Spain’s former world rally champion Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally for the first time on Saturday after holding off a late challenge from Volkswagen teammate Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar.
Al-Attiyah had cut Sainz’s lead to two minutes 48 seconds after a penultimate stage that saw the two, free to race each other, collide in the heat of battle and exchange angry words.
The Qatari was again fastest in the final 206km stage from San Rafael to Buenos Aires but could not overhaul the double rally world champion, who had accused him on Friday of not playing fair.
PHOTO: EPA
Sainz, who had led from stage five, won with a lead of two minutes 12 seconds — equal to a mere 3.73km over 4,806km of racing.
“I won in Europe, in Spain and today in the Dakar,” he said. “I am really happy and relieved. It was a tough and daily fight against my teammate. I knew it would be like that.”
Al-Attiyah congratulated his teammate: “What matters is that Volkswagen won. He did his job, I tried to do mine. Next year I’ll win.”
France’s Guerlain Chicherit was third in a BMW, while NASCAR driver Robby Gordon of the US was eighth.
Frenchman Cyril Despres took his third Dakar crown in the motorcycle category on a KTM.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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