Sports Round-Up: Grönholm wins, Hirvonen second in Turkish rally

Tiia Piili

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Marcus Grönholm of Finland won the WRC Rally Turkey on Sunday by a clear margin.
      Grönholm's Finnish teammate Mikko Hirvonen helped to secure a 1-2 finish for Ford. Hirvonen came in 2:23.4 behind Grönholm, while Norwegian Henning Solberg (Peugeot) in third finished three minutes and six seconds behind the winner. Another Finn, Kosti Katajamäki, driving a works Ford, collected his best-ever WRC placing by coming home in 5th place.
     
With his fifth win of the season, Grönholm reduced the lead of Frenchman Sebastien Loeb in the championship table to 25 points.
      Loeb's participation in the remaining three races of the season is still unclear. He is currently out of action because of a broken arm sustained in a mountain biking accident.
      The next WRC race will take place in Australia in two weeks' time. Loeb's involvement is in some doubt, but latest reports suggest he has filed an official entry for the Rally of New Zealand in mid-November.
      In any event, Grönholm will have to keep winning to overhaul his Citroen rival, but the eighteen points picked up by the Ford team on Sunday have lifted them to the top of the WRC manufacturers' table.
     
     
On two wheels, Mika Kallio's third place in the Portuguese GP was enough to secure the Finnish KTM Red Bull rider his second World Championship silver in the MotoGP 125cc class.
      The winner in Portugal was once again none other than the Spaniard Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia), whose phenomenal consistency already secured him this year's title some time ago.
      "I am happy with this season. Though one race still remains, I have already managed to rustle up more points than in the entire season last year. I came here to secure the World Championship silver and that I did", Kallio enthused after the race.
      Kallio's World Championship silver became reality when his worst rival Italy's Mattia Pasini crashed out in Sunday's race. The difference in points between the two is now 57.
      Second place on the podium in Portugal went to the Spanish Aprilia rider Hector Faubel.
     
     
Jarkko Nieminen, Finland's tennis #1, played his second ATP final of the year at the Stockholm Open over the weekend, but came out the loser in his encounter with 2nd seed James Blake of the United States, who successfully defended his 2005 title.
      Nieminen, who was seeded 5th, went down quite tamely in the end, losing to the in-form Blake in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Blake is ranked 6th in the world and has won five tournaments this year, including the Bangkok Open just a week ago, in which he disposed of Nieminen at the quarter-final stage.
     
The Finnish left-hander was hoping to make amends for another final defeat in Stockholm, dating back to 2001, when he was a qualifier (in only his second ever ATP event) and lost in the final to Sjeng Schalken of Holland.
      On his way to the final this time around he removed the Swedish hope Joachim Johansson in the semis, after Johansson - who is returning from a long injury layoff - had caused the upset of the tournament by dumping out top seed and world No.2 Rafael Nadal.
      The place in the final earned Nieminen EUR 56,500 and enough points to propel him a little way up the ATP entry list rankings announced today, Monday. Nieminen will go into the EUR 2,000,000 Madrid Masters event this week at No.16 in the world, but such is the strength of the Madrid field that he will be unseeded. He plays Richard Gasquet of France in the opening round.
     
     
In football, the Finnish championship race looks likely to go right down to the wire this season. With two rounds of matches left in the Veikkaus League schedule, Tampere United hold a slender one-point lead over HJK Helsinki, but the two teams must meet in the last match.
      Tampere could more or less have wrapped things up on Sunday with a win away to KooTeePee of Kotka. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, they went down 1-0 to a late goal from Ilja Venäläinen that also ensured struggling KooTeePee will be in the top echelon next season. Matters are still in Tampere United's hands, but HJK will now be fancying their chances.
      The Helsinki club piled on the pressure with a 4-0 drubbing of Jaro from Pietarsaari, who dropped to the bottom spot in the league as a consequence. If they stay there, it will mean relegation.
     
Third-placed Honka of Espoo kept alive their wafer-thin chance of grabbing the title with a 3-1 victory in Lahti. Honka, who have 41 points to Tampere United's 45, must win both their remaining games - including a home fixture with in-form HJK - and then hope that Tampere United lose at home to FC Lahti and that the top two clubs draw when they play in Helsinki on October 29th. This is probably a tall order.
      Haka from Valkeakoski also have an outside mathematical chance of grabbing the title. They have 38 points but a game in hand, away to Inter of Turku tonight. In order to finish top they will have to win that game and the next two, and then cross their fingers that a clutch of other results go their way.
     
The First Division title and automatic promotion to the Veikkaus League has been settled, with honours going to Viikingit (Vikings) from the Helsinki suburb of Vuosaari. They are four points clear with just one round of matches still to be played.
      The other promotion spot (the team concerned will play off against the 12th-placed team from the Veikkaus League) will be decided by the outcome of the match in Oulu between AC Oulu and Atlantis of Vantaa. A draw would see Oulu home, and Atlantis must win to leapfrog above them.
     
     
Finally, Finland's Tiia Piili snatched her fourth World Championship title in Sports Aerobics on Saturday. Piili took the victory in the World Championships event organised by the FISAF Federation and held in Rotterdam, Holland.
      "This victory I will definitely rank in the top three, possibly even as number one", rejoiced Piili, whose previous championship titles came in 2001, 2004, and 2005.
      "There was only one minor technical hitch in my performance. I am extremely satisfied", Piili went on.
      Piili performed her routine to Finnish band Nightwish's Wishmaster.
     
Finland's success in Holland was consolidated by Rita Niemi, who came in third in Piili's category, and by Jouni Viitanen, who achieved the same in the men's event.
      The silver medal in women's Sports Aerobics went to Australia's Sandi Carmichael. Men's Sports Aerobics winner was Jan Pochobradsky of the Czech Republic, followed by his countryman Petr Jansky, who secured the silver medal ahead of Viitanen. Two other Finns, Juuso Väisänen and Tero Haapasalmi, came in fourth and sixth in the men's event.


Links:
  World Rally Championship
  MotoGP
  ATP Tennis
  FISAF

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