■ 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.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
Top seeded Jessica Pegula on Friday once again fought back from a set down to reach the WTA Charleston Open semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win against Russia’s Diana Shnaider. Defending champion Pegula has lost the first set in all three of her matches at the tournament so far, but again dug deep to maintain her hopes of retaining the title. The world No. 5 from the US took 2 hours, 10 minutes to defeat 19th-ranked Shnaider, relying on a formidable service game that included eight aces. Shnaider battled well in the first two sets and broke early for a 2-0 lead
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