■GOLF
Four players lead after 64s
Irishman Padraig Harrington, fresh off a tie for 22nd place at last week’s US Open, fired seven birdies to grab a share of the lead at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut on Thursday. Briton Justin Rose went out with the late groups and had a run of five consecutive birdies on the back nine to join Harrington and two others atop the leaderboard. The only blemish on Harrington’s scorecard was a bogey at the par-four 14th en route to an opening round six-under 64 at the TPC River Highlands. Joining Harrington and Rose atop the leaderboard were Australia’s Matthew Goggin and South Korea’s Charlie Wi, each of whom carded bogey-free opening rounds.
■GOLF
Dredge, Whiteford lead
European Tour journeymen Bradley Dredge and Peter Whiteford upstaged some of the world’s top players to share the BMW International first-round lead at Eichenried in Germany on Thursday. The British pair fired eight-under 64s, chalking up one eagle and six birdies on unblemished cards, to leave the likes of Ernie Els, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer trailing. Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat, Argentine Ariel Canete, Jeppe Huldahl of Denmark and experienced Briton Phillip Price were in joint third place on 65. World No. 8 Casey was the best of the high profile players after a 68.
■SOFTBALL
US, Japan grab victories
Natasha Watley’s RBI single in the top of the seventh inning led the US to a 1-0 victory over China in both teams’ opener at the women’s world softball championship in Caracas on Thursday. Ashley Hansen scored the winning run from third. Winning pitcher Cat Osterman recorded a complete game for the US, with 11 strikeouts. In relief, losing pitcher Li Qui gave up only one hit in two-and-a-third innings, but suffered from errors by her defense. Also on Thursday, Japan won their second game in two days, defeating Taiwan 5-0.
■FORMULA ONE
USF1 team fined, barred
The USF1 Formula One team was fined and barred on Thursday from ever competing in Formula One for not taking part in this year’s world championship. The World Motor Sport Council said the US team had “infringed the FIA international sporting code [and] the sporting regulations of the 2010 FIA Formula One world championship.” The Council said it was fining the team US$382,000 plus legal costs and banned the team from taking part in “any competition.” USF1, whose primary investor is YouTube founder Chad Hurley, was granted an entry for this season, but withdrew in February because it was unable to develop its cars in time.
■FORMULA ONE
Alonso fastest in practice
Improvements to Ferrari’s car paid off as Fernando Alonso completed the fastest lap on the first day of practice ahead of tomorrow’s European Grand Prix. The Spanish driver posted a lap of 1 minute, 39.283 seconds in the second session on Friday at the 5.5km Valencia street circuit, as Ferrari’s vaunted aerodynamic improvements took effect. The Red Bull duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were second and third fastest respectively. Vettel was 0.056 seconds behind in the second session and Webber 0.144 seconds behind. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth-fastest, with teammate Jenson Button ninth. Earlier, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes set the pace in the first session with a lap of 1 minute, 41.175 seconds.
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