GOLF
Watson takes responsibility
Tom Watson took the blame on Saturday for his communication with his players in another US loss at the Ryder Cup, and the 65-year-old captain said he called Phil Mickelson earlier this week to clear the air. “I regret that my words may have made the players feel that I didn’t appreciate their commitment and dedication to winning the Ryder Cup,” Watson said in a statement issued through the PGA of America. Mickelson indirectly called out Watson in an awkward press conference after Europe’s 16.5-11.5 victory, the eighth out of the past 10 times they have won the cup. Mickelson said the US have strayed from a winning formula they had under Paul Azinger in 2008. The statement was issued one day after an ESPN report citing four unidentified people who were in the US team room on the night before the final round. They said Watson blamed the players for their performance in foursomes and scoffed at a gift from the players by saying it was meaningless if they did not win. The gift was a replica of the Ryder Cup the players had signed. The report also said Watson denigrated some of the European players, and only praised the play of US rookies Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
BOXING
Barthelemy beats Saucedo
Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy made a successful first defense of his IBF super featherweight world title on Saturday with a lopsided unanimous decision over Fernando David Saucedo. Barthelemy, who improved to 21-0 with 12 wins inside the distance, was rarely tested by the Argentine, winning every round on all three judges’ scorecards to gain the victory by three scores of 120-108. Barthelemy was making his first defense of the title he won by unanimous decision over Argenis Mendez in a world title rematch on July 10. That followed a first meeting between Barthelemy and Mendez in which Barthelemy landed a knockout blow that was deemed to have come an instant after the bell to end the second round — resulting in a no-decision. Saucedo fell to 52-6-3 and saw a 14-fight winning streak come to an end. He lost for the first time since dropping a unanimous decision to Indonesia’s Chris John in a WBA featherweight title bout.
ICE HOCKEY
Jets beat Calgary 4-1
Blake Wheeler, Jacob Trouba and Evander Kane each scored in Winnipeg, Canada, on Saturday night as the Winnipeg Jets closed their pre-season with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames. It was the first goal for all three in the pre-season. Bryan Little finished the scoring with a short-handed, empty-net goal at 18 minutes, 20 seconds of the third. David Jones scored for the Flames (5-4-0), who beat the Jets 4-2 in Calgary on Thursday. The Jets finished the pre-season 4-3-0. It was the first time this season coach Paul Maurice was able to ice anything close to a starting lineup for the Jets as injuries have sidelined a number of veterans. Dustin Byfuglien and Zach Bogosian did not play on Saturday.
ICE HOCKEY
Columbus beat Nashville
Nick Foligno scored twice, Cam Atkinson added a late power-play goal and Sergei Bobrovsky made 45 saves to help the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 in the pre-season finale for both teams on Saturday night. Atkinson scored with five minutes left in regulation for a two-goal lead. James Neal scored for Nashville during a two-man advantage with 1:33 remaining, but the Predators could not get the equalizer against Bobrovsky, who denied Mike Ribeiro’s penalty shot earlier. Eric Nystrom had the other goal for the Predators.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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