A round-up of today's other sports news
Schumacher regrets ‘sad moment’
FORMULA ONE: Seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher described his decision to call off his return to Formula One as one of the toughest moments of his career.
The German, still suffering from pain after a motorcycle accident earlier this year, told a news conference yesterday: “This is a very sad moment for myself.”
He announced on Tuesday that he would not be stepping in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa as previously planned. “It’s possibly one of the toughest moments I have faced in my career,” he said.
Schumacher, who suffered fractures around the head and neck in the accident in February, had been expected to make his return at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23rd. Ferrari have instead given the seat to experienced test driver Luca Badoer. He added:
“We always said that I would do the job on condition I was ready for it and sadly I couldn’t fulfil this.”
Powell back on track for World Championships
ATHLETICS: Former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell and four fellow Jamaican athletes, threatened with a World Championship ban, have been cleared to race, his agent said yesterday.
Powell, 100m Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser, 400m Olympic gold medallist Melaine Walker, hurdler Brigitte Foster-Hylton and sprinter Shericka Williams had failed to report for Jamaican national team training in Nuremberg prompting the federation to consider taking them off the team for the World Championships starting this week in Berlin.
Powell had earlier said the internal dispute was harming the team.
“I think that the federation to be fighting your own athletes does not make sense, he said.
Powell said the five athletes, who all belong to the Maximising Velocity Power racing club, did not know they had to attend the Nuremberg camp. “We did not know the camp was mandatory,” he said.
ICAP Leopard to the fore again
SAILING: For the second consecutive edition, Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard took line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race yesterday as the 300-strong fleet made slow but steady progress around the gruelling 608-mile course, reports David Branigan.
Slade’s 100-foot super-maxi evaded defeat from the pursuing 60- and 70-footers who were gaining ground thanks to fresher winds on the Celtic Sea.
Irish entry Whisper, skippered by Mick Cotter from Dun Laoghaire, was comfortably placed amongst that pack and completed the course to take fifth place on provisional standings.
Niklas Zennstrom’s 72-footer Rán was another early finisher at Plymouth yesterday.
The Skype-founder’s team was provisionally listed as the overall leader on IRC-corrected handicap time.
However, with fewer than a dozen boats finished, this position could easily change over the coming two days of racing.
Schipper sets new world record
SWIMMING: Jessicah Schipper capped a golden few weeks yesterday when she set a world record for the womens 100 metres butterfly at the Australian short-course (25-metre pool) championships in Hobart.
Schipper stormed to victory in 55.68 seconds to shave 0.06 off the previous mark set last year by her fellow Australian and Olympic champion, Libby Trickett.
It was Schippers second world record in a month after she reclaimed the long-course (50-metre pool) 200 butterfly mark at the World Championships in Rome.
“It’s been a really big month that has taken its toll on me, but it’s great to finish like that, now I can enjoy my holidays, she said.
Despite winning a gold medal in the medley relay, Schipper was inconsolable after failing to win the 200 butterfly final at last years Beijing Olympics.
