MONDAY, MAY 23, 2016 SPORTS Britain’s Meeke seals Portugal Rally win MATOSINHOS: Britain’s Kris Meeke really, really excited about 2017!” Norway’s returned from a two-rally absence to win Andreas Mikkelsen outpaced team-mate the Rally of Portugal yesterday. The Briton, and championship leader Sebastien Ogier who missed the previous two WRC rounds on the final day to take second in a in the Americas, led for all but the first of Volkswagen Polo R, relegating the the 19 speed tests to win the four-day Frenchman to the last step of the podium rough road event in northern Portugal by by 4.8sec. “I had another puncture, so two 29.7sec in Citroen’s DS 3. and only one spare. Luckily it was a slow It was his second world success after tri- puncture and I was able to get enough air umphing in Argentina last year. “An almost in for the stage,” bemoaned Ogier. Three- perfect weekend - huge thanks to my time defending world champion Ogier still team. We made the most of the position holds a 47-point lead over Mikkelsen in the we were in and I couldn’t have done any drivers’ standings, after finishing on the more,” said Meeke. “It shows the DS 3 is still podium in all five of the rallies so far this a great car. For me too it’s another step. I’m season. —AFP A look at the retests of Olympic drug samples GENEVA: Inside a non-descript concrete of the athletes later produced a positive building in a Swiss parking lot lies evidence sample, it would be replaced by their clean that could take down dozens of Olympic sample and the athlete would pay athletes. The anti-doping laboratory in Rodchenkov. Lausanne holds the stored urine and blood In late 2012, WADA asked for all 67 sam- samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics ples to be retested in Lausanne. One tested that are being retested with improved positive for low levels of a banned sub- techniques to catch drug cheats who stance, 54 were clean and 12 had too little escaped detection at the time and to keep volume for proper testing. The Lausanne them out of this summer’s games in Rio de lab destroyed the samples after a standard PARIS: Australia’s Nick Kyrgios returns the ball to Italy’s Marco Cecchinato during their first round match at the Roland Garros 2016 French Janeiro. So far, 31 unidentified athletes in three-month storage period despite a Tennis Open. — AFP six sports from 12 countries have been request from WADA to keep them. caught during retests of samples from the An investigation by the Lausanne hospi- 2008 Beijing Games. Results on tests of 250 tal, opened within days of the Pound Angry Kyrgios, Kvitova pass samples from the 2012 London Olympics report, cleared the lab of wrongdoing. will be known soon. Some things to know Rodchenkov is now at the center of a scan- about the retesting program: dal over Russian doping at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He says he helped chilly Roland Garros tests The Lausanne lab Russian athletes dope before Sochi and It’s officially called the Swiss Laboratory switched their tainted samples for clean PARIS: Controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios and his composure to see off world number 124 Benoit Paire, the French 19th seed, gave the for Doping Analyses, or by its French ones during the games. Sochi samples are two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova Cecchinato and set up a second-round clash hosts a winning start with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 acronym LAD. It’s one of 34 labs around the also stored at the Lausanne lab and the reached the French Open second round on against Dutch lucky loser Igor Sijsling. The 21- victory over Moldovan qualifier Radu Albot. globe accredited by the World Anti-Doping International Olympic Committee says it Sunday as Roland Garros got off to a soggy, year-old Australian fired 16 aces and 50 winners Meanwhile, defending men’s champion Stan Agency and is affiliated with the University plans to retest those as well. chilly start. Kyrgios overcame a first-set code vio- on his way to victory as he attempts to go Wawrinka insisted Sunday that last year’s stun- Hospital of Lausanne. The lab is located in a lation to defeat Italy’s Marco Cecchinato 7-6 beyond his best performance in Paris-a third- ning triumph over Djokovic would have little drab building near a small Coop supermar- Sample process (8/6), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4. round exit to Andy Murray 12 months ago. bearing on his chances this time round. The 31- ket, beside a main road and at the end of By the end of any Olympics, IOC testers The 17th seed picked up the warning for Kyrgios’s latest brush with the authorities came year-old Swiss, seeded three this year, only the M2 metro line. Visitors have to be are in control of as many as 5,000 urine screaming at a ball boy on a shivering Court One on a day when heavy rain brought a suspension arrived in Paris on Saturday night after clinching buzzed in to take the elevator up the three- samples. Samples are divided into “A” and where the temperature refused to budge above of action after just four hours of play. In that his hometown Geneva clay-court title. story building. “B” bottles, and the “B” samples are avail- 15 degrees. Kyrgios insisted he only screamed at time, only nine of the scheduled 32 singles “I watched some highlights of the final. I nev- The lab director is Martial Saugy, a Swiss able in case they’re needed to corroborate the youngster during the first-set tiebreak matches had been completed. er watched it completely,” said Wawrinka, who scientist with long hair and a soul patch a positive result in the “A” bottle. because he wanted his towel. He then accused starts his campaign on Monday against Lukas above his chin that gives him the look of a The initial tests take place in the lab umpire Carlos Ramos of “unbelievable bias” for Kvitova survives Rosol, the Czech player he defeated in the jazz musician. Saugy and his lab have often located in the Olympic city. Because of the dishing out the violation. Czech 10th seed Kvitova survived a scare to Geneva semi-finals on Friday. “But it was one been caught up in major doping cases. huge number of samples and tests that That was a reference to world number one beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. year ago. It’s a completely different story. “I’m Lawyers for Lance Armstrong tried to need to be conducted in a short period of Novak Djokovic escaping any sanction for shov- The two-time Wimbledon champion was two playing good tennis. It was good to win the tro- undermine Saugy’s evidence about the time, not every sample is tested for every ing the arm of umpire Carlos Bernardes at the points away from defeat when she trailed the phy yesterday. It gives me a lot of confidence cyclist’s suspect samples from the 2001 drug. Experts take educated guesses on Rome Masters last week. “All of us in this room world number 57 at 4-5 in the decider. But she and happiness. I’m excited to start tomorrow.” Tour de Suisse. Saugy also met with which set of athletes are more likely to use know that if that was me, it would have been a claimed the next three games and goes on to face When rain halted play Sunday, Japanese fifth Armstrong’s entourage ahead of the 2002 certain drugs and run the according tests. circus. The fact that nothing happened (to Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh for a place in the last 32. seed Kei Nishikori, a quarter-finalist in 2015, was Tour de France when he was a witness for After those tests, the leftover urine is Djokovic) speaks for itself,” said Kyrgios who rant- Kvitova, a semi-finalist in Paris in 2012, com- looking to secure his 50th Grand Slam triumph anti-doping authorities in their case placed into a cargo container that’s refrig- ed on court that Ramos’s decision was “f***ing mitted 10 double faults in a typically rollercoast- against Italy’s Simone Bolelli. He was comfort- against the American rider. erated, then loaded on an airplane that bulls**t”. The code violation out on Court One er display against an opponent who made the ably placed at 6-1, 5-4 ahead. Lucie Safarova, the goes to Geneva. From there, the samples was handed down when Kyrgios screamed “tow- Istanbul final on clay this season. Hsieh made Czech 11th seed who was runner-up to Serena The Russian connection are transported to the lab in Lausanne and el” at the ballboy. “When I get my towel I always the second round by beating Spain’s Lara Williams last year, was cruising against Vitalia Links between Russia and the Lausanne stored in a large vault, where they can be say thank-you to the ballboys but sometimes Arruabarrena 7-6 (8/6), 6-3. There were also wins Diatchenko, 6-0, 1-0. Russian world number 223 lab were questioned by the World Anti- stored in a locked freezer at one of two you get mad at them,” added Kyrgios. for Russian 24th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Diatchenko is playing her first match since injur- Doping Agency inquiry team that detailed temperatures - minus 20 or minus 80 Despite the controversy, Kyrgios recovered and Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic.