SPORTS DIGEST:MOTOR SPORT: Finnish Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen needed a precautionary trip to hospital after being knocked out in a big crash at the Race of Champions in Duesseldorf yesterday.
The Lotus Racing driver, a former winner of the annual exhibition event, lost control of his Audi R8 sportscar and ploughed into the barriers and a concrete wall.
“Hardcore shunt with throttle jammed and rear suspension damaged, got knocked out, now some medical checkups,” Kovalainen said before later reporting all was well.
His British girlfriend, Catherine Hyde, who was a passenger in the car, was unhurt.
Portuguese GT racer Filipe Albuquerque was the surprise winner of the event after beating France’s seven-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb in the final.
Froch reclaims title but knows he has to keep busy
BOXING:Carl Froch knows he could lose his WBC super-middleweight title the next time he steps in the ring after reclaiming the title in Finland.
Froch had lost the title to Mikkel Kessler in April but bounced back to world champion status with a unanimous points victory over Arthur Abraham in Helsinki.
Both men had gone into the fight looking to hit back after they suffered their first professional defeats in their previous outings.
But Froch executed his fight plan perfectly which was reflected in the scores given by the judges of 119-109, 120-108 and 120-108.
Froch said: “It’s fight after fight here, which is risky, I can’t just sit back in Nottingham and defend my title against bum of the month, no disrespect to any journeymen.
“I have to get in there and fight Glen Johnson and potentially Andre Ward, a WBA champion and top American and Olympic gold medallist.
“I’m not messing about: I’m in this sport because I mean business.”
Cameron finds form in Dresden
EQUESTRIAN: Mayo's Cameron Hanley enjoyed a welcome return to form at Dresden on Saturday when landing the Grand Prix qualifier on Castlemartin Stud's Complete, one of 15 horses through to the second round from a start list of 60.
On Friday night, Billy Twomey finished second in the jump-off class in Brussels on Je T’Amine Flamenco with Denis Lynch fourth on Abbervail van het Dingeshof, while Cian O’Connor was placed in Stockholm over the weekend on Umberto and Splendor.
There were good results for Irish riders at Neeroeteren in Belgium, where Emily Turkington won yesterday’s junior jump-off class on Edward Sheehan’s eight-year-old bay gelding Allihies Diamond Boy.
In the pony section, Emma O’Dwyer and the dun gelding Jacknell Street took the runner-up spot in the afternoon’s Grand Prix, with Katie Mai McCarthy fourth on Moneymaker, while on Saturday Bertram Allen was fifth in a speed class on Acapella Z.
Kohli’s century guides India home
CRICKET: Virat Kohli's brisk century set up a 40-run win for India over New Zealand in the first one-day international of a five-match series yesterday.
Kohli struck a 104-ball 105, his second successive and fourth overall ODI century, to guide India to 276 before an abrupt collapse in 49 overs in Guwahati.
Part-timer Yuvraj Singh (three for 43), spin colleague Ravichandran Ashwin (three for 50) and paceman Shanthakumaran Sreesanth (three for 30) then shared nine wickets as New Zealand folded for 236 in 45.2 overs.
Ross Taylor (66) tried his best, and, down the order, Nathan McCullum (35) and Kyle Mills (32) threw their bats at everything but it was not enough.
Hamilton suffers fractured toe
RUGBY: Gloucester lock Jim Hamilton suffered a fractured metatarsal in Scotland's 19-16 defeat of Samoa in Aberdeen on Saturday.
Hamilton came off the replacements’ bench for the final 20 minutes of the match and completed the contest, which was decided by Ruaridh Jackson’s last-minute penalty.
However, he is now wearing a compression boot and will return to Kingsholm for further assessment.
Marquez recovers to stop Katsidis
BOXING: Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez recovered from a third round knockdown to stop Australian Michael Katsidis in the ninth round and retain his WBA and WBO lightweight titles in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Immediately after the victory, Marquez called for a third fight with eight-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines.
Pacquiao and Marquez drew their first bout in 2004, and Pacquiao won a split decision in a rematch four years later.
“We know Pacquiao is avoiding us,” said Marquez. “A third fight is what the public wants.”
Earlier, in Oakland, undefeated American Andre Ward retained his WBA super middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Cameroon-born Sakio Bika.
Ward, 23-0 (13 KOs) won every round on one scorecard and 10 of 12 on the other two, but despite the wide margins, the victory was hard fought.
