Basketball, NBA: Jeremy Lin (picture) put together another signature performance at the Madison Square Garden as Houston Rockets beat his former team, the Knicks, 109-96 in his first game back in New York. Lin, who took the basketball world by storm during last season’s “Linsanity,” scored 22 points and had eight assists on Monday night as Houston handed the Knicks their first loss of the season at home. “It was a lot of fun playing out there,” said Lin. “I think our team took a step in the right direction. For me, it was great to be back and it was a lot of fun to play on that court again.”
Cricket: ICC match referee Chris Broad said he found no evidence of Australian ball-tampering during the first Hobart Test and would not be taking the matter any further. Sri Lanka’s team management had expressed concern at television match footage which it believed showed paceman Peter Siddle tampering with the ball during the Sri Lankan first innings. The tourists’ team manager Charith Senanayake said he had spoken to International Cricket Council (ICC) officials. But Broad said that after viewing video footage he found no evidence the match ball had been tampered with.
Alpine Skiing: American skiing great Lindsey Vonn is to miss the next four European meets the American team announced yesterday. The 28-year-old four-time World Cup overall champion had a rare fall in the downhill at Val D’Isere at the weekend and said she felt tired on her Facebook page, and the US team confirmed that the reigning Olympic downhill champion was heading home for a rest.
Boxing: Champion Denis Lebedev knocked out previously undefeated Colombian challenger Santander “Cha Cha” Silgado in the fourth round to retain his WBA cruiserweight title on Monday. Silgado, 27, looked the better fighter in the first three rounds before the 33-year-old Russian south-paw regained control midway through round four. Lebedev threw a powerful left hook that stunned Silgado, then unleashed a devastating left uppercut to the chin of his opponent, knocking him out with less than a minute remaining to the delight of the partisan home crowd at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall.
Motor racing: Chief operations engineer Mark Gillan, one of a top technical trio credited with turning around the fortunes of Williams last season, has left the F1 team. A team spokeswoman said the Briton had wanted to spend more time with his family and had departed the factory, although his last working day is officially December 31. Along with technical head Mike Coughlan and aerodynamics head Jason Somerville, Gillan was an important figure in taking Williams back to the top of the podium this year after their worst ever season in 2011.