■SOCCER
PSG close in on Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain moved within a point of Ligue 1 leaders Olympique Lyon after a 2-1 home win over struggling St Etienne on Saturday. Paul Le Guen’s PSG went ahead after 26 minutes when defender Mamadou Sakho headed home in a packed goalmouth, but St Etienne hit back just seven minutes later. Midfielder Paulo Machado’s 25m drive smashed against Mickael Landreau’s crossbar, but striker Dimitri Payet followed up to poke the ball into the empty net. Les Verts barely had time to celebrate before PSG midfielder Jeremy Clement headed home Ludovic Giuly’s cross eight minutes from the interval. Girondins Bordeaux slipped one place to third after being held to a 1-1 home draw by promoted Grenoble, leaving the Aquitaine side three points off top spot. Lille, who are also on the fringes of the title race, slipped a place to seventh after losing 2-0 at AJ Auxerre and remain seven points behind the leaders. Jimmy Briand’s late goal helped Stade Rennes move up a spot to sixth after salvaging a 1-1 draw at home to Nancy, who had taken the lead courtesy of a Youssouf Hadji close-range shot.
■RUGBY SEVENS
S Africa unbeaten in the US
Series leaders South Africa capped an unbeaten day with a 22-7 victory over Australia on Saturday, the opening day of the fourth leg of the International Rugby Board Sevens in the US. Tries by Frankie Horne, Vuyo Zangqa, Philip Snyman and Howard Noble were enough to overturn an early lead for Australia and send South Africa into the Cup quarter-finals at the top of pool A. The Springboks are seeking to bounce back and stretch their lead in the series. They won the opening two rounds of the series in Dubai and South Africa, but were dumped by the Kiwis last week in the Wellington quarter-finals. That left South Africa on 49 points, five ahead of England and New Zealand as they arrived for the two-day US event that is the final tune-up for next months Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai. Samoa and Fiji were also unbeaten as the top seeds all advanced to the Cup quarter-finals.
■SOCCER
PSV draw with leaders
Danny Koevermans scored two second-half goals to salvage a point for PSV Eindhoven as they drew 2-2 with league leaders AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. Stijn Schaars set up Gill Swerts for AZ’s opening goal in the 12th minute. Maarten Martens then doubled the lead for the visitors in the 29th minute. Demy de Zeeuw missed a penalty for AZ, before Koevermans pulled one back in 49th minute and then leveled for PSV in the 83rd minute off Francisco Rodriguez’s pass. FC Twente maintained their title challenge with a 2-1 comeback win over FC Volendam. Marko Arnautovic and Blaise N’kufo scored for Twente, while Paul de Lange was on target for Volendam. Also on Saturday, Berry Powel netted for ADO The Hague in their 1-0 win over De Graafschap.
■FREESTYLE SKIING
Omischl wins aerials title
Canada’s Steve Omischl won his second straight World Cup freestyle aerials title on Saturday, while Lydia Lassila of Australia won her first overall when she denied China a sweep of the women’s podium in the season-ending aerials event. Ryan St Onge of the US won the season-ending aerials event, scoring 249.94 points for his second victory this season. Omischl topped the men’s overall standings with 382 points. Xu Mengtao led China’s women to a one-two finish, scoring 195.98 points. Lassila scored 192.11 and topped the overall aerials standings with 360 points.
■RALLYING
Loeb extends lead
Five-time defending world champion Sebastien Loeb on Saturday extended his lead in the Rally Norway to 15 seconds over Mikko Hirvonen. Loeb’s narrow lead means the outcome of the rally was still wide open going into the final day’s action on snowy and icy roads between the two 1994 Winter Olympic cities of Lillehammer and Hamar yesterday. Heading into the last six special stages, the French Citroen driver had a total time of 2 hours, 22 minutes, 11.1 seconds. Jari-Matti Latvala, Hirvonen’s Finnish teammate, was third, 43.2 seconds back and likely out of contention to win the rally. Loeb won seven special stages on Saturday to Hirvonen’s four.
■BOXING
Campbell beats Funeka
A day after losing his three title belts for failing to make the weight, American Nate Campbell won a majority decision against South Africa’s Ali Funeka in a lightweight bout in Sunrise, Florida, on Saturday. Campbell, whose was 1.1kg over the lightweight limit at the weigh-in, dropped Funeka with a sweeping right hand at the end of the second round. The South African got up to survive the round and rallied later. One judge scored the fight even at 113-113, while the remaining two judges favored Campbell by scores of 115-111 and 114-112. “I had two knockdowns, of course I thought I won the fight,” Campbell said. “This guy was tough. He could punch, take a shot.”
■CYCLING
Cancellara wins time trial
Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara won the time-trial prologue of the Tour of California on Saturday ahead of two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer. Saxo Bank’s Cancellara, who donned the leader’s yellow jersey for the nine-day race, completed the 3.8km route on the streets of Sacramento in 4 minutes, 32.9 seconds. He was 1.21 seconds in front of Astana’s Leipheimer. Third place went to time-trial specialist David Zabriski of the US, who rides for Garmin.
■BASKETBALL
Robinson outdunks Howard
Diminutive New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson beat defending champion Dwight Howard of Orlando in an electrifying NBA slam dunk contest on Saturday, winning 52 percent of fans’ votes. Clad in an all-green Knicks uniform with green shoes, Robinson used Howard as a prop in the final round, springboarding over the 2.11m center to jam. Miami’s Daequan Cook won the NBA 3-Point Shootout from Orlando’s Rashard Lewis and ended Jason Kapono’s two-year run as champion. When the long-distance contest went to overtime, Cook posted the best round of the competition with 19 points.
■BOXING
Cruz retains IBF title
Cristobal Cruz retained the IBF featherweight title in earning a close unanimous decision over Cyril Thomas in Saint-Quentin, France, on Saturday. The 31-year-old Mexican fighter took control from the start with heavy punches and an efficient strategy, eventually hurting Thomas with effective combinations in the seventh and eighth rounds. Thomas was unable to recover and took a flurry of blows until the end of the fight. Two judges had it 115-113 and the other 116-112, all for Cruz, who improved to 38-11 with one no-contest. Thomas dropped to 33-3 with four draws. Cruz had won the vacant IBF title last October by beating countryman Orlando Salido. He defended his title for the first time against Thomas, the brother of French double-Olympic medalist Jerome Thomas.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
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