CRICKET
Aussies sweep T20 series
England’s sorry tour of Australia finally ended with a whimper on Sunday — a crushing 84-run defeat to give the hosts a clean sweep of the three-game Twenty20 series. Australia, with man-of-the-match George Bailey smashing an unbeaten 49 off 20 balls, scored 195-6 after winning the toss in Sydney. The hosts then dismissed the psychologically scarred tourists for 111 in the 18th over to sweep the series. It marked the end of a disastrous 103-day tour for England, who lost the Ashes Tests 5-0 and the one-day international series 4-1, meaning Australia won 12-1 across the three formats. In between the losses, the international careers of spinner Graeme Swann and coach Andy Flower have been ended.
TENNIS
Makarova wins in Pattaya
Ekaterina Makarova won her second career title on Sunday, claiming a 6-3 7-6 (9/7) victory over Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic at the Pattaya Open. The Russian left-hander, whose only previous title came when she won in Eastbourne, England, in 2010, withstood a strong challenge in both sets, but her greater consistency and more aggressive play in the tiebreak earned her the victory. In a dramatic finale, Makarova built a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak, but faced set point at 6-5 after she netted a smash. Pliskova, though, hit her only double fault of the match and also failed to win a second set point at 7-6, before Makarova secured victory on her first match point.
GOLF
Stadler captures first title
Kevin Stadler captured his first PGA Tour title in his 239th start on Sunday, firing a final-round 68 for a one-shot Phoenix Open win over Bubba Watson and Graham DeLaet. Stadler’s three-under effort gave him a 16-under total of 268. Stadler and 2012 Masters winner Watson were tied heading into the 72nd hole at 16-under. Stadler found the fairway off the tee, while Watson was in the right rough. Watson flew the green as Stadler landed his second shot 11 feet from the pin. Stadler just missed his birdie putt and tapped in for par. Watson, who chipped on, missed a five-footer and settled for a bogey and a share of second place.
BASKETBALL
Celtics snap losing streak
Rajon Rondo had season highs with 19 points and 10 assists as the Boston Celtics ended a four-game losing streak with a 96-89 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday. Jared Sullinger scored seven of his 21 points in the fourth quarter for the Celtics, who let a 12-point lead slip to one in the final period, before pulling away at the end. Brandon Bass had 19 points and nine rebounds, while Avery Bradley scored 17 on his return after missing five games with a sprained ankle.
ICE HOCKEY
Capitals edge Red Wings
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 39th goal on a power play 2 minutes, 37 seconds into overtime as the Washington Capitals beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-5 on Sunday to earn a split of a home-and-home set, tightening things up in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference. Ovechkin’s one-timer from the left circle was no match for goaltender Jimmy Howard, who had only three teammates on the ice with him after Brendan Smith was sent off for tripping 1:26 into the extra period. In Montreal, Michael Frolik scored in the third period to give the Winnipeg Jets a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Tobias Enstrom also scored for the Jets, while Al Montoya stopped 30 shots.
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