PARIS | Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:44am EDT PARIS (Reuters) - Five times Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain believes Lance Armstrong is not guilty of doping despite the evidence produced by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the Spaniard said on Tuesday. "Even now I believe in his innocence. He has always respected all the rules," Indurain, who won the Tour...

By Martyn Herman LONDON | Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:36am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Recognized as one of the best Olympics ever, London 2012 came with a hefty price tag for the British taxpayer despite government figures on Tuesday showing a 377 million pounds saving on the budget for the sporting spectacle. The final quarterly economic report published by ...

OSLO | Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:35am EDT OSLO (Reuters) - Former cyclist Steffen Kjaergaard, who competed with the disgraced Lance Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Service team in the Tour de France, admitted to doping on Tuesday and was placed on leave as Norway's cycling federation sports director. "For 15 years I hid a lie," Kjaergaard told a news conference. "...

Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:16am EDT (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants routed the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 in Game Seven of the National League Championship Series on Monday to complete a stunning comeback and advance to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. The Giants, the 2010 World Series winners, trailed last year's champion Cardinals 3-1 in the best-of-seven...

SHANGHAI | Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:29am EDT SHANGHAI (Reuters) - World number one Rory McIlroy has his sights firmly set on winning the money list on both major tours as he links up with most of his fellow European Ryder Cup heroes at this week's BMW Masters in Shanghai. For the first time since they stunned the United States in Medinah last month, McIlroy ha...

Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:35am EDT (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova is not convinced it is a good idea to give first round losers at next year's Australian Open a huge pay increase as part of a $4 million rise in overall prize money. Tournament organizers announced earlier this month that the total prize money pool at the opening grand slam of 2013 had risen to $30 million, ...

Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:49am EDT (Reuters) - Bad bounces and stone cold silent bats cost the St Louis Cardinals their last chance to return to the World Series and defend their title, the team said after a 9-0 drubbing by San Francisco in the National League Championship Series decider. The Giants' victory in San Francisco gave them a 4-3 triumph in the best-of-seven ...

Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:45am EDT (Reuters) - Chicago's swarming, suffocating defense squeezed the life out of the Detroit Lions in a 13-7 victory on Monday that kept the Bears at the top of the NFC North. The Bears stifled the visiting Lions' offense for the entire game until Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Broyles with just...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:59pm EDT (Reuters) - U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, one of three players to win a major with the controversial long putter, says he is not worried by a possible ban but believes that outlawing the club would be wrong. American Simpson has already begun practicing with a conventional 'short' putter in anticipation of a possible rule change, t...

By Julien Pretot GENEVA | Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:58pm EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against the American. The decision effectively destroyed Armstrong's l...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:48pm EDT (Reuters) - Padraig Harrington, a late replacement in the four-man field for this week's PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, is banking on third time lucky after twice being beaten in a playoff at the elite, end-of-season event. Irishman Harrington accepted an invitation to compete at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton after British ...

By Simon Evans Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:08pm EDT (Reuters) - Alarm bells are ringing for a Baltimore Ravens team heading into their bye week leading the American Football Conference's North division but still smarting from a 43-13 road loss to the Houston Texans. A team fancied by many to reach the Super Bowl when the season began suddenly looks vulnerable, and...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:02pm EDT (Reuters) - Brady Quinn will replace Matt Cassel as starting quarterback for the struggling Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders, the National Football League (NFL) team said on Monday. The Chiefs have made a dismal 1-5 start to the 2012 NFL season and coach Romeo Crennel said he wanted to change the team's d...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:52pm EDT (Reuters) - Green Bay Packers safety Charles Woodson will miss six weeks with a broken collarbone suffered during Sunday's 30-20 road win over the St. Louis Rams, the National Football League (NFL) team said on Monday. Woodson, 36, who also broke his collarbone during the 2010 season's Super Bowl, underwent an X-ray earlier on Monday t...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:14pm EDT (Reuters) - Using an unconventional swing that has been compared to a man trying to kill a snake with a garden hose, American Tommy Gainey struck a blow for the 'everyman' golfer with his one-shot victory at the McGladrey Classic. A veteran of virtually every mini-circuit in the United States over the past two decades, the 37-year-old ...

By Rex Gowar BUENOS AIRES | Mon Oct 22, 2012 4:03pm EDT BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - World middleweight champion Sergio Martinez would like a shot at Floyd Mayweather but said on Monday he would not lose sleep trying to pin down the elusive American. "Mayweather skirts around things so it's complicated to focus on going after him," the 37-year-old so...

By Julien Pretot GENEVA | Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:26pm EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong was ditched from the Tour de France record books on Monday but the question of whether cycling should forget his tarnished legacy or use it as a force for change must be urgently addressed. The International Cycling Union (UCI) has ratified the U.S. Anti-Dop...

NEW YORK | Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:58am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has called for a full and independent investigation into doping in cycling in the wake of the Lance Armstrong scandal. USADA, which banned Armstrong for life and stripped him of his seven Tour de France titles after saying it had exposed him as a dru...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:14am EDT (Reuters) - A Leeds United fan who attacked former England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland during a match against Sheffield Wednesday was jailed for 16 weeks on Monday. Aaron Cawley, 21, from Cheltenham, pleaded guilty at Sheffield Magistrates' Court to assault and invading the pitch during the Champio...

By Julien Pretot GENEVA | Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:55am EDT GENEVA (Reuters) - Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life on Monday after the International Cycling Union (UCI) ratified the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) sanctions against the American. "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling," UCI Pr...

LONDON | Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:26am EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Athletes competing in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, will be able to toast their medal wins with a glass of Scotland's "other" national drink - not whisky, but bright orange, fizzy Irn-Bru. Scottish soft drinks maker A.G. Barr Plc will offer the drink - made to a secret recipe - and other b...

By Liana B. Baker and Lisa Richwine Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:14am EDT (Reuters) - When the mighty New York Yankee bats went silent during a humbling four-game sweep in the American League championship series, it was more than a blow to a franchise that has won 27 World Series titles. It also doomed the Fox TV network to what could rank as the lowest-rated World...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:12am EDT (Reuters) - American twins Bob and Mike Bryan will end the tennis season on top of the world for a record eighth time, the sport's governing body said on Monday. The Olympic gold medalists are the only doubles team to win at least five titles for 10 consecutive years, and won a record-equaling 12th grand slam title at the U.S. Open las...

By Alastair Himmer TOKYO | Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:19am EDT TOKYO (Reuters) - The King of Spain had his video recorder set up so as not to miss the last day of Europe's epic Ryder Cup tussle with the United States, Sergio Garcia told Reuters on Monday. The 32-year-old Garcia said he has found himself glued to the screen, just like friends not remotely...

SYDNEY | Mon Oct 22, 2012 3:15am EDT SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's 2011 Tour De France winner Cadel Evans has admitted meeting the Italian doctor at the heart of the Lance Armstrong scandal more than a decade ago but said they never discussed doping. Evans, who was Australia's first winner of the endurance classic, said in an e-mail to Australia's SBS t...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 2:23am EDT (Reuters) - Still smarting from losing the Ryder Cup in extraordinary circumstances, Tiger Woods has his sights on more quick payback against world number one Rory McIlroy in China on October 29. The world's top two players will go head to head in an 18-hole medal match at Jinsha Lake in Zhengzhou, with Woods clearly fired up by his ri...

LOS ANGELES | Mon Oct 22, 2012 1:27am EDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dwight Howard saw his first action in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey Sunday, flashing signs of potential dominance to come during a pre-season loss to the Sacramento Kings. Howard, who the Lakers acquired from Orlando in a blockbuster off-season trade, registered 19 points, 12 rebounds and fo...

Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:16am EDT (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants fought off elimination from the National League Championship Series yet again on Sunday, beating the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 to force a deciding Game Seven. Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong delivered seven stellar innings that included a career-high nine strikeouts to help tie the best-of-sev...

Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:25pm EDT (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants fought off elimination from the National League Championship Series yet again on Sunday, beating the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 to force a deciding Game Seven. Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong delivered seven stellar innings that included a career-high nine strikeouts to help tie the best-of-sev...

By Simon Evans Sun Oct 21, 2012 6:00pm EDT (Reuters) - The Houston Texans took control of the American Football Conference (AFC) after handing the Baltimore Ravens a convincing 43-13 defeat on Sunday while the Green Bay Packers offense fired again to win 30-20 at the St. Louis Rams. Eli Manning and Victor Cruz combined on a 77-yard touchdown to give the N...

By Steve Keating ORCHARD PARK, New York | Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:49pm EDT ORCHARD PARK, New York (Reuters) - Matt Hasselbeck fired a 15-yard touchdown strike to Nate Washington with 63 seconds to play, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a wild 35-34 comeback win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Running backs Chris Johnson and Jamie Harper both rushed f...

Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:38pm EDT (Reuters) - John Farrell's widely anticipated move to the Boston Red Sox as their new manager on a three-year contract was formally announced by the Major League Baseball (MLB) team on Sunday. Farrell, a pitching coach at the Red Sox from 2007-10, returns to Fenway Park after two seasons in charge of the Toronto Blue Jays, where he com...

Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:23pm EDT (Reuters) - American Tommy Gainey clinched his first PGA Tour victory by one shot with a storming 10-under-par 60 in Sunday's final round of the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island, Georgia. A distant seven strokes off the pace going into the last day of the penultimate Fall Series event, Gainey flirted with golf's magical number of 59 as ...

By Larry Fine EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey | Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:37pm EDT EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Reuters) - A 77-yard bomb from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz with 73 seconds left helped the New York Giants claim a 27-23 win over the Washington Redskins in a thrilling see-saw battle on Sunday. The long connection to Cruz came just 19 seconds afte...

Sun Oct 21, 2012 12:37pm EDT (Reuters) - Venus Williams proved she was still a force to be reckoned with after a two-year battle with injuries and illness as she downed Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-2 6-3 to win the Luxembourg Open title on Sunday. The result ended a torrid year and a 31-month barren run for the 32-year-old American, who failed to get past the sec...

By Gennady Fyodorov MOSCOW | Sun Oct 21, 2012 11:14am EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki claimed her 20th career title by beating top seed Samantha Stosur 6-2 4-6 7-5 in a thrilling Kremlin Cup tennis final on Sunday. The third-seeded Dane trailed Stosur 1-3 in the third set but recovered her poise to draw level, then broke the A...

By Julien Pretot PARIS | Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:06pm EDT PARIS (Reuters) - The Lance Armstrong doping scandal reaches a decisive day on Monday when cycling's governing body announces whether it has ratified the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's sanctions but whatever happens the affair is set to run and run. International Cycling Union (UCI) president Pat M...

NEW YORK | Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:06pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has had an operation on his broken left ankle and is expected to be sidelined for at least four months, the Major League Baseball team said on Saturday. Jeter sustained the injury during the 12th inning of a 6-4 loss to Detroit in Game One of the American L...

By Keith Weir LONDON | Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:40pm EDT LONDON (Reuters) - Cyclist Lance Armstrong's doping scandal is causing sponsors to question their future in a sport that allows them to reach mass audiences at a moderate price, but risks tainting their brand. The Dutch Rabobank pulled out of professional cycling on Friday, ending a sponsorship d...

By Gennady Fyodorov MOSCOW | Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:18pm EDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - Top seed Samantha Stosur reached her first final in eight months with a comeback 2-6 6-3 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the Kremlin Cup semi-finals on Saturday. The Australian will face another former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in Sunday's fin...