Golf: Italian teenager Matteo Manassero holed a 12-foot eagle putt on the third play-off hole to claim a dramatic victory over South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen at the Barclays Singapore Open yesterday. In his first ever play-off, Manassero showed steel beyond his 19 years as he matched the 2010 British Open winner with birdie and par on the first two extra holes and then downed the winner at a packed Sentosa Golf Club. In denying Oosthuizen, Manassero also clinched this season’s European money title for world number one golfer Rory McIlroy.
Boxing: Mexico’s unbeaten Abner Mares retained his World Boxing Council super bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Panama’s Anselmo Moreno at the Staples Centre. Mares, keen to keep World Boxing Association bantamweight world champion Moreno from finding his groove, attacked relentlessly and sent the challenger to the canvas in the fifth round – the first time Moreno had been knocked down in his career. Two judges scored it 116-110 and the third saw it 120-106 for Mares.
Athletics: Beijing marathon organisers have reversed a decision to refuse Japanese runners, reports said yesterday. Japanese runners had been barred from taking part in the November 25 event due to concerns for their safety as tensions between the two countries ran high over a territorial dispute. But officials have now updated their website to include Japan in the list of applicants’ nationalities, after the Japanese Embassy in Beijing lodged a protest, the leading Yomiuri Shimbun daily and Jiji Press said.
Sailing: French skipper Marc Guillemot, one of the favourites for the 2012/2013 Vendee Globe, has been forced to abandon the race less than 24 hours after the start yesterday. Guillemot limped back to Les Sables d’Olonne early in the morning after his boat Safran broke her keel as a result of an accident. The 53-year-old yachtsman, third in the last edition of the solo non-stop round the world race in 2009, reported hearing “two loud noises” 60 miles off the Vendee coast.
Rugby Union: Scotland suffered at the hands of New Zealand yesterday with the hosts competitive for the bulk of an enthralling tussle at Murrayfield, yet paying the price for defensive lapses at crucial moments in a 51-22 loss. Tim Visser marked his home-turf Test debut with a try-double and showed why he is a hot bet to be part of the Lions plans next year. But the bottom line was that the visitors were in a different league when it came to turning chances into points.