SCOTLAND
Celtic triumph to clinch title
Celtic clinched their third straight league title in stylish and typically dominant fashion on Wednesday, beating Partick Thistle 5-1 to take an unassailable 26-point lead in the standings with seven matches left to play. Anthony Stokes scored twice and Liam Henderson, Stefan Johansen and Kris Commons grabbed the other goals for Celtic, who secured the championship at the earliest date in the calendar since 1928-1929. “You could feel it over the last couple of weeks,” Celtic manager Neil Lennon said. “The anticipation building and the style in which we finished it was fantastic, symptomatic of the way this team is.” With fierce Glasgow rival Rangers spending their second season out of the top flight as punishment for financial mismanagement, Celtic have had free reign in the Premiership over the past two seasons. Neil Lennon’s side have lost just one league game all season on their way to sealing a 45th title. Rangers have won 54 championships. “To lose one game and break a clean-sheet record into the bargain, it has been exceptional,” Lennon said.
ENGLAND
Scunthorpe equal record
Lowly Scunthorpe United in the fourth tier equaled a 125-year-old record when manager Russ Wilcox made it 23 unbeaten games from the start of his reign. On their manager’s 50th birthday, Wilcox’s side won 2-0 at Cheltenham Town on Tuesday to match the feat of William Sudell of Preston North End in 1889. “To go 23 league games undefeated is crazy really. It’s half a season. There has to be massive credit to everybody involved — the players, the staff; everybody,” Wilcox told the club’s Web site. Chairman of the League Managers Association and former Leeds United boss Howard Wilkinson described Wilcox as “an inspirational story for any would-be coach or manager.” Scunthorpe, who last lost a league match in November last year before Wilcox took over, are second in League Two.
PORTUGAL
Benfica’s unbeaten run ends
Jackson Martinez headed an early goal to give Porto a 1-0 win over SL Benfica in the Taca de Portugal on Wednesday and end their rivals’ 27-match unbeaten run in all competitions. Portuguese league leaders Benfica’s last defeat was against Olympiakos in the UEFA Champions League on Nov. 5 last year and their previous domestic defeat was at CS Maritimo on the opening day of the season. Martinez rose above the Benfica defense to head in from a corner in the sixth minute of the semi-final first leg. The Colombia forward was involved in most of Porto’s most dangerous moves and he hit the post from close range in the second half. Porto goalkeeper Fabiano also contributed, making a superb one-handed save from Ruben Amorim.
UEFA
Nations League vote passed
UEFA has voted to introduce a new Nations League from 2018 with successful sides from the tournament involving national teams able to earn places at Euro 2020. Although the exact format has yet to be finalized, four slots at Euro 2020 will be made available from the new competition. “Twenty teams will advance from the qualifying competition to the Euro 2020 finals,” UEFA general-secretary Gianni Infantino told delegates at a congress in Kazakhstan yesterday. “That leaves four extra slots to be filled and they will come from four teams from the Nations League who have not otherwise qualified through the qualifiers.” The new competition was unanimously passed by all 54 member associations.
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