■ TABLE TENNIS
Wang in drunken furor
World No. 1 Wang Hao assaulted a security guard on Thursday in a drunken row that has caused a scandal in his native China, the Beijing News reported on Saturday. The 24-year-old Olympic gold medalist kicked a parking attendant who surprised him as he urinated in the Chinese capital, the daily said, quoting a witness. Another Beijing daily, Fazhi Wanbao, quoted the parking attendant as saying Wang Hao “smelled like he’d fallen into a barrel,” and ran off shouting: “I’m the world champion.” Wang Hao, who last month won the World Cup table tennis championships in Belgium, apologized to his victim after being taken to a local police station.
■ RALLYING
Loeb victorious in Corsica
French Citroen driver Sebastien Loeb, who is chasing a fifth consecutive world crown, won the Rally of Corsica yesterday, the 13th circuit in the 15-race World Rally Championship calendar. Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen and Belgium’s Francois Duval, both driving a Ford Focus, finished second and third respectively. Loeb’s record-setting 46th career win was also his fourth consecutive victory in the Rally of Corsica, nicknamed the “rally of 10,000 corners” for its testing course. It was also the Frenchman’s fifth victory in a row, having already triumphed in the Rallies of Finland, Germany and New Zealand in August and the Rally of Catalonia this month.
■ BOXING
Dawson takes IBF title
Chad Dawson remained unbeaten and captured the International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight title on Saturday with a unanimous 12-round decision over Antonio Tarver. Dawson improved to 27-0 with 17 wins inside the distance, the younger challenger displaying more speed and power than the 39-year-old champion, who fell to 27-5 with 19 wins inside the distance. Dawson, who knocked down Tarver in the 12th round, claimed his second world title, having given up his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight belt in July after three successful defenses. Two of the ringside judges scored the bout 117-110, while a third saw it 118-109 for Dawson.
■ IRONMAN
Aussie triumphs in Hawaii
Australian Craig Alexander won the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on Saturday, improving on his runner-up finish in last year’s edition of the grueling event. Alexander triumphed in 8 hours, 17 minutes, 45 seconds for the 3.8km ocean swim, 180km cycle road race and 42.2km run. “I can’t believe it. It was a hard race,” said Alexander, who was in 11th place at the end of the cycle race and took the lead half-way through the closing marathon run. Spain’s Eneko Llanos Burguera was second and Belgium’s Rutger Beke was third. Alexander became the third Australian man to win the prestigious title, after McCormack and Greg Welch in 1994. Chrissie Wellington of Britain won her second straight women’s title in 9 hours, 6 minutes, 23 seconds.
■ ATHLETICS
Fekadu wins in Melbourne
Asnake Fekadu of Ethiopia won the men’s race and Mai Tagami of Japan the women’s event at the Melbourne Marathon yesterday. Fekadu finished the men’s race in 2 hours, 17 minutes. Josphat Mwangi of Kenya, also the runner-up last year, was second, and Yared Mekonnen of Ethiopia third. Tagami won the women’s race in 2 hours, 38 minutes. Australians Michelle Bleakley and Jenny Wickham were second and third, respectively.
■ BASKETBALL
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