Cycling
LONDON – With investigations escalating into a mystery medical package dispatched to a race six years ago to treat Bradley Wiggins, the British cycling great’s anger boiled over Thursday.
Not over the revelation that Team Sky didn’t retain adequate records of his medication. Nor by the discovery that British Cycling didn’t track the movement of medical supplies. What incensed Wiggins was the presence of reporters outside his home seeking answers about a package being investigated by the country’s anti-doping agency and a parliamentary committee.
After walking down the driveway and opening a gate, Wiggins confronted a BBC television crew and snapped: “This is my house. It’s a private road. I will call the police.”
Associates pushed the camera away as a reporter asked Britain’s most decorated Olympian and first Tour de France winner if he would “shed some light” on the “mystery package.”
Golf
PRETORIA, South Africa – Gregory Havret, Haydn Porteous, and Alexander Bjork shared the lead after the first round of the European Tour’s Tshwane Open in South Africa, all carding 6-under 65s at Pretoria Country Club on Thursday.
Fifteen players shot 67 or better at the par-71 course, a low-scoring opening round in the South African capital.
The leaders had a one-shot advantage over five players tied for fourth.
Havret made a blistering start with six birdies in his first nine holes before a more subdued back nine, where the Frenchman bogeyed Nos. 11 and 13.
South Africa’s Porteous missed six cuts to start the season but found form in his last two events and continued that with a fine start in Pretoria.
Like Porteous, Sweden’s Bjork went bogey-free for a share of the lead.
SINGAPORE – Michelle Wie rolled in several clutch putts Thursday to take a one-stroke clubhouse lead at the HSBC Women’s Champions.
The 27-year-old Wie, who has struggled with injuries and form since winning the U.S. Open in 2014, shot a 6-under 66 at the new Tanjong course.
Four others were tied for second after early 67s — Brooke Henderson, Inbee Park, Mo Martin and Anna Nordqvist.
Wie has managed just one top-10 finish since 2014 and only got into the $1.5 million LPGA tournament on a sponsor’s invitation after her ranking slumped to No. 179.
But she was in vintage touch Thursday with eight birdies, despite playing in tricky winds and light rain.
Skiing
VIENNA – Olympic super-G champion Anna Veith, out for at least six months following knee surgery, is expected to recover in time for the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Two days after having the patellar tendon in her left knee surgically repaired, the two-time overall World Cup champion from Austria says “I have no time limit (for a comeback). I don’t put myself under pressure. That would be the worst thing to do with this kind of injury.”
Her surgeon, Christian Hoser, says Veith will need at least half a year before getting back on skis, leaving her still enough time to get ready for the Olympics in February.
Veith returned in December from a 14-month layoff after a serious right knee injury but ended her season prematurely a week ago.
Associated Press
