Formula One: Caterham F1 team have appointed 20-year-old Alexander Rossi as a test driver for the 2012 season, joining Holland’s Giedo van der Garde who has been named as reserve driver. American Rossi got himself noticed last year in the Formula Renault 3.5, winning two races and taking third place in his debut season in the World Series by Renault championships. He will continue to drive in this season’s WSR for the Arden team, which signed a partnership deal with Caterham earlier this year.
Tennis: Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten, a three-time Grand Slam title champion and former World No.1, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Kuerten and others will be inducted into the sports shrine on July 14 during the ATP Hall of Fame Championships after receiving at least 75 per cent support in a vote from an international media panel. Kuerten, nicknamed “Guga”, becomes the second Brazilian in the Hall of Fame after Maria Bueno, who was inducted in 1978.
Horse Racing: Zenyatta has foaled a colt sired by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini, the great mare’s connections said. The foal was born at Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky on Thursday. After winning the coveted Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2009, Zenyatta became a crossover sensation in the US, profiled on the venerable television news programme “60 Minutes”. The birth of Zenyatta’s foal comes less than two months after Rachel Alexandra – who edged Zenyatta for the 2009 US Horse of the Year award – foaled a colt sired by 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin.
Rugby Union: Argentina international fly-half Juan-Martin Hernandez, who missed the World Cup last year and sat out seven months of action, suffered another injury setback on Friday. Hernandez, 29, came off after just 18 minutes of Racing-Metro’s 22-13 win over Bordeaux in the French Top 14 after hurting an upper leg muscle. The Pumas star was forced to miss the World Cup in 2011 after suffering right knee ligament damage in March.
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Olympics: An historic item of Olympic memorabilia – Spyridon Louis’s trophy (picture) for winning the 1896 marathon – is to go under the hammer at a London auction house next month, the athlete’s grandson said. The 15-centimetre tall silver cup, valued at between €140,000 and €191,000 is being auctioned at Christie’s three months before the 2012 Olympic Games in London. “It’s time to look to the future, not back in the past,” Spyridon Louis, who bears the same name as his illustrious ancestor, told reporters.
Basket, NBA: Kobe Bryant scored 34 points to lead Los Angeles Lakers to a 105-102 victory over Minnesota, a defeat made more painful for the Timberwolves by a late injury to Ricky Rubio. Bryant surpassed a remarkable 29,000 career points with 12 in the first half, but the milestone was less important than the win after two disappointing defeats to lowly opponents in Detroit and Washington. For Minnesota, the real blow may not be felt until today, when rising star Rubio has an MRI exam on his injured left knee. The young Spaniard fell to the court grasping his knee after a collision with Bryant with 16.4 seconds left in the game.