ll coverage of selectll coverage of select | Forum

Mitchell Mann grew up with the dream of playing football at Wembley but will settle for snooker at the Crucible after earning a World Championship debut. Dale Hawerchuk Sabres Jersey . The Birmingham-based 24-year-old locked in his place at the tournament with a nail-biting 10-9 win over Thai showman Dechawat Poomjaeng on Wednesday, in the final qualifying round at Ponds Forge.Now he awaits Thursdays first-round draw, when along with the likes of fellow qualifiers Ding Junhui, Peter Ebdon, Ali Carter and Graeme Dott, he will be paired with a top-16 seed. At the age of eight, he was diagnosed with Perthes disease - a condition that rots the hip bone - and had to give up footballing ambitions.But Mann found a passion for snooker thanks to dad Jeff, and the biggest win of his career secures a minimum £13,000 in prize-money, and a return to the venue where in 2007 he won Junior Pot Black.I used to play football when I was a kid and signed for Birmingham City - although Im a Villa fan, Mann said.I had some pains in my leg one day and we went to the hospital and had X-rays and they said it was growing pains. The pain never went away so we looked into it further and found out it was Perthes disease and Ive had to have numerous operations on my hip, and they told me I could never do high-impact sports again.When I was bored in the house one night, my dad took me to a local snooker club and Ive never looked back. I dont really follow the football much anymore - when you support Aston Villa, you dont want to be following that. Peter Ebdon has also qualified for this years tournament Mann will be the only debutant at this years World Championships and is relishing the opportunity of playing on snookers biggest stage.You cant argue, it is snookers Wembley. It doesnt get much bigger than the Crucible, so Im looking forward to it, he said.Im buzzing inside. I think I was always going to do some sort of sport and Im glad its snooker now with this kind of feeling.My dad has remortgaged his house about five times to keep me going. Also See: Photos Bet ￡5 Get ￡20 free Get Sky Sports Jake McCabe Jersey . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Thomas Vanek Sabres Jersey . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in. http:///...gilny-sabres-jersey/ . -- Arizona knocked off some quality opponents, rolled over a few overmatched ones and grinded out victories even when things didnt go so well.Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Seven-time champion Roger Federer was a shocking second-round loser on a bizarre Wednesday at Wimbledon. Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked 116th in the world, stunned the third- seeded former world No. 1 star and reigning titlist in four sets, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), on the famed Centre Court at the All England Club. The stunner came just two days after 135th-ranked Belgian Steve Darcis shocked two-time Wimbledon champ and reigning French Open king Rafael Nadal on the hallowed lawns. Displaying some classic serve-and-volley tennis, Stakhovsky baffled Federer for most of the match and dazzled the Swiss icon with some outstanding shot- making on Day 3. Stakhovsky ultimately converted on his second match point when the 31-year-old Federer misfired wide on one final backhand. The 27-year-old Stakhovsky had been 0-20 in his previous matches against top-10 players. He was a first-round loser in his last four Grand Slam events prior to this fortnight. Federers record streak of reaching 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals came to an end. This was his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since a first-round loss at the 2003 French Open. The amazing Federer hadnt lost to a player outside the top 100 since 2005 (Richard Gasquet) and this was the earliest exit by a defending champion at Wimbledon since Lleyton Hewitt lost in the opening round in 2003. The 17-time Grand Slam king Federer beat Andy Murray in last years Wimbledon finale to tie Pete Sampras for the most mens titles here in the Open Era. Meanwhile, the heavy British crowd favorite Murray eased into the third round, while no less than five men succumbed to injuries on Day 3, including sixth-seeded French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The second-seeded Murray managed to avoid the Day-3 carnage with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 handling of overmatched Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu on Court 1. Murray was last years Wimbledon runner-up to Federer and then beat the Swiss great in last years Olympic gold-medal match here at the AEC. The British star is the reigning U.S. Open champ and was this years Australian Open runner-up to current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The 26-year-old Murray is trying to give Britain its first mens Wimbledon singles champion in 77 years. The former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga, who reached Wimbledon semifinals each of the last two years, was trailing capable Latvian Ernests Gulbis 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 when he quit because of an apparent knee issue on an injury-filled Wednesday. Meanwhile, 10th-seeded recent Queens Club grass-court runner-up Marin Cilic was scheduled to meet Frenchman Kenny De Schepper, but decided against playing due to a left knee injury, while 6-foot-10 18th-seeded American John Isner was battling Frenchman Adrian Mannarino when he retired at 1-1 in the first set, also citing a left knee injury. "I would say (its a) very black day," Cilic said of all the injury withdrawals. "The other days, other weeks, there were no pullouts. Everything just happenned today. Dominik Hasek Sabres Jersey. " Isner hurt his knee early in his match against Mannarino, took an injury timeout and called it quits after two games. The towering American, of course, is best known at the All England Club for playing the longest match in tennis history three years ago with a five-set marathon in the first round against Nicolas Mahut. The 11-hour, 5-minute epic took three days to complete because of rain and darkness, ending with a 70-68 score in the final set. Fifteenth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro steered clear of any problems by holding off Frenchman Guillaume Rufin 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-4. Also pulling out were the other giant-killer Darcis and Czech veteran Radek Stepanek. Darcis posted one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history on Monday when he shocked Nadal in straight sets. But he was unable to face Polands Lukasz Kubot because of a right shoulder injury on Wednesday. "Had to withdrawn after a win like this!?THE most difficult thing i had to do!!!#triedeverythingtoplaybutdidntwork!!!!" Darcis wrote on his Twitter account. Stepanek was losing to 6-foot-8, 24th-seeded Pole Jerzy Janowicz 6-2, 5-3 when he retired from their match due to a thigh injury. Veteran 20th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny overcame promising Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-4; 22nd-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco came back to beat American Rajeev Ram 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2; rising 25th- seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire subdued fellow countryman Stephane Robert 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco erased 31st-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4; and 32nd-seeded former top-10 Spaniard Tommy Robredo bested the aforementioned Mahut 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, 7-6 (7-5). Also on Wednesday, Serb Viktor Troicki topped Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, Austrian southpaw Jurgen Melzer downed German Julian Reister 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, and German Dustin Brown doused the 2002 Wimbledon champ and former world No. 1 Hewitt 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2. "I cried like a little girl," Brown said after beating the two-time major champion Hewitt. The second round is scheduled to conclude on Thursday, including a match for the reigning Aussie Open champion and 2011 Wimbledon titlist Djokovic, who will take on American journeyman Bobby Reynolds. Other top-10 seeds on the Day-4 slate are No. 4 French Open runner-up David Ferrer, No. 7 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych, No. 8 former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro, and No. 9 Frenchman Richard Gasquet. Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Jesse Levine of Ottawa won their first-round matches earlier this week. Raonic next faces Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, while Levine battles Argentinian Juan Martin del Potro. Levines match can be seen live on TSN.ca on Friday morning at approximetly 8am et/5am pt. Watch exclusive bonus online coverage throughout the competition on TSN.ca, including full coverage of select matches not being televised. ' ' ' atch can be seen live on TSN.ca on Friday morning at approximetly 8am et/5am pt. Watch exclusive bonus online coverage throughout the competition on TSN.ca, including full coverage of select matches not being televised. ' ' '