F1 Motor racing-Alonso holds off Vettel in Singapore

SINGAPORE, Sept 26 - Ferrari's Fernando Alonso held off Sebastian Vettel's hard-charging Red Bull to win an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and boost his chances of a third Formula One crown.

Championship leader Mark Webber finished third in the second Red Bull to increase his lead from five to 11 points in the standings with four races remaining.

The Australian again rode his luck, emerging unscathed from a collision with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton that forced his title rival to retire.

Webber has 202 points. Alonso moved up to second overall on 191 after successive wins in Monza and Singapore, and Hamilton lies a further nine points adrift in third place.

Vettel sits one point further back and world champion Jenson Button, who finished fourth, rounds out the top five on 177 points. A mere 25 points, the amount awarded for a victory, separates the top five.

"It really was tough. With the safety car problems and the people we were lapping, especially at the end, it was difficult," Alonso told reporters.

"We know how difficult it is to overtake here so I was just not taking any risks."

Alonso won the scandal-tainted inaugural Singapore race for Renault in 2008 after his Brazilian team mate Nelson Piquet crashed deliberately to bring out the safety car and help the Spaniard win.

The safety car was again deployed this time but Alonso, starting aggressively from pole position, drove a brilliant race to hold off Vettel for 61 laps around the floodlit Marina Bay circuit.

After a gruelling, two-hour street fight and an almighty last-lap tussle, the double champion crossed the line 0.2 seconds ahead of the German who had started alongside him on the front row.

HARDEST RACE

"It was very difficult...we knew that, we knew physically it is the hardest race on the circuit perhaps, driving in this humidity for two hours," Alonso said of a race that finished just before the two-hour maximum time limit.

"This win means a lot...to keep the fight in the championship. It seems we can be competitive on any track. So let's see in the remaining races and Forza Ferrari."

Vettel felt he lost the race at the beginning but was still happy with his night's work.

"In the beginning, I had to let him go a little bit. I tried to push him as far as I could into a mistake; he didn't do one and as he said it is too difficult and too risky to overtake so we settle for second," the German said.

"The good news is the car is quick. In the end it is good to get good points for the team. Everything is still open."

Webber, starting the race in fifth place, was the biggest winner of the day after gambling on an early pit stop during the first safety car period after three laps and working his way through the field for a well-earned podium.

"I got caught up a bit, Lewis got a big run on me. There was contact and it's not something you want to do all the time," Webber said of his collision with Hamilton.

"I am very happy with third place here today...the toughest weekend of the year for me."

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Athlete in Delhi gets nasty shock

Snake in room adds to C'weath Games woes

NEW DELHI – Two more Australian athletes withdrew Sunday and a South African competitor reportedly found a snake in his room as complaints over cleanliness, security and construction continued to dog the troubled Commonwealth Games a week before the sporting event opens in New Delhi.

While international sports officials have said the situation had improved dramatically in the athletes' village over the past couple days _ after inspections last week turned up rooms spattered with chewing tobacco and human excrement _ some teams said the situation remained grim.

Tuelo Serufho, head of the Botswana contingent, told Press Trust of India that his team's rooms in the village were "unlivable for our athletes," with filthy bedsheets, bathroom fixtures that did not work and construction debris yet to be cleared away.

"Our athletes will be here by Tuesday," he said, warning they would have to check into hotels if the rooms were not ready by then.

The multi-sport games, held every four years, bring together nearly 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories from across the former British empire. The games were meant to be a coming-out party for India to cement its reputation as a growing regional power. Instead, its image has been battered by negative publicity about its frantic last-minute efforts to get ready for an event it knew it was hosting seven years ago. The games open Oct. 3.

Last week, a pedestrian bridge leading to the main stadium collapsed, and adding to the organizers' woes earlier, two tourists were shot and wounded outside one of New Delhi's top attractions.

That led to talk of postponing or canceling the games. But those discussions dissipated after the government poured enormous resources into addressing the problems, particularly with the long-overdue athletes' village. The village opened as scheduled on Thursday although some teams delayed their arrival because of concerns that the accommodation was not yet ready.

Among the problems to surface this weekend: a snake found in the room of a South African athlete in the village.

"We have very grave concerns," South African High Commissioner Harris Mbulelo told the Press Trust of India news agency. "If snakes are found we can't ask our teams to stay there."

It was not immediately clear if the snake was poisonous. The athletes' village is built on the banks of the Yamuna River, which is swollen from monsoon rains. Heavy rains often force snakes into residential areas.

Complaints also came from Indian competitors.

Boxer Akhil Kumar, who won gold for India in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, said he was disappointed with his accommodation. "When I sat down on my bed to take a rest, it collapsed," Kumar was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.

On Sunday, Australian cyclist Travis Meyer and table tennis player Stephanie Sang announced they would pull out of the competition _ following a string of other athletes who have decided to stay away, either because of health and security concerns or injuries.

Australian Commonwealth Games chief Perry Crosswhite said he was disappointed with the withdrawals, but respected the athletes' decisions.

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