SOCCER
Swindon trio suspended
A trio of Swindon Town players have been suspended amid reports they inhaled nitrous oxide on a live social media video. The images appeared to show Drissa Traore, Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and Jeremy Balmy taking the legal high commonly known as laughing gas or hippy crack, via balloons. They were also filmed smoking a shisha pipe during the 18-minute video, which emerged 24 hours after the League One strugglers lost at Oldham. “The club have already started an internal investigation into the trio’s recent conduct,” a club statement said. “They will not be considered for selection during this process.”
TENNIS
Sock advances to quarters
Defending champion Jack Sock beat Australia’s Matthew Barton 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. The fourth-seeded American won last year at River Oaks for his first ATP Tour title. He next faces seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. Third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain also advanced, beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Lopez next faces Tim Smyczek, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Donald Young in an all-American match. Fellow Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey reached the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Top seed Isner faces South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, while fifth seed Querrey takes on Argentina’s Juan Monaco.
TENNIS
Schiavone ousts Cornet
Unseeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy eliminated the 2014 champion, fourth seed Alize Cornet of France, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to make the Katowice Open quarter-finals in Poland on Thursday. Schiavone, who improved to 11-1 against Cornet, next faces eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Seventh seed Timea Babos of Hungary overcame a slow start before rallying past Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 and next faces third seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarter-finals. After eliminating defending champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round, unseeded French player Pauline Parmentier beat Britain’s Naomi Broady 6-4, 7-5 and next faces Poland’s Magda Linette, who came from a set down to defeat Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
TENNIS
Garcia-Lopez beats Almagro
Top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez reached the Grand Prix Hassan II quarter-finals after rallying to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in Marrakesh. Almagro broke twice in the first set, but Garcia-Lopez took the only break of the second to level. Although Almagro had six aces in the decider, he was broken again and could not force a chance on Garcia-Lopez’s serve. Garcia-Lopez next faces eighth seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, who fired 15 aces as he beat Croatian qualifier Nikola Mektic 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). Seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain did not face a break point against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win.
CYCLING
Sanchez wins fourth stage
Samuel Sanchez of BMC Racing Team attacked with 1km to go to win the fourth stage of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Thursday. Rui Costa of Lampre-Merida was second and Warren Barguil of Giant-Alpecin was third. Wilco Kelderman of LottoNL-Jumbo was the overall leader, with Team Sky duo Sergio Henao and Mikel Landa four and seven seconds back respectively.
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