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Golf: Rory McIlroy (picture, right) has been voted the European Tour’s player of the year for the third time in four seasons despite missing key tournaments through injury. The Northern Irishman was unable to defend his British Open title at St Andrews after damaging ankle ligaments playing soccer before the Scottish Open in July. McIlroy, a four-times major champion, ended the season in fine form, however, lifting the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Formula E: Jaguar will make its return to the world motorsport stage by entering the Formula E electric racing series next year. Williams Advanced Engineering, part of the group that includes former Formula One champions Williams, will be technical partners to the Tata-owned company. The decision to enter Formula E, facilitated by the Italian Trulli team vacating one of the 10 slots, will be Jaguar’s first major motorsport involvement since the then-Ford owned team departed Formula One at the end of 2004.
Cricket: India’s limited-overs captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the first pick by the new Pune franchise while Rajkot chose batsman Suresh Raina at the Indian Premier League draft for the next two seasons yesterday. The western Indian cities of Pune and Rajkot were named as home to two new franchises for the next two years, filling the void left by the two-year suspensions on the Chennai and Rajasthan franchises following an illegal betting scandal.
Athletics: Six-times Olympic champion Usain Bolt will return to London’s Olympic Park to take part in next year’s London Anniversary Games. Bolt will compete in London’s world-class Diamond League event on July 22-23, making it his final appearance before the Rio Olympics, the lanky Jamaican said in a statement. “I know the fans in London are very passionate and will come out in force and create a great atmosphere,” said Bolt. “I first competed in the London Grand Prix in 2005 when the event was in Crystal Palace and this will be my ninth time to compete in a city I know very well.”
Basket, NBA: With his team trailing Toronto 26-5 midway through the first quarter yesterday, Indiana Pacers’ coach Frank Vogel called a much-needed time-out during which he did not mince words. “I’m not sure I can actually repeat what I said, but essentially, it was about getting our defence right, something we have talked about for the past five games,” Vogel told reporters after the match. Indiana countered with a 39-4 run on their way to a roller-coaster 106-90 victory over the Raptors. Indiana’s huge run that spanned the end of the first quarter and start of the second quarter gave the Pacers a 44-30 lead, and they never trailed again.
Baseball: Cuban baseball defectors, including star players Jose Abreu and Yasiel Puig, will join a Major League Baseball goodwill tour arriving in Havana this week in an unprecedented act of baseball diplomacy. Cuba does not typically welcome back defectors so soon, especially for high-profile events, and they remain banned from the Cuban national team for international events such as the World Baseball Classic. But with US-Cuban relations improving, the government gave permission for Puig and Abreu to return to their homeland for the first time since they took illegal boat rides to defect from the Communist-run island in 2012 and 2013.