■DAKAR RALLY
Sainz takes over lead
Carlos Sainz took over the lead in the Dakar Rally as Volkswagen swept the podium in a taxing fifth stage north through the foothills of the Atacama Desert on Wednesday. Mark Miller of the US won his first Dakar stage, the grueling 483km stretch from Copiapo to Antofagasta over rocks and the dust-like sand in 5 hours, 6 minutes, 15 seconds. Teammate Sainz finished 2:10 behind, and Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah was third, 4:27 back. Sainz led al-Attiyah by 4:37 overall and Miller was 9:39 off the pace in third. In motorbikes, defending champion Marc Coma’s Sherco blew a rear tire while leading by six minutes, allowing Contardo Lopez to win the stage on an Aprilla in 5:52:40. Cyril Despres’ KTM was 1:30 behind, allowing the Frenchman to extend his overall lead to 37:37 on Lopez. Rally great Stephane Peterhansel, who started the day as overall leader, stalled twice with mechanical problems and finished more than two hours behind Miller.
■SOCCER
Vieira joining Man City
Patrick Vieira confirmed yesterday he was leaving Inter to join Manchester City in a bid to secure more first team action and gain a place in France’s World Cup squad. “I set myself an objective, I want to go to the World Cup,” the 33-year-old former France captain told television channel Eurosport. “The important thing for me is to go to Manchester City and to show the coach [Roberto Mancini] I’m the same player than when he was in charge of Inter,” he said. “After a year in Turin and three and a half years in Milan, it’s over. To go to the World Cup I need playing time and I can’t reach my objective with Inter where I’m not a first choice player.”
■SOCCER
Atletico take Cup beating
Atletico Madrid’s miserable season took a turn for the worse when they were reduced to 10 men and beaten 3-0 at second division Recreativo Huelva in their King’s Cup last-16 first-leg match on Wednesday. Atletico were two goals behind and down to 10 men inside half an hour. Bruno Fornaroli gave the home side the lead on 14 minutes before Tomas Ujfalusi was shown a straight red card. The visitors’ misery deepened when Cedric brought Aitor down in the penalty area and Jeronimo Barrales scored from the spot. Recreativo easily contained a toothless Atletico in the second half and Daniel Candeias added a deserved third. The result left Atletico on the verge of elimination before next week’s second leg. In other King’s Cup games Deportivo Coruna won 2-1 at La Liga rivals Valencia, while Villarreal surrendered the lead to draw 1-1 at struggling second-tier side Celta Vigo. Third-tier Alcorcon, who dumped Real Madrid out in the last round, fell 3-1 behind at home to Racing Santander but scored a late goal to keep alive their hopes.
■SOCCER
Fergie Jr takes Preston job
Darren Ferguson, the 37-year-old son of Manchester United boss Sir Alex, on Wednesday returned to management as manager of Championship side Preston. Ferguson, who left Peterborough in November was installed as the successor to Alan Irvine. “I’m very, very ambitious and with my name I cannot afford to fail,” he told reporters, shrugging off the inevitability of comparisons with his illustrious father. “Pressure is there in any walk of life but you’ve got to try and be successful. If you win enough games you will be fine, if you don’t then you will be under pressure.”
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