CYCLING
Movistar win team time trial
Alejandro Valverde’s Movistar on Tuesday stormed to a surprise victory in the team time trial at the Volta a Catalunya, as Team Sky suffered a damaging off day. Overall leader Valverde’s teammate Jose Joaquin Rojas originally won the stage, but, after a rules breach was reported by rival team BMC, the rider was docked three minutes for pushing a member of the team back into line from behind earlier in the race. Spain’s Movistar had been far from favorites to win the tricky 41.3km stage, but beat US rider Tejay van Garderen’s BMC by a slender two seconds, while putting a punishing 46 seconds on Chris Froome’s Sky team. “We worked very hard and had planned it all, checking out the route, etc,” Valverde said after the race. “We put some important time into some key rivals,” he told Eurosport. Alberto Contador’s Trek team were left 1 minute, 13 seconds adrift, with the veteran climber telling cameras he was ready to attack with style in the next stage.
RUGBY UNION
O’Connor returns to training
Australia international James O’Connor, suspended by Toulon after he was arrested and fined in a cocaine bust in Paris, on Tuesday returned to training with the Top 14 rugby side. The 26-year-old, with his trademark peroxide blond hair, was spotted during the team’s training session at the club’s grounds in southern France. French police last month charged former All Black Ali Williams, who plays for rivals Racing 92, with buying cocaine and O’Connor with possession of the drug. Williams was also suspended by his club. The pair were arrested on Feb. 25 outside a nightclub near the Champs Elysees in possession of 2.4g of the substance. O’Connor was fined and Williams is due to appear in court charged with buying cocaine. The pair are to appear before a disciplinary commission of the French National Rugby League on April 12. The date was pushed back on Tuesday by two weeks at the request of the players. O’Connor, who can play wing or fullback, appeared 44 times for Australia between 2008 and 2013. He made his debut at 18, the second youngest Wallaby in Australian rugby history.
TENNIS
HK withdraw over security
Hong Kong have withdrawn from their Davis Cup tie against Pakistan in Islamabad next month citing security concerns, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Tuesday. The territory had previously challenged a decision by the Davis Cup committee for Pakistan to host the second-round tie from April 7 to April 9, but an independent tribunal ruled it should go ahead. “The ITF regrets and respectfully disagrees with the decision of Hong Kong, China, to default its upcoming Davis Cup tie against Pakistan,” the ITF said in a statement, adding that it takes “the security of all players, team personnel, officials and spectators very seriously.” Pakistan now advance to the Asia/Oceania Zone Group II third round, where they are to host the winner of the tie between the Philippines and Thailand. Pakistan last month welcomed the return of international tennis after a 12-year hiatus with a Group II tie against Iran in Islamabad. International sporting events are rarely held in Pakistan, which has fought a homegrown extremist insurgency for years, with foreign teams citing security fears ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.
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