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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Allenby plays through pain, wins Australian Open

Compiled from wire reports The Spokesman-Review

Robert Allenby played through a painful finger injury to win the Australian Open on Sunday, shooting a 5-over 77 in windy conditions to hold off Australian countrymen John Senden, Nick O’Hern and Paul Sheehan by a stroke in Fingal, Australia.

Allenby, also the 1994 winner, took a five-stroke lead into the final round, but considered withdrawing because of the nerve problem in his right middle finger. He withdrew from an event last week and said he couldn’t hold a club for days.

The four-time PGA Tour winner finished with a 4-under 284 total on the sun-baked Moonah Links course. He opened with a course-record 63 and added consecutive 72s.

SKIING

Miller falls, lands in 18th place

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the men’s season-opening super giant slalom for his first career World Cup victory, taking advantage of a big slip by Bode Miller in Lake Louise, Alberta.

Leading by .04 at the top interval, Miller fell on his right hip and skidded before recovering. The mistake left him in 18th place.

The 22-year-old Svindal sped down the men’s Olympic course in 1 minute, 26.04 seconds. Austrian Benjamin Raich finished second in 1:26.11, and American Daron Rahlves was third in 1:26.12.

Austrian star Hermann Maier, another top super-G skier, seemed to be having a good run until a very wide turn left him in 21st place.

“Mario Stecher of Austria won the first Nordic combined sprint event of the season in Kuusamo, Finland. Hannu Manninen, the reigning overall champion from Finland, had to start 30th after a mediocre jump, trailing the leader by 1 minute, 43 seconds. Manninen finished fourth.

“Ole Einar Bjorndalen won the 12.5-kilometer pursuit at a biathlon World Cup event despite missing three targets, beating Vincent Defrasne by 21.6 seconds in Ostersund, Sweden.

Olga Zaitseva of Russia won the women’s 10K in 32:27.2 with two misses.

“World champion Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won a World Cup 10-kilometer cross country freestyle race and Norway’s Tore Ruud Hofstad won the men’s 15K freestyle in Kuusamo, Finland.

skating

Russians sweep Grand Prix

World champions Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov won the ice-dancing gold at the Cup of Russia in St. Petersburg, completing a Russian sweep of the Grand Prix competition.

Their score of 102.81 for the free dance to music from “Carmen” was 15 points off their personal best, but included some impressive choreography.

Israel’s Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovski won silver, dancing to “Bolero.” Russia’s Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin won bronze.

Evgeni Plushenko won the men’s event on Saturday, beating world champion Stephane Lambiel and American skater Johnny Weir. World champion Irina Slutskaya took the women’s gold, followed by Japan’s Miki Ando and Yoshie Onda.

Russia’s world champion pair Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin won gold in their event.

“Shani Davis, Joey Cheek, and Casey FitzRandolph gave the U.S. speedskating team a medal sweep in a World Cup 1,000-meter race in West Allis, Wis.

Chiara Simionato of Italy won the women’s 1,000 in 1:15.60 to edge American Jennifer Rodriguez by .08.

Miscellany

U.S. women edge Canada

Chanda Gunn made 26 saves before stopping every Canadian attempt in a shootout, and the U.S. women’s hockey team snapped a six-game losing streak against Canada with a 2-1 victory in Columbus, Ohio.

The Americans and Canada have three more exhibition meetings before the Olympics, starting Thursday in Chicago. They’ll also meet on Dec. 30 in St. Paul, Minn., and in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on New Year’s Day.

“The curse of the Winter Olympics struck again, with heavy clouds over the birthplace of the ancient games frustrating efforts to light the flame for Turin using the sun’s rays in Ancient Olympia, Greece.

In a cypress tree-ringed clearing, Greek soap opera actress Theodora Siarkou handed the flame to the first in a chain of more than 10,500 torchbearers. The 8,300-mile relay through Greece and Italy – with forays into France, Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia – ends at the Turin Olympic Stadium for the Feb. 10 opening ceremony.

“Tatjana Huefner won the women’s singles at a luge World Cup event in Altenberg, Germany, extending Germany’s singles streak to 59 races.

The 22-year-old Huefner captured her first World Cup race in 1 minute, 46.591 seconds as Germany swept the top four places.

Racing on their home track, Germany’s Sebastian Schmidt and Andre Forker won their first men’s doubles race this season in 1:24.616.

Christian Oberstolz and Patric Gruber of Italy, the overall leaders, were second in 1:24.710.

“Andre Nascimento had 12 points to lead Brazil to a straight-sets win over Egypt at the men’s volleyball World Grand Champions Cup in Tokyo.

The United States defeated China 25-16, 25-21, 25-18 to finish second with a 4-1 record.