BITS AND PIECES

France’s Levy wins China Open

BEIJING: Alexander Levy overturned a seven-stroke deficit in the final round to win the Volvo China Open in a sudden-death playoff on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Frenchman became the first two-time winner of the tournament when he beat Dylan Frittelli on the first playoff hole after the South African squandered a big lead.

The pair finished tied at the top of a congested leaderboard at 17-under par 271 after Levy closed with a five-under 67 and Frittelli — who was seven in front of the Frenchman at the start of the day and four clear of his nearest rival with nine holes to play — shot a final-round 74.

Replaying the par-5 18th, Levy sealed victory when he drained a 15-foot putt for birdie after Frittelli missed his birdie attempt and settled for par at the Topwin Golf and Country Club.

Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, who led at the halfway stage, ended a frustrating final day on the greens with a birdie at the last to finish outright third, just one shot behind at 16-under, after closing with a 72.

Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (67) and England’s Chris Wood (68) tied for fourth at 15-under. South Korea’s former PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang shot a 66, the best score of the day, to finish level with England’s Ross Fisher (67), a further shot adrift.

Frittelli, a teammate of Jordan Spieth when they were both at the University of Texas, looked to be cruising towards his first European Tour title after opening up a four-shot lead with nine holes to play. But he saw his lead suddenly slashed in half when he double-bogeyed the par-5 12th after his errant drive ended up resting against a tree and he had to take a drop.

No ninth Giro rider as Astana pay tribute to Scarponi

MILAN: The Astana cycling team will pay tribute to former team leader Michele Scarponi by not replacing the Italian on the three-week race, which begins next week in Sardinia.

Scarponi, who was set to lead Astana’s bid for the coveted pink jersey over the May 5-28 event, was tragically killed in a training ride accident last week.

Although Astana have the right to field nine riders at the first Grand Tour of the season, the Kazakh team run by disgraced former champion Alexandre Vinokourov have opted not to replace him.

They will now only field eight riders and also carry Scarponi’s bike on the gallery of their team car as they drive through Italy.

“To honour the memory of our Italian rider Michele Scarponi, who tragically died last week while training, Astana Proteam renounces the opportunity to substitute the designated captain and will ride the 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia with eight riders instead of nine,” said a team statement.

The 37-year-old Scarponi had been elevated to team leader status last months after Astana’s pink jersey challenger Fabio Aru was forced to withdraw through injury, and signalled his readiness by claiming his first win in four years with a stage win at the Tour of the Alps.

Poulter to keep PGA Tour card after

points structure adjusted

LOS ANGELES, California: England’s Ian Poulter hasn’t lost his PGA Tour playing status after all, officials of the US tour announced on Saturday.

The tour said Poulter and American Brian Gay will keep their cards after a recalibration of the FedEx Cup playoff points structure for players competing on major medical exemptions.

“It’s obviously a big bit of good news,” Poulter told the Golf Channel in New Orleans, where he is competing in the Zurich Classic.

“For the tour to unanimously decide that was the fair thing to do, today puts me in a very different situation for playing my schedule and playing all the remaining events I’d like to play to keep going in the right direction.”

Poulter thought he had lost his playing status on the US PGA Tour after missing the cut at the Texas Open last week.

Aqeel Shabbir wins Pak Bahria Open

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Aqeel Shabbir won men’s singles final of 2nd Pak Bahria Open Ranking and Inter Collegiate Tennis Championship at Karsaz here on Sunday.

Aqeel overpowered Farhan Altaf 6-3,2-6,10-8 in the final.

The final of ladies singles was won by Urooj Iltafat, who thrashed Eshmaal Khan 8-0.

In the under-15 final, Ashush Kumar beat M Abdullah 6-1, 7-6.

In the final of under-11, Zain Ehtesham beat Mahatir Muhammad 8-3.  Eibad Sarwar beat Aqeel Shabbir 10-8 in the final of Soft Tennis event.

Shahzad suspended for breaching Anti-Doping Code

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday confirmed that Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad has been provisionally suspended with effect from April 26, 2017.

“The matter will now be dealt with in accordance with the process set down in the ICC Anti-Doping Code, and until such time as the process is resolved, the ICC will make no further comment on this matter,” an ICC media release said.