Sports round-up

TENNIS: Stephanie Vogt, of Liechtenstein, and Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg were handed the first two wildcards for the London Olym-pics tennis tournament at Wimbledon. Vogt, 22, was awarded a second invitation having had to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics through injury. The world number 258, who has played 12 Federation Cup ties, will become the first player from Liechtenstein to compete in the Olympic tennis event.

CRICKET: Adam Hollioake claims an arrest has been made following the theft of his late brother Ben’s England cricket equipment during a break-in at his parents’ home. One-day international shirts, Test and ODI helmets as well as bats, boots and a county blazer were among the property stolen from the Hollio-ake family home in Perth on Tues-day. Melbourne-born Ben died in a car crash in Perth at the age of 24 just over 10 years ago.

SWIMMING: Former Olympic gold medallist Darian Townsend had mixed emotions after winning the 200 metres freestyle at the South African national championships this week. His time of 1:47.88 was good enough to finish first, but 0.06 seconds outside the qualifying mark for the 2012 Olympic Games. Townsend, who won gold at the 2004 Athens Games in the 4x100m relay, will get further chances this weekend to book a ticket to London.

CYCLING: Italian Riccardo Ricco was given a 12-year doping ban by the National Anti-doping Tribunal yesterday. The Tribunal accepted the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping prosecutor’s request after Ricco was accused of giving himself a blood transfusion. Ricco maintains he is innocent and merely injected himself with an iron solution but a doctor who operated on him claimed Ricco had tried to give himself a blood transfusion.

OLYMPICS: Mining unions yesterday urged the London 2012 Olympic committee to drop resources giant Rio Tinto as its medals supplier and official sponsor due to an ongoing dispute with workers in Canada. Led by Canada’s United Steelworkers’ Union, the “Off the Podium” campaign wants to see Rio, chosen to supply the metals for the July Games’ medals, ditched after an 800-worker lockout in Alma, Quebec.

HORSE RACING: Frankel, rated the fourth-best flat racehorse of all time after sweeping all before him last season, arguably came through his toughest test of all yesterday – a scan on an injured leg. Frankel’s future appeared to hang in the balance after he suffered an injury in a routine gallop last week. But a statement proved that those fears were unfounded. Frankel first caught the eye with a stunning success in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket 12 months ago.