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Motor Racing: Rio Haryanto (picture) will race in this weekend’s German Formula One Grand Prix, the Indonesian said in a statement issued by his Manor team. Haryanto, Indonesia’s first Formula One driver, has a contract with Manor for the full season but the funding his sponsors have committed only guaranteed his drive up to last Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. “The team have been very supportive and also the fans, so I’m really happy that I will be racing here,” Haryanto said in a Q&A, previewing engine-supplier Mercedes’ home race.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic was given a scare in his North American hardcourt season opener but managed to prevail with a 7-5 7-6 victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Mueller to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup. Djokovic, playing his first match since his shock third-round Wimbledon loss to American Sam Querrey, fell behind 3-1 in the tie-break before switching gears and winning the next six points to seal the win in one hour, 43 minutes. The Serbian world number one, a three-times winner of the Canadian Masters event, will next play Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek.
Ryder Cup: European Ryder Cup skipper Darren Clarke named Sam Torrance as his fifth vice-captain for September’s match against the United States. The 62-year-old Torrance, a veteran of eight Ryder Cups as a player and the winning captain in 2002, will work alongside golfers Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Ian Poulter in Clarke’s support team. Scotsman Torrance was previously a Ryder Cup vice-captain under Mark James, in 1999, and Paul McGinley two years ago.
Cycling: The International Cycling Union (UCI) carried out 3,773 tests for mechanical doping during this year’s Tour de France and none proved positive, the ruling body of the sport said yesterday. Random tests were carried out before, during and after racing during the 21 stages of the three-week event and all were negative. The tests showed an “absolute commitment to leave no stone unturned,” UCI president Brian Cookson said. The UCI began using a new system to scan for hidden motors in January and more than 10,000 bikes have since been tested.
Equestrian: Five Russian riders have been cleared to compete at the Rio Olympics, the governing body for equestrian sports (FEI) said. FEI president Ingmar De Vos said dressage riders Inessa Merkulova and Marina Afra-meeva along with eventing competitors Aleksandr Markov, Andrey Mitin and Evgeniya Ovchinnikova were confirmed. None of the five have ever failed a dope test, internationally or nationally, and the FEI said it had submitted the list and related documentation to the International Olympic Committee.