CRICKET
New Zealand stomp Canada
New Zealand’s in-form Ross Taylor and opener Brendon McCullum blitzed Canada yesterday, helping to fire the Black Caps into the World Cup quarter-finals with a thumping 97-run win in Mumbai, India. New Zealand scored a mammoth 358 for 6 in their 50 overs and it proved too much for the minnows, who never looked remotely like challenging the target, and ended on 261-9 after their 50 overs. Canada were in a perilous position at 4-2 before captain Ashish Bagai (84) and Jimmy Hansra (70 not out) came together to put on 125 for the fourth wicket and give the scoreboard a look of respectability. Veteran John Davison was dismissed in bizarre fashion, run out by a direct hit from wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum as he ambled a single when he was in no danger. Kyle Mills did the early damage for the Black Caps, dismissing Ruvindu Gunasekera and Zubin Surkari with just four runs on the board, but he had to leave the field injured midway through his third over. Jacob Oram took 3-47. Earlier, stand-in skipper Taylor came to the crease at the Wankhede Stadium in the 30th over with his side on 149-2 after a steady start and injected urgency into the innings. In one devastating over Taylor, who smashed 131 in 124 balls against Pakistan, took 28 off Harvir Baidwan, smashing four sixes and a four.
Photo: AFP
ALPINE SKIING
Cuche wins Super G
Didier Cuche of Switzerland bounced back from a forgettable day of ski racing to claim his 17th career World Cup victory in the men’s super-G in Kvitfjell, Norway, yesterday. Austrians Klaus Kroell and Joachim Puchner took second and third place respectively. Cuche had endured a tough Saturday when he lost the lead of the downhill standings to Austrian Michael Walchhofer and he saw Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic build an unassailable lead over him in the overall title race. To rub salt into his wounds, International Ski Federation (FIS) officials handed Cuche a fine of 5,000 Swiss francs (US$5,375) after he complained rather too vociferously about one of the jumps on the men’s downhill course being too dangerous. The Swiss, however, put those events behind him with a storming run down to Olympiabakken to win in 1 minute, 33.05 seconds.
SOCCER
Juve end losing streak
Juventus ended a three-match losing streak despite playing more than half the game with 10 men as they were held 2-2 at lowly Cesena in Rome on Saturday. A brace from Alessandro Matri had given the Turin giants a two-goal lead, but their hosts hit back through a Luis Jimenez penalty and Marco Parolo after Marco Motta was sent off. The point did nothing to help Juve’s hopes of securing European soccer next season as they remain seventh, while Cesena are still hovering just above the drop zone. After a slow opening, the game sparked into life on 19 minutes as Alessandro Del Piero burst forward from halfway and slipped in Matri, who shot back across goakeeper Francesco Antonioli and into the corner. It could have been two when a clever Del Piero backheel set up Simone Pepe, but he scuffed his volley into the ground, the ball bouncing tamely into Antonioli’s arms. Emanuele Giaccherini should have equalized for Cesena on 27 minutes, but instead produced probably the miss of the season.
CYCLING
Martin holds Paris-Nice lead
HTC-Highroad’s Tony Martin of Germany retained the lead in the Paris-Nice after Saturday’s stormy seventh stage was won by French rider Remy Di Gregorio. This first major-stage race of the season is known as the “Race to the Sun,” but there was little of that in evidence as strong winds and rain made life difficult for the peloton during the 215.5km ride. One man singing in the rain was Marseille-born Di Gregorio, who made his winning move 13km from the finish to edge home a chasing group headed by Spain’s Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez. It was only the 25-year-old Astana team member’s second career stage win after picking up a stage on the 2006 Tour de l’Avenir. Saturday’s stage, the longest of the race, was marked by a clutch of falls as the slippery surface took its toll and there were a number of key retirements, including Frank Schleck, suffering from a stomach problem, Ireland’s Nicolas Roche and Slovak rider Peter Sagan, who was regarded as a potential winner of the race. Martin, who came in fifth, described the stage as “a very difficult day.” Yesterday’s concluding stage was an arduous 124km run north of Nice.
GOLF
Matteson in front by three
Troy Matteson of the US took a three-stroke lead into the final round of the Puerto Rico Open after firing a six-under-par 66 on Saturday. Matteson is 16-under for the tournament and his closest challenger is compatriot Hunter Haas, who stayed in contention by mixing five birdies and one bogey for a four-under-par 68. American Michael Bradley is a further shot back at 12-under, while a quintet of players that includes Zimbabwean Brendan de Jonge and Argentine Angel Cabrera are six shots off the lead. “I’m just going to go out and try to do the same things I did the first couple days. I’m going to try to hit solid shots, give myself looks at birdie,” Matteson said. “There are so many birdies to be made out here, you know, three shots is nothing.”
CYCLING
Scarponi wins fourth stage
Michele Scarponi lived up to his reputation as an attacking rider when he won the fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race on Saturday. The Lampre rider was the aggressor with 2km left, and despite stalling in the uphill finish, he held off teammate and fellow Italian Damiano Cunego and Australian Cadel Evans. However, it was not enough to unsettle race favorite Robert Gesink, as the Dutchman took the overall lead from American Tyler Farrar. All the big names moved up front before the tough uphill finish and Scarponi was the first to break away, Evans finishing the strongest, but he failed to pip Scarponi and Cunego. Rabobank’s Gesink leads Evans by 10 seconds overall, with Giro d’Italia champion Ivan Basso in third place 12 seconds off the pace. Scarponi is fourth 15 seconds behind Gesink. The peloton gathered for a minute’s silence for the victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami before the start of the 240km stage that passed through the city of L’Aquila, devastated by an earthquake in 2009. “I’m worried. My parents were safe, but there is so much damage because of this disaster. When I think about it, my heart is very painful,” Japanese rider Fumi Beppu of Team RadioShack wrote on Twitter.
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