Athletics: American Aries Merritt set a new world record of 12.80 seconds in the 110m hurdles at the Diamond League meet in Brussels last night. Merritt smashed the previous record of 12.87sec set by Cuban Dayron Robles in June 2008 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Fellow American Jason Richardson was second in 13.05sec, with Jamaican Hansle Parchment completing the podium in 13.14sec.
Snooker: The 2012 IBSF world cham-pionship will be played in Sofia, Bulgaria, between November 24 and December 2. This was an-nounced by the international fede-ration yesterday after original hosts Egypt had withdrawn from or-ganising the tournament ‘due to some unavoidable circumstances’.
Figure Skating: A figure skating coach, who competed for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, is accused in a lawsuit of fondling a teenage skater. The lawsuit alleges former Russian ice dancer Genrikh Sretenski fondled the girl in a hotel room in July 2011. The suit, which was filed in a Maryland court alleges he kissed the girl, touched her breasts and also sent her hundreds of text messages. It seeks $5 million in damages for the girl who no longer skates competitively.
Tennis: Serbian journeyman David Savic had his lifetime ban from tennis upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The 27-year-old, who is listed as the world 363 in the latest ATP rankings, was found guilty of match-fixing in October 2011 and fined $100,000. The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) said in October last year that Savic had been found guilty on three counts of corruption with the violations taking place in October 2010.
Rugby Union: The Wallabies were dealt a blow yesterday ahead of their Rugby Championship clash with South Africa when veteran hooker Stephen Moore was ruled out with a hamstring strain. Moore was hoping to become the most capped hooker in Australian Test history at Perth today but was forced to withdraw from the must-win match after scans revealed the problem.
Hall Of Fame: Former world no.1 Martina Hingis (picture) was among the list of nominees announced this week for 2013 induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The 32-year-old Swiss standout was atop the rankings for 209 weeks in her career and won Grand Slam titles at Wim-bledon and the US Open in 1997 and in 1997, 1998 and 1999 at the Australian Open.
Golf: Organisers of the Hong Kong Open will seek government funding for the city’s oldest golf tournament in a bid to retain big-name players, a report said. The Hong Kong Golf Association said it had yet to secure a title sponsor for the 54-year-old event, scheduled for November 15-18 this year, after previous sponsor UBS ended a six-year partnership last year. Chief executive Iain Valentine said the association was seeking financial assistance from a government fund, which gave the tournament $1.03 million last year.