Athletics: Olympic double silver medallist Yohan Blake completed the sprint double at the Jamaican Championships when he easily won the men’s 200m. In the absence of the injured Usain Bolt, Blake covered the field by the 120-metre mark, before pulling away to win in 20.29 seconds, his best time since finishing second to Bolt at the London 2012 Olympics in 19.44 seconds.
Shooting: Teenager Mitch Iles will shoot for Australia at the Rio de Janeiro Games following the disqualification of double Olympic champion Michael Diamond for drink-driving and firearms offences. Diamond had been selected ahead of Iles but the sport’s national governing body cancelled that after an executive hearing last week. Iles, 17, won an appeal against his non-selection at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who referred the matter back to Shooting Australia (SA) last Friday.
Tour de France: Mark Cavendish joined France great Bernard Hinault in second place of the all-time list of Tour de France stage winners when he pipped Andre Greipel yesterday for his second victory in this year’s race. The Briton, riding for the Dimension Data team, beat German Greipel by less than a tyre’s length to snatch his 28th career Tour win at the end of a 223.5-km ride from Granville. Belgian Eddy Merckx, like Hinault a five-times Tour winner, still tops the list of stage wins with 34. World champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff) retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after taking fourth place.
Rugby Sevens: All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams is used to being in the spotlight but yesterday it was his sister Niall’s turn to revel in the acclaim after she was named in the New Zealand women’s rugby sevens squad for the 2016 Rio Games. Sonny Bill, who is also headed to Rio with the men’s squad, said news of his sister’s inclusion was greeted with the loudest cheer in the Williams’ home. “I was happy when I got the phone call, but the biggest cheer we got in my household was when my sister made it,” he said. The siblings will become one of the few brother-sister duos to represent their country at the Olympics.
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Tennis: Former US Open champion Sam Stosur (picture, right) will lead an under-strength Australian team at the Rio Olympics following the controversial withdrawals of top men’s prospects Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic. Stosur, who was eliminated from the second round of Wimbledon last week, will become Australia’s first woman to compete in four Olympic tennis tournaments after making her debut at Athens in 2004. The 32-year-old Queenslander will play singles and doubles along with Daria Gavrilova, a Moscow-born 22-year-old who was granted citizenship last year.