■SOCCER
Wolves clinch the title
Wolverhampton Wanderers were crowned champions of the English Championship (second division) on Saturday after a 1-1 draw at Barnsley. Wolves were already assured of promotion to the Premier League they last visited in 2004, but guaranteed top spot when Kyel Reid got their 84th-minute equalizer against a Barnsley team fighting to avoid relegation. “We’ve deservedly won it, but today Barnsley probably wanted it a bit more than us,” Wolves manager and former Barnsley defender Mick McCarthy told Sky Sports News. “It’s important to win the league and it’s important not to lose.” Birmingham City failed to seal automatic promotion after losing 2-1 at home to playoff-chasing Preston North End and are now just one point ahead of third-placed Sheffield United, who beat Swansea City 1-0. Southampton will be playing in the third tier for the first time in 50 years after their 2-2 home draw with Burnley ensured they were relegated. They will also start life in League One on minus 10 points after going into administration earlier this month. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson’s son Darren celebrated a second successive promotion with Peterborough United, who won 1-0 at Colchester United to go up to the Championship along with League One champions Leicester City.
■CRICKET
Deccan grab third victory
A half-century by Herschelle Gibbs and Pragyan Ojha’s three wickets helped Indian Premier League leaders Deccan Chargers record a 12-run win over the Mumbai Indians on Saturday. The day’s other match between the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in Cape Town was abandoned without a ball being bowled because of rain. Gibbs struck 58 off 44 balls as the Chargers posted 168 for nine before left-arm spinner Ojha claimed three for 21 to restrict Mumbai to 156 for seven in Durban. It was the third victory in three matches for Deccan, who are now two points clear at the top of the table.
■SOCCER
Janssen rescues a point
Theo Janssen scored from a 90th-minute free-kick for FC Twente to salvage a 1-1 draw at Heerenveen in the Dutch league on Saturday. After losing to Feyenoord last weekend, Steve McClaren’s Twente dropped more points in the race for a top two spot and a place in next season’s Champions League. Twente remained second in the Eredivisie, but only two points ahead of Ajax. Paulo Henrique headed Heerenveen into the lead in the 77th minute off a pass from Danijel Pranjic, before Janssen converted a 25m free-kick in the final minute. Balazs Dzsudzsak and Danny Koevermans scored as PSV Eindhoven beat Heracles Almelo 2-0 to keep PSV in fourth place and on target for a spot in next season’s Europa League. At the other end of the table, second-to-last Roda JC drew 1-1 with Volendam.
■RUGBY UNION
Japan thrash Kazakhstan
Defending champions Japan trounced Kazakhstan 87-10 in the opener of the HSBC Asian Five Nations rugby tournament on Saturday. Meanwhile, South Korea, the runners-up in last year’s inaugural competition, whitewashed Singapore 65-0 in Seoul. Despite the slippery conditions, Japan looked for width at every opportunity at Osaka’s Hanazono Stadium and ran three early kickable penalties as they looked to open their account with a try. The gamble paid off in the ninth minute when flyhalf Shaun Webb broke from a scrum 5m out and fed left center Yuta Imamura. Webb was top-scorer with two tries and nine conversions.
■FOOTBALL
Lions snap up Stafford
The Detroit Lions began one of the biggest rebuilding jobs in NFL history by drafting Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first overall on Saturday. Then the New York Jets rocked Radio City Music Hall by trading with the Cleveland Browns — and coach Eric Mangini, whom they fired in January — for the fifth overall spot. The Jets took the other premier quarterback in the draft, Mark Sanchez of Southern California. Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith was the second pick, by the St Louis Rams. Kansas City selected LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson third. Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry landed in Seattle at No. 4. Cleveland gave its No. 5 pick to the Jets, in return for the No. 17 and No. 52 overall choices, plus defensive end Kenyon Coleman, safety Abram Elam and quarterback Brett Ratliff, to Cleveland.
■BOXING
Froch holds on to title
Briton Carl Froch recovered from an early knockdown to stop American Jermain Taylor in the final round of his WBC super middleweight title defense at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, on Saturday. Behind on the judges scorecards, Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) hurt Taylor with a big right early in the round and the Englishman continued to attack his reeling opponent, until another pair of booming rights dropped the American in the corner. Taylor struggled to his feet at the count of eight but another barrage of punches caused referee Michael Ortega to halt the contest with 14 seconds remaining.
■BOXING
Sturm batters Sato
Felix Sturm handed Koji Sato his first defeat by stopping the Japanese challenger in the seventh round to retain his WBA middleweight title in Krefeld, Germany, on Saturday. Sturm dominated with his left jab, nearly closing Sato’s right eye. The referee stopped the fight with 14 seconds remaining in the round with Sato’s trainer about to throw it the towel. Sturm improved to 32-2 with one draw. Sato suffered his first loss in 15 fights. From the first round, Sturm established control with his quick left jab and parried most of Sato’s attempted combinations. By the end of the fourth round, Sato’s right eye was swelling. By the time the fight was stopped, Sato was bleeding from cuts on both sides of his face. “The champion was very strong tonight,” Sato said. Sturm said the fight was almost perfect. “It went the way I wanted,” the champion said.
■MOTOGP
Lorenzo wins in Japan
Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo led a Yamaha one-two by powering to victory over MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi in the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday. Lorenzo’s second win since moving up from 250cc last year also gave him a slender one-point lead over Rossi in the world championship standings. The 21-year-old, who had been suffering with a cold in the build-up to the race at Motegi’s Twin Ring circuit, has 41 points to the Italian’s 40 after two rounds. Rossi began on pole after Saturday’s qualifying had been washed out by rain and combined practice times used to determine grid positions. However, Lorenzo roared past the six-times premier-class world champion on lap nine and finished the 24-lap race in 43 minutes 47.238 seconds, 1.304 seconds ahead of Rossi. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who rocketed from 11th on the grid to second at the end of the first lap, took third place following a see-saw battle with Rossi for second.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but