Sailing: The man at the helm of the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad, said he would be stepping down after eight years running offshore sailing’s leading round-the-world event. The 47-year-old said he wanted to spend more time with his family, and a search is underway for his successor who will take over in the new year. Norwegian Frostad has overseen three editions of the offshore race, in 2008-09, 2011-12 and 2014-15. The next race is scheduled to start from Alicante in 2017.
Basket, NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves head coach and president Flip Saunders will take leave of absence from the NBA club while he remains in hospital from complications related to his cancer treatments, the team said. The 60-year-old Saunders, who announced last month that he is being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was admitted to a local area hospital where he remains while undergoing further testing and treatment. The Timberwolves said assistant coach Sam Mitchell would serve as interim coach.
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Athletics: World champion Dafne Schippers (picture) proved she will be the sprinter to beat over 200m at next year’s Rio Games with victory over Olympic champion Allyson Felix at the Diamond League athletics finale in Brussels. The Dutchwoman, a former heptathlete who took the 200m world title in Beijing with the fourth fastest time in history, showed she has finishing speed to pull clear and finish in 22.12 seconds. Felix, who won the 400 metres in Beijing but did not run the 200 metres due to a scheduling clash, was a further 0.10 seconds back, but did at least have the consolation of winning the season-long Diamond Race and its $40,000 cash prize.
Motorcycling: Jorge Lorenzo claimed pole position for today’s San Marino Grand Prix after controlling qualifying at Misano, yesterday. The Yamaha rider went to the top of the times early on in Q2 and then moved four tenths clear of the field with a 1m32.146s on his second run, bettering his own circuit record from third practice. Marc Marquez fell just over a tenth of a second short of that Lorenzo effort with his best flying lap at the end of the session. Lorenzo’s Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi made the front row in third place, two tenths off the leader’s lap.
Tennis: Martina Hingis and Leander Paes once again proved to be a potent partnership as the Swiss-Indo duo captured their third mixed doubles title of the year with victory at the US Open. The Australian Open and Wimbledon champions came back from 4-1 down in the championship tiebreak to storm to victory with a 6-4 3-6 10-7 win over Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sam Querrey. Hingis and Paes became the first duo to capture three major mixed titles in the same year since Margaret Court and Marty Riessen achieved the feat in 1969. The triumph earned 42-year-old Paes a ninth mixed doubles trophy and 17th grand slam title while Hingis took her overall grand slam tally to 19 (five singles, 10 women’s doubles and four mixed).
Basketball: The Canadian basketball team, boasting nine National Basketball Association (NBA) players on their roster, have blown their initial chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro with a shock loss to Venezuela at the FIBA Americas tournament, yesterday. Canada, who had dominated the tournament by winning each contest by 17 or more points, fell 79-78 in the semi-finals to a Venezuelan team without any NBA players, fully aware a win would lock up a place in Rio. Now they will have to try to get through via a qualifying tournament next year, against potentially much tougher European competition.