■TENNIS
Mirza finds feet on grass
Indian star Sania Mirza got her grasscourt campaign off to a flying start by storming into the second round of the WTA tournament in Birmingham on Tuesday. Mirza, the world No. 98, dispatched Belarusian Tatiana Poutchek 6-1, 6-2 to set up a meeting with British No. 1 Anne Keothavong. The 25-year-old Keothavong, who in February became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1993 to break into the world’s top 50, beat Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2.
■RUGBY UNION
Duo to miss rest of tour
Ireland backrower Stephen Ferris and Wales’ Leigh Halfpenny will miss the rest of the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa because of injury. Ferris will be replaced by Wales captain Ryan Jones. Ferris was injured during training on Monday and a scan on Tuesday revealed he had torn a ligament in his right knee, sidelining him for up to six weeks. Jones will arrive in Cape Town today. Wing Halfpenny will also miss the remainder of the tour because of a thigh injury, team management announced yesterday. The 20-year-old only joined up with the tour last week after being left behind to recover from an injury to his thigh when the Lions left for South Africa on May 24. The winger strained his thigh taking kicks after training on Monday. “He had the scan on Tuesday morning that confirmed a presence of a further muscle injury to his right thigh, which will require three to four weeks of rehabilitation, which means he will miss the rest of the tour,” Lions coach Ian McGeechan said in a statement. He said that they would not be calling up a replacement.
■SOCCER
Guinea name Camara coach
Former Liverpool striker Titi Camara has replaced sacked Frenchman Robert Nouzaret as Guinea coach after the team lost to Ivory Coast in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday. “We have decided to stop working with Nouzaret after the recent poor results,” Guinean Sports Minister Fodeba Isto Keira said on Tuesday. “We have agreed that he will be paid three months salary rather than 20 months.” Guinea have lost their last two World Cup qualifiers. Nouzaret’s salary, reported to be around 23,000 euros (US$32,000) per month, had already drawn criticism from the head of the military junta that seized power in the impoverished West African nation last December. “It was becoming too expensive and the team wasn’t going anywhere,” the minister said. “We have taken this decision for Nouzaret’s own security. He no longer got on with the players or the supporters.” Camara, who played for Guinea at the 2004 African Nations Cup, had been technical director.
■RUGBY UNION
Wales great dies aged 92
Haydn Tanner, the former Wales and British Lions scrum-half, has died in his sleep aged 92, the Welsh Rugby Union announced on Tuesday. Tanner made his Test debut as an 18-year-old in Wales’ 13-12 victory over New Zealand in 1935 and went on to win 25 caps over the next 15 years, with his career interrupted by the Second World War. At the age of 21, Tanner was selected for the 1938 Lions tour of South Africa and featured in the second Test against the Springboks. Fellow Wales great Bleddyn Williams, who played with Tanner, said: “Among all the scrum halves I’ve seen and played with, he would reign supreme. And the rest of the rugby playing world had the same opinion as myself. He was a totally great player — one of the greatest. He was a schoolboy international from Swansea who grew into a master tactician.”
■ICE HOCKEY
Devils’ Sutter going home
Brent Sutter stepped down as coach of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils on Tuesday to focus on business and family interests at home in Canada. “It might not be the right decision for some people and that’s fine,” Sutter said in a conference call from his home in Red Deer, Alberta. “I don’t look at it like I am quitting on anything. I threw two years of my life and made a big commitment 3,000 miles away from where my life was and tried to do everything I possibly could to accomplish a goal,” he said. “So by me doing that my life has suffered in other areas, and those areas to me are bigger than the game.” Sutter, who spent two years with the Devils, said it wasn’t the team’s devastating loss to Carolina in Game Seven of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series that was the deciding factor. “It had to do with a lot of things back here in Red Deer,” he said. “The right thing was to step back and evaluate everything and go through the process that I had to go through and then my decision came down to what it is.” Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello declined to discuss possible replacements.
■BASKETBALL
Kings sign new coach: report
The Sacramento Kings have reached an agreement to hire Paul Westphal as their new head coach, the team announced on their Web site, www.nba.com/kings, on Tuesday. A former player and veteran coach, Westphal would receive a guaranteed two-year deal at US$1.5 million per season, with an option for a third year worth US$2 million, according to reports from the Sacramento Bee. Westphal previously coached the Phoenix Suns from 1992 to 1996, during which time he led the team to an NBA Finals appearance. He was also at the helm of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1998 to 2001. He will replace interim coach Kenny Natt, who combined with previously sacked coach Reggie Theus to lead the Kings to an NBA-low of 17 wins.
■BASKETBALL
Forwards stay with Heat
France’s Yakhouba Diawara and fellow forward Jermaine O’Neal have exercised their options to remain under contract with the Miami Heat for one more NBA season. Both players had contracts requiring them to “opt in” for the final season of the deal. O’Neal, who averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in the 2008-2009 season for Miami and Toronto, will make nearly US$23 million over the next campaign. French international Diawara, who started 21 games for Miami after joining the Heat last August, averaged 3.4 points per game. Diawara arrived in the NBA with Denver in 2006, after a five-month spell at Climamio Bologna in Italy. He previously played for Dijon in the French league.
■BASKETBALL
Sixers to acquire Kapono
The Philadelphia 76ers acquired perimeter shooter Jason Kapono from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for forward Reggie Evans on Tuesday. The trade will be finalized once both pass medicals, the 76ers said on their Web site, www.nba.com/sixers. “We are very excited to add one of the league’s most prolific three-point shooters in Jason Kapono,” Philadelphia general manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement. “We feel that this move addresses our goal of improving our shooting from the perimeter.” Kapono averaged 8.2 points per game this season and is a career 45.4 percent three-point shooter. He won the league’s three-point contest in 2007 and last year and is tied with Steve Kerr for the career best three-point shooting percentage in the NBA.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
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