■GOLF
Accenture drops Tiger
Consulting firm Accenture announced on Sunday it was ending its six-year sponsorship of Tiger Woods, as a series of companies took a step back in their support of the world’s top golfer. The billionaire athlete, once a ubiquitous figure with priceless advertising value, has seen his squeaky clean image tarnished by a string of alleged affairs with a porn star, cocktail waitress and other women, raising concerns of sponsors pulling away from golf. “For the past six years, Accenture and Tiger Woods have had a very successful sponsorship arrangement and his achievements on the golf course have been a powerful metaphor for business success in Accenture’s advertising,” the technology, management and outsourcing consultancy said in a statement.
■EQUESTRIAN
Vision d’Etat takes top prize
Sacred Kingdom has won the US$1.5 million Hong Kong Sprint by a half-length over One World, while Good Ba Ba won the US$2 million Hong Kong Mile for the third year in a row and Vision d’Etat won the richest race of the day at Sha Tin Racecourse, the US$2.58 million Hong Kong Cup. In winning the Sprint for the second time in three years on Sunday, Sacred Kingdom topped a 14-horse field that included Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner California Flag, who finished fifth. The first four finishers were trained in Hong Kong. Vision D’Etat overcame a skin infection and swept past Collection in the final yards to win the Hong Kong Cup. Good Ba Ba’s patented finishing kick allowed the horse to run down Happy Zero for a half-length win in the Mile.
■FORMULA ONE
Lotus takes Trulli, Kovalainen
Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen will race for Lotus when the Malaysian-backed Formula One team returns to the starting grid next season. Malaysian Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek told a news conference yesterday that Trulli and Kovalainen, who was replaced by F1 champion Jenson Button at McLaren, would drive for the team next season. Both have signed three-year contracts, said Lotus boss Tony Fernandes, the airline mogul backing the team. He declined to provide financial details.
■SWIMMING
Trickett retires at 24
Triple Olympic champion Libby Trickett retired from competitive swimming at the age of 24 yesterday, giving up her chance of competing at the 2012 London Games. The Australian’s retirement had been signalled after she took a break from training following this year’s world championships in Rome, where she failed to win a gold medal. “I sincerely believe I left at a great point for me,” Trickett told reporters in Sydney. “I don’t feel like I was getting slower and don’t feel like I was getting any less competitive at all. “I’m retiring on my own terms. I’m not being forced to.”
■SPEEDSKATING
Davis claims second title
Shani Davis claimed his second title in three days, winning the 1,000m in the final long-track speedskating World Cup before the Vancouver Olympics. The American skated the distance in one minute, 6.67 seconds on Sunday at the Utah Olympic Oval, again beating rival Chad Hedrick, who was fifth. Davis won the 1,500m on Friday, lowering his own world record. He also owns the world mark in the 1,000m, but didn’t come close to breaking it on the final day of competition. Davis clinched Olympic berths in the 500m, 1,000m, 1,500m and 5,000m.
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
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