Golf: An Asia-Pacific select side rallied from behind with a string of powerful singles performances yesterday to beat Team China 14 1/2-9 1/2 in the Ryder Cup-style Dongfeng Nissan Cup at the CTS Tycoon Club in Shenzhen. Trailing 7-5 after the fourball and foursome rounds, Asia-Pacific won nine and halved one of the 12 singles matches to retain the trophy they claimed at the inaugural event last year. China’s sole victories on the final day came from veteran Zhang Lianwei, considered the father of professional golf in the country, and Liang Wenchong, who succeeded him as the mainland’s most successful player.
Boxing: Austin Trout retained his WBA junior middleweight world title Saturday, remaining unbeaten with a 12-round unanimous decision over Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto. Trout finished strongly to hand Cotto a first defeat at Madison Square Garden. Judges Steve Weisfeld and John Poturaj saw it 117-111 for Trout while Adelaide Byrd scored it 119-109 for Trout, who improved to 26-0 with 14 knockouts. “I knew some of the rounds were close,” Trout said. “I felt like I pulled out a lot of rounds, but you never know.”
Cricket: Australia will have to produce the greatest run chase in Test history to beat South Africa in the third Test at the WACA Ground and claim the top spot in the Test rankings. Set 632 to win after the Proteas were finally dismissed for 569 in their second innings on the back of Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers centuries, Australia were 40 without loss at stumps on the third day yesterday. The Australians still need a further 592 runs to win with two days to play.
[attach id=219057 size="medium"][/attach]
Judo: Japan’s Megumi Tachimoto (picture) defeated London Olympic gold medallist Idalys Ortiz of Cuba to cap a final day full of upsets at the Grand Slam international judo tournament yesterday. The 23-year-old Tachimoto, the world bronze medallist in the 2010 open class, pulled off an ippon two minutes 45 seconds into the final to win the women’s over 78-kg title. After the three-day competition, hosts Japan ended with 10 titles to South Korea’s two wins while the Netherlands earned a solitary win.
Olympics: India’s lone individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra yesterday lashed out at the country’s sports officials, saying an Olympic ban could be a “blessing in disguise”. “The current mess is completely of the Indian Olympic Association’s making,” Bindra, who won a rifle shooting gold at the 2008 Beijing Games, said. The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board, which meets in Lausanne this week, will decide if the Indian federation should be suspended for flouting the Olympic charter in its election process.
Fukuoka Marathon: Kenyan runner Joseph Gitau outpaced Polish Olympian Henryk Szost to take the lead for the last eight kilometres and secure a surprise win in the Fukuoka international marathon yesterday. The 24-year-old clipped nearly 15 minutes off his personal best of two hours 21 minutes and 54 seconds to cross the finishing line in 2:06:58. Japan’s Hiroyuki Horibata finished second in 2:08:24, while Szost, ninth in the London Olympics, came in third in 2:08:42. Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie abandoned the race shortly after 32 kilometres.
Rugby Union: Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny was released from hospital yesterday after being taken off on a stretcher during the 14-12 defeat by Australia at the Millennium Stadium. Halfpenny was injured during the closing seconds having taken Wales to within sight of a win by scoring all their points courtesy of four penalties. The 23-year-old was taken to Cardiff’s Hospital complaining of neck pain and underwent scans.