PJ Axelsson's 56th-minute goal capped Sweden's 6-5 win from 1-5 down against Finland Wednesday in one of the greatest comebacks in the world ice hockey championship's 93-year history. \n"We had nothing to lose when trailing 5-1 and we started playing better and better after we got back to 5-4," Swedish coach Hardy Nilsson said. "We're sure happy to still be in the hockey tournament." \nFinland's worst collapse before a stunned sellout crowd of 13,441 at Hartwall Arena upheld the Finns' record of never beating archrivals Sweden at home in the worlds, and their inability to win a championship medal at home in six attempts. \nSweden advanced to Friday's semifinals against defending champion Slovakia, which ousted Switzerland 3-1. \nAt Turku, top NHL sharpshooter Milan Hejduk had a goal and an assist while goalie Tomas Vokoun made 31 saves as the Czech Republic blanked Russia 3-0 and moved on to face Olympic champion Canada, which edged Germany 3-2 in overtime. \nFinland led Sweden 5-1 after Teemu Selanne completed his hat-trick with a power-play goal at 6:44 in the second period. \nMany fans were celebrating what they thought would be one of their most lopsided wins over their archrivals. \nThen 80 second later, Jorgen Jonsson scored for Sweden, followed by NHL MVP candidate Peter Forsberg and Jonas Hoglund to make it 5-4 by the end of the session. \nFinland introduced Pasi Nurminen in goal at the start of the third, but it didn't help. \nForsberg equalized with one of the most stunning goals in the tournament, going coast to coast and capping the great rush with a wraparound goal from a sharp angle. \n"It was a nightmare finish for the Finnish team," said Finnish head coach Hannu Aravirta, who'd announced earlier he was retiring after these championships. \nThe Czechs earned sweet revenge after their bid last year for a fourth successive world title was ended in the quarters by Russia. \nHejduk, who led the NHL this season with 50 goals, assisted on the first by teammate Jan Hlavac. The Czechs then capitalized on Russia's indiscipline with a pair of power-play goals to Hejduk and Jaroslav Hlinka. \nCanada blew a 2-0 third-period lead against Germany before it was saved in the four-on-four overtime -- a new rule at this year's event -- when Eric Brewer scored 37 seconds in. It was his first goal of the tournament. \nSwitzerland stunned the unbeaten Slovaks while the latter had two in the penalty box, by scoring first at 14:28 in the first period on Martin Pluss' backhander.
As they celebrated Naomi Osaka’s victory in the final of the US Open in New York City’s Flushing Meadows on Saturday, Tokyoites were eager to embrace their heroines’ stand against racial injustice. Osaka, who won her third Grand Slam title with a victory over Victoria Azarenka, has used her platform to support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, wearing a mask bearing the name of a different African American before each of her seven matches in the championship. She had donned masks bearing the names of Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Philando Castile. On Saturday, she walked
KEY GOAL: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei is now free to focus on taking her fourth doubles title of the year with Barbora Strycova; they are due to face Nao Hibino and Makoto Ninomiya Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei on Monday returned to the court for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the WTA Tour, falling to a 6-3, 6-1 defeat to US Open quarter-finalist Elise Mertens, who made a solid transition from the hard courts in New York to the clay at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. “I’m not sure how well I adapted, to be honest,” Mertens told the WTA Web site. “I just feel like I might still be struggling a little. It was also [Hsieh’s] first match of the week, so that was a bit of an
‘FUN TIME’: Denver’s Nikola Jokic said that his team would not accept that anyone else is better than them and the opposition need to play much better than they do Just about everyone had LA versus LA written in for the NBA’s Western Conference finals, but the resilient Denver Nuggets have crashed the party. Behind Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2009 to face LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Game 1 is scheduled to be played tomorrow. This was no ordinary road. The Nuggets fell behind 3-1 in their first-round series against the Utah Jazz before bouncing back with three straight victories. Then they went down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round before winning in Game 7
THOROUGH THRASHING: Hualien City beat Taichung Blue Whale 2-1, ending their three-year winning streak with one round of matches left and eight points to spare Hualien City on Saturday clinched this year’s Taiwan Mulan Football League title with one game to spare, by beating Taichung Blue Whale 2-1 at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City. Hualien City have scored 38 points this season. Blue Whale are second on the scoreboard with 30 points, while Taipei Bravo are third with 23 points. One final round of matches is to be played on Saturday. It is the fourth league trophy for Hualien City, and ends Blue Whale’s three-year winning streak. Hualien had won the title from 2014 to 2016. Both teams defended well, leaving few chances in front
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