■CRICKET
Sussex win Twenty20 Cup
Sussex won the English Twenty20 Cup for the first time on Saturday when they defeated Somerset by 63 runs in the final at Edgbaston. West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Smith hammered 59 off only 26 deliveries with seven fours and three sixes to help Sussex reach 172 for seven after being put into bat. Somerset never seriously threatened to achieve the highest ever score to win a domestic Twenty20 final once Marcus Trescothick had been dismissed for 33, but they have the consolation of qualifying with Sussex for the Champions League, which takes place in India in October, where a US$6 million jackpot awaits the winners.
■CRICKET
Trott to play Ashes final
Uncapped batsman Jonathan Trott was named yesterday in England’s 14-man squad for the Ashes decider against Australia. Ravi Bopara, who has struggled throughout the series and managed just one run in two innings at Headingley where Australia leveled the series 1-1, was omitted. “The final Test match is an absolutely vital game for the team with so much at stake and we have had to make some difficult selection decisions in choosing our squad for Oval,” ECB selector Geoff Miller said. “Ravi Bopara has been going through a tough time with the bat in this series and we have decided to leave him out of the squad for this game.”
■CYCLING
Armstrong wins Leadville
Lance Armstrong won the Leadville 100 in a record time on Saturday, finishing the US’ highest-altitude mountain bike race on a flat tire. Armstrong, on a flat back tire for the final 16km, dethroned six-time defending champion Dave Wiens in 6 hours, 28 minutes, 50 seconds, nearly 17 minutes better than Wiens’ 6:45:45 record last year. Wiens was second in 6:57:01 a year after holding off the seven-time Tour de France champ by about two minutes. “He’s Lance Armstrong,” Wiens said.
■TRIATHLON
Brownlee wins London leg
Britain’s Alistair Brownlee won the London leg of the Triathlon ITU World Championships Series on Saturday to claim the world No. 1 spot. The 21-year-old will now travel to the season’s Grand Final in Australia next month as favorite to be crowned world champion having won four of this season’s races. Brownlee pulled away with one lap to go of the running section at Hyde Park, which will host the 2012 Olympics event, winning in 1 hour 41.50 minutes. In the women’s elite race, British world champion Helen Jenkins was edged into bronze by European champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland and Sweden’s Lisa Norden.
■RUGBY UNION
Carter flies to Sydney
Star fly half Dan Carter completed the formality of his return to the All Blacks squad when he flew to Sydney with the team yesterday for next weekend’s Tri-Nations Test against Australia. After a six-month enforced lay-off because of an Achilles tendon injury, Carter was reunited with the team on Wednesday for a one-day training session before being confirmed yesterday in the Test squad. The 27-year-old Carter, rated the world’s best No. 10, has played in domestic games in recent weeks. He was injured while playing for the French side Perpignan in February. Missing from the 26-man All Blacks squad are prop Neemia Tialata, who has been replaced by Wyatt Crockett, and injured halfback Piri Weepu. The All Blacks will train in Sydney today, with the team to play Australia to be named the following day.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set