RUGBY SEVENS
NZ win Vancouver event
New Zealand grabbed their third Rugby World Sevens Series win of the season on Sunday, powering past South Africa 19-14 to win the inaugural Vancouver Sevens. New Zealand added another title to those won in Wellington and Sydney, bouncing back after a quarter-final exit last week in Las Vegas. Australia rallied to shock Fiji 19-12 in the bronze-medal playoff. The Sevens World Series, in the spotlight this year thanks to rugby’s return to the Olympic Games at Rio in August, now heads to Hong Kong on April 8, with tournaments to follow in Singapore, Paris and London. Fiji maintained their lead in the standings with 106 points, just one point in front of South Africa, with New Zealand one further point back in third.
RUGBY UNION
Francis cited for gouging
Wales prop Tomas Francis was on Sunday cited for eye-gouging during their 25-21 Six Nations defeat to England at Twickenham on Saturday. Francis conceded a penalty after his fingers appeared to make contact with the eyes of England prop Dan Cole at a ruck during the second half of the decisive clash in London. South African referee Craig Joubert decided not to take further action as he only had one camera angle replay of the incident to view, but in penalizing the Wales replacement, he warned Francis that he might face further disciplinary action. The Six Nations’ independent citing commissioner said Francis was cited “for allegedly making contact with the eyes or eye area of an opponent.”
SOCCER
Son to miss internationals
Son Heung-min has been left out of South Korea’s squad for their two upcoming internationals as part of a proposal to let him remain with Tottenham Hospur, as the London club chases the English Premier League title, in return for being allowed to represent his nation at the Rio Olympics. With Tottenham currently second in the Premier League standings and aiming to become champions for the first time since 1961, coach Uli Stielike agreed to let South Korea’s star attacker stay in England rather than be picked for his national team. In opting not to select Son, Stielike hopes that Spurs are to return the favor and release him for the Rio Olympics in August. “We have asked Tottenham to make Son available for the Olympics as a wild-card, and in exchange, we offered not to select him for matches in March,” Stielike told a news conference in Seoul yesterday.
TENNIS
Nadal seeking ‘justice’
Rafael Nadal stepped up his attack on Sunday on those who label him a drugs cheat, threatening to sue former French minister of health and sport Roselyne Bachelot, who said the Spanish tennis star failed a drug test. Nadal said he is seeking “justice” and would have his day in court to silence critics like Bachelot. “I am gonna sue her, and I am gonna sue everyone who gonna comment something similar in the future, because I am tired of that,” Nadal said. Bachelot said that Nadal faked an injury in 2012, when he missed the final six months of the season due to knee problems, in order to hide a positive drug test. The 14-time Grand Slam champion first said on Saturday night that he was going to seek “justice” and use the courts to put a stop to speculation he ever used performance-enhancing drugs. “I am tired about these things. I let it go a few times in the past. No more,” Nadal said, adding that he expected better of person who was “minister of a big country and a great country like France.”
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