Golf: Australia has a new number one women’s golfer for the first time in around two decades after Minjee Lee (picture, left) leapfrogged Karrie Webb in the latest world rankings to end the seven-times major champion’s long reign at the top. Teenager Lee, who won her first LPGA Tour event at the Kingsmill Championship in May, jumped from 17th to 16th in the world rankings after finishing tied for sixth at the Ar-kansas Championship over the weekend. Webb finished tied for 52nd in Rogers, Arkansas, to drop from 16th to 18th and give up her status as the leading Australian, which she had held since the women’s rankings were first instituted in 2006.
Horse Racing: Kauto Star has been put down after suffering pelvis and neck injuries in a fall in a paddock. During a glittering career with champion trainer Paul Nicholls, the 15-year-old won the King George VI Chase at Kempton five times and became the first horse to regain the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He retired from racing after pulling up in the 2012 renewal of the blue riband having won 23 of his 41 races and winning well over £2m in win and place prize-money. Kauto Star went on to pursue a career in dressage with Laura Collett and last December took part in a demonstration on the opening night of the London International Horse Show at Olympia.
Cricket: The economies of Australia and New Zealand benefited from A$1.1 billion ($843.59 million) in direct spending as a result of co-hosting the cricket World Cup earlier this year, according to a report released yesterday. The report, prepared by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, said the tournament created the equivalent of 8,320 full-time jobs across the two economies and attracted 145,000 unique visitors to the host countries, mostly from Asia. The final, in which Australia beat New Zealand, attracted a crowd of 93,013 to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, while a dedicated television audience of over 1.56 billion watched the tournament around the world.
Rugby Union: Temporary seats are to be erected at the Wellington Regional Stadium for Saturday’s Super Rugby final as organisers struggle to cope with demand for tickets for the first all-New Zealand title-decider since 2006. The first tranche of 26,000 tickets for the match between Wellington Hurricanes and Otago Highlanders sold out in 59 seconds yesterday with 5,000 more due to be made available today. The 1,700 temporary seats will take the capacity of the stadium to just over 36,000 for the match.
Athletics: Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt has pulled out of the Paris and Lausanne Diamond League meetings due to a leg injury, organisers of the Paris event said yesterday. “I’m disappointed not to be able to compete in Paris and Lausanne. I love running at these meetings but at the moment I am unable to compete at 100 percent. I look forward to getting back into full training as soon as possible,” Bolt said in a statement. The Paris meeting is on Saturday with Lausanne the following Thursday.