GOLF
Rahman leads at Mauritius
Siddikur Rahman shot 69 to lead the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open after the third round on Saturday as overnight leader Andrew Dodt dropped seven shots on the back nine. Rahman was seven-under overall for a one-shot lead over Wang Jeung-hun at the Four Seasons Golf Club Mauritius at Anahita. Dodt appeared set to maintain the lead he held through the first two rounds of the cosanctioned European Tour-Asian Tour tournament, only for a terrible run to drop him four shots off Rahman’s pace. Dodt bogeyed No. 10, then went double bogey, bogey, double bogey, bogey on holes 13-16 to end with a five-over 77. He is three-under and tied with Nicolas Colsaerts for third. Rahman carded four birdies and a bogey, while Wang is seeking back-to-back titles after winning in Morocco last weekend.
BOXING
Lee Haskins defends title
Britain’s Lee Haskins on Saturday successfully defended his International Boxing Federation world bantamweight title with a unanimous points victory over Mexico’s Ivan Morales. Haskins’ superiority at the Cardiff Arena in the Welsh capital was reflected on the cards of the three judges, who scored it 119-108, 118-110, 118-110 in Haskins’ favor. Morales, eight years Haskins’ junior at the age of 24, lacked the punch power and know-how to record an upset, even if the Mexican continued to come forward until the final bell. Haskins was making his first title defense after being crowned champion in November last year when Randy Caballero was stripped of the title after coming in above the bantamweight limit.
RUGBY UNION
Injury benches Kurtley Beale
Wallabies utility back Kurtley Beale is to miss the three-Test series against England next month and at least part of the southern hemisphere’s The Rugby Championship as he spends up to six months on the sidelines recovering from a knee injury. The 27-year-old fell awkwardly seconds into the New South Wales Waratahs’ 31-8 win over the Bulls on Saturday and less than a day after confirming he had agreed to a lucrative deal to join English side Wasps. Apart from dashing his hopes of playing next month’s internationals, the injury could sideline Beale for the entire Rugby Championship, which starts against New Zealand on Aug. 20 and finishes against the same side on Oct. 22. Beale is also to miss the rest of the Waratahs’ Super Rugby campaign and almost certainly the start of his debut season for Coventry-based Wasps, which is to begin in September.
EQUESTRIAN
Rider killed at competition
Organizers said a 33-year-old rider died after she fell from her horse during an equestrian competition at the Horse Park of New Jersey in Allentown. NJ.com reports that Philippa Humphreys fell at a fence while competing in the Jersey Fresh International Three-Day Event on Saturday. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Humphreys’ horse, Rich N Famous, was not hurt. Event chairman Dan Wunderlich said in a statement that everyone involved with the competition was “deeply saddened by today’s tragic news.” Humphreys, a British citizen, had been living in Rockford, Michigan. The Jersey Fresh International is a qualifying selection event for the US Olympic Eventing Team. It also helps determine participants for the US and Canadian World Equestrian Games and Pan Am Games teams.
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