A roundup of today's other sports news in brief
Petacchi silent at police investigation
CYCLING: Italian Alessandro Petacchi, the points classification winner in the recent Tour de France, remained silent yesterday when he met police investigating if he has committed a new doping offence.
“He wanted to speak but I preferred that he kept the right to remain silent,” his lawyer Virginio Angelini told reporters after the meeting in Florence.
Petacchi said he was innocent when news broke about the probe during the Tour and his Lampre team said they would stick by him as he is innocent until proven guilty.
Meanwhile, Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has decided not to renew his contract with Astana and will leave the Kazakh-funded team at the end of the season.
Reports have suggested the 27-year-old could join up with team manager Bjarne Riis who has been looking for sponsors.
Bolt to meet his big rivals in Stockholm Diamond League
ATHLETICS: Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt and top sprint rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will meet for the first time this year in a 100 metres showdown at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting next week.
The clash on August 6th will be the first including Jamaican Bolt, American Gay and Bolt’s compatriot Powell since they took gold, silver and bronze at the 2009 Berlin World Championships.
It will match the three fastest men of all-time with Bolt the world record holder at 9.58 seconds, followed by Gay (9.69) and Powell (9.72).
“The last time Usain ran here Asafa beat him just before the 2008 Beijing Olympics,” said meeting director Rajne Soderberg. “I think it was the only (100 metres) race he has lost in his (professional) life so he probably wants to come back for revenge. Bolt has beaten Gay in both of their 100 metres races. He holds an 8-1 edge over Powell, the loss coming in the 2008 Stockholm meeting.
Tendulkar notches up 48th test ton
CRICKET: Sachin Tendulkar once again came to his country's rescue and raised hopes of salvaging the second Test in Colombo yesterday after Sri Lankan spinners wreaked havoc by claiming four wickets to hinder India's fightback.
Tendulkar struck his 48th test century and Suresh Raina notched up a 50 on debut as they guided India to within 61 runs of the follow-on mark on the third day.
At the close India were 382 for four in reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings of 642-4 declared, trailing by 260 runs. Tendulkar was unbeaten on 108 and Raina on 66 not out.
After grabbing three wickets for eight runs in the morning and one more in the afternoon, Sri Lanka were deprived of any success in the final session as Tendulkar and Raina added 141 for the fifth wicket.
Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene dropped a sitter when Tendulkar was on 29 and it proved to be an expensive one.
Dockrell stars as Ireland qualify
CRICKET: A five-wicket haul from captain George Dockrell helped Ireland beat the Netherlands by 82 runs in Waringstown yesterday to claim a spot in next year's Under-19 World Cup global qualifier alongside Scotland, writes Emmet Riordan.
The 18-year-old senior international, who signed for Somerset last week, has proved the outstanding bowler at the European qualifier, his haul of five for 34 yesterday giving the left-arm spinner 17 in total.
Ireland made 238 with Shane Getkate (47), Graeme McCarter (46) and Adam Coughlan (40) the main contributors.
Getkate (2-39) and Barry McCarthy (2-21) then broke through the Dutch top order before Dockrell came on to finish them off for 156.
Meanwhile, McCarthy’s Pembroke team-mate Allan Eastwood has been called into the Ireland ‘A’ squad for next week’s game against the MCC in Dublin.
