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■ CYCLING

Renshaw wins first stage

Australian sprint specialist Mark Renshaw won yesterday's opening stage of the six-stage Tour Down Under, the season-opening event of the ProTour international cycling series. Renshaw, who rides for the Credit Agricole team, emerged from a bunch sprint to win the 129km stage from the northern Adelaide suburb of Mawson Lakes to the Barossa Valley town of Angaston. Caisse D'Epargne sprinter Jose Rojas Gil of Spain was second and Australian Graeme Brown of the Rabobank team third. A three-man break went clear just after 40km and led by 6 minutes and 50 seconds at about the halfway mark. But the peloton steadily came back into the race and caught the trio with about 5km to go. Renshaw said it was "really special" to win his first stage of a ProTour event in Australia.



■ OLYMPICS

More smoke-free rooms

Beijing is working to increase the number of smoke-free hotel rooms available in the capital in time for this year's Olympic Games. In a proposal by the municipal government, the proportion of smoke-free rooms in hotels will be raised to 70 percent, according to a notice on the Web site of the city's legislative affairs office yesterday. The anti-smoking initiative is the latest development as Beijing officials move to keep fans from lighting up when the Olympics open on Aug. 8. Legislation already exists that bans smoking in public places, but enforcement is uneven. Smoking indoors is very common in China. Smoking should be banned indoors and outdoors in schools, sport and fitness centers, cultural protected areas, cinemas and other public places, the notice said.



■ SOCCER

Fiji players fined, banned

Eight members of Fiji's Olympic soccer team have been fined and banned from representing the country for five years after leaving a training camp to go on a drinking spree. Fiji Football Association president Muhammad Shamsu Dean Sahu Khan said the players would be fined between 10,000 Fijian dollars (US$6,400) and F$18,000 and banned for leaving the camp at Lautoka without authority. Sahu Khan said the incident occurred on Jan. 12 while the players were in camp with the national team. "Our academy rule is no kava, no alcohol and no smoking in the academy area," he said. "Eight players jumped the fence at 10.30pm and went away. They went and had drinks the whole night and came back to the academy 4:45 on Sunday morning. They will not be considered for any national commitments for the next five years."



■ SOCCER

Al-Hilal defeat United

Bader al-Kharashi scored with an overhead kick in the 73rd minute on Monday to give Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal a 3-2 friendly victory over England's Manchester United in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Owen Hargreaves missed an equalizing penalty attempt in injury time, giving the host club a victory in its tribute match for former Saudi Arabian national team hero Sami al-Jabar before a capacity crowd of 80,000 at King Fahd Stadium. United used several regulars for the game, with a starting lineup that included goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Hargreaves and Wayne Rooney were inserted at halftime. Al-Jabar, who retired from international soccer in June 2006 and from Al-Hilal a year later, scored in the 40th minute.
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