■ College football
Smith riddles Longhorns
In the first regular season matchup of No. 1 vs. No 2 in a decade, Troy Smith riddled the Texas Longhorns for 269 yards passing and two touchdowns, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 24-7 win on Saturday. The victory keeps the Buckeyes (2-0) in perfect position for a run to a national title. Keep winning and they stay right where they are. The Buckeyes' defense, which had to replace nine starters this season, looked championship caliber, holding a Texas team that had scored at least 40 points in 12 consecutive games to a single touchdown. As for Texas (1-1), which saw its 21-game winning streak snapped, the Longhorns will need some help if they hope to defend their 2005 championship at the end of the season.
■ Rugby Union
Morocco edge Uganda
Morocco moved closer to qualifying for next year's rugby union World Cup after a 5-3 victory over Uganda on Saturday. Morocco, which beat Uganda 36-3 on June 3 in Casablanca, leads Group B with nine points. Coached by former South Africa winger Chester Williams, Uganda led 3-0 after a penalty by Robert Seguya in the 31st minute. But Morocco, who have some professional players, dominated territory. El Hajji Mounem scored the only try of the match for Morocco in the second half. Uganda failed to kick three penalties and couldn't take advantage when Morocco's Arif Amid was sin-binned. "We failed to play well today and the better side has won," Williams said.
■ Rugby League
Sailor wants ban reduced
Suspended Wallabies rugby winger Wendell Sailor said yesterday he wants his drug ban reduced so he can return to play for St George Illawarra in the National Rugby League. The Australian Rugby Union terminated Sailor's contract last July after he was found guilty of taking a prohibited substance and suspended for two years. Sailor tested positive for cocaine after playing for the NSW Waratahs in a Super 14 match against the ACT Brumbies on April 16 and was informed of the positive result on May 12. The dual international -- a former Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian Test rugby league winger -- is fighting for his ban to be reduced and said he would like to return to rugby league if he is successful.
■ Rugby Union
Hodgson stars for Sale
Charlie Hodgson put Sale's defense of their English Premiership title back on track by masterminding a 32-20 win over Northampton on Saturday. After going down to Leicester in their opening fixture of the season, the champions were steered to a first win by the 22 points that came from the boot of England flyhalf Hodgson. Sale's other points came from tries by Mark Cueto and Magnus Lund. The visitors, who slipped to their first defeat of the campaign, outscored Sale in the try stakes, with winger Sean Lamont claiming a brace.
■ Baseball
Nippon Ham makes playoffs
Fernando Seguignol hit a solo homer yesterday as Trey Hillman's Nippon Ham Fighters defeated the Orix Buffaloes 4-2 to secure a spot in the Pacific League's playoffs. Hillman, who is in his fourth season at the helm of the Japanese Pacific League team, managed the New York Yankees' triple-A minor league team in Columbus for the 2000-2001 seasons. Yesterday's win eliminated the defending Japan Series champion Chiba Lotte Marines from playoff contention. The Marines are managed by former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine.
■ Cricket
England win toss
For the first time in the series, England won the toss in the final limited-overs international against Pakistan yesterday and decided to field first. Leading the series 2-1, Pakistan made two changes from the lineup that lost by eight wickets at Trent Bridge on Friday. Imran Farhat, who made 91 in the final Test at The Oval, replaced Shoaib Malik and allrounder Rao Iftikhar Anjum came in for paceman Shoaib Akhtar for his 19th one-day appearance. England was unchanged for the game at Edgbaston, which meant still no place for opener Marcus Trescothick, who was dropped for the game at Nottingham.
■ Boxing
John retains WBA title
Indonesian boxer Yohannes Christian John retained his World Boxing Association featherweight title when he defeated Renan Acosta of Panama in a title bout on Saturday. John, who will turn 27 on Thursday, slightly dominated the 12-round fight before home spectators at Jakarta's Sumatri Brojonegoro Stadium, and won a unanimous decision to hold the title he grabbed from Colombian Oscar Leon in December 2003. All three ring judges scored the fight 119-108, 120-109 and 120-107 in favor of John, who praised his three-year-younger opponent as a tough fighter.
■ Irl
Sam Hornish Jr on pole
Sam Hornish Jr won the pole on Saturday for the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300, which will decide one of the closest IRL series championship races. A two-time series champion, Hornish earned his fourth pole this season and the 10th of his career with a lap of 25.4134 seconds on the 2.4km Chicagoland Speedway oval. Scott Dixon (25.4996) will start alongside Hornish, with defending points champion Dan Wheldon (25.5239) and standings leader Helio Castroneves (25.5794) in the third and fourth positions for the season's final event. Castroneves, seeking his first IRL championship, has 431 points -- one more than Marlboro Team Penske teammate Hornish. Target Chip Ganassi drivers Wheldon and Dixon, the 2003 series champion, trail by 19 and 21 points.
■ Tennis
Wismilak hit by withdrawals
The Wismilak International starting today on Bali island has been hit by late withdrawals, with four of the tournament's drawcards dropping out. Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld pulled out due to a shoulder injury, Elena Likhovtseva from Russia has withdrawn due to a right ankle injury, and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic has also declined the invitation due to back injury, tournament Andisuari Dewi said yesterday. Russian Vera Zvonareva withdrew at the last moment because a change of schedule, Dewi said. The US$225,000 tournament will still feature defending champion Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier