BASEBALL
Taipei beat White Rock 16-4
Chou Wei-hung hit a grand slam in the third inning and a two-run shot in fourth to help Taipei beat White Rock, British Columbia, 16-4 in four innings on Saturday night in the Little League World Series. Chou was three for three and fell an RBI short of the LLWS record of seven. Yu Yen-cheng capped Taiwan’s nine-run first with a two-run home run, and Chen Hao-en added a solo home run in the fourth. Marcus Bradley had two of Canada’s five hits. Taiwan advanced to play today against the loser of yesterday’s game between Uganda and Venezuela.
GOLF
Horsey’s lead diminishes
England’s David Horsey saw his overnight three-shot lead at the Made in Denmark tournament slashed to just one on Saturday after a topsy-turvy third round. The 30-year-old, chasing a fourth European Tour title, had stretched his lead to seven at one stage before the chasing pack closed in. Horsey has led since Thursday, but he was reined in on Saturday courtesy of three bogeys on the back nine, while Australia’s Terry Pilkadaris carded a fine third-round 65. Horsey finished the day with a three-under 68 for the round and a tournament total of 15-under 198. Pilkadaris is one shot off the pace, while Englishmen John Parry and Chris Paisley are four back from Horsey.
RUGBY UNION
France beat England 25-20
England’s preparations for the home World Cup suffered a setback as they slumped to a 25-20 loss to France after a late comeback attempt fell short. Danny Cipriani stepped off the bench to score a try and Jonathan Joseph also touched down in a lively finish, but France had been by far the better team in the first 70 minutes. France flyhalf Freddie Michalak finished with a 17-point haul and wing Yoann Huget also crossed. The England pack struggled against Les Bleus just seven days after a 19-14 victory over the same opponent at Twickenham.
RUGBY UNION
Scotland defeat Italy 16-12
Scotland earned their first win of the year as they ground out a 16-12 victory against Italy in Turin on Saturday in a warm-up match ahead of next month’s World Cup. Replacement Henry Pyrgos scored the only try of the match, turning over for Scotland against the run of play in the 74th minute after Matt Scott had made up good ground down the right flank. Duncan Weir converted to add to his three first-half penalties. Gonzalo Garcia had kicked a penalty for Italy and Tommaso Allan had added two more to send the sides in at the interval level at 9-9. Allan, whose father is Scottish, scored a third penalty in the second half to put Italy ahead for the first time. The two sides are to meet again at Murrayfield on Saturday.
OLYMPICS
ISAF could move Rio events
The head of sailing’s governing body has threatened to move all Olympic events out of polluted Guanabara Bay unless the water is cleaner and floating trash is removed for next year’s Rio Games. International Sailing Federation (ISAF) chief executive Peter Sowrey, speaking to reporters on Saturday on the final day of an Olympic sailing test event, said: “If we can’t get the water to a level, then we’ll move it outside,” to the open Atlantic. Sowrey said one course inside the bay was closed after floating trash hindered racing for two days. He also complained he received no data during the week-long Olympic test from the state agency that monitors water quality.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite