VAL D'ISERE, France (AP): American skier Lindsey Vonn won her first downhill race of the season at Val d'Isere on Saturday to close the gap on overall World Cup leader Maria Riesch.

Vonn, the three-time defending World Cup champion and reigning Olympic downhill champion, had finished second behind her German rival in both downhills at Lake Louise two weeks ago.

Despite a small wobble near the top section of the 2.8-kilometer (1.7-mile) Oreiller-Killy course, Vonn finished in a provisional time of 1 minute, 51.42 seconds.

Swiss pair Nadja Kamer and Lara Gut were second and third respectively.

Vonn was .001 down on Kamer at the second time split, but picked up speed on the second part of the course to beat her by .68 seconds, and the 19-year-old Gut by .80.

Riesch started poorly in soft conditions and kept losing more time to Vonn, finishing 2.28 seconds adrift in a lowly 24th place.

Vonn's win moves her top of the downhill standings ahead of Riesch.

The clear blue skies and bright sunshine were a stark contrast to Friday's weather when the super-G race - already postponed last weekend at the Swiss resort of St. Moritz - was called off again because of heavy snowfall and almost no visibility.

Elisabeth Goergl of Austria finished in fourth place on Saturday, with French veteran Ingrid Jacquemod tied for fifth with Italy's Johanna Schnarf, who was the first to start.

Riesch's run, meanwhile, went from bad to worse.

She was 1.09 behind Vonn on the first time split, then 1.10 and 1.95.

Moments after crossing the line, Riesch looked startled, shrugged her shoulders and then bowed her head.

Andrea Dettling was one of the first down on Saturday and crashed near the top section, flying sideways into the netting.

But the Swiss skier got back up on her feet after a few seconds without any assistance and appeared unharmed.

KUALA LUMPUR: Defending overall champions Tenaga Nasional scored a goal in each half to beat fancied Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) 2-0 to retain the Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) Charity Shield at the Tun Razak Stadium here last night.

National defender Mohd Amin Rahim converted a penalty corner in the 33rd minute and pint-sized 18-year-old Faiz Helmi Jali scored a field goal in the 69th minute.

In the season-opener last year, Tenaga defeated Sapura 4-3 in a penalty shootout after both teams failed to score in the regulation and extra time.

Tenaga coach Nor Saiful Zaini was delighted that his boys took their chances well to down KLHC.

"My boys did well playing in heavy conditions caused by rain since late afternoon. It was a good start for us, earning full points as well in our opening match (in the Premier League," he said.

KLHC coach K. Dharmaraj was disappointed over the performance of the forwards.

"We also failed to make use of three penalty corners we earned the match. Our game was also affected by rain," he said.

KLHC had seven internationals in their ranks but failed to make an impact in the match.

And Tenaga took the lead off their second penalty corner with Amin sounding the board with a low flick.

Tenaga, who are most successful team in the MHL with a total of 12 titles, earned two more penalty corners in the 49th and 50th minute but Amin, who is country's top penalty corner flicker, failed to make them count.

KLHC pushed their forwards in search for the equalising goal but goalkeeper S. Kumar kept them at bay.

Tenaga sealed the match in the 69th minute when Faiz received a through pass from national forward Faizal Saari before slamming the ball past goalkeeper Khairulnizam Ibrahim.