badminton
Glasgow's Imogen Bankier and her English partner Chris Adcock saved three match points before beating their main rivals for the Great Britain Olympics mixed doubles berth Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork in an incredible match at the Swiss Open in Basle, writes Henry McCall.
They won the 68-minute contest 19-21, 21-11, 25-23 on their second match point. Both pairs had climbed in the world rankings after reaching the quarter-finals at the Yonex All England Open Championships last week, Bankier and Adcock up three places to No.14 and Robertson and Wallwork up two places to No.17.
Robertson and Wallwork had won the only previous meeting, at the Malaysian Open in January, but Bankier and Adcock can consolidate their ranking points lead which will increase to at least 2000 after yesterday's win. In today's quarter-finals they face Japan's Kenichi Hayakawa and Misaki Matsutomo, who were 26-24, 21-12 winners over the No.6 seeds Songphon Anugritayawon and Kunchala Voravichitchaikul of Thailand.
basketball
Great Britain's men are to play three leading European nations, Spain, Russia and Lithuania, as well as the USA, in their build-up to this summer's Olympic Games, writes Mark Woods. The squad, coached by Chris Finch, will play 11 friendlies after a training camp in Houston, including two against Portugal in Sheffield on July 14 and 15.
After meeting the USA, the reigning Olympic champions, in Manchester, Finch will take his side to Belgium for two final tune-ups before the Games begin. "We have a very busy preparation period this year with some tough opposition which will provide the best grounding for our side as they head to London," said Finch.
Great Britain's women, who will have a training camp in Guildford, play 18 friendlies in six countries, including a long-haul trip to China. Tom Maher's team will face Canada in Edinburgh on June 9 and 10 as well as taking on Australia, Olympic silver medallists in 2008, in a four-nation event in Sheffield from July 13-15. Their preparations conclude against the world champions USA in Manchester on July 18.
bowls
Scotland chalked up their second win in the Women's Home International Series at Swansea yesterday with a 120-96 defeat of Wales, writes Anne Dunwoodie. Julie Forrest and her rink of Kim Watt, Lorna Cameron and Liz Fraser again turned in the top score; they took a 12-1 five-end lead and went on to beat Wendy Price 27-11. Wendy Purdie, Lynn Stein and Margaret Letham also recorded wins.
The Scots take on the holders England in a title decider today hoping that Wales continues to be a happy hunting ground. Their last two titles came at Llanelli in 2004 and 2008.
cycling
Alex Coutts is poised to challenge for a top-10 finish at the Tour of Taiwan when the seven-day race concludes today with a 150km stage in Kaohsiung City, writes Colin Renton. Riding for the Chinese team RTS Racing, the 28-year-old Scottish international crossed the line in seventh after yesterday's 135km haul from Tainan City to Guanzihling, 10sec down on the day's winner Victor Nino Corredor of Columbia. It moved Coutts up to 12th place in the general classification, 10sec adrift of the 10th placed rider.
motor racing
Allan McNish has dismissed the notion that a first world title of his career this year would mean less because of the departure of rivals Peugeot, writes Kenneth Stephen. The Scot hopes mark his first FIA World Endurance Championship race with a win at Sebring tomorrow but admits that he was shocked by the departure of Peugeot, who have been Audi's greatest rivals in the diesel era.
McNish expects a new battle with giants, Toyota, although Sebring comes too early in their programme. "I drove for them in Formula One and know only too well that one of the biggest car companies in the world has now joined us in the WEC," he said.
Two Honda HPD cars will be in the field and McNish knows victory at the famous 12-hour race is no formality. "An HPD finished second first time out in last year's corresponding race, half a minute behind the winner, with minimal testing, which was a stunning performance," he said. Audi has paced the Sebring tests this week, with McNish recording the overall best lap time of 1min 47.187sec.
n Jim Geddie, the British GT champion from Aberdeen, will go it alone in the GT Cup this season, splitting the title-winning partnership with his son Glynn, writes Kenneth Stephen. They were the first father and son title winners in British GT history last term in their CRS Racing Ferrari 458. Glynn, 21, is to race in the Porsche Carrera Cup this term but Jim has decided to have another shot at the British GT series in a McLaren.
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