■ RUGBY UNION
Leinster stings Wasps 41-11
Ireland skipper Brian O’Driscoll scored twice as Leinster ran in six tries in a 41-11 demolition of former double champions Wasps in the European Cup on Saturday. Lionel Beauxis amassed 22 points to help Stade Francais to a convincing 37-15 win over Scarlets in Pool 4. In the same section, England scrum-half Danny Care scored a try in a man-of-the-match performance as Harlequins beat winless Ulster 42-21, notching up a valuable bonus point in the process. In the equally tight Pool 3, Leicester beat whipping boys Treviso 60-16 while Ospreys kept their campaign alive by eeking out a hard-fought 15-9 win over Perpignan.
■ BOXING
Hopkins upsets Pavlik
Former world champion Bernard Hopkins upset middleweight champ Kelly Pavlik with a unanimous decision in their 12-round, non-title fight on Saturday. There were no knockdowns, but the 43-year-old Hopkins defied his age by battering the slower, supposedly stronger Pavlik throughout the one-sided fight to inflict his first defeat as a professional. Hopkins, near tears before the decision was announced, called the performance the best of his 20-year career, better than his wins over Antonio Tarver, Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya.
■ CYCLING
Cunego makes it three
Italian Damiano Cunego won the Tour of Lombardy for the third time on Saturday after a daring solo breakaway with 15km remaining of the 242km course from Varese to Como. The Lampre rider broke clear on the technical descent of the Civiglio mountain along Lake Como’s famed waterfront. That victory added to previous successes in 2004 and last year for the 2004 Giro d’Italia champion, who has already tasted success in a major one-day event this season by claiming the Amstel Gold Race. He is now only two wins behind the legendary Fausto Coppi, who won the Tour of Lombardy five times.
■ MOTO GP
Rossi wins Malaysian
Newly crowned world champion Valentino Rossi won the Malaysian MotoGP on his Yamaha yesterday, with Dani Pedrosa riding a Honda finishing a distant second. Rossi, who locked up the championship in Japan three weeks ago, passed Pedrosa in lap 10 and then raced to the checkered flag at his favorite Sepang circuit with ease. The Spaniard started in pole position while Rossi, from Italy, was second on the grid. The 29-year-old Rossi finished the 116.4km journey over 21 laps in 43 minutes and 06.007 seconds. Rossi, who had said he was out to have “fun” in the remaining races, stormed to victory in style on a dry track, pulling a wheelie as he approached the finishing line. Italian Andrea Dovizioso, riding a Honda, finished in third place.
■ SQUASH
Ashour upsets Shabana
Ramy Ashour upset world No 1. and Egyptian countryman Amr Shabana 11-6, 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-7 to reach the final of the world squash championships on Saturday. Shabana was hoping to become the fourth man to win four world titles. An all-Egyptian final yesterday was set up when Karim Darwish beat former two-time champion David Palmer of Australia 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 in their semifinal. The women’s final will feature top-ranked Nicol David of Malaysia against 12th-ranked Vicky Botwright, who will retire after the match to become head coach at the championships venue, the National Squash Center.
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