Deignan gets Sky call-up for the Giro

JUNHUI underlined his World Championship ambitions by closing out victory over Chinese compatriot Xiao Guodong in little more than an hour in the first round. The world number three held a healthy 6-3 overnight lead and quickly reeled off four frames in a row to clinch a 10-3 win, setting up a clash with either Anthony McGill or Ryan Day next. PHILIP DEIGNAN has been named alongside Chris Froome in Team Sky’s eight-man team for the Giro d’Italia. Letterkenny’s Deignan, 34, has ridden the Giro six times before with a career-high finish of 37th last year. Froome is joined by three riders from his 2017 Tourwinning team — Belarus’ Vasil Kiryienka, Germany’s Christian Knees and Colombia’s Sergio Henao. Dutchman Wout Poels, Deignan, Spain’s David de la Cruz and Salvatore Puccio of Italy make up the rest of Team Sky’s team. Defending champion Tom Dumoulin will lead Team Sunweb, while Italy’s Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), France’s Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) and Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) are Froome’s rivals for the pink jersey. The 101st Giro starts in Jerusalem on May 4 and ends in Rome on May 27. CASTER SEMENYA’S domination of middledistance running is likely to end with the introduction of new rules which will be announced tomorrow. The IAAF will reveal their rule changes for athletes with hyperandrogenism, with the decision expected to force Semenya either to take medication to reduce her naturally occurring testosterone levels or move to longerdistance events. Semenya underlined her superiority at the Commonwealth Games when she took gold in the 1500m and 800m.