european fortress will be key to success in a pool that includes Stade Franais, edinburgh and Bath. The english side visit Belfast on Friday, and humphreys said: We have drawn a difficult group but we are really looking forward to the tournament and playing Stade Franais who we seem to draw virtually every year edinburgh and Bath. We know teams dont like coming to Ravenhill on a wet and windy Friday night and playing in front of a full house. It is a difficult place to play and we have to try and make Ravenhill what it was when we didnt lose at home for a number of seasons. at the same time, we also have to try and produce performances away from home and come up with the results when the pressure comes on. Ulster fighting for a change in fortunes index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html