■ Golf
Leonard out of British Open
Former champion Justin Leonard has pulled out of next week's British Open at Hoylake. The 34-year-old American decided to withdraw because of the imminent birth of his third child, the R&A organizers said in a statement issued on Saturday. His place in the field will be taken by Britain's Simon Khan, the next non-exempt player in the world rankings. Leonard won the British Open at Royal Troon nine years ago. The third major of the season starts on Thursday.
■ Boxing
Diaz defends WBA title
Juan Diaz successfully defended his WBA lightweight title on Saturday, methodically stopping Randy Suico of the Philippines in the ninth round. Diaz (30-0, 15 KOs), making his fifth title defense on the undercard of Shane Mosley's rematch with Fernando Vargas, moved adeptly and distributed patient punishment in just his third fight since January last year. The Texas native had a nine-month layoff caused by injuries and business problems before his unanimous victory over Jose Miguel Cotto in April. Referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight after the last of the "Baby Bull's" countless combinations to Suico's head. "Suico was very tough," Diaz said. "He came to take my title, and he was very strong. He came out punching from the opening bell."
■ Basketball
Bryant likely to miss worlds
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers had minor surgery on his right knee on Saturday and is unlikely to be available for the US team at next month's World Basketball Championship, USA Basketball confirmed on Saturday. Bryant is still expected to attend part of the American team's training camp in Las Vegas and travel with the US squad to exhibitions in Asia and the world event, which will be held from Aug. 19 to Sept. 3 in Japan. USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo issued a statement on Saturday saying the recovery period Bryant faces from the surgery makes it "highly unlikely" he will be able to play in the world tournament.
■ Soccer
Deportivo take Estoyanoff
Deportivo Coruna have taken Valencia's Uruguay midfielder Fabian Estoyanoff on loan for next season, the Primera Liga club said on Saturday. "Our primary objective is get into Europe next season. I can't promise to score lots of goals but I will give the team my full commitment," Estoyanoff told a news conference. The 23-year-old, who signed a five-year contract with Valencia last year but played on loan with Cadiz last season, could make the move permanent at the end of next season. Estoyanoff has been capped 23 times by Uruguay and is the seventh recruit in coach Joaquin Caparros's restructuring of the Deportivo squad.
■ Tennis
Injury forces Davenport out
Three-time grand slam champion Lindsay Davenport on Saturday withdrew from the Bank of the West Classic with a back injury. Davenport's chronic bad back will keep her out of the event which will be held on the Stanford University campus beginning July 24. Sidelined since mid-March with a back injury, Davenport has won the US$600,000 event three times, most recently two years ago. She will be replaced in the draw by Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine. The hardcourt tournament is one of a handful of West Coast events that the California native uses to tune-up for the US Open, which starts on Aug. 28.
■ Athletics
Chambers suffers injury blow
Dwain Chambers's hopes of capping his return from a drugs ban by making the British team for the European Championships suffered a blow on Saturday when injury forced him out of the trials. The 28-year-old Chambers picked up a quadracep injury which forced him to withdraw from the 100m final in Manchester and could jeopardize his chances of making the tournament in Gothenburg next month. In his absence Marlon Devonish won in 10.19secs ahead of Tyrone Edgar (10.23 secs) with Mark Lewis-Francis (10.28) third. Devonish and Edgar earned automatic selection for the team. The British selectors, who have the option of nominating the third 100m sprinter, will decide whether to include Lewis-Francis or hand a reprieve to Chambers.
■ Boxing
Castillejo takes WBA title
Spain's Javier Castillejo stopped Germany's Felix Sturm in the 10th round to gain the WBA middleweight title on Saturday. Sturm, making his first defense, was headed to a one-sided win until Castillejo caught him with a left hook against the ropes with 13 seconds left in the round. Castillejo, a former WBC junior middleweight champ, then hit Sturm with three uppercuts before the referee called the fight. Sturm (27-2, 11 knockouts) was taken to the hospital with a suspected broken jaw, according to the ring doctor. He said it may have happened in the second round when the German was also knocked down. From the fourth round on, Sturm won every round by sniping from the outside, and appeared to be coasting to victory against Castillejo (61-6, 41 knockouts). But Sturm paid it for in the 10th when he elected to go toe-to-toe with the 38-year-old Spaniard.
■ Boxing
Ponce De Leon defends title
Daniel Ponce De Leon of Mexico kept his WBO junior featherweight title on Saturday with a stunning first-round knockout of Sod Looknongyangtoy. Ponce De Leon's right-left combination in the opening minute left the Thai fighter motionless and face-down on the canvas. In the final bout before the rematch of Mosley's 10-round victory over Vargas, Ponce De Leon made incredibly quick work of Sod in a rematch of Ponce De Leon's tough 12-round decision last October. When Sod dropped his right hand, Ponce De Leon landed a left that rendered the Thai fighter unconscious 52 seconds into the fight.
■ Soccer
Long way back: Juve coach
Juventus's new coach Didier Deschamps said on Saturday it would be "almost impossible" for the team to return to Italy's elite Serie A within a year after being demoted for match fixing. A sports tribunal on Friday relegated Italy's most successful club to Serie B with minus 30 points, a penalty Juventus is expected to appeal against.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier