DOPING: Some athletes failed to report for blood doping tests at this year’s Olympics but escaped sanction, an independent report into doping procedures at the London Games has revealed. The Independent Observer (IO) report, compiled by a nine-strong team and published by WADA, said several missed appointments had occurred but blamed confusion over tests relating to the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). The ABP programme, making its first appearance at a summer Games, was designed to allow testers to compare blood tests with an athletes’ existing blood profile, thereby helping identify unusual patterns or anomalies. However, its introduction proved problematic.
TENNIS: 2009 Thailand Open winner Gilles Simon (picture), of France, continued to struggle with a shoulder injury but managed a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Japan’s Go Soeda yesterday to reach the quarter-finals. Australian Bernard Tomic, seeded eighth, struggled in his own way as he played a tennis replica of himself, coming out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 second-round winner over Israeli opponent Dudi Sela after nearly two-and-a half hours. Tomic, whose own game gives opponents no chance to find their rhythm, found he was facing a mirror image of himself – and the 19-year-old admitted that he didn’t like it one bit.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL: National Football League officials reached a deal with their referees’ union late Wednesday to end a lockout and regular officials will be back on the field starting with a game in Baltimore today. The settlement came about 48 hours after replacement officials botched a game-deciding call on the final play of a Monday night game to give Seattle a victory over Green Bay and pressure mounted upon the league to make a deal. “Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night,” said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “We appreciate the commitment of the NFL Referees Association in working through the issues to reach this important agreement.”
CRICKET: West Indies beat defending champions England by 15 runs in a World Twenty20 Super Eights group one match at Pallekele stadium yesterday. West Indies made a challenging 179-5 in their 20 overs on the back of half-centuries from openers Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle before restricting England to 164-4 in their allotted overs. For England, Alex Hales made 68 and Eoin Morgan scored 71 not out. Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in a super-over finish in the first match of group one earlier in the day.