Sports round-up

Cricket: England all-rounder Paul Collingwood yesterday became the second international signing for Australian franchise Perth Scorchers for the Big Bash Twenty20 tournament. Colling-wood, who skippered his country to the ICC World Twenty20 title in the West Indies last year, is known as a fierce competitor and a batsman with a wide range of shots. South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs became Perth’s first international signing last week.

Tour De France: Two-time runner-up Cadel Evans, of BMC, held off a late charge from Alberto Contador to claim a prestigious victory on the fourth stage of the Tour de France yesterday. Norwegian Thor Hushovd, tipped to lose the yellow jersey after the brutal two-kilometre finishing climb at the Mur de Bretagne, held on to the race lead after the 172.5 km ride from Lorient. Hushovd, of the Garmin-Cervelo team, upset pre-dictions to finish sixth on the stage and thus keep his one-second lead on Evans intact ahead of today’s fifth stage to Cap Frehel.

Golf: Injured 14-time major champion Tiger Woods announced that he was pulling out of next week’s British Open, casting further doubt on whether he will ever recover his form of old. Woods, who has not won since Nov. 2009, sprained a ligament in his left knee in the third round of the US Masters in April. He is still chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus and news that he is out of his second major in a row means that long-held ambition is looking even further from his grasp.

Tennis: China’s Li Na, who made tennis history at this year’s French Open by becoming the first Chinese Grand Slam singles title winner, has been honoured by her government and awarded a $92,000 cheque. The government in Li’s native Hubei province saluted the 29-year-old as a pioneer for her victory at Roland Garros last month. The $3.16m Li has raked in on tour this year – most of it from her French Open win and her run to the Australian Open final – amounts to just less than half her $6.5m in career earnings.