Lowry Clubhouse Leader as McIlroy Chases

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Rory McIlroy missed out on creating a piece of history in the Players Championship as Shane Lowry set the clubhouse target in the weather-affected second round at Sawgrass.

McIlroy carded seven birdies and an eagle in his first 16 holes on the Florida course and came to the par-five ninth, his final hole, needing a birdie to set a new course record of 62.

However, faced with a second shot from 271 yards, the four-time major winner surprisingly opted to lay up and then missed the green from 90 yards with his approach, before fluffing a chip and running up his only bogey of the day.

The resulting 64 left McIlroy three shots behind his potential Olympic team-mate Lowry, who added a 68 to his opening 65 to finish 11 under par, a shot ahead of Jonas Blixt, Alex Cejka and Cameron Tringale.

World number one Jason Day remained top of the leaderboard on 14 under but was unable to complete his round following a two-hour delay due to lightning in the area.

The US PGA Champion opting not to complete the 15th after play was eventually suspended due to darkness.

Lowry had started on the back nine and bogeyed 14 and birdied 16 before dumping his tee shot into the water on the 17th, but then holed out from 120 yards for only the sixth eagle in tournament history on the 18th.

Birdies on the second and third, either side of the delay, were followed by another on the fifth to leave the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational champion in contention for a second PGA Tour title.

"I got off to a bit of a shaky start today, I didn't feel that comfortable and then we were called in," said Lowry.

"To go back out there and make a couple of birdies and finish the round nicely was good."

Lowry revealed on Thursday that his poor form had prompted an "emergency" call to his coach Neil Manchip before play began, while he also benefited from a putting tip from Graeme McDowell.

"I was struggling to see the lines and he gave me a tip to stand a bit further from the ball and I've managed to hole a few putts the last couple of days, which is nice," Lowry added.

McIlroy (above) had earlier holed plenty of putts but never gave himself a chance to do so on the final hole after taking an unusually conservative approach.

"I've got it in my head with the ninth hole that any time that I have gone for the green it has not really worked out for me," he said. "I had a good number today and laid up with a nine iron.

"I probably had a two iron to the front of the green. In hindsight, with that pin being on the left side, anywhere on the right I probably had a chance to get up and down.

“I thought get it within 100 yards and take my chances from there and just didn't hit a great third shot and left myself in a difficult position."

American Colt Knost was a shot ahead of McIlroy after earlier also missing out on the course record, the world number 184 shooting 63 after three-putting the 18th from 40 feet.

Knost, who carded 10 birdies in 15 holes from the third, admitted nerves had contributed to missing his par putt on the 18th from four feet.

He said: "I hit a pretty good putt to be honest and it just lipped out on me.

"It was cool to be in the mix and knowing I could do something that no-one else has done but we have two more days to do that."

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Brailsford Pledges to Help Review

Brailsford and Sutton 

Sir Dave Brailsford has pledged to share his knowledge of the workings of British Cycling with the independent review established to investigate claims of bullying and discrimination within the organisation.

British Cycling and UK Sport last Friday announced Annamarie Phelps, the chair of British Rowing, will lead the review, which follows allegations made towards former British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton. He denies the claims.

Sutton, who resigned last Wednesday with 100 days to go to the Rio Olympics, in April 2014 succeeded Brailsford as the British Cycling figurehead, having previously worked as Brailsford’s chief lieutenant.

“It’s really good that this inquiry has been brought in, so we can establish the truth,” Brailsford told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday.

“I’m not going to go into the details. What I will do is I’ll share everything that I know with that inquiry.

“We need to get to the bottom of [the allegations]. They need to be heard, they need to be documented properly and addressed properly.”

Britain won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and again four years later at London 2012, when Sutton was head coach and Brailsford was performance director.

Brailsford, the Team Sky principal, added: “The British Cycling model wasn’t based around motivation through fear or performance through fear.

“It was all around an athlete centred model. We had a forensic psychiatrist [professor Steve Peters], who was absolutely brilliant, that was in that programme.

“We ran a model which was very much about ownership and trying to give the riders as much ownership as possible over their careers.

"You can’t get performance on a continuous basis over a long period of time through fear. I just don’t believe it.

“When you’re in a leadership position like that you have a responsibility to athletes and the care of athletes, more than anything else. And the welfare of those athletes.

“And of course you’re going to push hard in those environments, but I’ll always be open to learn anything I can.”

Brailsford was not asked about Sutton’s continued employment by Team Sky. Sutton left his role as Team Sky head coach in January 2013, but continues to be employed in an advisory role. British Cycling was unaware of the position, but had no concerns with Sutton’s work for them.

Brailsford pointed to the gender inequalities in cycling as a whole and the creation of gender parity in the Olympic track programme.

In Beijing in 2008 there were seven male events and three for women. At London 2012 there were five events for each gender. He spoke of his own hopes for his 11-year-old daughter, Milly.

Brailsford, who also mentioned the successes of British female riders during his tenure, added: “I want her to get into sport and if she gets into sport, I want her to have the same opportunities as the guys in her class, the same opportunities to earn the same money. You’ve got to move forward and think about those aspects too.”

The independent review is one of three ongoing investigations at British Cycling.

Sutton was suspended by British Cycling on 26 April after it was claimed he called Paralympic cyclists “gimps”, shortly after the independent review was announced into claims of sexism made by Jess Varnish.

An investigation into Sutton’s behaviour is one of two further internal inquiries at British Cycling. The other is into claims high-performance kit has been sold on for profit.

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Kittel Wins Scheldeprijs in Belgium

Scheldeprijs

Marcel Kittel won the Scheldeprijs race in Belgium for a fourth time after beating Mark Cavendish in a sprint finish.

Cavendish, competing for the Dimension Data team, was also bidding for a fourth victory in the one-day race. The Briton, who won in 2007, 2008 and 2011, was well positioned on the wheel of Kittel entering the finishing straight. Cavendish attempted to round the German but the Etixx-QuickStep rider had enough to hold on and win by little more than a tyre’s-width after a photo finish.

Germany’s André Greipel was third for the Lotto-Soudal team. Kittel’s victory marked his fourth in five attempts at the event, with his run only broken by Alexander Kristoff’s victory in 2015.

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France Team Must Move Forward - Deschamps

France manager Didier Deschamps says the team must "move forward" as they prepare to make an emotional return to the Stade de France.

The stadium was one of the targets in the November 2015 attacks on Paris that left 130 people dead.

France, who were playing Germany when the attacks took place, return to the stadium to face Russia on 29 March.

"No one can forget what happened, but there's no need to talk about it," said former Chelsea midfielder Deschamps.

"We lived very emotional moments, all together. Now we must move forward. All safety measures will be taken."

The France and Germany squads both slept at the stadium after the 13 November attacks, with the sound of explosions outside clearly audible inside the ground during the game.

The 81,338-capacity Stade de France has staged Six Nations rugby union matches - including Saturday's game when England claimed the Grand Slam - since the attacks.

France will host Euro 2016 between 10 June and 10 July, with the Stade de France the venue for the opening match of the tournament between France and Romania.

France are away to the Netherlands on Friday before hosting Russia on Tuesday.

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French Investigate Olympic Voting

French prosecutors have widened their investigation into corruption in athletics to include the bidding and voting processes for the hosting of the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

Lamine Diack, the former president of world governing body the IAAF, is already being investigated by French authorities.

He was arrested last year on corruption and money laundering charges, over allegations he took payments for deferring sanctions against Russian drugs cheats.

Confirming the investigation was being widened, an official from the prosecutor's office said: "We are looking at these elements, but at this stage it is a question of verification. Nothing has been proved."

Tokyo, which will host the 2020 Olympics, defended the voting process when it came under scrutiny in January.

Rio 2016 organisers said on Tuesday that the city "won the right to host the Games because it had the best project".

"The difference in the votes, 66 to 32 against Madrid, excludes any possibility of an election that could have been rigged," communications director Mario Andrada said.

Diack, 82, was head of the International Association of Athletics Federations for 16 years until he stepped down last August.

He resigned as an honorary member of the IOC in November - a day after being provisionally suspended by the organisation following the start of the French investigation.

In December, a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report into alleged IAAF corruption claimed Diack had been prepared to sell his vote to decide on the host city for the 2020 Games in exchange for sponsorship of IAAF events.

Diack's son Papa Massata, who was employed by his father as a marketing consultant for the IAAF, is also under investigation, and a warrant for his arrest has been issued by Interpol.

Last month, Wada investigators called for a follow-up inquiry into all World Championships awarded by the IAAF for 2009-2019 after finding evidence of possible wrongdoing.

Diack Jr has been banned for life by the IAAF but told the BBC in December he and his father were innocent of the claims against them.

Prosecutors are now looking into whether the alleged corruption could have extended to vote-rigging.

The Guardian claimed last year that - according to leaked emails - Diack Jr requested a payment of $5m from Doha in 2011, shortly before a decision was made about the city's unsuccessful bid for the 2017 World Championships. The Doha bid denies any wrongdoing.

In January, the newspaper reported he apparently arranged for "parcels" to be delivered to six IOC members in 2008, when Qatar was bidding for the 2016 Olympics, which will be hosted by Rio.

An IOC spokesman said the organisation had been in close contact with French prosecutors since the beginning of this investigation.

He added: "The IOC's chief ethics and compliance officer had already asked for the IOC to be fully informed in a timely manner of all issues that may refer to Olympic matters and has already applied to become a party to the investigations led by the French judicial authorities."

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Adidas End IAAF Sponsorship

The German sportswear company signed an 11-year agreement with the International Association of Athletics Federations in 2008 reported to be worth around £23m. But the BBC reported that the ongoing doping and corruption scandal has prompted Adidas to inform the IAAF that it will be pulling out of the deal. Neither Adidas nor the IAAF has made any comment.

According to the report, the move will result in tens of millions of dollars in lost income. The BBC claims the IAAF was told Adidas was considering ending its relationship with them in November after the publication of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) Independent Commission’s first report, which detailed claims of “state sponsored doping” within Russia.

The BBC, citing anonymous sources, said the sponsorship deal, signed in November 2008, was worth around $8m (£5.61m) per year.

The IAAF said it was in close contact will all its sponsors and partners as it embarked on reform.

Adidas is one of the IAAF’s “Official Partners” along with Canon, Toyota, Seiko, TDK, TBS and Mondo.

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Records Reset Pointless - Bolt

Six-times Olympic champion Usain Bolt says he feels shocked and let down by the scandal-hit IAAF. But the Jamaican sprinter is against resetting athletics world records as the sport attempts to move on from the doping crisis.

Thursday’s second instalment of a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report criticised the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), accusing its former head, Lamine Diack, of running a clique that covered up organised doping and blackmailed athletes as senior officials looked the other way. The first part of the report by independent investigator Dick Pound, a former head of Wada, in November led to athletics superpower Russia being banned from competition for state-sponsored doping.

Jamaican sprint king Bolt, the biggest name in athletics with a plethora of titles, records and commercial deals, said the IAAF had failed their athletes. “When I heard it was quite shocking for me to hear that because as far as I was concerned I think they were doing a good job to clean up the sport,” Bolt told Reuters in Kingston after collecting his sixth National Sportsman of the year award. “So for me to hear something like this was quite shocking and you feel let down as an athlete to be wanting to actually help clean up the sport, and then something like this to come up about the body. It’s kind of a letdown, so hopefully there’s no such thing, but we’ll see what happens.”

Diack stepped down last year after 16 years leading the IAAF and was replaced by Sebastian Coe. The Senegalese is already under formal investigation in France on suspicion of corruption and money laundering linked to the concealment of positive drug tests in concert with Russian officials and the blackmailing of the athletes to allow them to continue to compete. The reports noted that Diack “sanctioned and appeared to have had personal knowledge of the fraud and the extortion of athletes carried out by the actions of the illegitimate governance structure he put in place”.

UK Athletics (UKA) released “A Manifesto for Clean Athletics” on Monday, calling for world records to be wiped clean and drug cheats to be banned for at least eight years in radical proposals aimed at heralding in a new era for the sport. The 29-year-old Bolt, who set the 100m and 200m world records of 9.58 and 19.19 seconds in 2009 and shared in the 4x100m mark of 36.84secs in 2012, is against the proposal.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s really pointless,” he said. “What’s done is done, you have to just move forward and try to make the upcoming championships and Olympics and the next [world] records as best as we can and just look forward to the future. You can’t worry about the past, but try to build on the future.”

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Money Trouble at Rio Maracana

Administrators of Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Maracanã stadium have fired 75% of the arena’s staff eight months before the 2016 Olympics.

The consortium formed by construction company Odebrecht SA and entertainment group AEG said in a statement late on Monday that 40 people were laid off. 

The stadium, which hosted the 2014 World Cup final, is to be used for up to nine months by Games organizers, who are bringing in their own workers for that period.

Maracanã administrators said the layoffs aim to cut costs while the facility is under Olympic control. Arena tours and maintenance will be carried out by contractors.

The Maracanã, Brazil’s flagship stadium with nearly 79,000 seats, is scheduled to host Olympic soccer matches as well as opening and closing ceremonies.

Ownership of the stadium passed in 2013 to a private consortium formed by Odebrecht, which is now implicated in a massive corruption scheme at the country’s state-run oil company, Petrobras.

The stadium consortium lost 125m reais ($31.2m) in the first two years of business. It is likely to have taken an even bigger hit last year and is in discussions with the Rio de Janeiro state government to renegotiate their contract. 

Aerial view of the Maracana Complex with one year to go to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, on 5 August 2015.

Administrators said discussions with the Rio state government on a new operating contract are ongoing.

The consortium said that one of the reasons they have lost money is because they were unable to build a retail complex on the site, due to protests in 2013 over attempts to evict an indigenous community from a dilapidated museum complex.

Brazilian media have reported that stadium operations could be returned to the state in 2017.

Electricity was cut off at the stadium where track and field events are to be held, as Rio’s city government and soccer club Botafogo blamed each other for unpaid utility bills.

Brazilian website Globo Esporte said the bills totaled 1m reais ($250,000) and represented two months of missed payments. It reported that electricity has been out at the arena since last week, and water was cut more than a month ago.

A deep recession in Brazil has forced cuts to Olympic preparations as organizers try to slash about $500m in expenditures to keep the operating budget at $1.9bn.

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