Henrik Zetterberg tipped in a shot for Sweden to beat Russia 2-1 and the Czech Republic blanked defending European Hockey Tour champion Finland 3-0 in Karjala Cup openers on Thursday.
Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks set up the Swedes' game-winner early in the third period at Linkoping, taking a shot that Zetterberg steered past Russian goalie Maxim Sokolov.
"I was lucky ... I wasn't sure if it was the puck that hit my stick, but it was something, and it was a goal," said Zetterberg, a Detroit Red Wings star who's playing with Timra in the Swedish Elite League during the NHL lockout.
"It was a nice win. I think we played very well overall, with speed and enthusiasm all over the rink."
Magnus Kahnberg scored the other goal late in the first period for Sweden, which played its first competitive game under a new coaching staff led by Bengt-Ake Gustafsson. Former coach Hardy Nilsson, who guided Sweden to the last two world championship finals against Canada, was fired after the Swedes were upset by the Czech Republic in the World Cup of Hockey quarterfinals in September.
Sweden has a majority of NHL players on its roster for the Karjala Cup, but the biggest star was missing. Peter Forsberg, a seven-time NHL All-Star and former NHL MVP, declined to play, citing fatigue.
Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, the top pick in the NHL draft, scored Russia's lone goal with 59 seconds left in the second period, beating Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist with a volley off his stick.
Pavel Rosa, Ales Hemsky and Radek Dvorak scored for the Czech Republic against Finland in Helsinki. Goalie Adam Svoboda had 31 saves for the shutout.
Finland failed to score for the first time in its home tournament, in its 22nd game. The Karjala Cup is part of the Euro Hockey Tour, which pits the top four European national teams against each other.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but