SPORTS DIGEST:SNOOKER: Former world champions Stephen Hendry and Mark Williams both opened with 3-0 wins at the 12BET.com World Open challenge in Glasgow yesterday.
Home favourite Hendry saw off Bjorn Haneveer thanks to breaks of 55 and 76 as he sought to turn around his unconvincing early-season form.
Williams looked even more impressive, runs of 80 and 96 helping him see off Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo in just 38 minutes.
Butt rejects corruption claims
CRICKET:Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt yesterday rejected allegations of corruption in the third one-day international against England and said he felt there was a conspiracy against the national team.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is investigating Friday’s match at the Oval after receiving information from a British newspaper alleging a suspicious scoring pattern in Pakistan’s innings. Pakistan won by 23 runs.
“We won the match and we are under suspicion. England lost, their players should be investigated,” Butt told Duniya television.
“You don’t lose a match if you are doing fixing. We have co-operated so far with all this investigation but after the third ODI we get this feeling it is not a conspiracy to defraud bookies but to defraud Pakistan cricket.”
The ICC investigation follows its decision to suspend three players after a newspaper report they had arranged for no-balls to be delivered in the fourth Test at Lord’s.
Evergreen Davies claims career title 76 in Spain
GOLF: Laura Davies shot a final level-par round of 71 to win the Open de Espana Femenino and claim her 76th career title at Flamingos Golf in Benahavis on the Costa del Sol.
Davies finished with an 11 under par total of 202 for the tournament and secured a two-stroke win over fellow Englishwoman Rebecca Hudson, Australian Frances Bondad and Christina Kim of the United States, just two weeks after her last victory in Austria.
The four-time major champion said it was one of the best wins of her life after she thought she had blown it by carding a quadruple bogey eight on the par-four 13th.
Davies was three strokes clear of the field when she hit her tee shot left onto a steep rocky slope. She then twice hit a rock and the quadruple bogey meant that she was then tied for the lead with compatriot Lisa Hall.
The challenge of Ireland’s Alison Walshe faded with a third round score of 75 to leave her with a total of 210, while Rebecca Coakley shot a 77 to finish on 216.
Dillon dominates Rás na mBan
CYCLING: Irish road race and time trial champion Olivia Dillon raced to a dominant victory in the Sneem Hotel Rás na mBan over the weekend, winning three of the four stages and ending 26 seconds clear of Alli Holland (Shred Racing Rapha Condor), writes Shane Stokes.
US-based Dillon seized the race lead on Friday’s opening stage when she edged out Linda Ringlever (Moving Ladies) and Holland. She then defended her lead in Saturday’s two stages, beating Holland in a four-woman sprint in the morning, then finished 14 seconds clear in the afternoon’s two kilometre time trial. Her dominance over such a short distance is reflected in the fact Andy Jay Burgess (Sandy Wallace Cycles), Francine Meehan (Ireland) and the next two riders were divided by just half a second.
Yesterday’s final stage was the longest, 90 km from Sneem to Waterville and back, and climbing Coomaciste twice.
Stoner claims first victory of season
MOTORCYCLING: Former world champion Casey Stoner held off local favourite Dani Pedrosa to win the Aragon MotoGP yesterday and record his first victory of the season.
Spanish Honda pilot Pedrosa recovered from a poor start and began to reel the Australian Ducati rider in during the middle stages of the race at the new Motorland circuit in Alcaniz, to the north east of Madrid.
But 2007 champion Stoner, who started from pole having recovered from a minor crash during the warm-up, pulled away to win by more than five seconds.
Stoner’s team-mate Nicky Hayden of the United States pipped championship leader Jorge Lorenzo for third, just over nine seconds off the pace.
With five races remaining and 25 points awarded for a win, Pedrosa is the only rider who can catch Lorenzo in the standings.
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