Squash: Former Asian squash champion Azlan Iskandar announced yesterday that he would be retiring as a professional after 12 years at the top of the game. The Malaysian, ranked number 14 in the world last month, said he found it hard to “find inspiration” after more than a decade as a Professional Squash Association (PSA) member. Azlan, who ranked world number 10 at the height of his career last year, has reached 24 PSA world tour finals and won 14 tour titles, including three Malaysian Open crowns between 2004 and 2010. He was Asian Games gold medallist in 2010 and twice winner of the Asian Championship.
Boxing: Australia’s Daniel Geale was crowned the new unified IBF and WBA middleweight world champion on Saturday night following his split decision win over Germany’s Felix Sturm. The 31-year-old Tasmanian took the unification bout when the three judges scored the fight 116-112 to Sturm, then 116-112, 116-112 to Geale, who claimed the German’s WBA middleweight title in Oberhausen, Germany. This was the 28th win of Geale’s 29 fight career with a 2009 split-decision defeat to compatriot Anthony Mundine his only loss.
American Football: A Tennessee man fell to his death from the upper deck of the Georgia Dome stadium during a college football game, in the second fatality last week stemming from a fall at a stadium, authorities said. Isaac Grubb, 20, of Lenoir City, Tennessee, died late on Friday at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital following an 11-metre fall, said Laura Salm, an investigator from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office. Grubb fell from the upper deck of the stadium, apparently injuring another fan seated in the mezzanine area. Last Thursday, Jonathan Kelly, 25, died after falling about 18 metres from a fifth-floor escalator at Reliant Stadium during a pre-season National Football League game in Houston.
Cycling: Spaniard Antonio Piedra won yesterday’s 15th stage of the Tour of Spain, a 186.5km ride from La Robla to Lagos de Covadonga, while compatriot Joaquim Rodriguez kept the overall race lead. The Caja Rural rider soared ahead of a breakaway group of riders at the start of the final climb of the race to cross the finish line just ahead of Spain’s Ruben Perez Moreno of Euskaltel. France’s Lloyd Mondory finished the stage in third place. Rodriguez held on to the overall leader’s red jersey as well as his 22-second lead over Spain’s Alberto Contador, who is in second place.
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Tennis: Belgium’s Kim Clijsters (picture) bid what she vows will be a second and final farewell to her tennis career on Saturday with a mixed doubles loss at the US Open. Clijsters and American Bob Bryan were defeated by Brazilian Bruno Soares and Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 3-6, 12-10 in a second-round match on the Grandstand stadium in New York. “It was an honour to be part of this lifestyle and this sport. I started when I was four and had so many dreams come true,” said Clijsters. Her final shot was a netted forehand which gave Soares and Makarova the victory.