TEAM ORIGIN, the British challengers for the America's Cup, began the Louis Vuitton Cup in Nice with a 59-second victory over the Russian team Synergy in their opening round-robin race. Team Origin skipper Ben Ainslie forced a pre-start penalty on the Russian boat which gave the highly rated British challengers control of the race in tricky conditions.
'This is going to be a really difficult event to be consistent in,' said Ainslie, the triple Olympic champion. 'With the conditions being really hard it is always going to be about keeping the boat moving fast and staying the right side of the breeze. Our team did a really good job of keeping it moving as fast as possible. It's a nice way to start.' Eight challenging syndicates will contest the LV Cup, in which two round-robins are followed by a semi-final and a final.
MOTO GP DUCATI rider Casey Stoner maintained his excellent end-of-season form to clinch pole position for today's Valencia Grand Prix, the final race of the season. The Australian, who missed three races with a mystery illness before coming back last month to win at home at Phillip Island and in Malaysia, clocked the fastest lap of 1:32:256. Honda's Dani Pedrosa was second fastest ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. Valentino Rossi, who won a second successive MotoGP title in Malaysia, was fourth.
CRICKET FORMER England seamer Matthew Hoggard is expected to make a decision on his future early next week as he weighs up offers from Leicestershire and Sussex. The 2005 Ashes-winning bowler, 32, was released by his native Yorkshire at the end of last season but Sussex and Leicestershire have both offered him a three-year deal.
GOLF SAM TORRANCE'S hopes of winning the European Senior Tour Order of Merit remain alive after a one under par 71 in the second round of the Castellon Senior Tour Championship in Spain. The Scot needs to finish in the top four to edge past fellow former Ryder Cup-winning captain Ian Woosnam and lies four shots behind leader Angel Franco in fifth place. Woosnam carded a 72 to finish down the field in a share of 30th place on level par.
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TENNIS FLAVIA PENNETTA and Francesca Schiavone each had straight-set wins to give Italy a 2-0 lead over the United States in the Fed Cup final in Reggio Calabria. Pennetta beat Alexa Glatch 6-3 6-1 and Schiavone rallied after a two-hour rain delay to dispatch US Open quarter-finalist Melanie Oudin 7-6 6-2. Reverse singles and doubles are scheduled for today in the best-of-five series.The US have won all nine of their previous meetings with Italy but the Americans are without Serena and Venus Williams, who opted not to play after meeting in the season-ending tour championships final last weekend in Doha.
Francesco Ricci Bitti, the president of the International Tennis Federation, believes Serena will receive a hefty monetary fine following her US Open tirade but will not be suspended for the Australian Open. 'A financial penalty makes more sense,' Ricci Bitti said. 'But it has to be significant enough for the fans [to appreciate] it.'
BOXING SAM SEXTON, from Norwich, successfully defended his Commonwealth heavyweight title against Martin Rogan in Belfast on Friday night. Rogan retired before the start of the seventh round after Sexton inflicted a cut around his 38-year-old opponent's eye. Sexton, 25, said: 'The best stuff was still to come but we didn't get that far.'
RUGBY UNION WORCESTER began their LV Cup campaign with a convincing 32-6 victory over Newcastle. Four tries from the home side earned them a bonus point. Rob Miller kicked Newcastle into the lead before Willie Walker levelled and wing Miles Benjamin crossed to start the try-scoring. Tom Wood, Ollie Frost and Jake Abbott also crossed the line.