■ Tennis
Bjorkman and Mirnyi win
Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi combined for their first Masters Cup doubles title yesterday, extending a drought for Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor at the season-ending tournament. Second-ranked Bjorkman and Mirnyi broke third-ranked Knowles and Nestor twice in the first set and once in the second for a 6-2, 6-4 victory. It was a second title for Bjorkman, who won the then season-ending ATP Tour World Doubles Championship with Jan Apell at Jakarta in 1994. The unbeaten Bjorkman-Mirnyi pairing topped the Gold Group in round-robin matches here, including a victory over Knowles and Nestor in their second match. Knowles and Nestor were back in the final for the first time in eight years, but still are yet to win a year-end tournament title.
■ Golf
Senden wins in Australia
John Senden shot a closing 7-under 65 yesterday, capped by a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th, to break out of a three-way tie for the lead and a one-stroke win in the Australian Open. Senden, who won the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour in July -- his first win in the US in 139 starts there -- moved into contention on Saturday with a 67, the lowest score of the third round at Royal Sydney. Yesterday, the 35-year-old Senden moved in and out of the lead with several others, including US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby, before going to 8-under 280 with his birdie on the last. Ogilvy missed a birdie putt on 18 to finish with a 67 and at 7-under 281. Appleby, playing with Ogilvy and in the group behind Senden, bogeyed 18 to finish with a 68 and tied for third, two shots behind Senden.
■ Motorsport
Gronholm leads one-two
Finland's Marcus Gronholm led a one-two finish for Ford in the Rally of New Zealand yesterday to clinch the carmaker's first world manufacturers' title in 27 years. Gronholm won the New Zealand rally for the fourth time, taking out four of six stages on the final day and 12 of 17 stages overall to head off fellow Finn and Ford driver Mikka Hirvonen by 56 seconds. Manfred Stohl of Austria finished third in a Peugeot and Xavier Pons of Spain fourth in a Citroen. Seven-time world motorcycling champion Valentino Rossi of Italy moved into 10th place overall in a privately-owned Subaru. Rossi, who calls rallying his second love after motorcycling, was racing in a World Rally Championship event for only the second time. He drove a Peugeot in the 2002 British rally but failed to see out the first day.
■ Rugby Union
WRU president dies
Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) president Keith Rowlands died on Saturday at the age of 70. Rowlands, WRU president since 2004, collapsed at his home in Cardiff and died around midday, the wru.co.uk Web site said. Less than 24 hours earlier he had watched Wales beat Canada 61-26 in a Test match at the Millennium Stadium.
■ Cricket
England draw in Adelaide
England drew with South Australia in its final Ashes warmup match yesterday. South Australia was 164-2 in its second innings at the Adelaide Oval, trailing England by four runs, when the teams agreed to call an early end to the three-day match. England was bowled out for 415 before lunch yesterday. South Australian opener Daniel Harris finished unbeaten on 71 and Callum Ferguson seven not out. Matthew Elliott made his first first-class half-century of the season, 55, before he was out to left-arm spinner Monty Panesar. Panesar took 1-34 yesterday, while Kevin Pietersen (1-24) claimed a wicket when Cameron Borgas (27) hit a ball straight to deep mid-wicket.
■ Motor sports
Priaulx wins championship
Britain's Andy Priaulx narrowly defended his FIA World Touring Car Championship yesterday with a win and a fifth place finish in the last two races of the year at the Macau Grand Prix. Driving a BMW 320si, Priaulx, who won last year's inaugural WTCC, finished the year with 73 points, just one more than BMW teammate German Jorg Muller, who won the final race of the year yesterday. Despite winning the second race, Muller finished sixth in the first. Strong performances by Priaulx and Muller in Macau also helped give BMW the year's manufacturer's title.
■ Cricket
Pakistan start strongly
Opening batsman Imran Farhat hit an unbeaten half century before lunch yesterday as Pakistan got off to a strong start in the second Test against the West Indies. Left-handed Farhat was on 64 with eight boundaries while Younis Khan was six not out at lunch with Pakistan cruising on 109-1. The opening pair of Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez (36) featured in a solid 83-run start after captain Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. The three-pronged West Indies pace attack hardly troubled the openers with Hafeez hitting fluent boundaries on both sides of the wicket. Pace bowler Jerome Taylor provided the lone success of the session when Hafeez attempted a loose shot in the 28th over of the innings and edged to wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin after scoring 36 off 66 balls.
■ Athletics
Tosa triumphs in Tokyo
Reiko Tosa led an all-Japanese podium yesterday when she cruised to victory in a rainy Tokyo International Women's Marathon. Tosa, who finished fifth in the 2004 Athens Olympics clocked a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 15 seconds, ahead of countrywoman Akemi Ozaki with 2:28:51. Sydney Olympic gold medalist and defending champion Naoko Takahashi, also from Japan, was third in 2:31:22.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
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