Boxing: Former All Black Sonny Bill Williams has been stripped of his professional boxing belts after the dual code rugby player failed to defend his international and New Zealand heavyweight titles. Williams is eyeing a return to rugby union in 2015 hoping to be part of New Zealand’s World Cup defence and also feature in the national sevens team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. His new goals have forced the 28-year-old to suspend his boxing career during which he won all of his six professional heavyweight bouts.

Golf: Spaniard Sergio Garcia carded a final-round 68 to cruise to a four-stroke win at the Thailand Golf Championship yesterday for his first title of the year. Garcia, 33, combined six birdies with two bogeys during the final round at the Amata Spring Country Club for a four-day total of 22-under-par 266 in the $1 million Asian Tour event. World number three Swede Henrik Stenson also shot a 68 with five birdies and a bogey to finish second but never managed to put Garcia under serious pressure.

Basket, NBA: Boston Celtics All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo has been cleared for full practice and could return to action next month. Rondo, sidelined since he injured his right knee in a game against the Atlanta Hawks on January 25, has been recovering from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. “He’s not been cleared 100 per cent until yesterday (Saturday) for practice, but he has done some stuff where he’s been cleared from along the way,” Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said.

Wrestling: Iran’s world champion Amir Aziz Ali Akbari, who won the 120kg-weight class title in September in Hungary, has been banned for life after a second doping offence, the International Wrestling Federation said. The athlete, who missed last year’s London Olympic Games due to a doping suspension, tested positive for anabolic steroids during the world championships in Budapest in September and has been stripped of his gold medal, FILA said.