GOLF
Ryu wins Toledo Classic
South Korea’s Ryu So-yeon posted six consecutive birdies en route to a nine-under 62 and a seven-shot victory at the LPGA Tour’s Jamie Farr Toledo Classic in Sylvania, Ohio, on Sunday. The 22-year-old began the round in the midst of a South Korean logjam for first place. Four of the top six on the leaderboard at the end of Sunday’s round were from South Korea. Ryu’s only prior LPGA Tour win was last year’s US Women’s Open. She took the lead by herself for the first time with an eight-foot birdie putt at the third hole and then set a distance from the pack with six straight birdies beginning on No. 9. She finished at 20-under 264. Angela Stanford made a long birdie putt on the final hole for 66 to finish second. South Korean compatriots Park In-bee and Chella Choi both shot two-under 69s on Sunday and shared third place at 12-under-par 272. Taiwan’s Candie Kung shot a 69 to finish tied for 31st place on three-under 281, while Lin Tzu-chi carded a 71 for a five-over 289.
SOCCER
Bayern win Super Cup
Two early goals gifted Bayern Munich the German Super Cup on Sunday as they defeated Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund with Mario Mandzukic and Thomas Mueller netting in the opening 11 minutes. Although Robert Lewandowski pulled one back in the 75th minute, the champions were unable to turn things around as Bayern earned a preseason boost. Croatian international and 13 million euro (US$15.97 million) summer recruit Mandzukic bagged the opener with a neat finish from a Frank Ribery cross on six minutes and in the 11th minute Mueller was on hand when, after linking with Mandzukic, he fired in when an Arjen Robben effort came back off the post. Lewandowski then drew a fine save from Manuel Neuer just after the restart, before missing a sitter from close range as Juergen Klopp’s champions tried to spark a revival. The Polish striker then reduced the arrears before time ran out on Dortmund.
CRICKET
Pietersen dropped from Test
Kevin Pietersen said his England career was not over after he was dropped for his country’s crucial third Test against South Africa at Lord’s. Pietersen was axed on Sunday after a dramatic week that started with allegations he sent texted derogatory comments about English captain Andrew Strauss and coach Andy Flower to South African players. The 32-year-old then said he was ready to walk away from the sport due to problems in the England squad that he said “made it hard being me.” And then, with speculation increasing that he would be dropped when the third Test squad was named on Sunday, the saga took a bizarre twist when Pietersen posted a video on YouTube on Saturday in which he claimed he was now ready to play in all forms of international cricket, having previously opted out of limited overs action. That seems to have been a misguided attempt to curry favor with the public when his fate was already sealed.
CYCLING
Boom wins Eneco Tour
Dutch rider Lars Boom won the Eneco Tour after Sunday’s final stage as former Tour de France winner Alberto Contador marked his return from a doping ban by finishing fourth. Rabobank rider Boom overhauled a four-second deficit at the start of the day on leader Svein Tuft of Canada to seal the overall victory by finishing second behind Italy’s Alessandro Ballan of BMC in the seventh stage at Grammont in Belgium. Francisco Ventoso of Spain finished third, 6 seconds off the pace.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite