Melanie Troxel is the world's fastest female drag racer, needing just more than four seconds to reach 533kph.
On Monday, she slowed down enough to accept the Women's Sports Foundation's individual sportswoman of the year award. Pro beach volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh were selected in the team category.
Inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame were: Diana Nyad (long-distance swimming) and Shane Gould (swimming), Rutgers coach Vivian Stringer (basketball) and Nawal El Moutawakel (track).
PHOTO: AP
Tennis great Billie Jean King participated in a breakfast ahead of Monday night's annual gala. Sheryl Crow is to perform at the event featuring more than 100 athletes.
The Women's Sports Foundation, founded by King, is marking its 32nd anniversary. The awards dinner raises more than US$1 million annually for education and grant programs for girls and women in sports.
Troxel held the NHRA top fuel points lead through the first 12 events of the season and is fourth in the standings behind leader Doug Kalitta. Shirley Muldowney was the last woman to win the title in 1982, and Troxel is trying to reach that goal.
The 33-year-old Troxel hit the highest speed for a woman in May at Atlanta. In February, she became the sixth woman in NHRA history to capture a Top Fuel event by winning the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to