■ Soccer
Serafini stops Juventus
Matteo Serafini scored a hat trick on Saturday to give Brescia a 3-1 win over Serie B leader Juventus. It was Juventus' second loss this season after falling to Mantova in January. In Serie A, Sampdoria was held to a 1-1 draw by Cagliari. Juventus, which was penalized nine points for its role in the Italian match-fixing scandal, still leads the second division with 49 points, one more than Napoli. Napoli drew 1-1 at Rimini on Saturday. Serafini beat Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the fourth, 26th and 45th minutes. The first score came from a lob. The second was a bicycle kick. An error by Juventus defender Jonathan Zebina led to the third goal. Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero scored in the ninth minute from a free kick.
■ Rally
Loeb doubles lead in Mexico
Frenchman Sebastien Loeb more than doubled his lead in the Rally Mexico on Saturday, moving one minute ahead of the field. Loeb and his Citroen took the lead in Friday's fourth special stage and finished the day with a 27-second advantage. He won four of Saturday's eight special stages and extended the cushion. Marcus Gronholm fell another 16.6 seconds behind Loeb, but jumped four places to move into second place. Dani Sordo of Spain was third, more than 90 seconds behind.
■ Soccer
Dida extends contract
AC Milan goalkeeper Nelson Dida ended speculation about his future on Saturday by signing a contract extension with the Italian Serie A club. The 33-year-old, whose original deal was scheduled to run out at the end of the season, has put pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him at AC Milan until June 30, 2010. Dida, a Brazil international, joined AC Milan from Corinthians in 2000. He established himself as a first-team regular in the 2002/03 season and has kept the keeper's jersey ever since.
■ Norway
Cuche takes downhill title
Swiss skier Didier Cuche yesterday became the men's World Cup champion in the downhill discipline by winning his first race of the season in Kvitfjell. Although this result was his first win of the season, the 32-year-old Swiss had previously notched up enough points with a bunch of podium finishes including four second-placed performances since December to claim the first downhill title of his skiing career which spans over almost a decade. With one race left in the downhill category this season, Cuche jumped out of reach of Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel with the victory.
■ Cricket
Scots want England fixture
A regular `home international' between Scotland and England would go a long way in giving cricket a boost north of the border, Scottish captain Craig Wright said on Saturday. Scotland begin their World Cup campaign against champions Australia on Wednesday before facing top-ranked South Africa and the Netherlands in Group A. "A Scotland versus England match would be a massive event and help build the profile of cricket in Scotland," Wright told a news conference ahead of yesterday's opening ceremony. "I suppose anything between Scotland and England, even a game of tiddlywinks, is a big event but with our status in the one day game now I am sure that would be a great occasion." Scotland currently play against English county sides in one-day competition and two of their squad, Dougie Brown and Gavin Hamilton, have actually played for England.
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