■FOOTBALL
Faulk suspended for pot
New England Patriots running back Kevin Faulk was suspended for one game by the National Football League on Saturday after being charges with possession of marijuana earlier this year. Faulk will miss New England’s Sept. 7 opener against Kansas City and will be fined an additional game check after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge last month and receiving one year on probation. Faulk, 32, was found with hand-rolled cigars containing marijuana while attending a rap music concert in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Feb. 22.
■RALLYING
Loeb takes third straight
World champion Sebastien Loeb won the Rally of New Zealand yesterday to extend his lead in the world rally championship drivers’ standings. The Frenchman finished 17.5 seconds ahead of Citroen teammate Dani Sordo, with Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen in third, 41.5 seconds off the lead. Hirvonen held the lead at one point on the final day but a spin on the penultimate stage put him out of contention. The win was Loeb’s third in a row following victories in Finland and Germany.
■ATHLETICS
Sahaku wins debut marathon
Yukari Sahaku won her debut marathon for a Japanese double victory with Masaru Takamizawa taking the men’s event at the Hokkaido marathon yesterday. The 19-year-old Sahaku overtook front-running teammate Hitomi Niiya at the 28.7km point and never looked back, crossing the finishing line in two hours 31 minutes 50 seconds to win the women’s race. Niiya, who won the Tokyo marathon last year, came in second in 2:32:19, followed by fellow Japanese Kaori Yoshida third in 2:33:37. Takamizawa, the runner-up here last year, broke away from a front group at the 20km mark before making a long solo run to clock his personal best time of 2:12:10.
■CYCLING
Italians lead in Spain
Italian team Liquigas won the first stage of the Tour of Spain on Saturday, a time trial of 7.7km in the southwestern city of Granada, that saw Filippo Pozzato take the first golden jersey of the race for the overall leader. The Italian side came ahead of two Spanish teams: Euskaltel by eight seconds and Caisse d’Epargne by nine seconds. “It was a nice victory for the whole team, particularly since I am leaving at the end of the season. They were nice enough to let me have it,” said Pozzato, who is heading to a new outfit, Russia’s Katusha, next year. Astana, the team belonging to race favorite and last year’s Tour de France champion Alberto Contador, finished in eighth place, 14 seconds behind Liquigas. The 3,133km Tour of Spain finishes in Madrid on Sept. 21.
■FORMULA ONE
Toro Rosso place ‘open’
Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso have told Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais he cannot take his place on the Formula One team for granted beyond the end of the season. Bourdais, France’s only current grand prix driver, joined the Red Bull-backed team this year after winning four ChampCar titles in a row in the US. However, has been overshadowed by teammate Sebastian Vettel. The 21-year-old German has scored nine points from 12 races to two for Bourdais. Asked whether Bourdais was a fixture at Toro Rosso next season, team co-owner Gerhard Berger said: “No, it’s open.” Berger said the team’s young driver program would be looked at first in the search for a replacement for Vettel and Red Bull would have the final say on next year’s lineup.
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
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