Rugby Union: Wales star Sam Warburton (picture) has been named British and Irish Lions captain for this summer’s tour of Hong Kong and Australia. There are no places among the 37-man squad announced by Lions manager Andy Irvine in London yesterday for England skipper Chris Rob-shaw or 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson. But head coach Warren Gatland handed surprise call-ups to Scotland wing Sean Maitland, England prop Mako Vunipola and 2005 Lions tourist Matt Stevens. Warburton, at 24 the youngest Welsh Lions captain in history, will lead a squad com-prising 14 of his compatriots.
Basketball: Panathinaikos Athens have been ordered to play four home games in basketball’s Euro-league behind closed doors and fined €100,000 for offences during their quarter-final series against Barcelona. Euroleague Basketball, the premier club competition’s ruling body, punished the Greek side for the use of illegal sirens, flares and firecrackers as well as for breaching the official capacity of their OAKA Arena for the two matches against Barca.
Motor Racing: The company behind Formula One motor racing could be floated in Singapore at the end of this year if markets remain benign, the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said. Plans to raise up to $3 billion by listing the firm that runs the high-speed racing series were pulled last June amid market turmoil following the flotation of social network group Facebook, which saw its shares plunge after their debut. Ecclestone confirmed a report in the Daily Telegraph that the Formula One company structure had been reorganised in preparation for a fresh attempt at a listing in Singapore by the end of 2013.
Basket, NBA: Jason Collins, a veteran centre in the NBA, announced this week that he was gay, becoming the first active player from any of the US professional sports leagues to publicly reveal his homosexuality. Collins, who played with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards this season and is now a free agent, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation,” he said.
Snooker: Ronnie O’Sullivan insists he can avoid a Crucible meltdown as he closes in on a fifth World Championship title. O’Sullivan has overcome Marcus Campbell and Ali Carter and looked to have one foot in the semi-finals after racing to a 7-1 lead yesterday in his last-eight match against Stuart Bingham. O’Sullivan made breaks of 79, 54, 111, 60, 87, 133 and 78 in one of the finest performances he has ever produced at the Crucible. Barring a dramatic collapse, he will secure his place in the final four today.
Doping: Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, the central figure in the Operation Puerto cycling doping probe, was given a one-year prison sentence for crimes against public health yesterday. Fuentes was also barred from practising sports medicine for four years and received a fine. Judge Julia Santamaria ruled that evidence from the case, including blood samples, would not be released to national and inter-national anti-doping authorities for probes into cases outside cycling.