GOLF
Rose leads by one stroke
Briton Justin Rose birdied five of his first seven holes and capped a 65 with a birdie at the last to claim a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the Transitions Championship on Saturday. Rose, who surged up the leaderboard with a 30 on the back nine and an overall 65 on Friday, trickled in a downhill five-footer at the 18th to finish his bogey-free round for a 54-hole total of 13-under-par 200. Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe, who shot 66, and American Webb Simpson, who registered his third successive 67, were tied for second on 201 on a another ideal day for scoring at the Copperhead course. A further stroke back on 11-under were Americans Gary Woodland (67) and Scott Stallings, who had a hole-in-one at the 214-yard, par-three eighth hole, and two other birdies on par-threes to post 66.
GOLF
Jacquelin on top at Sicilian
France’s Raphael Jacquelin shot a third-round 69 to climb to the top of the leaderboard at the Sicilian Open in Donnafugata, Italy, on Saturday. Jacquelin, with a nine-under-par total of 213, leads going into the final round by one shot from overnight pace--setter Anthony Wall, who carded a one-over-par 72 to add to his opening rounds of 66 and 67. British duo Jamie Elson and Phillip Price are tied for third, two shots off the pace. Jacquelin is seeking his third European Tour win after success in Madrid in 2005 and the co-sanctioned Asian Open in 2007. Well off the pace heading into yesterday was Ryder Cup-winning captain Colin Montgomerie, who had started the day only four-under, but failed to maintain his challenge with a 71. However, the Scot was happy enough with his effort after falling victim to flu.
CYCLING
Goss takes Milan-San Remo
Matt Goss of Australia captured the opening one-day classic of the season by winning an eight-man sprint in the Milan-San Remo race on Saturday. The HTC-Highroad cyclist finished the 298km race in 6 hours, 51 minutes, 10 seconds, beating Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert. “I really didn’t expect to win,” Goss said. “I just did what I needed to do. I managed to stay in front and even though I was without teammates, I managed myself well.” The eight-rider group was formed with 2km to go after Cancellara had chased down Greg Van Avermaet of Belgium. “I was here to win, the team rode really well and I tried to finish that off, but I didn’t succeed,” Cancellara said.
MOTOGP
Stoner grabs Qatar pole
Australian Casey Stoner clinched the first pole position of the MotoGP season in Qatar on Saturday after dominating all three practice sessions on his Honda. Chasing his fourth win in Qatar in five years, Stoner chalked up his 27th career pole with a lap of 1 minute, 54.137 seconds, 0.205 seconds quicker than Spanish teammate Dani Pedrosa in second place. Yamaha’s Spanish world champion Jorge Lorenzo took the third and final front row slot, 0.810 seconds slower than the pole time. Italian Marco Simoncelli was fourth on a Honda, ahead of Yamaha’s American Ben Spies and Spain’s Hector Barbera on a Ducati. Cal Crutchlow, the former world superbike rider who is the sole Briton in the top category, will line up an impressive eighth for his MotoGP debut, despite a finger injury. Italy’s seven-time champion Valentino Rossi qualified a distant ninth for what will be his first race with Ducati. Rossi, Lorenzo’s Yamaha teammate last year, is still struggling from a shoulder injury that has hampered his pre-season testing.
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