The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- RugbyU: Scott handed life ban over Keats controversy
- Cycling: Sagan claims Tirreno-Adriatico 3rd stage
- Badminton: Nehwal nearer All-England dream
| RugbyU: Scott handed life ban over Keats controversy Posted: 08 Mar 2013 05:43 PM PST LONDON: Former London Welsh team manager Mike Scott has been hit with a lifetime ban from any involvement in rugby union after providing false information over the registration of Kiwi scrum-half Tyson Keats. Keats appeared in 10 Premiership games this season without holding the correct registration with the Rugby Football Union and, although London Welsh had already been handed a five-point deduction and a 15,000 ($22,534) fine as a result, the RFU on Friday took strong action against Scott as well. Scott was charged under RFU rule 5.12 with "conduct prejudicial to the interests of the Union or the Game" for providing false and misleading information to the governing body over the registration of New Zealand-born Keats, who joined London Welsh from disbanded club Aironi last July. An RFU hearing on Tuesday heard Scott had been cautioned by police over his role in the matter as Keats, who knew nothing about the deception, was working in Britain unlawfully for five months after it was fraudulently claimed he had been born in England. Scott was said to have supplied the RFU with a fake copy of a UK passport to seal Keats's signing after the player's ancestry visa application was turned down on September 3. An RFU statement read: "Mike Scott was today (Friday) suspended from the management, coaching or playing of rugby union and membership of any club for life following an RFU Misconduct Hearing. "The former London Welsh team manager may not apply for the order to be lifted for 10 years." Scott had told Keats' agent and London Welsh that the scrum-half had been granted an ancestry visa by virtue of his paternal grandfather, who was born in England. This should have meant London Welsh received English Qualified Player payments from the RFU, due to Keats being available for selection to the national squad. However, Keats had not been granted a visa. Scott, having asked Keats to sign a blank form, then submitted falsified documents to the RFU. It claimed Keats had been born in Christchurch, England, as opposed to Christchurch, New Zealand, and held a UK passport. When the RFU made further inquiries regarding Keats' registration, Scott sent a forged UK passport to the governing body. Scott went on sick leave in December, after failing to turn up for an Amlin Challenge Cup game against Grenoble, but emailed the club's director of rugby Steve Lewis admitting he had created "one almighty mess" because he had been trying to get Keats' visa "through the back door". The case was dealt with by Judge Jeff Blackett on papers and without a personal hearing at Scott's request. Scott, who has 14 days to appeal the judgement, accepted the allegation against him and submitted a written plea of mitigation. London Welsh, who now sit bottom of the Premiership two points behind Sale Sharks, also had a further five-point deduction suspended until the end of next season as a result of the controversy. - AFP |
| Cycling: Sagan claims Tirreno-Adriatico 3rd stage Posted: 08 Mar 2013 05:40 PM PST ROME: Slovakian star Peter Sagan held off sprint ace Mark Cavendish to win the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico over 190km from Indicatore to Narni Scalo on Friday. With former world champion Cavendish on his wheel, Sagan attacked from well back and reeled in Andre Greipel to claim the victory. Race leader Cavendish left his attack too late while a fading Greipel took third on the stage. Sagan praised his team's tactics on the stage. "We made the stage hard to wear out the sprinters. My teammates were great on the final climb and the contenders paid for their efforts on the final straight," he said. "I beat the best sprinters of the peloton and this is a great satisfaction. My goal for the 'Tirreno' is reached, now we'll see day by day." A series of attacks in the final 15km in wet conditions forced up the pace as the sprinters' teams accelerated to control the action. No-one could get away for very long and as the stage drew to a close Greipel seemed ideally placed while Cavendish found himself a long way back. Greipel led until the final 50-metres but while Sagan timed his charge to perfection, Cavendish left himself just a little bit too much to do. Australian Matthew Goss, who won Thursday's second stage, could manage only fifth on the day, behind German Gerald Ciolek in fourth. Saturday's fourth stage is a lumpy 170km run from Narni Scalo to Prati di Tivo. - AFP |
| Badminton: Nehwal nearer All-England dream Posted: 08 Mar 2013 05:32 PM PST BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: Saina Nehwal took a step nearer becoming the first Indian woman ever to win the All-England title when she reached the semi-finals after a long drawn-out battle with a former champion. Her 23-21, 19-21, 21-16 win over Wang Shixian, the 2011 winner from China, was a long, fluctuating and tense affair, in which mistakes were mixed with well constructed rallies, with Nehwal chiselling out a match-winning lead after the interval in the third game. Always bearing a heavy burden of expectation from the world's second most populous nation, Nehwal also has extra pressure of expectations from being the highest seed left in her event. The top-seeded titleholder Li Xuerui was beaten on the first day. The second-seeded Commonwealth champion also remained wary, right to the last point, of her mobile opponent's capacity to recover, even from a big deficit. "She has the kind of game which makes it possible to come back, and I've seen her do that before," Nehwal said. "I tried to make sure I kept my focus right to the end and I think I did that. "She plays a rallying game, and that make it difficult to play against. I do too, so it was a tough match, and it is important to recover well. "I have to handle the pressure of expectations from the Indian fans and hopefully I am doing that. I'm just happy to get through this." It was only when she played the more consistent badminton in the third game, whilst still moving the shuttle around well, that she extended a small lead to 15-8 at its maximum. Her mistakes were often accompanied by a loud yelp, something which happened more frequently in the first game, in which he came back from 16-19 to snatch it, and in the second, in which she let slip a lead of 18-15. Wang showed what a fine fighter she was, even nosing ahead at 7-6 in the decider. But her problems began to grow with two line decisions which annoyed her, first to put her 7-8 down and then to go 7-11 down. On the first of these she stared and then tilted her head back in frustration; on the second she dropped her racket and glared at the umpire. She had 60 seconds mid-game interval and her coach's calming words to help her get over these setbacks. But by then Nehwal had built up some momentum and her capture of four of the next five points created a cushion which was never pulled from under her. Later, however, China did get a singles player through to a semi-final, and also scored a win over India. That happened when Chen Long, the second seed in the men's event, overcame Kashyap Parupalli, the world number nine, by 21-16, 21-10, after trailing 11-13 in the first game. - AFP |
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