Lithuania hails Wallabies draw

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Thanks ... The Wallabies draw with the All Blacks saves Lithuania's world record winning streak. Source: Adam Head / News Limited

Mighty minnows Lithuania paid tribute on Monday to Australia for halting the All Blacks' unbeaten run, which threatened to end the Baltic nation's oddball record for the longest series of victories in the sport.

The Lithuanian Rugby Federation's general secretary Irmantas Kukulskis said they had been waiting with bated breath as the All Blacks edged ever closer to their 18-match record, recognised by the International Rugby Board.

New Zealand's 16-match run ended when the Wallabies held them 18-18 in the Bledisloe Cup in Brisbane on Saturday.

"We were waiting for this moment and today we can only thank the Australian national team for helping us to keep this record,'' Kukulskis said.

"Rugby is not very popular in Lithuania. We're amateurs and the federation's run by enthusiasts,'' he said.

"So we're very glad and proud to have such a record,'' he added, although the Lithuanians are fully aware that their unbeaten run came against much smaller fry than the All Blacks' opponents.

Lithuania play in European rugby's third tier -- not counting the top-flight Six Nations, from which promotion and relegation are not automatic.

In April 2010 they chalked up their 18th consecutive victory, in a European Nations Cup match against Serbia.

Their four-year winning streak ended a month later when they lost to Ukraine in a Rugby World Cup qualifier.

"We are a small country, and this record attracts attention. It's a pleasure to hear the name of Lithuania among such greats as Australia or New Zealand,'' said Kukulskis.

"This is sport, and we understand the record may be broken one day,'' he added.

The sport is very much a minority interest in the republic of three million people, where basketball is king.

But there are enough hardy souls to run a domestic league and a national team whose members include a handful who play in Sweden or English rugby's lower tiers.

Lithuania only returned to the global sporting fold after breaking free from five decades of Soviet rule in 1990.

23.40 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lance's legacy to be erased

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Legacy ... Lance Armstrong is no longer welcome in the cycling community. Source: Tom Pennington / AFP

Once a symbol of perseverance in the face of the most incredible odds, Lance Armstrong now seems destined to go down in history as one of the most brazen dope cheats that sport has ever seen.

After sensationally conceding defeat in his fight to contest the charges against him in August, the Texan's world caved in further on Monday when the International Cycling Union (UCI) erased him from the sport's history.

The US Anti-Doping Agency had already published a damning report that laid bare his guilt.

Armstrong, they claimed, was at the heart of "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen''.

"He was not just a part of the doping culture on his team,'' said the USADA. "He enforced and re-enforced it.''

UCI president Pat McQuaid told reporters he was "sickened'' by the revelations, adding: "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling.''

The decision to cast aside one of cycling's most successful exponents leaves Armstrong's sporting legacy in tatters but for all his detractors, there have been just as many admirers.

For his supporters, the doping allegations pale into comparison beside his battle with life-threatening cancer and the work of his charitable foundation, which he founded to help others living with the disease.

Doctors had given Armstrong a less than 50 percent chance of survival when he was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain.

He persevered through surgery and chemotherapy and returned to cycling but was little known in his homeland when he won his first Tour de France title in 1999.

His years of dominance in the sport's greatest race raised cycling's profile in the United States to new heights and gave him a platform to promote cancer awareness and research.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation has raised almost $US500 million ($A487.12 million) since it was created in 1997.

But in the aftermath of the allegations, several top sponsors dropped Armstrong and he even quit as chairman of Livestrong.

Even in his glory days of cycling, many were sceptical of his powers.

In 1999, it was a trace amount of a banned corticosteroid, which cycling officials explained by saying he was authorised to use a small amount of cream containing the drug to treat saddle sores.

After his 2000 Tour triumph, French authorities probed his US Postal Service team but brought no charges.

Critics seized on his friendship with Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, who was banned by Italian authorities over doping in 2002.

In 2004, a Texas promotions company balked at paying him a $US5 million ($A4.87 million) bonus for his sixth tour title because of doping allegations by European media.

In that court case, former teammate Frankie Andreu and his wife, Betsy, testified that Armstrong told doctors during his cancer treatment that he had taken steroids and other performance-enhancers.

Two books published in Europe, "L.A. Confidential'' and "L.A. Official'', alleged he doped and in 2005, French newspaper L'Equipe reported that urine samples taken during the 1999 Tour that were later re-tested were positive for the blood-booster EPO.

Armstrong fought back with denials and even court action, before briefly launching a comeback in 2009, but in the end the sheer weight of evidence against him -- including testimony from 11 former teammates -- proved too much to withstand.

23.40 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Lance has no place in cycling'

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Lance Armstrong ... (insert caption here) Source: Thao Nguyen / AAP

The Intenational Cycling Union has handed Lance Armstrong a life ban and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles after recognising the sanctions imposed by United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).

UCI president Pat McQuaid confirmed USADA's findings in a press conference beamed around the world from the governing body's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday night (EDT).

In a long address to the media, McQuaid called it "a landmark day for cycling" and said that despite all the pain the sport was going through, "cycling has a future".

But he said Armstrong had no place in cycling and that the one time pin-up boy of the sport "deserved to be forgotton by cycling".

McQuaid succeeded Hein Verbruggen as president of world cycling after Armstrong's seventh and final Tour victory in 2005 and is credited with boosting the body's anti-doping program, notably with the pioneering blood passport programme.

The Irishman was under pressure to answer how Armstrong and his teams managed to dope for so long without being detected. But he rejected calls to quit.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Armstrong's sporting reputation as the cancer survivor who fought back to win cycling's most gruelling and celebrated race has been shattered since the revelations, leading to sponsors leaving him in droves.

There has also been fears of a wider withdrawal of financial backing for the sport after Dutch sponsor Rabobank said it was ending the sponsorship of its professional cycling team after a 17-year association.

The sponsor described professional cycling as "sick" to its core and unlikely to recover in the foreseeable future.

The strongly-worded comments went to the heart of claims of failings at the UCI and in particular to McQuaid, who has been criticised for failing to see the extent of doping within the sport.

Verbruggen, who stepped down in in 2006 but remains honorary president, ran the UCI during Armstrong's golden era - a time when USADA's report says Armstrong and teammates evaded dope tests either by hiding or being tipped off in advance.

The Dutchman has also been accused of protecting Armstrong - even accepting a donation to cover up a positive dope test.

The cyclist's cancer backstory and Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005 were seen as key to restoring cycling's tattered image after a string of high-profile doping scandals in the 1990s.

Armstrong's Tour victories are unlikely to be re-awarded, the race's director Christian Prudhomme has said. The void avoids further headaches, given that the majority of riders who finished on the podium have also been implicated in doping.

Additional reporting: Justin Davis, AAP

23.40 | 0 komentar | Read More

Man jailed over goalkeeper attack

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Chris Kirkland ... lays on the ground after been struck by a Leeds United fan. Source: Tony Marshall / AAP

A 21-year-old man was jailed for 16 weeks on Monday after admitting to attacking England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland during a televised game in the second-tier English Championship.

Aaron Cawley, from Cheltenham in south-west England, pleaded guilty to assault and invading the pitch during Sheffield Wednesday's 1-1 draw at home to Leeds United on Friday night.

Cawley appeared before magistrates in Sheffield, northern England, having been arrested for running onto the pitch at Hillsborough and shoving Kirkland in the face after Leeds scored a 76th-minute equaliser.

He then ran back into the crowd, but was detained by police on Sunday.

Kirkland, 31, has previously played for clubs including Liverpool and Wigan Athletic. He joined Wednesday from Wigan earlier this year.

He made one appearance for England as a substitute in a friendly against Greece in August 2006.

23.40 | 0 komentar | Read More

'Biggest crisis cycling's faced'

Sickened ... Pat McQuaid has labelled the Lance Armstrong saga the biggest crisis in cycling. Source: Salvatore Di Nolfi / AP

Lance Armstrong's fate was sealed on Monday as cycling's under-fire world governing body decided to back a life ban for doping and strip him of his record seven Tour de France titles.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it supported the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) decision to erase the rider's entire career after August 1998, as president Pat McQuaid called the scandal "the biggest crisis'' the sport had ever faced.

"The UCI will strip him of his seven Tour de France wins. Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling... He deserves to be forgotten in cycling,'' McQuaid told a news conference in Geneva, saying he had been "sickened'' by the revelations.

Earlier this month the US body released a devastating dossier on Armstrong, detailing over 202 pages and with more than 1,000 pages of supporting testimony how he was at the heart of the biggest doping programme in the history of sport.

The revelations, including evidence from 11 of Armstrong's former team-mates, plunged a sport which has been working hard to rid itself of its murky doping past into crisis.

McQuaid succeeded Hein Verbruggen as president of world cycling after Armstrong's seventh and final Tour victory in 2005 and is credited with boosting the body's anti-doping program, notably with the pioneering blood passport.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

The Irishman was under pressure to answer how Armstrong and his teams managed to dope for so long without being detected. But he rejected calls to quit, vowing to continue his work against the scourge of doping.

Armstrong's sporting reputation as the cancer survivor who fought back to win cycling's most gruelling and celebrated race has been shattered since the revelations, leading to sponsors leaving him in droves.

There has also been fears of a wider withdrawal of financial backing for the sport after Dutch financier Rabobank said it was ending the sponsorship of its professional cycling team after a 17-year association.

The sponsor described professional cycling as "sick'' to its core and unlikely to recover in the foreseeable future.
The strongly-worded comments went to the heart of claims of failings at the UCI and in particular to McQuaid, who has been criticised for failing to see the extent of doping within the sport.

Verbruggen, who stepped down in in 2006 but remains honorary president, ran the UCI during Armstrong's golden era -- a time when USADA's report says Armstrong and team-mates evaded dope tests either by hiding or being tipped off in advance.

The Dutchman has also been accused of protecting Armstrong -- even accepting a donation to cover up a positive dope test. McQuaid on Monday said the UCI "absolutely deny'' that Armstrong bought off the body.

Armstrong's cancer backstory and Tour triumphs from 1999 to 2005 were seen as key to restoring cycling's tattered image after a string of high-profile doping scandals in the 1990s.

His Tour victories are unlikely to be re-awarded, the race's director Christian Prudhomme has said. The void would prevent further headaches, given that most riders who finished on the podium in that time have since been implicated in doping.

But the final decision will come in a special UCI meeting on Friday.

23.40 | 0 komentar | Read More