■TENNIS
Bets open on Federer twins
World No. 1 Roger Federer’s daughters are less than 48 hours old, but bookmakers on Friday had already posted odds on the twins winning Wimbledon. British bookies Ladbrokes were offering 100-1 for either Charlene Riva or Myla Rose to win the grasscourt title just a day after Federer’s wife, Mirka, 31, gave birth to the tots. The twins, whose Swiss father has won a record 15 grand slam titles, were also 25-1 to claim one of the four slams with all bets based on either doing so before their 25th birthdays. The girls, who were born at a private clinic in Switzerland on Thursday, are 50-1 to win a grand slam as part of the same doubles team and 200-1 to take the Wimbledon doubles crown.
■DIVING
Champs take gold again
Olympic champions Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia successfully defended their gold medal in women’s 3m synchronized diving at the world championships in Rome on Friday. Guo and Wu earned 348 points over five dives. Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape of Italy took silver with 329.70 points, and Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdniakova of Russia — the Olympic silver medalists — were third with 310.80. Guo also won the individual 3m springboard title Tuesday, and now has 10 world championship golds to go with her four Olympic victories.
■FORMULA ONE
War may be over soon
Formula One’s civil war could be nearing an end after FIA said on Friday the document that Agoverns auto racing’s premier sport could be signed by next week. F1’s governing body said its World Motor Sports Council had received the new Concorde Agreement, which would come into force “on receipt of confirmation that a satisfactory cost-reduction agreement is in place.” All 13 teams registered for next season’s championship negotiated the document, FIA said in the statement. “I think that we are very, very close to reaching a solution,” Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said.
■RUGBY UNION
Nude pictures removed
Alleged nude photographs of All Blacks rugby star Dan Carter were pulled from an Internet auction site on Friday within hours of being offered for sale, apparently a hoax. A vendor using the login PerpignanPatty offered 11 pictures of the New Zealand flyhalf. Carter played for the Perpignan club during the last French season before suffering a serious Achilles tendon injury. The pictures were said to include a “raunchy at-home striptease” and the vendor claimed they would have the New Zealand Rugby Union “squirming.” They were posted on the Trademe Web site at 7pm on Friday and removed by Web site staff less than three hours later. A Trademe spokesman said PerpignanPatty had broken Web site rules by using more than one account. He said there was also no evidence the pictures existed and the auction was likely a hoax.
■GOLF
John Panton dies aged 92
British golfer John Panton, who was the oldest surviving Ryder Cup player, has died at the age of 92. Scotsman Panton represented Great Britain and Ireland in the competition on three occasions, in 1951, 1953 and 1961. He also won the British Match Play Championship in 1956 and finished fifth in the Open Championship in the same year. European Tour board of directors chairman Neil Coles said on the European Tour Web site: “He was the last of that generation.”
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and