A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Karlovic serves up world record
TENNIS:Croatia's Ivo Karlovic broke the fastest serve world record when he fired a 251 kmph (156mph) blast during his country's Davis Cup tie against Germany in Zagreb, the International Tennis Federation said yesterday.
The 2.08m-tall Karlovic, back from Achilles surgery, was partnered by Ivan Dodig and produced the serve in the fourth set of their losing doubles rubber on Saturday against Philipp Petzschner and Christopher Kas.
“The ITF confirmed today that Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic broke the world record for the fastest serve,” it said in a statement.
Karlovic beat the previous mark of 249.4 kph (155mph) held by American Andy Roddick.
* TABLE TENNIS:Ashley Givan caused an upset at the National table tennis championships in Dublin yesterday when she beat Irish number one Amanda Mogey 4-1 in the women's senior final. Top seed John Murphy won his fourth men's senior title with a 4-1 victory over Ashley Robinson.
Loeb claims fifth Rally Mexico title
RALLYING:Reigning champion Sebastien Loeb took advantage of Sebastien Ogier's slip-up in the final leg to claim the fifth Rally Mexico title of his career.
The Citroen pair had been ahead of the pack for the entire event, with Ogier leading the way for large periods.
Loeb had also spent time in the lead but was hurt by a 50-second penalty having been late into SS15 due to a gearbox repair.
Ogier lost ground to his rival after suffering a temporary power loss but the deciding blow came when he crashed out on the first stage yesterday, leaving his car in no fit state to compete further.
From there Loeb had a simple run-in to the 63rd win of his World Rally Championship career.
“That was a very hard weekend, a terrible fight with Ogier until today,” said Loeb. “He was really, really pushing hard.”
Haye, Klitschko agree deal
BOXING: Britain’s WBA heavyweight champion David Haye and Ukraine’s WBO, IBO and IBF champion Vladimir Klitschko have agreed to fight in Germany this summer, their respective managers said yesterday. “We have a deal. We’re happy with it, they’re happy with it. They didn’t want to come to the UK for a couple of reasons. David is happy to go anywhere to fight Vladimir; he doesn’t care if it’s in his back garden, said Haye’s manager and trainer Adam Booth.
Serbia secure 4-1 victory over India
TENNIS:Holders Serbia avoided any more scares to complete a 4-1 victory over India in the Davis Cup yesterday and Germany joined them in the quarter-finals as Philipp Petzschner edged them to a 3-2 victory in a thriller in Croatia.
The United States also booked a home quarter-final against favourites Spain as Andy Roddick gave them a 3-1 lead in Chile with victory over Paul Capdeville.
Spain, Argentina and Sweden had all wrapped up their World Group first round ties by taking unassailable leads over Belgium, Romania and Russia respectively on Saturday. France and Austria were locked at 2-2 in Vienna while the Czech Republic were in danger of a shock exit against World Group debutants Kazakhstan after Andrey Golubev beat Tomas Berdych to level the match at 2-2.
De Gendt upstages the sprinters
CYCLING:Belgian Thomas de Gendt overwhelmed the sprinters to secure a surprise victory in the 154.5km first stage of the Paris-Nice yesterday.
Spectators and riders, including De Gendt himself, had expected a mass finish in the small town of Houdan on the southern outskirts of Paris, but the sprinters had to settle for podium places in a short, eventful opener.
The 24-year-old Vacansoleil rider had previously won only a couple of minor events in Belgium but he was wise enough to pick the right break, 40kms from the line, when he joined forces with Germanys Jens Voigt and Frances Jeremy Roy.
Voigt, the oldest man in the peloton, knows the race well, having won the prologue in 2005. Roy had also won a stage, two years ago.
Yet it was De Gendt who stole the show to take the stage, the overall leader’s yellow jersey, and the points and young rider’s classifications.
Contador bounces back with victory in Tour of Murcia
CYCLING:Alberto Contador recorded his first race win since returning from a doping suspension yesterday with victory in the three-day Tour of Murcia.
The Tour de France champion won the final time trial eight seconds ahead of his closest rivals over the 12.4km course on the streets of Murcia.
Contador had struggled last month in his first race after being cleared of wrongdoing by the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC), finishing fourth in the Tour of Algarve.
“It was an amazing weekend, better than expected,” the Saxo Bank-Sungard rider said.
The three-time Tour de France winner tested positive for a small amount of the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol during last year’s edition of cycling’s most prestigious event. The RFEC provisionally banned him for a year in August but reversed the decision last month.
Contador had denied deliberate wrongdoing, saying the failed test was due to contaminated meat.
