VAL DISERE, France -- Mathieu Faivre led a fierce French challenge on first-run leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria to win a giant slalom Sunday for his first World Cup victory.Faivre secured the fastest second run to beat Hirscher, the five-time defending World Cup overall winner and a Val dIsere specialist, by 0.49 seconds.France placed four racers in the top five, roared on by a noisy crowd that sang the French anthem -- La Marseillaise -- when an emotional Faivre stood on the top step of the podium.Faivre had 0.01 seconds to make up from the first leg, and the 24-year-old racers debut victory denied Hirscher a fifth GS win on this course since 2009.France team leader Alexis Pinturault was third, 1.11 behind the winner. Teammates Thomas Fanara and Victor Muffat-Jeandet placed fourth and fifth.Hirscher has now lost to two Frenchmen in defense of his seasonlong giant slalom trophy after being runner-up to Pinturault in the season-opening race at Soelden, Austria.Faivre, a former world junior champion, has had three podium finishes in World Cup giant slalom in 2016, and Pinturault was alongside him each time.In what has become the France teams top event, its streak of placing at least one racer in the top three of mens giant slalom now extends to 14 World Cup races since March 2015.France got its only Alpine skiing medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games in mens GS, when Steve Missillier and Pinturault took silver and bronze behind Olympic champion Ted Ligety.Ligety led a five-strong United States challenge Sunday in 11th, 2.63 back. He had been the only racer other than Hirscher to win a Val dIsere GS in recent years.In his return to racing amid a dispute with Norways ski federation, Henrik Kristoffersen was eighth, trailing by 2.38.Kristoffersen, the World Cup slalom winner last season, skipped a slalom at Levi, Finland, last month to protest being blocked from wearing the helmet of a personal sponsor. The dispute is due in court.Hirscher restored some Austrian pride after the teams embarrassing showing in downhill Saturday, when the traditional Alpine power placed no one in the top 15.He now leads the overall standings after just five races of the season. Kjetil Jansrud of Norway had been tied with Hirscher atop the overall standings but did not finish the first run Sunday after winning the downhill and super-G this weekend.Frances strong showing Sunday was fair reward for Val dIsere stepping in to host the three-race meeting at short notice. It was cancelled at Beaver Creek, Colorado, because of a lack of snow and warm temperatures.The mens circuit stays in Val dIsere next weekend when the highlight of two regularly scheduled races is a giant slalom Saturday. Cheap Air Max 720 Australia . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. Cheap Wholesale Air Max 720 . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. http://www.cheapairmax720australia.com/ . - Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie never doubted he would bring back coach Dennis Allen for a third year despite back-to-back 4-12 records. Air Max 720 Australia Wholesale . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Air Max 720 Australia Sale .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. What was the secret of your success at Lords? I thank Allah for what I achieved. It was a dream come true. My aim was to contain the batsmen and support our fast bowlers. I bowled my first three or four overs tightly, without conceding many runs, and bowling the ball in the same area. But when I realised I was getting help from the wicket - some balls were going straight on and others were turning - I decided to attack. Luckily I was successful.Your first experience of bowling in a Test in England - what was it like? Im used to bowling in Asia, and you have to be patient there and bowl with great heart. The wickets are slow. You need to push the ball through. Ive played here for a few years in league cricket, and I learnt that the wickets are a little quicker and the ball naturally bounces more. That means you need to bowl a little slower here. So I prepared for these wickets, and I think that brought me success.In UAE, the wickets are slow. Batsmen have time to play even a fullish ball on the back foot. You need to bowl with a little more power and speed so that the batsman doesnt have time to go back, or so that the ball can skid on. If a batsman does go back to a full ball, youve got a chance of the ball skidding on and you can get him bowled or lbw. You need to bowl with a little more zip. Its different here - the wickets are faster and greener. Legspin bowling is different on these wickets because you need to bowl with more flight and with loop. Youre more successful that way.Practice is very important for a legspinner. You need to practise every day and thats how you get control. Also, you need a repeatable action. If your action doesnt fall away, you bowl in the same area, contain the batsman and make life more difficult for him.You seemed to be more dangerous from the Pavilion end at Lords. When I saw the wicket, and the slope from the Pavilion end, I tried to bowl in the same area. I thought if I bowl ten overs in the same place, Ill pick up at least a couple of wickets. Thats what I tried, and thankfully I ended up with many more wickets.Did the slope help you? The effect of the slope was that when the ball lands on the shiny side it goes down the hill, and when it lands on the seam it turns. It puts the batsman in two minds - he doesnt know if its going to land on the shiny side or on the seam. Thats why the batsman ends up confused as to whether to play for a legbreak or a ball that goes down the hill.Shane Warne said hed sent you some advice before Lords. Yes, we do stay in touch on Twitter, Messenger and Whatsapp. We were in touch before the Lords match, and he said he wouldnt be there for most of it, but he arrived the day after I took five wickets. Hed been asking me how my bowling is going, how I was coping with the Dukes ball. I said its harder with the Dukes ball but our camp in Southampton helped me a lot.The camp helped with my fitness, but I also got accustomed to the pitches. I worked first on my grip, since the Dukes ball is a little more slippery than a Kookaburra. Its the first time Ive played a Test match with a Dukes. Did Warne give you any specific advice about bowling at Lords? No, there was nothing specific but when we met in Sharjah during the England series he did give me advice, including about how to use the crease. I tried to do as he said and its been very helpful to me, especially in English conditions.Hes always been my favourite bowler ever since I was a little boy. When I played my first Test match I took four wickets against Australia, and he tweeted about me. When I went to the press conference, the first question was: Shane Warne has tweeted about you, what do you think? I was quite surprised. What? Hes tweeted about me? Shane Warne is talking about me? I couldnt imagine that would happen. It was like a dream come true to be praised by your favourite bowler. We stayed in touch after that.You also played your part with the bat at Lords. How did you come to be promoted up the order? I was No. 10 in the first innings but we sent in Rahat Ali as a nightwatchman. That moved me down to No. 11. In the second innings Misbah just told me I was going in earlier, and I said fine. But my whole effort was to allow my partner to play on. I wanted to fight until the final ball. If the captain needs me to bat in any position, Im ready.Youve arrived on the international scene quite late. I made my first class debut in 2003. I played a couple of first-class matches and then I didnt play for three years. I played Grade 2 club cricket instead. The reason was that when I played first-class cricket, my bowling wasnt what I thought it should be for a first-class bowler. It wasnt properly first-class standard. Thats why I played Grade 2. I was 16 years old and I wanted to improve my bowling and my performance.After that I played first-class cricket for Customs, and I think I took 34 wickets in five matches. In 2011 I played against Zimbabwe when Waqar Younis was the coach. I took two wickets in a one-day match, and I also played T20s.I saw the standard of international cricket and I started working harder. I was out of the team and my plan was that when I returned, Id be a regular player and a major player. That was my ambition and it made me put in more effort.How did you start out in cricket? When I started to go to games in the sixth grade at school, I was very small and I was only allowed to field.dddddddddddd I loved watching Jonty Rhodes at the time, and Id dive everywhere. Thats why they got me to field. Then I started to bowl in the nets. When I bowled my first ball it dont reach the other end of the net, so I started bowling from halfway down. From there, I worked and gradually improved.I was supported a great deal by my cousin in every way, including financially. When he moved to Bradford in 2002, he started to send me videos of Shane Warne bowling.What was your experience of playing league cricket in England like? From 2009 to 2012 I played league cricket in Middlesborough. It was quite an experience. In my first game, a crowd gathered to watch the new club professional. It was very cold. Id just arrived from Pakistan two days earlier. The first ball bounced twice. I thought, okay, my hands are cold, it happens. The next ball did the same thing. The third ball did that too. The next one was a wide. My hands were cold, the ball was different, and theyd asked me to bowl the first over in the match. All the English people watching were laughing. But thankfully, after that I bowled a couple of decent overs and then took five wickets. Once my balls started landing, that was it.Would you say your career was helped by Saeed Ajmals ban? Yes, but I was very sorry we lost Saeed Ajmal. He was our leading spin bowler and he was a big player for us. Whenever a player of that calibre is ruled out, the team is weakened. We really felt his loss, even though I was playing. Also, if wed played together he could have helped me. But I still got lots of support from the other seniors like Hafeez, Misbah, Younis and Waqar. Waqar motivated me a great deal.You took 50 Test wickets fairly quickly. Was there anything in particular that you did? There was a camp before my debut series against Australia, and we worked hard on my action. Mushtaq Ahmed worked with me and told me I needed a repeatable action. He said, If you keep bowling in the same area in a Test match youll pick up a lot of wickets. He motivated me and worked very hard on my action in the nets.I also have a great desire to perform well for Pakistan in every match. I make a separate plan for each game, and I play every match like its my last one. You cant take it easy. Cricket is such a game that you can be knocked down at any point. Its a game you have to respect.How successful are your variations? My legbreak is working fine but I try to learn something new every day. Im working on my topspinner but my googly is improving and Im starting to land it more consistently. I used to avoid bowling a googly in a match and it was hard with my action, but Ive worked on it and its improved. All the variations are important for a legspinner, so you can bowl a ball when you want and a batsman will then find you hard to hit.This is your first Test back after a ban. Was it hard being out of the team? I felt miserable. You blame yourself for what happened, and for when things go wrong with the team. I watched the World T20 match against India and it was a spinners wicket. R Ashwin bowled the first ball and it turned alarmingly. I felt so bad that I couldnt sleep all night. I was blaming myself, but you learn from these mistakes.Can you believe what has happened to you? A couple of years ago you were almost unknown and suddenly youre being acclaimed as the best spin bowler in the world. Ive worked hard, and Ive been blessed. Ill keep working hard, and do my best to perform for Pakistan. It might seem sudden but behind this is the result of 12 or more years of effort. If Id lost heart whenever I lost my place, I wouldnt have got anywhere. Whenever there was a disappointment I decided to work harder and perform better. I hope the performances continue to improve and help Pakistan. If I think theres something wrong with my performance, I try to work on my mistakes and weaknesses. Even in my home, in Swabi, I make a video of my practice sessions to watch my action, my arm and wrist positions. Our local coach, Maqsood Ali, has done his Level 2 coaching and hes a great help to me.Ive been helped by Mushy. Shane Warne, too. Ive been to Abdul Qadirs academy in Lahore several times. Whenever theres a problem, he lets me know what it is and offers his advice.Waqar Younis helped me while he was coach. Mickey Arthur is excellent and I have a good understanding with him because we worked together in the PSL. He gives me advice on how to plan for different situations and helps me understand my role in the team. Before a match, all the bowlers sit together and watch videos of the batsmen we will face and assess their strong and weak points. We try to develop a plan for each batsman. England have plenty of good players, especially Cook and Root, and we try not to bowl to their strengths and focus on their weak areas.What are your ambitions? To keep playing and to remain fit. To keep performing as well as I can. However long I play, I want to play for Pakistans pride and help Pakistan win. Im very happy my name is on the honours board at Lords, and Im confident we can keep performing well and keep winning in England. ' ' '