■FORMULA ONE
Vettel sets the pace
Sebastian Vettel set the pace in practice for the Canadian Grand Prix on Friday with a fastest lap of 1 minute, 16.877 seconds, showing Red Bull has more than enough speed to extend its season-opening pole streak to eight. Vettel edged Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso by 0.086 seconds in the second 90-minute practice session at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was third, 0.274 seconds back. Michael Schumacher, driving for Mercedes GP, was ninth in the second session with a time of 1 minute, 17.688 seconds.
■GOLF
Westwood, Willis lead
Britain’s Lee Westwood overcame a slow start in gusting winds with birdies on the last three holes to grab a share of the lead with Garrett Willis of the US in the St Jude Classic second round on Friday. The English world No. 3, a stroke ahead of the field overnight after opening with a superb seven-under 63, had slipped back into the pack after covering the first 15 holes in one-over. However, Westwood ended his round with a triple flourish to fire a two-under 68 and join Willis (65) at the top with a nine-under total of 131.
■GOLF
Thomas Bjorn back on form
Thomas Bjorn continued his return to form when he took a share of the lead at the halfway stage of the Portuguese Open on Friday. A second-round, seven-under 65 allowed the Dane to race to 12-under 132 alongside Spain’s Carlos Del Moral. Del Moral had set the target by firing a 65 in the morning. The pair led by two strokes from Britons Robert Coles (66) and Steve Webster (67) and Irishman Damien McGrane (70).
■IVORY COAST
Drogba back in training
Didier Drogba joined his Ivory Coast teammates for practice on Friday, but remains in doubt for the team’s opening World Cup match against Portugal because of his broken arm. The captain wore a protective cast and kept his right arm still as he worked on his ball skills and fitness. Drogba was hurt in a friendly against Japan the previous Friday and had surgery a day later. “We can’t risk any contact at this point,” Eriksson said at the team’s headquarters in Vanderbijlpark. “He feels better and better.” Eriksson conceded that Drogba’s absence in Tuesday’s opening Group G encounter in Port Elizabeth would be a big loss to the team, but that he was working on “a B plan and a C plan as well.” Eriksson said the team had “to be prepared for the worst” if Drogba can’t play, but that the playing system would be “more or less the same.”
■NETHERLANDS
Arjen Robben flies in
Dutch winger Arjen Robben arrived in South Africa yesterday, desperate to feature in his country’s opening World Cup clash with Denmark despite carrying a thigh injury. However, coach Bert van Marwijk insists he will ignore all the optimistic talk surrounding the Bayern Munich flier and will not be hurried into a decision over whether the player will feature in tomorrow’s game. “Arjen leaves the Netherlands tonight and will arrive in Johannesburg on Saturday,” van Marwijk said. On whether or not he will play, the coach said: “You will see on Monday. I’m told that all is well with him, that he has recovered, but I want to wait and see him with my own eyes.”
■ITALY
Italy win practice match
World champions Italy beat local team the Guateng All Stars 6-0 in a practice match at their Southdowns College training base on Friday. Coach Marcello Lippi gave his clearest indication yet of what his World Cup starting 11 and formation will be as he played what seemed to be his top side for an hour in a 4-3-3 system. Only Andrea Pirlo, who has a calf strain, and Daniele De Rossi, suffering a minor calf complaint and left out for precautionary reasons, did not take part. Lippi played what seemed a first choice defense, with Gianluca Zambrotta and Domenico Criscito flanking captain Fabio Cannavaro and Giorgio Chiellini in the center ahead of Gianluigi Buffon. With two first choice midfielders out, veteran Gennaro Gattuso joined Riccardo Montolivo and Claudio Marchisio in midfield, with Vincenzo Iaquinta and Simone Pepe either side of Alberto Gilardino up front.
■AUSTRALIA
Travolta meets Socceroos
Hollywood actor John Travolta flew to South Africa in his own jet to boost the Australian team on Friday ahead of their opening World Cup match against Germany. The 56-year-old star of popular movies Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction is in South Africa for five days with his his pregnant wife, Kelly Preston, and their daughter, Ella. Travolta, a qualified pilot, landed his own Qantas-branded 707 aircraft at Lanseria Airport, north west of Johannesburg, early on Friday, before visiting the Socceroos’ base camp to meet with the players. Travolta’s connection with the Australian team stems back to the previous World Cup when as an ambassador for team sponsor Qantas, he flew a jumbo jet into Sydney to see Australia qualify against Uruguay.
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