Unheralded Lorient moved into a share of top spot in the French first division on Saturday with a 2-1 defeat of champions Lyon while Paris Saint Germain faced up to an early-season crisis.
Lorient now have 10 points from their four games and are top along with Le Mans, who drew 1-1 with Lille, who have an identical points and goal record.
Marama Vahirua scored both Lorient goals, the first a spectacular volley after 14 minutes to put Lyon on the backfoot but Karim Benzema levelled for the champions on the half-hour mark.
Tahiti-born Vahirua popped up again to score the winner in the 64th minute to send his side top.
Nicolas Fauvergue gave Lille a 33rd minute lead at Le Mans with a fine header and was then unlucky not to add a second in stoppage-time at the end of the first half when a fierce drive came back off the post.
Le Mans made the most of the let-off when Brazilian striker Grafite levelled in the 56th minute to give his side a point.
Paris Saint Germain coach Paul Le Guen saw his problems pile up with a dull 0-0 draw at rock-bottom Metz.
Giant Czech striker Jan Koller scored twice as Monaco beat Sochaux 3-0 to register their second win in three days and move into fourth place.
Jeremy Menez, a former Sochaux player, hit the second.
Eric Mouloungui, James Fanchone and Kevin Gameiro scored the goals which gave Strasbourg the three points at Toulouse for whom Andre-Pierre Gignac grabbed a consolation goal.
The win put Strasbourg into fifth place while Toulouse are six places off the bottom.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB