In today’s sports news: What you need to know

Latest– Cameron Smith lit up St Andrews in bright afternoon sunshine to lead the British Open as Tiger Woods’s challenge fizzled out meekly in the second round.

Cameron Smith
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Australian Smith birdied his first three holes and picked up three more shots before sinking a long snaking eagle putt on the 14th green on the way to a flawless 64 that lifted him to 13 under par.

Overnight leader Cameron Young was the closest challenger on 11 under, two shots ahead of Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, who made three birdies in a row around the turn to keep his bid for a fifth major title firmly on track.

World number one Scottie Scheffler was a further stroke back alongside Briton Tyrrell Hatton.

Woods received a standing ovation from the galleries as he walked up the 18th fairway before he missed a short birdie putt to complete a round of 75 that left him tied for 148th place in the 156-man field.

New Zealand’s Ben Campbell and Ryan Fox

-Reuters

Errors cost Warriors against Eels

The Warriors lost 28-18 to the Paramatta Eels in the round 18 NRL game in Sydney.

The Warriors put themselves under pressure in the opening stanza after conceding three set re-starts and while they defended well it was only a matter of time before they cracked.

Marcelo Montoya
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Waqa Blake scored his first try in the 12th minute after Reed Mahoney threw a long pass behind Reagan Campbell-Gillard from dummy half for the Eels centre to stroll over the Warriors line.

The Warriors refused to give up and after a sustained period of pressure on the Parramatta line, Wayde Egan and Adam Pompey combined to put winger Marcelo Montoya over eight minutes before halftime.

Trailing just 10-6 at halftime, the Warriors must have thought they were a chance of causing an upset but errors and ill discipline again put them under pressure and the Eels made them pay.

Wests Tigers-bound Kiwis second-rower Isaiah Papali’i scored in the 55th minute after a reverse pass from Mahoney and captain Clint Gutherson virtually sealed the win three minutes later after Montoya was unable to take a Mitchell Moses bomb.

Winger Maika Sivo then completed a dominant second half Parramatta performance when he raced down the left touchline to score.

-NRL

Tall Blacks lose to Lebanon

The Tall Blacks lost to Lebanon in their second game of the Asia Cup, going down 87-72 in Indonesia.

Lebanon headed in to the game having never beaten the Tall Blacks in the previous four encounters.

This time, Lebanon were able to take an early lead, remain calm, and hang on to an important win that sends them to the top of Group D.

New Zealand’s Taki Fahrensohn had the hot hand with 21 points and 4 three-pointers in what was a rare game where the Tall Blacks struggled to score.

Paddon out of Rally Estonia

World championship frontrunner Kalle Rovanpera led Rally Estonia after reeling in Toyota team mate Elfyn Evans on a slippery first full day of action.

Kalle Rovanpera
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

After nine stages the Finn was 11.7 seconds clear of the Welshman, who lost time when he slid off the muddy road in heavy rain on the day’s final stage and saw a 10 second lead disappear.

Estonia’s 2019 world champion Ott Tanak was in third place for Hyundai and 44.3 seconds off the lead.

Evans won five stages in a row before Rovanpera closed the day with three straight wins.

Tanak was handed a 10 second penalty for continuing to use his hybrid car’s petrol engine during a designated full electric zone on the way to the first stage, and then struggled late on with a misted-up windscreen.

New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon withdrew from the rally after getting Covid-19.

-Reuters

Former champion wins 13th stage of the Tour de France

Mads Pedersen of Denmark won the 13th stage of the Tour de France, a 193-km ride from Le Bourg d’Oisans.

The 2019 world champion won a three-man sprint from the day’s breakaway to beat Britain’s Fred Wright and Canadian Hugo Houle, who were second and third, respectively.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey.

-Reuters

F1 to change roll hoops for 2023

Formula One’s governing body said it will introduce tougher tests on the roll hoops of cars next season as a result of Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou’s big British Grand Prix crash.

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Zhou’s Alfa Romeo flipped and skidded upside down along the track at Silverstone, with the roll hoop ripped off, before flying across a tyre wall and becoming wedged between the barriers and catch fence.

The rookie escaped unscathed, his head protected from serious injury by the titanium Halo device that rings the cockpit.

The FIA said its Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) representing the teams, governing body and commercial rights holders said: “The teams confirmed their availability to introduce more stringent measures on the roll hoops for 2023, and the FIA undertook to complete the relevant analyses and to communicate to the teams new requirements for the safety of the roll hoop.”

The TAC also discussed the vertical oscillation of cars, commonly known as ‘porpoising’ — bouncing at speed like the movement of a porpoise through water.

The aerodynamic phenomenon has been a consequence of this year’s major rules overhaul.

Champions Mercedes have been particularly affected, although they appear to have resolved some of the worst effects, and the FIA warned there was a risk of a more serious problem next season.

It said measures to be put in place from next month’s Belgian Grand Prix were not necessarily a long-term fix and the FIA would introduce further changes for 2023.

They included raising the floor edges of cars by 25mm, more stringent lateral floor deflection tests and a more accurate sensor “to help quantify the aerodynamic oscillation.”

-Reuters

J-Bay turns on the waves for World Championship Tour

Australian surfer Ethan Ewing won his first World Championship Tour event taking out countryman Jack Robinson in the final of South Africa’s Corona Open J-Bay in pumping waves at the famed right-hand point break.

Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who finished runner up in the world last year, powered her way to a win over Australia’s two-time world champion Tyler Wright in the women’s final with a gutsy performance on her backhand.

After some lacklustre conditions at earlier stops, Jeffreys Bay delivered some of the best surf of this year’s tour, with big, powerful walls reeling for hundreds of metres down the rocky point.

The tour next heads to Tahiti and the intimidating tubes of Teahupo’o for the last chance for surfers to claim one of five men’s and women’s spots for the one-day Finals event at Lower Trestles in Southern California in September.

-Reuters