Sports round-up

BASKET, NBA: The National Basketball Association is cracking down on defenders who intentionally fall after making slight contact with an opponent to try and fool refs into calling penalties. The NBA announced a new rule aimed at eliminating “flopping” on Wednesday. “Flops have no place in our game – they either fool referees into calling undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call,” NBA spokesman Stu Jackson said. Now a player guilty of flopping will be subject to a warning, followed by a $5,000 fine for a second violation. The fine will increase $5,000 for a third and fourth violation.

CYCLING: Team Sky have signed top British prospect Jonathan Tiernan-Locke on a two-year deal, the team said yesterday. “The 27-year-old has penned a two-year deal and will join the team on the back of a remarkable season with Endura Racing which has yielded nine victories to date,” Sky said in a statement. Tiernan-Locke won the general classification of the Tour du Haut Var, Tour d’Alsace, Tour mediterraneen and Tour of Britain this season.

HORSE RACING: French Derby winner Saonois was, as expected, entered for for Europe’s most prestigious race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, yesterday. Saonois – trained by Jean-Pierre Gauvin in the unfashionable French racing backwater of Lyon – was one of three to be supplemented at a cost of €100,000 to their owners for Sunday’s showpiece at Longchamp. He will be bidding to become the first French Derby winner since Dalakhani in 2004 to win the Arc, which sees the victor pick up almost €2.3 million in winnings.

ATHLETICS: Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis (picture) has been named the women’s European athlete of 2012, European Athletics said yesterday. Briton Ennis, whose image adorned posters promoting the London Games, fell narrowly short of the 7,000 point barrier while claiming the gold medal. She still notched 6,955 points and became the second woman only to score more than 6,900 points twice in the same year after American world record holder Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988.

RACE OF CHAMPIONS: IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will line up against Formula One stars Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel at the Race of Champions in Bangkok on December 15-16, organisers announced. The annual end-of-season contest, which brings together heavyweights from all racing disciplines in the same type of car, is a chance for Thailand to showcase its host credentials as it seeks to stage its first Formula One race. The Race of Champions, now in its 25th year, will be held on a specially constructed tarmac track in Bangkok’s 50,000-capacity Rajamangala Stadium. The field also features F1 drivers Jenson Button and David Coulthard.