RUGBY LEAGUE
Williams scores hat-trick
Code-swapping star Sonny Bill Williams scored a hat-trick as defending champions New Zealand steamrollered Papua New Guinea 56-10 on Friday in their final Rugby League World Cup Pool B match. In an ominous broadside ahead of next weekend’s quarter-finals, the Kiwis scored 10 tries in total, half-back Shaun Johnson following up on his 24 points in the previous 48-0 victory over France with 16 more from the boot. Man-of-the-match Williams, who as a center won the Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks on home soil in 2011 and is bidding to become the first player to win Cups in both codes, scored three tries in a total of seven in the first half. “There’s a lot of improvements for us to work on. We’ve just got to keep on working and step it up another level,” Williams said after his ninth league Test appearance, with 19 All Blacks games also to his credit.
GOLF
Kirk seizes one-shot lead
Chris Kirk fired a second-round 66 to seize a one-shot lead in the PGA Tour McGladrey Classic, where darkness halted play on Friday for a second straight day. Kirk’s eight-under total of 132 put him one ahead of former US Open champion Webb Simpson, fellow Americans Briny Baird and Kevin Chappell, and Australian John Senden. Kirk played in the worst of the windy conditions, but managed to nab five birdies on the back nine, which included a 40-foot putt from off the green at the 11th and a chip-in from 60 feet at 14.
GOLF
Scott extends his lead
Adam Scott shot an even-par 71 yesterday and extended his lead to three strokes at the Australian PGA going into today’s final round at a wind-swept Royal Pines. Scott, playing the first of four consecutive tournaments in Australia and for the first time since his US Masters triumph in April, had a three-round total of 10-under 203. He led by two shots after the second round. He plays in today’s final group with American Rickie Fowler, who also shot 71 and was tied for second with Australian David McKenzie, who shot a 72.
ICE HOCKEY
Panthers fire Kevin Dineen
The Florida Panthers, mired in a seven-game NHL losing streak, sacked head coach Kevin Dineen and two assistant coaches on Friday. Executive vice president and general manager Dale Tallon said Peter Horachek would take over the coaching duties on an interim basis, assisted by Brian Skrudland and John Madden. “After 16 games it was clear that our team needed a change in philosophy and direction,” Tallon said on Friday, a day after a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins dropped the Panthers to 3-9-4.
SOCCER
Silva out with calf injury
Manchester City playmaker David Silva could be out of action for up to a month with a calf injury, manager Manuel Pellegrini said on Friday. The Spain international, who had already missed a month of this season with a thigh injury before returning in early October, came off midway through the second half of Tuesday’s 5-2 UEFA Champions League victory over CSKA Moscow. “Silva has a problem with his calf, so he could miss three or four weeks,” Pellegrini told a press conference ahead of today’s trip to Sunderland in the Premier League. Pellegrini said midfielder Fernandinho and defender Matija Nastasic face late fitness tests.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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