Sports Shorts: Pedrosa wins to end Marquez's run of victories

Dani Pedrosa ended Honda team mate Marc Marquez's hopes of winning 11 consecutive MotoGP races this season with victory at the Czech Republic Grand Prix on Sunday.

Pedrosa, riding a Repsol Honda, finished the 22 laps around the Brno circuit in 42 minutes, 47.800 seconds.

Yamaha duo Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi finished second and third, with Marquez, who had hoped to become the first premier class rider to win the 11 opening races of a season, fourth.

Spanish world champion Marquez leads the 2014 standings with 263 points, 77 ahead of Pedrosa and 90 ahead of Rossi.

Marquez started from pole for the ninth time this season but he was beaten off the line by Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) before finishing the opening lap in sixth.

Lorenzo, who started from sixth position on the grid, surged through the field in the early stages and took the lead of the race.

But with 17 laps remaining Spaniard Pedrosa got the better of compatriot Lorenzo and passed the Yamaha rider before speeding to victory.

Marquez fought his way back up to third but he failed to keep pace with the two leaders and came under increasing pressure from Rossi.

With 10 laps remaining Marquez was unable to fend off Italian Rossi, who passed him and forced the 21-year-old off the podium for the first time this season.

Next: Youth Games action starts without Ebola-struck nations

Australian triathlete Brittany Dutton won the first gold of the Youth Olympics as competition kicked-off on Sunday without Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria who withdrew because of the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Friday they had banned three west African athletes from competing in combat sports and pool events in China as a precaution after the world's worst outbreak of Ebola which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in the region.

IOC President Thomas Bach said on Saturday that following the move, taken after discussion with the World Health Organisation, the governments of Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone had opted against allowing their athletes to compete in the 13-day multisport event.

"Two NOCs (Sierra Leone and Liberia) decided together with their government to not come here. We have to respect the decision of the government in such a difficult moment for their country," the German was quoted as saying by China's Xinhua news agency.

Next: Chowrasia finishes tied 9th in Denmark

A third successive card of even par 71 gave SSP Chowrasia, a two-time winner in Europe and Asia, his first top-10 finish on the European Tour in more than three years as finished tied ninth at the 'Made in Denmark' Golf Championship, in Denmark on Sunday.

Chowrasia was the best Indian finisher from among the four who started the week, as Shiv Kapur (70) was tied 22nd and Gaganjeet Bhullar (76) was tied 74th. Jeev Milkha Singh missed the cut.

Other than his two European Tour wins in 2008 and 2011, Chowrasia's last top-10 in an European Your event came in Andalucia, where he was ninth in October 2010. He did finish between 10th and 15th a lot of times, including at Laguna in Singapore this year and Ballantine's last year.