■GOLF
Woods sets course record
Tiger Woods stumbled out of the gate but then roared to a course record nine-under 62 on Saturday to take a commanding seven-shot lead into the final round of the BMW Championship in Lemont, Illinois. For the second consecutive day, the world No. 1 opened his round with a bogey at the first but was error-free the rest of the way, leaving the field in his dust and bettering the Cog Hill course record of 63 he had shared with six others. American Brandt Snedeker (66) and Australian PGA Tour rookie Marc Leishman (68) are Woods’ nearest challengers.
■GOLF
Hanson takes one-shot lead
Peter Hanson opened up a one-shot lead after three rounds of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne, Germany, on Saturday as he looked to keep the title in Swedish hands following Robert Karlsson’s triumph last year. Hanson, 31, is 11 under for the tournament after a round of 67 and leads England’s Simon Dyson, winner of the Dutch Open three weeks ago, Denmark’s Soren Hansen and South Africa’s James Kingston by one shot. Overnight leaders, England’s Chris Wood and Australian Scott Strange, fell back after shooting disappointing rounds of 73 and 74 respectively.
■CYCLING
Chicchi sprints to win stage
Francesco Chicchi of Italy bolted clear of his rivals in a sprint finish to claim the sixth stage of the Tour of Missouri on Saturday. Chicchi nosed out Norway’s Thor Hushovd of Norway and Argentine Lucas Sebastian Heado to win the 177.4km Chillicothe to St Joseph stage in three hours 41 minutes, 41 seconds at an average speed of 47.85kph, the fastest of the week-long event. American David Zabriskie finished well back in the pack in 66th position but retained his overall lead heading into the last day.
■CYCLING
Goss takes classic
Australia’s Matthew Goss, of Saxo Bank, won the Paris-Brussels classic on Saturday, succeeding compatriot Robbie McEwen as champion. Goss finished ahead of fellow Australian Allan Davis and Belgium’s Kristof Goddaert as he proved the stronger in a mass sprint finish. It was 23-year-old Goss’s fifth win of the season and his third in Belgium after two stage triumphs on the Tour of the Walloon during the summer. “It was a difficult sprint especially towards the end when it was vital not to go too early,” Goss said. Saxo Bank team sports director Dan Frost added: “We knew that Matthew was the guy to put us in a great position and he fulfilled our hopes in style. He is in perfect condition and last night he said he wanted to make a big result.”
■CYCLING
Colombian’s parents die
One of Colombia’s leading cyclists has pulled out of a race after receiving the stunning news that his father had died — followed by his mother one hour later. Israel Ochoa wept when told of their deaths Saturday in the middle of the Clasica de Cundinamarca race. “I am destroyed,” he said. Jairo Enrique Rodriguez, spokesman for Colombia’s cycling federation, says Ochoa’s father, 71-year-old Israel Antonio, died of cancer and his mother, 69-year-old Maria de Jesus, passed away from a stoke an hour later. The 45-year-old Ochoa won the Boyaca Classic last week. He also won stages and the title of mountain champion in races in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. He won gold medals in Colombia’s National Games in 2000, 2004 and last year.
■BOXING
Italy, Russia grab two golds
Olympic super heavyweight champion Roberto Cammarelle defended his world title on Saturday by beating Ukraine’s Roman Kapitonenko 10-5 at the Milan Forum. Domenico Valentino also won a gold medal for Italy, when he outclassed Puerto Rico’s Jose Pedraze 9-4 to take the lightweight title. Russia also finished the tournament with two gold medals. Artur Beterbiev came from behind in the final round to beat Elshod Rasulov from Uzbekistan 13-10 in the light heavyweight final and Egor Mekhontsev beat Cuba’s Osmai Acosta Duarte 12-2 to take the heavyweight title. The only American boxer to reach a final, Frankie Gomez, struggled to counter Cuban fighter Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo’s longer reach and slipped to an 8-2 loss in the light welterweight category. Olympic featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko added the world title to his collection with a comprehensive 12-1 victory over Sergey Vodopiyanov of Russia. Olympic silver medalist Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia defeated David Ayrapetyan of Russia 10-5 to take the light flyweight gold. The other Mongolian in a final, Tugstsogt Nyambayar, however, lost 18-2 against McWilliams Arroyo of Puerto Rico for the flyweight title. In the bantamweight, Bulgaria’s Detelin Dalakliev nearly let the gold medal slip away after dominating Eduard Abzalimov of Russia. Germany’s Jack Culcay-Keth defeated Andrey Zamkovoy of Russia 7-4 to win the welterweight final and Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan won the middleweight title by beating Armenia’s Andranik Hakobyan 9-0.
■SOCCER
Gouffran keeps Bordeaux top
Yoan Gouffran netted in the first half to keep champions Girondins Bordeaux top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 home victory against bottom club Grenoble on Saturday. Bordeaux lead on goal difference from Olympique Lyon, who beat Lorient 1-0 with a Michel Bastos goal earlier on Saturday. Olympique Marseille did not have it all their way at Le Mans, but they won 2-1 with a superb display by Brandao. Third-placed Montpellier beat fellow newly promoted RC Lens 1-0 at home.
■SOCCER
Ramos starts with a victory
Former Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur coach Juande Ramos enjoyed a winning start as CSKA Moscow boss on Saturday as the three-time Russian champions beat Samara 3-0 to go third in the table. Czech forward Tomas Necid opened the scoring in the 57th minute when he found the target from Dmitry Schennikov’s pass, with Brazilian striker Guilherme, who had come on as a halftime substitute, adding a brace to secure the three points. Defending champions Kazan clinched a 5-1 home win over Ramenskoye. Kazan’s sixth consecutive win left them on top of the table with 46 points from 21 matches, seven points ahead of second-placed Spartak Moscow.
■ATHLETICS
Gay overhauls Powell
World silver medalist Tyson Gay overhauled former world record holder Asafa Powell to win the men’s 100m at the World Athletics Final on Saturday. Gay, the second fastest man ever behind Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt, edged Powell on the line to win in 9.88 seconds. Bolt is running in the 200m. The men’s 3,000m provided one of the highlights of the evening as Ethiopia’s 5,000m world champion Kenenisa Bekele and Bernard Lagat of the US reprized their epic Berlin battle. Lagat attacked on the final straight, but in another exciting finish, Bekele held on to win in 8 minutes, 3.79 seconds.
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