RUGBY SEVENS
Kiwis win Glasgow Sevens
New Zealand won the penultimate leg of the IRB’s Sevens World Series on Sunday after beating England 29-14 in the final in Glasgow. The victory increases the Kiwis’ lead to 11 points over closest rivals Fiji, ahead of the last round at Twickenham next Saturday and Sunday. Fiji finished strongly to beat Australia to third place, but New Zealand will go to London knowing that a place in the Plate final would suffice to retain their World Series crown. New Zealand have 150 points, with Fiji on 139. England’s run to the final lifted them above South Africa into third on 123, with the Blitzbokke (115), Glasgow Plate winners Samoa (114) and Australia (99) completing the top six. Tim Mikkelson and captain DJ Forbes scored either side of James Rodwell’s try for England to give New Zealand a 12-7 lead at halftime in the final. That lead grew when Ardie Savea touched down a minute into the second half and, although Dan Norton cut the deficit, there was to be no denying New Zealand with Lote Raikabula and Forbes crossing the try-line.
ICE HOCKEY
Finland winners at worlds
A goal by Janne Pesonen helped hosts Finland eke out a 1-0 over Slovakia at the world championship in Helsinki and France ran out 6-3 winners against Kazakhstan despite having Sacha Treille ejected from the game. Treille was expelled during the second period for a hit to the head on Roman Starchenko and could receive further punishment from the IIHF disciplinary committee. During the game at the Hartwall Arena, fans criticizing the cost of tickets had their banners confiscated. Security at the arena told fans the banners constituted a fire risk, Finnish state broadcaster YLE said. Finland, who are hosting the tournament with Sweden, put in another excellent defensive performance against Slovakia, but struggled in front of goal. They managed only 22 shots, failed to convert on five power plays and had to rely on goalkeeper Petri Vehanen’s 26 stops to win the game. In the late game at the Hartwall, goaltender Tobias Stephan saved a penalty with 4:36 left in the game as Switzerland hung on to beat Belarus 3-2.
FIELD HOCKEY
Player hit by ball, dies
A 24-year-old player died after being hit on the head by a ball during a women’s league match in Western Australia state. Lizzie Watkins was playing for North Coast Raiders in a state league match against Victoria Park Panthers late on Sunday when she slumped to the ground unconscious after a ball deflected into her head. She reportedly died on the way to hospital. Australia’s men’s team, the Kookaburras, wore black armbands in the final of a tournament in London overnight as a sign of respect. Kookaburras player Jamie Dwyer tweeted: “All the Kookaburras thoughts are with the Watkins family after the devastating news. Such a sad day in the [field] hockey world.”
BOXING
Boxer dies in Tahiti
New Zealand media reports said a New Zealand boxer died in Tahiti after collapsing only 32 seconds into his first professional bout. Peruvian-born Willman Rodriguez Gonzalez, 29, was fighting Tahitian Karihi Tehei in a lightweight bout at the Min-Ah Boxing Club when collapsed in convulsions, reports said. He was treated by medical attendants and rushed to the main hospital in the capital Papeete, but was dead on arrival. An autopsy will be conducted and an inquest held to determine the cause of death.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier