India’s Himmat Rai stole the limelight by taking the second-round clubhouse lead at the Iskandar Johor Open yesterday with tournament marquee name K.J. Choi hot on his heels.
The young Indian, who only had 30 minutes to rest after completing his first round, where he also took the first-round lead, was in superb form as he posted a five-under-par 67 for a two-day total of 131 at the Asian Tour tournament.
Choi and one-time winner Darren Beck of Australia are a further stroke back after the duo posted matching 64s for a 132 total at the Royal Johor Country Club.
PHOTO: AFP
Taiwan’s Chang Tse-peng continued his impressive form as he stayed in touch with the clubhouse leader on 133. Lin Wen-tang shot 71 for a 138 total, while Chen Yuan-chi (75) and Lien Lu-sen (67) were both at 140.
Bad weather continued to affect play, leaving officials no choice but to reduce the tournament to a 54-hole stroke play tournament. Round two will resume this morning as 24 players have yet to complete their second round.
Additional reporting by staff writer
■CASTELLON MASTERS
REUTERS, CASTELLON, SPAIN
Martin Kaymer announced his return from a go-karting injury by joining Sergio Garcia on top of the Castellon Masters first-round leaderboard yesterday.
The 24-year-old German carded an eight-under-par 63 in his first tournament back from nine weeks out of action after breaking two toes in a karting accident.
Kaymer, who is still limping from the injury, played six holes of a round disrupted by high winds on Thursday. He holed a 40-foot putt to join tournament host and defending champion Garcia in a one-shot lead. Garcia had set the target the previous day.
Australian Robert Allenby, who came to Spain to ensure he qualifies for the European Tour’s Dubai World Championship, was one stroke off the lead overnight with seven holes to play and stayed the same. He shares third place with Swede Michael Jonzon, who finished his round on Thursday.
■FRYS.COM OPEN
AFP, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
Australian Nick O’Hern rolled in six straight birdies on the back nine en route to a seven-under 63 for a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Frys.com Open on Thursday.
Bob Heintz and Heath Slocum both shot 64 and are tied for second place.
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