CYCLING
Quintana wins stage
Colombian Nairo Quintana, riding for Katusha, won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday, seeing off compatriot Sergio Luis Henao of the Sky team in cold and rainy conditions. Henao nonetheless retained the overall leader’s jersey following the 151.6km stage between Trapagaran and Arrate, which Quintana took in three hours 58 minutes and 52 seconds. He crossed the line first after negotiating a furious sprint finish over the final few hundred meters following a stage comprising two first category and three second category climbs.
CRICKET
Kiwis call up former Aussie
Former Australian wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi was yesterday named in the 15-man New Zealand one-day squad for their upcoming tour to England and the Champions Trophy. Ronchi is the only player who has not previously represented New Zealand in the side that also sees the return of spinner Daniel Vettori, who has been sidelined for eight months with an ankle injury. The touring Test squad sees recalls for Martin Guptill and Mark Gillespie, who are added to the list of players who featured in the squads for the recent drawn three-Test home series against England. The 31-year-old Ronchi is New Zealand born, but was raised in Australia where he played four one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals from 2008 to 2009 before returning to his country of birth.
GOLF
Tomasulo leads Texas Open
Peter Tomasulo’s birdie-birdie finish completed a bogey-free five-under par 67 on Thursday and vaulted him into a tie for the lead with Matt Bettencourt at the US PGA Tour Texas Open. The US duo had a one-stroke lead over Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Americans Billy Horschel, Bryce Molder and Harris English, who all finished a windy day at TPC San Antonio on four-under 68. A group of 10 players on 69 included England’s Brian Davis, Australians Nathan Green, Alistair Presnell and Steven Bowditch, as well as Argentina’s Andres Romero. Tomasulo, making just his sixth start of the season on the PGA Tour and trying to regain full playing privileges after battling a rib injury two years ago, played in the last group of the day. He drained a 10-foot birdie putt at 18 for his share of the lead, and said playing late was an advantage on a day of gusty winds. “I just played a solid round of golf to go around here with no bogeys,” Tomasulo said. “We got a good end of the draw, I think, with the weather calming down late in the day.”
GOLF
Wie says Sorenstam sorry
Michelle Wie said Annika Sorenstam apologized to her for comments she made in an interview with Golf Magazine. “She actually reached out to me last night, said a couple of things got misquoted,” Wie said on Thursday. Sorenstam’s comments appear in a question-and-answer story in the magazine’s May edition. “I didn’t read it, so I don’t know what she said,” Wie said when asked how Sorenstam could be misquoted in a question-and-answer format. The former child prodigy, now 23, has mostly struggled since winning the 2010 Canadian Women’s Open for the second of her two LPGA Tour titles. “What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there,” Sorenstam is quoted as saying in the magazine article. The Hall of Famer also pointed at Wie’s appearances in men’s tournaments as a possible reason for some of her struggles. “I don’t think it helped her career,” Sorenstam said.
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