Swimming: Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy has dropped the 200 metres freestyle from his schedule at the Rio Olympics to be fresher for his bids for gold in the 100m and relay events. McEvoy, who has the fastest time in the 100 this year, will now compete in five events in Rio – the 50, 100 freestyle, and three relays. The vacant 200m slot has now been taken by David McKeon.
Badminton: World no.4 Ratchanok Intanon has been cleared of an anti-doping violation, the Badminton World Federation said yesterday, paving the way for the Thai medal hope to compete at the Rio Olympics. Ratchanok had been given a provisional suspension on July 13 after reports that she had failed a dope test during the Uber Cup tournament in China in May. The 21-year-old will be among Thailand’s main medal hopes in Rio and one of the chief threats to China’s chances of defending their sweep of all five badminton titles.
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Cricket: Leg-spinner Yasir Shah (picture, right) became the first Pakistani bowler in 20 years to top the International Cricket Council (ICC) test rankings after his heroics in the Lord’s test victory against England. The 30-year-old, who picked up 10 wickets at Lord’s to guide the visitors to a 75-run win in the first test on Sunday, is followed by Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and the England pace duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Mushtaq Ahmed was the last bowler from Pakistan to top the rankings since in December 1996.
Tour de France: World champion Peter Sagan claimed his third 2016 Tour de France stage victory when he pipped Alexander Kristoff on the line at the end of the 16th stage, a 209-km ride from Moirans-en-Montagne yesterday. Norway’s Kristoff (Katusha) celebrated after crossing the line, but it was Slovak Sagan (Tinkoff) who actually finished first after throwing his bike in timely fashion, strengthening his grip on the green jersey for the points classification. Briton Chris Froome (Team Sky) retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey after finishing in the leading pack.
Olympics: A white tiger named ‘Soohorang’ and an Asian black bear called ‘Bandabi’ were unveiled yesterday as the two mascots for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang. “Soohorang and Bandabi will be your good friends and promote the Pyeongchang Olympic Games to the whole world,” Lee hee-beom, president of the Games organising committee, told students during a ceremony at Hoeng Gye elementary school in Pyeongchang. The Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games will be held from February 9-25.
Golf: Henrik Stenson’s brilliant victory in the Open Championship at Royal Troon on Sunday has lifted him just one place in the updated world rankings. Stenson moved up from sixth to fifth after a stunning 63 in the final round gave him a first major title and three-shot victory over Phil Mickelson, who climbed from 19th to 13th in the standings. Sergio Garcia is back into the top 10 after his share of fifth place, while England’s Andrew Johnston is up to a career-high 89th after finishing eighth.