■ BASEBALL
Dodgers' trip delayed
The Los Angeles Dodgers' trip to China next week will be delayed by a day. Originally scheduled to make the long flight to Beijing on Monday, the team will depart from Orlando the following day because the original charter company contracted by Major League Baseball didn't receive approval to land in China before its deadline. Now, the Dodgers will bus to Orlando on Monday and spend the night before departing on another charter. Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said the team will arrive about 20 hours later than originally scheduled. "The only thing it really does is eliminate the off-day there," manager Joe Torre said. "It just makes sightseeing a little tighter. We'll work out here [on Monday] before heading to Orlando."
■ ATHLETICS
Sprinter Roger Gill dies
Roger Gill, a sprinter who competed for Guyana at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, was killed in a Brooklyn car crash. He was 35. The car in which Gill was riding hit an unoccupied box truck early on Sunday. He died at a hospital, police said. Warren Davies, the 35-year-old driver, died at the scene and investigators believe he might have been speeding. Gill ran the anchor leg in the 4x400m relay in Atlanta. Guyana finished sixth out of seven teams in their first-round heat and did not advance.
■ RUGBY UNION
Nathan Sharpe re-signs
Australia lock Nathan Sharpe has signed a three-year extension deal with the Wallabies in the hope of finishing his career with a World Cup victory. The 30-year-old Sharpe played at the last two World Cups without success, reaching the final in 2003 then the quarter-finals last year, but hopes to have one final crack at it in 2011. "I really want to be there again in 2011. It's something I would love to be a part of," he said in a statement yesterday. "If I do get the opportunity, it would be a great way to finish up. I think I'd quite literally hang the boots in the locker room at the end of it all. I look on the next World Cup as my last throw of the dice, and this contract as the last one of my career."
■ RUGBY UNION
Nel and Engels suspended
Bulls center JP Nel and prop Jaco Engels will miss Friday's South African Super 14 derby at home to the Lions after being suspended for foul play. Engels was suspended for three matches for punching Sharks captain Johann Muller during the Bulls' 29-15 home loss in Pretoria last Saturday, a South African Rugby Union spokesman said on Monday. Nel was given a one-match ban for a dangerous (spear) tackle on Sharks fullback Frans Steyn in the same match. The suspensions multiply the problems facing the defending champions after losing coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Victor Matfield.
■ FOOTBALL
Ben Roethlisberger re-signs
Star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger signed an eight-year extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday that is worth US$102 million and makes him one of the NFL's top-paid players. "He's a Steeler and he'll always be a Steeler," team chairman Dan Rooney said. The agreement comes after Roethlisberger re-established himself as one of the NFL's best quarterbacks last season, and nearly two years after his life and career were threatened by a motorcycle crash. The serious accident happened a few months after he led the Steelers to victory in the 2006 Super Bowl.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
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