Fri, Oct 28, 2016 page16

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Staff writer, with agencies
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  GOLF

  Karlberg takes one-shot lead

  Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg yesterday made his World Golf Championships (WGC) debut with an eight-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over the US’ Rickie Fowler in the HSBC Champions. One year after Scotland’s Russell Knox won in his first WGC at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, Karlberg took an impressive first step. The Swede was nine-under through 16 holes on a soggy course before scrambling for par on the 17th and then taking his lone bogey on the par-five 18th when he drove into a fairway bunker. Fowler attacked the par-fives in his first round since the Ryder Cup. Knox, the US’ Daniel Berger and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama were at 66. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and the US’ Dustin Johnson never got anything going. McIlroy had a 71, while Johnson struggled to hit fairways and made only one birdie in a 74.

  DOPING

  Kazakhs stripped of medals

  Three Kazakh weightlifters have been stripped of the gold medals they won at the 2012 London Olympics after failing doping tests in the re-analysis of samples, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday. They are Zulfiya Chinshanlo in the women’s 53kg category, Maiya Maneza in the women’s 63kg and Svetlana Podobedova, who competed in the 75kg event. They were among eight athletes disqualified from the Games yesterday as part of the IOC’s retesting of samples. The other five athletes were Belarussian weightlifters Marina Shkermankova, Dzina Sazanavets and Yauheni Zharnasek, and Russian pole vaulter Dmitry Starodubtsev and hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov. All eight tested positive for turinabol or stanozolo, anabolic steroids that boost performances or speed up recovery from injury.

  GOLF

  Yang in front in Malaysia

  South Korea’s Amy Yang yesterday shot an eight-under 63 for a two-stroke lead over the US’ Marina Alex at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. The US’ Michelle Wie had her best score in more than a year, while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko had to fight to get back to even-par in her first tournament since firing her caddie. Wie opened with a 66, breaking 70 for only the fourth time in 68 rounds this year. Winless in 57 tournaments since the 2014 US Women’s Open, she is coming off a season-best 10th-place tie last week in China in the Blue Bay LPGA. The top-ranked Ko birdied the par-five 18th for a 71. She had a double-bogey on the par-four second. Koahsiung-born Candie Kung fired a one-under 70 and Yani Tseng carded an even-par 71.

  HORSE RACING

  Rake gaffe prompts refund

  Hong Kong bookies had to return US$16 million in bets when a garden rake jammed starting barriers at the Happy Valley racecourse, causing what is thought to be the territory’s first ever no-race. The rake, left leaning against the barriers at the downtown track, seems to have become accidentally caught in the starting mechanism, the South China Morning Post said, delaying the opening of all but four stalls. The Class Four sprint was quickly declared void and the Hong Kong Jockey Club handed back US$16.2 million to punters, the Post said.
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