■ GOLF
Yang wins Honda Classic
South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun held on to win the US$5.6 million Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Sunday to claim his first USPGA Tour triumph and book a place in the Masters. Yang two-putted from 50 feet for par at the par-five 18th to seal the one-shot victory over American John Rollins. With Sunday’s victory, Yang joined KJ Choi as the only South Koreans to win on the US men’s tour. He also secured a Masters berth, a trip to next week’s World Golf Championships CA Championship at Doral, a two-year exemption on the US tour and a winner’s prize of about US$1 million.
■ TENNIS
Bartoli takes fourth title
Marion Bartoli of France beat China’s Lin Na 6-4, 6-3 to win her fourth WTA title and first in more than two years at the Monterrey Open in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday. Second-seeded Bartoli overcame the unseeded Li’s strong service game to win 77 percent of her second return points and claimed six break points to win in 1 hour, 21 minutes. Li conceded eight double faults in her first final in 14 months after returning from injury. Li took a 4-2 lead in the first set and was ahead 30-15 lead in her next service game before she lost consecutive three points in a row — two from double faults — to allow Bartoli to take control and win eight of the next nine games. Bartoli held serve at 5-3 in the second set, then broke Li at love to complete the victory.
■ SKI JUMPING
Austrian extends lead
Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria won his 11th World Cup event of the season in Lahti, Finland, on Sunday to extend his overall lead. Schlierenzauer had two jumps of 92.5m on the normal hill for a total of 242 points. Simon Ammann of Switzerland was second with 236 points, with Dimitry Vassiliev of Russia another two points back in third. The jump was moved from the large hill because of strong winds. Finland’s Harri Olli led after the first round but managed only 87.5m in the second to finish fourth. Austria’s Thomas Morgenstern was 27th after a first round, but climbed to eighth with the longest jump of the second round — 95.5m.
■ CYCLING
Contador wins first stage
Spaniard Alberto Contador, riding for the Astana team, won the opening stage in the Paris-Nice, a 9.3km time trial in Amilly, France, on Sunday. British Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins, with US outfit Garmin, came in second behind the 2007 winner, who clocked 11minutes, 5 seconds, with another Spanish rider, Luis Leon Sanchez, third.
■ FIELD HOCKEY
Argentina wins in Santiago
Argentina thrashed Trinidad and Tobago 7-0 in the Pan American Cup field hockey tournament in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday. The win in Pool A confirmed Argentina, the highest ranked team at No. 9, as one of the favorites for the tournament. In the other Pool A match, the US routed Uruguay 9-0 to remain unbeaten. In Pool B, Chile held defending champion Canada to a 3-3 draw. Gubbar Singh equalized for Canada with less than two minutes left in the match at Santiago Prince of Wales Country Club. Also in Pool B, Mexico recovered from its loss to Chile with a 9-1 win over Brazil, which lost its second straight game. The winner of the tournament qualifies for next year’s World Cup in New Delhi.
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
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was