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Leading 11-5 overnight he came out like a pumped-up heavyweight straining to get an early-round knockout

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Leading 11-5 overnight, he came out like a pumped-up heavyweight straining to get an early-round knockout. Equally, Bond fitted the image of the horizontal fighter.The opening frame of the day was representative of the match as a whole. "I missed two or three balls and I was punished every time," he said "One mistake and he destroys you. At the moment he is head and shoulders above the rest, particularly at The Crucible."Hendry and Bond belong to the same management group and, if there was a sentimental bone in the former's body, you might have expected him to ease up on someone he regards as a friend. I know there are very few players who can keep up with me over long matches."Bond could only concur.

Having prevailed last year with a broken arm, he was hardly likely to surrender his title with all his limbs intact. He duly clinched his fifth World Championship and his fourth in a row last night when he defeated Nigel Bond 18-9 at The Crucible. The only hope of an upset was if Hendry did not like the colour of the Ferrari promised to him by his sponsors if he won the title."It means everything to me to be world champion and world No 1," he said. "I wasn't playing well coming into the championships but every time I come here I'm charged up. Barcelona are 10 points adrift, with only seven matches remaining.. SNOOKER In retrospect, the turning point in the Embassy World Championship came when Stephen Hendry turned up with a clean bill of health. The result means Bremen will be under pressure to win next Sunday's showdown against the leaders, Borussia Dortmund, who beat Dresden 2-0 on Saturday.

Bremen have not now won an away match since 3 March.The gap at the top of the Spanish First Division widened even further yesterday, when Real Madrid recorded a 1-0 victory over Tenerife. Ivan Zamorano, the Chilean who leads the race for the Spanish equivalent of the Golden Boot with 27 goals, gave Real an eight-point lead over second- placed Deportivo La Corua. The result, clouding Feyenoord's news that they were poised to sign the Dutch international, Ronald Koeman, on a two-year contract, left the club in fifth place - 12 points behind the league leaders, Ajax.Roda JC Kerkrade's 2-1 victory over FC Groningen on Saturday narrowed Ajax's lead to four points, although the Amsterdam club still have a game in hand.In the German Bundesliga, Werder Bremen lost ground in the battle for the title by playing out a lacklustre 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt. Lazio struggled to break though Cagliari's rearguard, with Pierluigi Casiraghi and Roberto Rambaudi squandering gilt-edged chances.Not even the appearance midway through the second half of Gascoigne, clearly struggling to find a role in Lazio's three-man attack, managed to lift the game.Juventus maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the table with an impressive 4-1 win at Fiorentina on Saturday Their nearest challengers, Parma, beat Brescia 2-1. Both matches were brought forward 24 hours to give Juve and Parma an extra day's preparation before they continue their season-long rivalry in the first leg of the all-Italian Uefa Cup final on Wednesday.In the Netherlands, Feyenoord's hopes of securing a Uefa Cup place next season faded yesterday, when they lost 2-1 at RKC Waalwijk. Platt scored the opener after 52 minutes, but John Van't Schip cancelled Sampdoria's advantage before the Czech striker, Tomas Skuhravy, sealed victory with a 76th-minute penalty. The result lifts Genoa out of the bottom four, one point ahead of Cremonese, who forced a 0-0 draw at the San Siro against Internazionale, and two points clear of Foggia, held 2-2 in the Puglia derby with Bari.

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