■SOCCER
S Korea win, hand China title
South Korea overpowered Japan 3-1 on Sunday to leave China as surprise East Asian championship winners. Qu Bo struck twice to give China a 2-0 victory over Hong Kong earlier in the day leaving hosts Japan needing to beat the Koreans by three goals to win the four-team tournament. The Chinese finished with seven points to South Korea’s six with Japan third on four points. Hong Kong lost all their matches. There was no love lost in a bruising clash between the Japanese and Koreans. Yasuhito Endo put Japan ahead from the spot in the 22nd minute before Lee Dong-gook blasted home another penalty to level 11 minutes later. Lee Seung-yeoul gave the Koreans the lead after 39 minutes with a shot from 30m that took a slight deflection. Kim Jae-sung curled in a superb third for the Koreans in the 70th minute. Japan defender Tulio was shown red for elbowing Cho Yong-hyung just before half-time while Korea captain Kim Jung-woo walked after a second bookable offense in the 52nd minute.
■SOCCER
Inter draw with Napoli
Serie A leaders Inter withstood a furious barrage from Napoli to earn a 0-0 draw on Sunday and end the weekend with a seven-point advantage. Marek Hamsik rattled the bar early on while Inter had a decent penalty shout for handball turned down. Jose Mourinho’s side then struck the woodwork with a Sulley Muntari firecracker before Goran Pandev missed a good chance in the second half and Napoli’s Fabio Quagliarella thumped a drive against the post. Earlier, Alessandro Del Piero converted a controversial penalty to give Juventus a 3-2 home win over Genoa and lift the Turin club to sixth after only their second victory in nine Serie A matches. Guglielmo Stendardo and Mauro Zarate netted to hand Lazio a 2-0 win at Parma. Cagliari beat Bari 3-1 while bottom side Siena boosted their slim hopes of survival by winning 1-0 at Chievo. Bologna also prevailed 1-0 at Livorno and Catania drew 0-0 with Atalanta.
■SOCCER
Schalke beat Cologne
Schalke 04 scored late in each half to beat Cologne 2-0 and move within three points of Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich on Sunday. Schalke went ahead in first half stoppage time when Joel Matip headed in a cross. Jefferson Farfan extended their lead in the 81st minute when he scored with a neat finish from close range. Freiburg lost 2-1 after a stoppage-time goal at Eintracht Frankfurt. Papiss Cisse pounced on a goalkeeping blunder to put the visitors ahead in the 25th minute, only for Benjamin Koehler to level with a free kick 15 minutes later. Eintracht dominated the second half and were rewarded when Halil Altintop struck with almost the last kick.
■HOCKEY
Predators down Penguins
Cal O’Reilly and Martin Erat scored in the shootout as the Nashville Predators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Sunday — a game in which Penguins and Team Canada star Sidney Crosby was seen wincing shortly after blocking a shot. Crosby, who tied Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead with his 42nd goal of the season and also added an assist, appeared frustrated and in pain on the bench after an apparent injury to his right leg moments after he blocked a shot with his shin about seven minutes into the second period. However, after the game Crosby said he was fine and was traveling to Vancouver on Sunday night. In other NHL action it was: Ducks 7, Oilers 3; Wild 6, Canucks 2; Rangers 5, Lightning 2; Senators 4, Islanders 3 and Blackhawks 5, Blue Jackets 4, SO
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