Sports round-up

Basket, NBA: The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the short-handed Chicago Bulls 92-78, delivering a dominant victory that booked their place in the NBA play-offs. Russell Westbrook scored 27 points and Kevin Durant added 26 points and 10 rebounds as the Thunder moved within one game of the playoff-bound Bulls for best record in the league. The Bulls hadn’t lost on the road since February 12 at Boston.

Cycling: US rider Levi Leipheimer pulled out of this week’s Tour of the Basque Country on Sunday after injuring his left leg in a training accident, his Omega Pharma team said. Leipheimer, 38, hurt his leg when he was involved in a collision with a car as he trained alone for the event in Spain which started yesterday. He didn’t suffer any broken bones in the incident, but he was due to return to the United States to undergo more tests.

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Rugby Union: Controversial Wales centre Gavin Henson (picture) was sacked with immediate effect by club side Cardiff Blues yesterday after causing a disturbance on the team’s flight back from Scotland last weekend. The 30-year-old Henson was initially suspended by his club side for the incident, which took place as the team flew back from Scotland following a 31-3 Celtic League defeat by Glasgow on Friday.

Yachting: The US Coast Guard rescued two injured crew members from a yacht hit by a “monstrous foaming swell” in the Pacific, in an operation made more complicated by bad weather. A 29-year-old man and 50-year-old woman were transferred from the 68-foot Geraldton Western Australia onto a Coast Guard cutter, which was expected to arrive in San Francisco yesterday.

Athletics: Lithuania’s disgraced European women’s marathon champion, Zivile Balciunaite, has lost a legal challenge to her two-year ban for doping that has sidelined her for the London Olympics. The Lithuanian Athletics Federation said that the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport had dismissed Balciunaite’s appeal against its ban. It said the ban would be in force until September 6, less than a month after the Olympics are over.