SOCCER
Marseille, Nantes held
Mid-table Olympique de Marseille were held to a 1-1 draw away to Gazelec Ajaccio, while eighth-placed Nantes drew 0-0 against SC Bastia in Ligue 1 action on Wednesday. Winger Remy Cabella gave Marseille the lead in the 80th minute when he took a pass from striker Michy Batshuayi, rolled the ball past goalkeeper Clement Maury and finished neatly. The Corsican-born Cabella did not celebrate scoring. The lead lasted only four minutes as midfielder Mohamed Larbi’s free-kick looped over the wall and bounced past Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda. Marseille have not won at home in Ligue 1 since Sept. 13 last year, but fare much better away, and have not lost in the French top flight since a trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Oct. 4. The matches were rescheduled from the 27th and 28th rounds of matches.
SOCCER
US win SheBelieves Cup
The US on Wednesday came from behind to defeat Germany 2-1 and win the inaugural SheBelieves Cup in a repeat of last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final. Alex Morgan and Sam Mewis scored first-half goals for the US women after the hosts had been rocked by a 30th-minute Anja Mittag strike as Germany took the lead in Boca Raton, Florida. Victory meant the US finished the four-nation tournament on top of the group with a 100 percent record after winning their matches against England and France. The hosts fell behind to Mittag’s thunderous right-footed strike after half an hour. The goal ended a run of 781 minutes without conceding a goal for the in-form US team. However, the hosts got back on level terms in the 37th minute after a fine piece of skill by Morgan, who latched onto a long pass, flicked the ball over her shadowing defender and then rammed home the finish. Four minutes later, Mewis made it 2-1 when her shot from distance bobbled on the uneven playing surface and beat Almuth Schult in the Germany goal. In the day’s other game, England and France ground out a 0-0 draw to finish the tournament in third and fourth respectively.
CYCLING
BMC’s Daniel Oss leads
Italy’s Daniel Oss was the first leader of the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race after his BMC team won Wednesday’s opening team time-trial. BMC, led by one of the race favorites in American Tejay van Garderen, edged out Etixx-Quick Step by two seconds on the 22.7km course around Lido Di Camaiore. FDJ were third nine seconds back. The Astana team of Italian Vincenzo Nibali, the winner in 2012 and 2013, finished sixth 15 seconds off the lead. Movistar were 10th at 29 seconds, but the big loser was Colombian Rigoberto Uran, whose Cannondale team crashed on the course and finished last, more than two minutes behind.
CYCLING
Snow cancels stage
Heavy snow and cold temperatures on Wednesday forced the third stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race to be canceled. Organizers said the frontrunners were on the day’s third climb when the race jury decided it was too dangerous to continue the hilly 168km stage from Cusset to Mont Brouilly in the Beaujolais wine region. Television images showed concerned riders talking to each other as the snow fell on them, before heading back to their team cars with about 70km remaining. Overnight leader Michael Matthews of Australia led Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands by 14 seconds, with Patrick Bevin of New Zealand in third place, 19 seconds off the pace.
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