Sports shorts
OWNZ respond to doco
Olympic Weightlifting New Zealand have expressed its disappointment over alleged corruption at the highest level of the sport. A documentary by German broadcaster ARD implicated the International Weightlifting Federation by showcasing financial irregularities from the Olympics as well as doping cover ups. OWNZ high performance director Simon Kent says while New Zealand have no part in it, it’s always a shame to see damaging examples come to light.
Stairmand eyeing No 8
Billy Stairmand will look to start 2020 with a win he eyes yet another national championship title. The Raglan surfer went into this week’s event as a seventime and defending champion. He’ll take to the water at Dunedin’s St Clair Beach today for finals day, with just eight surfers remaining in the hunt. In the women’s division, Aimee Brown will look to defend her 2019 crown and fend off 2018 champion Raiha Ensor and six other competitors.
Tuatara march on
The Auckland Tuatara continue to dominate the Australian Baseball League’s north-east division, after blanking the Sydney Blue Sox in a seven-run thumping in Sydney. A fourrun seventh inning did the damage for the visitors, with infielder Josh Morgan going 4-4 at the plate to score three runs and drive two in, while starting pitcher Kyohei Murunaka allowed just two hits in his 5.1 innings. The win improved the Tuatara’s record to 17-12.
Buttler fined for ‘knobhead’ rant
England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee after he was caught on live TV calling South African allrounder Vernon Philander a “f ***** g knobhead”. Buttler was fined for breaching Level 1 of the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct during the fifth day of the second test in Cape Town. England skipper Joe Root played down the incident after the test, which the visitors won by 189 runs to level the four-match series at 1-1.
Mitchell a Bunny
The long-running saga over Latrell Mitchell's NRL future has reportedly ended with the representative centre signing a cut-price deal with South Sydney. Mitchell's future has been up in air for several weeks despite the 22-year-old being under contract with the Sydney Roosters for 2020. The NRL premiers granted Mitchell leave before the start of their pre-season training and it appears the Kangaroos and NSW representative has played his last game for the Roosters with Souths winning the race for his signature.
Woods to start at Torrey Pines
Reigning Masters champion Tiger Woods will play his first PGA Tour event of 2020 in two weeks at Torrey Pines, the 15-time major champion announced on Twitter. Woods will play the Farmers Insurance Open near San Diego before hosting the Genesis Invitational at Riviera near Los Angeles, where he is the tournament host.
CAS to rule on Russian ban Russia’s four-year Olympic ban for manipulating doping data is heading to sport’s highest court. The World Anti-Doping Agency says it has formally referred the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after Russia confirmed last month it will appeal the sanction. Wada imposed a package of sanctions including banning Russia’s name and flag from the Olympics and world championship events in various sports over four years.
Agencies