RUGBY SEVENS
Kiwis win with penalty kick
New Zealand kept the South Africa Sevens rugby title with a last-gasp penalty by Tomasi Cama for a 22-19 win over England in the final on Saturday. Cama slotted his drop-kick in the fourth minute of injury time as New Zealand won in South Africa for the fourth time in five years, and prevented England from winning successive tournaments for the first time. England won the world series opener last weekend in Dubai. England led the Kiwis 14-0, but New Zealand battled back in the second half and at 19-19 down to six players, Cama succeeded with his pressure penalty for the dramatic win.
HOCKEY
113,411 fans attend game
A world record for attendance at a hockey game was set when 113,411 watched a university game between the University of Michigan and Michigan State at Michigan Stadium on Saturday. Michigan announced the attendance during the third period. A representative from Guinness World Records was on hand to verify the record. The previous mark for a hockey game was 77,803 at this year’s world championship in Germany. This is also the largest crowd to see any event at Michigan Stadium, surpassing the 113,090 for a college football game this year. The hockey game — dubbed “The Big Chill at the Big House” — took place nine years after the same two teams played another outdoor game at Michigan State’s football stadium.
UFC
St-Pierre cruises to win
Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre defeated trash-talking Josh Koscheck on Saturday at UFC 124, winning 50-45 on all three judges’ cards. The 29-year-old Canadian (21-2) carved up Koscheck’s face with his jab and punished his legs with kicks in his fifth successful title defense. In the co-main event, 2.11m Dutch heavyweight Stefan Struve stopped 2.01m Sean McCorkle 3 minutes, 55 seconds into the first round to improve to 10-1. Also, Brazilian welterweight Thiago Alves won a unanimous decision over John Howard and Jim Miller upset rising lightweight star Charles Oliveira.
FOOTBALL
Snow delays Vikings, Giants
Yesterday’s NFL game between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings was postponed until today as heavy snow in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area kept the Giants from arriving on Saturday, the league announced on Saturday. With more than 0.3m of snow blanketing the area in a storm that also brought gusting winds, the Giants’ charter flight was diverted to Kansas City, Missouri, where the team was forced to spend the night. The day’s delay might benefit veteran Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, whose record consecutive game starting streak of 297 games was in jeopardy because of a strained throwing shoulder.
BOBSLED
Zubkov races to second gold
Russia’s Alexsandr Zubkov won his second World Cup gold in two days in Park City, Utah, edging Germany’s top four-man bobsled by 0.03 on Saturday, while hometown favorite Steve Holcomb finished a disappointing sixth. Zubkov’s team finished two runs in 1 minute, 34.62 seconds, just ahead of the the sled piloted by Germany’s Manuel Machata. Canada’s Lyndon Rush took the bronze in 1 minute, 34.72 seconds. Winning the two- and four-man competitions was a first for Zubkov, who is back racing after a brief retirement following a crash at the Vancouver Olympics. However, the bigger surprise was Holcomb faring so poorly.
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