A round-up of today's other stories in brief
‘Ten per cent of athletes doping’
ATHLETICS:The chief executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency believes the number of athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is at least 10 per cent.
The issue has hit the headlines again in the past week with Jamaican sprinter Steve Mullings and Mike Rodgers of the US, ranked third and fourth in the world this year respectively over 100 metres, both testing positive for banned substances.
And Wada chief executive David Howman has no doubt there are a significant number of athletes who are doping but not being caught.
He said: “Statistically the numbers of people being caught is between one and two per cent, that’s the numbers of positives against the number of tests. But the number of people doping are in the double digits.”
It was announced last week all competitors at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, which starts later this month, will be blood-tested in an unprecedented programme.
Big opportunity knocks for Egan
CANOEING: Jenny Egan qualified for the B Final of the K1 500m at the Canoe Sprint World Championships yesterday – giving herself the chance of qualifying a boat for the Olympic Games.
The 24-year-old Kildare woman finished fourth in her heat and an excellent fourth in her semi-final at the Championships in Szeged in Hungary. She will fight it out for places 10 to 18 today, with Olympic qualification places perhaps reaching down to 12th.
This is a new level for Egan, and she was “ecstatic” according to her father Tom, the team manager. “She’s absolutely over the moon,” he said. “It’s fantastic achievement. This is the best ever result by an Irishwoman at a Canoe Sprint World Championships.”
Egan will compete in the K1 200m heats and semi-finals today. Neil Fleming finished fifth in the C Final of the K1 1,000m yesterday.
Elbow surgery ends Weir’s season
GOLF: Former Masters champion Mike Weir has had season-ending elbow surgery and will be sidelined for three to six months.
Weir, who had the surgery on Thursday in Florida, has not played since he withdrew from last month’s Canadian Open when the elbow problems that have plagued him the past two seasons flared up during the second round.
“My elbow has caused me problems over the past year and during the RBC Canadian Open it essentially became unplayable,” Weir said in a statement.
“It’s my hope with patience, and diligent post-surgery rehab, I will be able to put my elbow problems behind me and look forward.”
Once a fixture among the world top 10, Weir’s career has nose-dived this season, losing his PGA Tour privileges in May and watching his ranking plunge to 539.
He is without a PGA Tour win since 2007 and this season has missed the cut in 13 of 15 events.
Clijsters misses out on US Open
TENNIS:Champion Kim Clijsters yesterday said she has pulled out of the US Open due to a stomach muscle injury.
“Two weeks of rehab was not enough to heal this injury. Obviously I’m very disappointed. I trained very hard this summer and felt in a good shape to play the US Open,” said the 28-year-old, who has won the US Open three times.
Clijsters suffered a partial tear of her left stomach muscle in Toronto earlier this month.
American Fish enjoys first victory over Nadal
TENNIS: American Mardy Fish beat world number two Rafa Nadal yesterday for the first time in his career and booked a spot in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open where he will face Britain's Andy Murray.
Fish entered the match having lost his previous six meetings with the Spaniard but battled for a 6-3 6-4 win against Nadal, who was dealing with a foot problem and struggled against his opponent’s serve.
The seventh-seeded American, who produced 12 aces, made the decisive break to go up 3-2 in the second set when Nadal went long on a return.
After having some treatment on his foot, Nadal found some extra power as he fought in vain to break back.
Fish’s powerful serve was on display in the final game when he served to love for the match.
Murray enjoyed a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over France’s Gilles Simon in his quarter-final, his seventh win over the 10th seed.
Pakistani investigation clears Malik
CRICKET: Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik has been cleared of wrongdoing in an integrity investigation and can be considered for international selection again, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said yesterday.
Malik had been under scrutiny since December as the PCB’s integrity committee sought clarification from him about deposits in his foreign bank accounts.
“Shoaib Malik was directed to provide complete information supported with relevant documents regarding the source of the said deposits, which he did provide,” a PCB statement said.
“The committee reviewed all the material in detail and also verified the veracity of the said information from relevant authorities.
The integrity committee has been able to establish that the said deposits in this overseas account did not emanate from any questionable source or activity.”
Loeb off to a flyer in Rally of Germany
RALLYING:Seven-times world champion Sebastien Loeb, seeking to win the Rally of Germany for a record ninth time, opened a lead of 7.4 seconds after the first day yesterday.
Speeding past vineyards on dusty country roads near Trier, a stone’s throw from his Alsatian home across the border in France, Loeb shook off fellow Citroen driver Sebastien Ogier who was in second place.
Ogier briefly threatened compatriot Loeb when he slashed his lead to 0.9 seconds with victory in the fourth stage.
Loeb responded in style though, driving faster in the final two stages as Ogier paid dearly for some mistakes and almost overshot two junctions. Mikko Hirvonen of Finland was third in his Ford, 78 seconds off the pace. Spain’s Dani Sordo claimed fourth spot in his works Mini.
