SPORTS DIGEST - SNOOKER:Joe Perry became the first major casualty of the 2009 Betfred.com World Championships as he was sent crashing out in the first round by Jamie Cope.
Having started the afternoon session 5-4 down, the 23-year-old produced a mature display against the world number 12, racing into a 7-5 lead before keeping his nerve to complete a 10-6 victory.
He will take on the winner of John Higgins’ meeting with Michael Holt in the next round in what will be the longest match of his career.
Earlier, Ding Junhui came through a thrilling contest to beat Liang Wenbo 10-8. Ding, the world number 11, will meet seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry in round two after defeating his compatriot Liang in front of an enthralled crowd at the Crucible and hundreds of millions more watching on television on the other side of the world.
Having led 5-4 overnight, Ding initially looked comfortable and won the opening two frames to go 7-4 ahead.
However Liang played some superb snooker to battle back, taking the next four to give himself an 8-7 lead.
Ding handled the pressure admirably, though, and, just when it looked like his confidence might crumble, he produced a century break before seeing out the match.
Meanwhile, 2002 world champion Peter Ebdon finished the morning session trailing 1995 finalist Nigel Bond 5-3 in a match that was due to conclude last night.
Yeats for Navan
HORSE RACING:Triple Ascot Gold Cup winner Yeats is set to make his seasonal reappearance in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan on Sunday. "He started in this race in the past and I'm happy with him and he's ready to start off again," said Aidan O'Brien about his campaign for a fourth Gold Cup.
Michael Bell has entered The Betchworth Kid and David Nicholls’ Hindu Kush is also among the 12 entrants.
Red Bull concentrate on diffuser
MOTOR SPORT:Red Bull Racing's technical guru Adrian Newey is expecting to burn the midnight oil over the next few weeks as he faces the prospect of redesigning a race-winning car.
Newey missed out on the celebrations of the team’s maiden victory in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix as last Wednesday’s diffuser ruling forced him into starting work on the concept at their Milton Keynes factory. As one of four appellants, RBR were unsuccessful in their attempt to overturn a stewards’ ruling on the legality of the double-decker component used by Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams in the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia. Newey opted to remain at home and concentrate on how to integrate the design into the team’s car. Despite the one-two finish from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber at Shanghai, Newey will be ploughing all his energy into designing and implementing the new diffuser.
