MOTOR RACING
Audi dominate Le Mans
Audi defended their Le Mans 24 Hours endurance title on Sunday, with Germany’s Andre Lotterer taking the checkered flag for the second year in a row in a first victory for a hybrid car. The dominant German manufacturer swept the podium in their 11th win in the past 13 years at the Sarthe circuit. They won last year with a diesel engine. “It’s really superb as when you come here for the first time you don’t know how the technology will work out,” Audi motorsport head Wolfgang Ullrich told reporters after the 80th edition of the race. The No. 1 diesel-hybrid R18 — shared by Lotterer, France’s Benoit Treluyer and Switzerland’s Marcel Faessler — led for most of the race and denied Denmark’s Tom Kristensen a ninth win in the No. 2 Audi.
TENNIS
Clijsters wins in return
Kim Clijsters made a winning return to action on Sunday, beating Switzerland’s Romina Oprandi 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the Unicef Open at ’s-Hertogenbosch grasscourt tournament in the Netherlands. Former world No. 1 Clijsters, who had not played since March because of a right hip injury, was the champion in this pre-Wimbledon event in 2003. She was beaten in the second round by Oprandi last year — a match in which she suffered a right ankle injury that forced her to miss that summer’s Wimbledon. “It was very close today,” Clijsters said. “Oprandi is a difficult player. Fortunately, I continued to fight and I stayed focused. The second and third sets went better and better.” The 28-year-old Belgian announced last month that she will retire after the US Open in September, but will play Wimbledon and the Olympics before bringing the curtain down on her career.
GOLF
Fichardt wins St Omer Open
South Africa’s Darren Fichardt captured his third European Tour title on Sunday when he won the St Omer Open in France by three shots. Fichardt had started the final round five shots clear and braved high winds on the final day to card a two-over par-73 to seal the victory at five-under. Gary Lockerbie, who signed for a 69, was three behind, with fellow Englishman Simon Wakefield, who bogeyed the last for a 72, four off the lead. Fichardt won the 2001 Sao Paulo Brazil Open and the 2003 Qatar Masters and played in the 2000 World Cup alongside fellow South African Retief Goosen, and he drew on his vast experience to see out victory on Sunday.
RUGBY UNION
Horwill out for season
Australia captain James Horwill is likely to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on the hamstring injury that forced him to miss the ongoing series against Wales, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said yesterday. The lock sustained the injury in what he described as a “freak” incident in his final Super Rugby match before the test window and specialists yesterday indicated the need for an operation, which will take place today. “While there is still some hope that Horwill may recover in time to feature on the ... spring tour in November, it is more likely that he will not be ready to return until next year,” an ARU news release said. Horwill took over from Rocky Elsom as Wallabies captain in a shock move before Australia’s departure for last year’s World Cup having led the Queensland Reds to their first Super Rugby title. His absence for the rest of the season means he will miss the inaugural Rugby Championship, which replaces the Tri-Nations from this year with the addition of Argentina.
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