Sanderson set for stage win
Sailing: The final miles of the eventful second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Melbourne were being played out in light winds last night, with Mike Sanderson and his crew on ABN Amro One hoping to hold on for their second stage win in a row. Behind him, the British navigator on ABN Amro Two, Simon Fisher, was keeping his eye on Bouwe Bekking’s Movistar, which was 100 miles back in third place.
During the stopover in Melbourne, frantic repair work will be carried out by the four syndicates sailing Bruce Farr-designed entries, which have had repeated failures.
Dream still alive
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Badminton: Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms managed a third-game comeback and a 15-5, 8-15, 15-13 win over Xie Zhongbo and Zhang Yawen to reach the semi-finals of the All-England Championships at Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena yesterday. The Chinese pair had beaten Britain’s Olympic silver medal-winners in the Hong Kong Open a couple of months ago, and this time led 8-2 and 10-6 in the final game before Robertson and Emms recovered to keep alive their hopes of becoming the first home players for 25 years to defend successfully an All-England title.
Loeb mishap
Motor rallying: Sébastien Loeb, the world champion, hit an icy patch and skidded off the road when leading Marcus Grönholm by 1min 16.4sec on the first day of the Monte Carlo Rally yesterday. Marc van Dalen, the head of Loeb’s Kronos team, said. “We’ll try to bring the car (a Citroën Xsara) back and repair it like new for tomorrow.”
Rose blooms
Golf: Justin Rose recovered from a bogey on the 1st hole to fire a superb 64 in the third round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in La Quinta, California, to move to 12 under overall. The round, only one off his lowest on the US Tour, included nine birdies.
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Seeds tumble
Bowls: Two more seeds were knocked out of the WBT World Indoor Singles Championship at Potters Leisure Resort, Norfolk, yesterday. Danny Denison pipped Les Gillett 6-5, 6-6 and Mervyn King defeated Billy Jackson 9-8, 7-4. Eight seeds have now been knocked out.
Daws title shot
Boxing: Lenny Daws earned a shot at the British light-welterweight title when he forced Colin Lynes, the former IBO champion, to retire after nine rounds at York Hall in London’s East End last night. Daws now faces Nigel Wright for the title vacated by Junior Witter.