SPORT IN BRIEF
McIlroy: Ryder Cup unimportant
GOLF: Northern Irish prodigy Rory McIlroy has dismissed the Ryder Cup as “an exhibition”, insisting it scarcely matters to him whether he makes the Europe team for next year’s event.
“It’s not a huge goal of mine,” said the 20-year-old. “It’s an exhibition at the end of the day. In the big scheme of things it’s not that important an event for me.”
Nadal and Novak win in Madrid
TENNIS: World No1 Rafael Nadal and third seed Novak Djokovic both swept into the third round of the Madrid Masters with ease.
Nadal was at his best in a 6-3, 6-1 win over Austrian Jurgen Melzer while Djokovic saw off Spain’s Oscar Hernandez. British No1 Andy Murray faces Tommy Robredo today.
Sarries land Springbok Brits
RUGBY UNION: Saracens have won the race to sign South Africa hooker Schalk Brits from Super 14 side the Stormers.
The 27-year-old made his debut for the Springboks last year and went on to feature in the Tri-Nations series with Australia and New Zealand.
£324m extra for Olympic Village
OLYMPICS: London’s Olympic Village is to be publicly owned after the Government pledged another £324m of public money to the project.
Initially a privately funded venture, the £1bn, 2,800-apartment development was then switched to public-private but will now be solely public.
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said: “The public purse will receive substantial returns from sales.”