Other sport

Briton Mark Cavendish recovered from an early mishap to sprint away with the 13th stage of the Giro d'Italia yesterday while Russia's Denis Menchov kept the overall lead. Team Columbia's Cavendish, who turned 24 on Thursday, burned off LPR's Alessandro Petacchi on the final straight to take a 3-2 lead in stage victories over his Italian rival in this year's race. Cavendish had to change bikes shortly after the start of the stage because of a bump with French rider Yohann Gene.

Motor Racing

A Spanish team run by former grand prix driver Adrian Campos submitted an entry for the 2010 Formula One championship yesterday, minutes after the application window opened. The Campos Meta 1 team said that it had lodged the entry request at five minutes past midnight local time. The closing deadline is May 29. No details were given about the commercial partners.

Ice Hockey

Former Germany goaltender Robert Mueller, who was capped 127 times and played at two Olympic Games, has died at the age of 28 after a long illness, his club Cologne Sharks said. Mueller, a 2001 NHL draft pick by the Washington Capitals for whom he never played, competed in eight World Cups. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2006.

Rugby Union

With the global financial crisis affecting sponsorship, one top-flight New Zealand rugby team found a novel way of generating some much-needed capital. The Counties Manukau rugby union, which encompasses the southern suburbs of New Zealand's largest city Auckland, put their provincial team up for sale on the country's most popular online auction site. The auction created intense media interest, however, and it had to be withdrawn after the owners of the website said it breached their rules.

Basketball, NBA

Carmelo Anthony scored a game-high 34 points and nine rebounds as the Denver Nuggets upset the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers 106-103 to level their Western Conference finals series at 1-1. The lead changed hands three times in a nail-biting fourth quarter before two free-throws from Chauncey Billups put the Nuggets ahead 105-101 with just 13.7 seconds left.