In brief

Five NZ medals

New Zealand finished the World Para Athletics Championships in London with five medals, with runners William Stedman and Keegan Pitcher adding two on a successful final day. Stedman and Pitcher crossed the finish line second and third during the T36 800m final, with times of 2min 11.86sec and 2min 13.49sec to get on podium. James Turner of Australia won the race in 2min 8.78sec. Pitcher had earlier won a bronze medal in the 400m in a personal best and New Zealand record time of 55.23sec. New Zealand’s other medals came from Jessica Hamill in the F34 shot put and Holly Robinson in the F46 javelin. Hamill’s best throw of 7.77m earned her a bronze while Robinson’s 42.41m effort landed her a silver. Anna Grimaldi fell just shy of a medal in the T47 long jump, her 5.21m leap good enough for fourth. Stedman also finished fourth in the long jump, in the T36 classification, jumping 5.35m.

Tall Ferns downed

The Tall Ferns opened its first FIBA Asia Cup campaign with a 77-48 defeat at the hands of 11-times Asia Cup champions China in Bangalore on Monday (NZ time). China’s success was built on a dominating defensive display highlighted by a 39-21 rebounding advantage. In addition they converted an efficient 8 from 18 three-point attempts (44%) compared with New Zealand’s solitary 1 from 9 from beyond the arc. Scorers: China 77 (Li 15, Zhao 14, Shen 14) Tall Ferns 48 (J Harmon 14, M Cocks 9, T Edmondson 8).

Hunt ruled out

Karmichael Hunt has been ruled out of the Wallabies’ opening Bledisloe Cup test after undergoing ankle surgery. The June test debutant is expected to be sidelined for two months, which means he’ll miss Australia’s first four Rugby Championship clashes, including the first two Bledisloe Cup encounters in Sydney and Dunedin in August. The return of Kurtley Beale from overseas will greatly soften the blow as he was expected to take over at inside centre after Hunt started there last month. Hunt’s Queensland Reds teammate, winger Eto Nabuli is also struggling with an ankle injury and has been ruled out of the entire Rugby Championship after he made his test debut in June.

Duncan back on top

Otago’s Courtney Duncan is back on top of the women’s Motocross World Championship standings after another sensational display of riding skill, courage and common sense, at Loket, in the Czech Republic. The rider from Palmerston, near Dunedin, arrived at the weekend’s fourth round of six in this season’s championships in third position overall, but just seven points behind the series leader, Italy’s former world champion Kiara Fontanesi (Yamaha). Duncan battled valiantly in her first of two races at the tricky Loket track, fighting through traffic from eighth position at the start to eventually take the lead just two corners before the finish and win the race by barely a bike length from rival Fontanesi. Duncan is now on top and three points clear of Fontanesi.

Cassidy holds second

Nick Cassidy has held onto second place in Japan’s Super GT series in his Lexus LC 500, despite only finishing tenth at the latest round at Sugo. The Aucklander had worked his way up to sixth place by the half way distance of the 300 kms race, despite carrying the heaviest weight handicap of any car in the field and a five percent fuel restriction thanks to his and co-driver Ryo Hirakawa’s good results earlier in the season.

NZ squad to expand?

Field events athletes Julia Ratcliffe and Marshall Hall are set to swell New Zealand’s world championships squad for London to 12. Athletics New Zealand officials are confident the pair will receive IAAF invites to the championships from August 4-13 after both fell within targeted event quotas at Monday’s selection cutoff. Hamilton hammer thrower Ratcliffe’s best throw for the year of 70.35m, at Princeton, New Jersey, on July 16 places her 27th on the IAAF’s target entry list, with 32 sought for London. Ratcliffe has a best of 70.75m. The IAAF’s entry standard had been set at 71.00m. Hall, from Southland, is in a similar situation after his PB discus throw of 64.55m in Salinas, California, in May.