体坛英语新闻：Sunday Times sues Armstrong to recoup 2006 libel payout

LONDON, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Sunday Times newspaper had launched a lawsuit against American cyclist Lance Armstrong in seeking for recoup some 300,000 pounds (about 483,630 U.S. dollars) it paid out to Armstrong in 2006.

The weekly newspaper, owned by British media magnate Rupert Murdoch, published an article on Sunday, claiming against Armstrong "likely to exceed one million pounds (1.6 million dollars)".

The Times reprinted sections of L.A. Confidentiel, a book which claims Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs in 2006. Armstrong objected to these claims and sued the Sunday Times for libel which ultimately ended with the daily paying 300,000 pounds.

Armstrong's seven titles of Tour de France were stripped after the cyclist was proved of using doping by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The Times lawyers claimed that "It is clear that the proceeding were baseless and fraudulent. Your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false".