CRICKET
Aussies retain world title
Jess Cameron’s show with the bat and Lisa Sthalekar’s all-round skills helped Australia retain the women’s World Twenty20 title with a close four-run victory over England in the final on Sunday. Put in to bat, the defending champions, who won the last edition of the tournament in the West Indies, made 142 for four from their 20 overs, riding on a strong opening partnership. England lost wickets at regular intervals during their chase and required 16 off the last over, but managed 11 to reach 138 for nine. Danielle Hazel needed to hit a six off the last ball for victory, but she could just get a single. Jess Jonassen picked up three wickets for 25, while Sthalekar and Julie Hunter shared four wickets between them as Australia dropped a number of catches. Skipper Charlotte Edwards (28) top-scored for England and kept the team in the hunt with four boundaries and a six, but the 2009 champions lost their way after her dismissal. Meg Lanning (25) and Alyssa Healy (26) notched up 51 for the opening wicket for Australia to build a solid platform, and then Cameron (45) and Sthalekar (23 not out) added another 51.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Wolves’ Wood loses testicle
Warrington Wolves prop forward Paul Wood has revealed he had to have a ruptured testicle removed after his team’s 26-18 defeat to the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League Grand Final. Wood was kneed in the groin early in the second half at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, on Saturday and played on despite the injury, before discovering the extent of the damage after the match. The 30-year-old father of two went to hospital for surgery on Saturday evening and even managed to joke about the incident on Sunday. “Ruptured my right testicle, got a knee 1 minute into the second half, had to have it removed,” he wrote on Twitter. “Just coming out the hospital to go home ... Seriously feel like I’ve left something?”
BASEBALL
Rockies’ manager quits
Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy resigned on Sunday, less than a week after the club finished last in the National League Western Division with a franchise-worst 64-98 record. Just three years ago, Tracy was the manager of the year after leading the Rockies to a playoff berth with a franchise-best 92-70 finish. Tracy, who took the job when Clint Hurdle was let go in May 2009, compiled a 294-308 record.
ATHLETICS
Kebede wins in Chicago
Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede shattered the course record in winning the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. Kebede pulled away late and was all alone, waving to the crowd as he approached the finish at Grant Park and crossing the line in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 38 seconds. That easily eclipsed the previous mark of 2:05:37 set by Kenya’s Moses Mosop last year and was more than enough to beat countryman Feyisa Lilesa. The women’s race was also a thriller, with Atsede Baysa of Ethiopia edging Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo by about a step.
HORSE RACING
Outsider Solemia wins Arc
Long-shot Solemia came through with a dramatic finish and edged tiring favorite Orfevre in the final strides to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris on Sunday. Orfevre looked to be a sure winner when he took the lead with about 300m to go, but Solemia, urged on by jockey Olivier Peslier, moved past Orfevre on the outside two strides from the finish line to give the French rider his fourth win in the Arc.
RUSSIA
Ten-man Anzhi beat Dynamo
Anzhi Makhachkala overcame the ninth-minute sending off of Brazilian defender Joao Carlos to defeat Dynamo Moscow 2-0 on Sunday and stay top of the Russian Premier League. Anzhi have 26 points from 11 matches and remain two points ahead of second-placed CSKA Moscow, who beat city rivals Spartak 2-0, while Terek Grozny are third on 22 points. Anzhi were rocked by the early loss of Carlos, who was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Dynamo striker Alexander Kokorin, but Dynamo were unable to make their one-man advantage count and were then also reduced to 10 men when Croatian fullback Gordon Schildenfeld was sent off just six minutes after the interval for handball. Anzhi upped the tempo and in the 75th minute Yury Zhirkov gave them the lead, beating Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin with a close-range shot after a one-two combination with Belgian teammate Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez. Skipper Samuel Eto’o added the second in the 87th minutes. CSKA clinched the lead against Spartak in the 16th minute through Nigerian forward Ahmed Musa, who scored from just inside the area from Keisuke Honda’s precise pass. The Red Army side continued their domination at the Luzhniki Stadium and in the 52nd minute Honda made it 2-0 after beating the Spartak defense on a breakaway. Meanwhile, reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg stopped their six-match winless streak, beating Krasnodar 2-0 to go fourth in the table. Midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov put Zenit into the lead in the 69th minute, firing the ball home from a corner. In the 78th minute, midfielder Viktor Faizulin grabbed the second from Zyryanov’s cross.
NETHERLANDS
Twente beat AZ to go clear
Twente went three points clear at the top of the Dutch league on Sunday after a 3-0 victory over nine-man AZ. AZ, trailing to Belgium international Nacer Chadli’s goal on 20 minutes, had Jozy Altidore and Adam Maher dismissed within a minute early in the second half. The match flared up when the visitors were denied a penalty after a foul on Maher. Midfielder Maher was shown a straight red card for kicking a Twente player, then US international Altidore got his marching orders for dissent. Twente compounded AZ’s woes by adding to their lead through Dusan Tadic’s penalty and a Luc Castaignos strike. Steve McClaren’s side have 21 points after eight matches, three ahead of PSV Eindhoven, who cruised to a 4-0 home win over NAC Breda, with Jeremain Lens opening the scoring, before delivering three assists. Vitesse, who drew 3-3 with Heerenveen on Saturday, are third on 18 points, above Ajax, who slipped to fourth after being held to 1-1 draw by Utrecht. Ryan Babel finished a well-executed attack after six minutes to put Ajax ahead, but early in the second half Fabian Sporkslede headed into his own goal.
PORTUGAL
Porto win the Lisbon derby
Porto’s Jackson Martinez scored a superb back-heel goal that set up a deserved 2-0 home win over Lisbon rivals Sporting and sent the champions back to the top of the Portuguese Premier League on Sunday. Sporting, who sacked coach Ricardo Sa Pinto on Friday, never stood a chance against a confident Porto side. Martinez opened the scoring after 10 minutes, cushioning a long pass with his knee and, as he turned on goal, applying a neat back-heel that left goalkeeper Rui Patricio stranded. Lucho Gonzalez missed a penalty for Porto and Sporting had Marcos Rojo sent off, before James Rodriguez added a second from the penalty spot with seven minutes to go.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Roger Federer on Wednesday said that staying involved with tennis in retirement helped him avoid feeling “like an alien” ahead of this week’s Laver Cup in Berlin. Federer, who helped create the tournament, retired at the Laver Cup in London two years ago and has since stayed involved with the competition as an ambassador. “I’m happy I went back right away to some tournaments,” the 43-year-old told reporters. “I feel I ripped the Band-Aid off quite quickly and when I walk around the tennis sites I still feel I belong there,” he said. “I don’t feel like an alien, which is a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or