A round-up of today's other stories in brief
RFU expected to ratify Tuilagi citing
RUGBY:The Rugby Football Union are due to confirm today that Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi has been cited for punching Northampton wing Chris Ashton.
Tuilagi’s three-punch combination in the first half of Leicester’s Aviva Premiership semi-final victory over the Saints left Ashton requiring stitches to a cut above his eye.
The 19-year-old England Saxons international is set to be appear before an RFU disciplinary hearing tomorrow. If Tuilagi is banned he could miss the Premiership final and the Churchill Cup tournament at the start of June.
The RFU are waiting on a report from referee’s assessor Brian Campsall before deciding whether to take any action against Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill and head coach Matt O’Connor, who aimed constant criticism of referee Wayne Barnes in Campsall’s direction at Welford Road.
Broken collarbone to put Pedrosa on sidelines again
MOTOR CYCLING:Dani Pedrosa could be set for a spell on the sidelines after his Repsol Honda team confirmed the MotoGP challenger broke his collarbone during Sunday's French Grand Prix.
Pedrosa, 25, has only returned from surgery to remove a plate from the left collarbone he fractured in Japan last year and the Spaniard has now broken his other one.
He crashed out of second place in the race at Le Mans following a coming together with Marco Simoncelli. A team statement said: “Immediately following yesterday’s race, Dani Pedrosa returned to Barcelona with the X-ray scans from the Le Mans circuit medical centre.
“He visited his doctors at Teknon Medical Centre and further medical tests confirmed a clean break of the right collarbone.”
Simoncelli has come under fire from several riders, including defending champion Jorge Lorenzo for his overly aggressive style in recent weeks. Pedrosa is currently third in the overall standings on 61 points, 17 behind leader Lorenzo.
United States edge past Sweden
TENNIS: Last year's runners-up, the United States, edged past Sweden 2-1 in their opening group tie at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf yesterday, with Mardy Fish and John Isner claiming the deciding doubles victory.
The American pair beat doubles specialists Simon Aspelin and Robert Lindstedt 4-6 7-6 10-4 after twice French Open runner-up Robin Soderling had fought back from a set and 5-3 down to beat Sam Querrey 5-7 7-5 7-6 and level the tie.
Isner had earlier put the US in the driving seat when he beat teenager Christian Lindell 6-4 6-1 at the team event which is traditionally a French Open tune-up.
Soderling found himself on the ropes against the powerful Querrey before hitting back.
Hosts Germany completed what they started on Sunday, with world number 21 Florian Mayer sending them 2-0 up against Serbia with a 6-2 6-2 win over Viktor Troicki.
Clijsters back for Roland Garros
TENNIS:World number two Kim Clijsters has confirmed she will make her comeback from a two-month injury lay-off at the French Open. "I will be able to take part as long as I have some very tight strapping on my ankle," the 2001 and 2003 finalist said.
The Belgian suffered shoulder and wrist problems before injuring her ankle at her cousins wedding and had been a doubt for the clay grand slam, which starts on Sunday.
