A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Millar castigates leaking of UCI's 'doping risk' list
CYCLING:A fuming David Millar said "heads should roll" within cycling's governing body (UCI) after a list it drew up to estimate the "doping risk" of each rider at last year's Tour de France was leaked.
“This list should never have been released, never. The UCI, some of their people should be fired for this,” the Briton told a small group of reporters before the start of yesterday’s stage seven of the Giro d’Italia.
“It’s shocking. . . A major investigation should go on into what exactly they are doing with this model.”
French sports daily L’Equipe unveiled the doping suspicion index, in which riders are given a rating of suspicion scaling from 0 – not suspicious to 10 – highly suspicious.
The UCI said the list is a working document helping to steer testing, not a list of riders who have done any wrongdoing.
The average index of the 198 riders from the 2010 Tour de France is 2.434. UCI president Pat McQuaid declined to comment further.
Joost seriously ill
RUGBY: South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins says the thoughts of the Springbok community are with former scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen – who has been diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease. The 40-year-old's publicist yesterday released a statement revealing that the 89-cap 1995 World Cup winner, former captain and joint-record try scorer, was suffering "serious" symptoms.
Ireland riders have a ball in La Baule
EQUESTRIAN SPORT: Ireland made a brilliant start to the 2011 FEI Nations' Cup series when winning by a two-fault margin yesterday in La Baule, writes Margie McLoone.
Lying joint second with Britain at the halfway stage on a score of five, Cian O’Connor, who had a pole down in round one, recorded a clear on Nations’ Cup newcomer Larkhill Cruiser in round two. This matched the faultless first round performance of Cameron Hanley (Southwind VDL), who had the discard score second time around. Shane Sweetnam (Amaretto Darco) picked up a single time fault on his first tour of the course before adding four faults next time out, while Billy Twomey (Romanov) had a fence down in both rounds.
Belgium, the leaders at halfway , dropped to second when finishing on 15 faults to Ireland’s 13 with Germany third on 16. Britain were fourth on 18 faults.
Azinger says Woods in need of help
GOLF:Troubled Tiger Woods needs help to deal with his growing problems, former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said yesterday.
Dogged by injury problems, struggling with swing changes and without a win since his personal problems began in 2009, Woods limped sadly out of the Players Championship midway through Thursday’s first round and many are wondering just where his troubled career goes from here.
“This is career threatening stuff. It’s sad to see, I was very disappointed to see it,” 2008 Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger told the Golf Channel.
Woods’ problems date back to the breakdown of his marriage following a series of reported affairs and Azinger says that piecing together his life is something he may need help with. His world self-destructed. I think he needs help, whether it is professional help or really a good friend that he can communicate with.”
Nadal cruises into semi-finals
TENNIS: Rafa Nadal made sure of retaining his world number one status at the French Open after cruising past Croat Marin Cilic 6-1 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters yesterday as Andy Murray also progressed.
Nadal showed no signs of the fever that had brought him to the brink of pulling out on Thursday in a typically clinical display, hammering the world number 23 to set up a semi-final against Richard Gasquet or Tomas Berdych.
Champion for five of the past six years, Nadal raced into a 4-0 lead, breaking Cilic’s serve with a ferocious forehand topspinner and backhand crosscourt shot before taking the first set.
World number four Murray earlier became the first British player in the tournament’s professional era to reach the final four after coming back from a set down to defeat unseeded German Florian Mayer 1-6 6-1 6-1. The Scot booked a semi-final against Djokovic or fifth seed Robin Soderling.
Yao Ming sues sportswear firm
BASKETBALL:China's NBA all-star Yao Ming has sued a Chinese sportswear maker over alleged name and image infringements, local media reported yesterday.
The towering Houston Rockets centre has filed a lawsuit against the company for using the label “Yao Ming Era” on its shoes without his consent, Yao’s management said.
Lu Hao claimed the sports maker also used Yao’s signature and portrait on their products while promoting them.
