ICE HOCKEY
Blue Jackets beat Sabres 4-1
Columbus’ Nick Foligno and Dalton Prout scored 2 minutes, 9 seconds apart in the second period in the Blue Jackets’ 4-1 victory over Buffalo on Friday. Brandon Saad, with his 30th of the season, and Matt Calvert also scored for Columbus in a matchup of two teams already eliminated from playoff contention. Rookie Sam Reinhart scored for the Sabres. They had a three-game winning streak snapped and lost in their home finale. The loss means the Sabres, with 79 points, can finish no higher than 22nd. It still marks a significant improvement for a rebuilding team that finished last in the standings in each of the past two seasons.
CYCLING
Drunk driver attacks Gilbert
Former world champion Philippe Gilbert suffered a fractured finger after being attacked by a drunk driver during a training run, his BMC Racing team said on Friday. The 33-year-old needed surgery on the injury which occured when he and fellow rider Loic Vliegen were targeted by two drunk men in a car. One of the men stepped out of the car and jostled with Vliegen and Gilbert, fracturing Gilbert’s middle finger on his left hand in the process, the team said. “I’m not feeling too bad at all. More than anything I am shocked that this happened as you don’t expect anything like this to take place when you head out for a training ride,” 2012 world champion Gilbert said. BMC doctor Max Testa said Gilbert needed five pins inserted in his middle finger to secure three small fractures. “He is otherwise fine, but will need to take a day or two off the bike,” Testa said. “After the weekend we should have a better idea of the impact this will have on his Ardennes Classics campaign, but at this stage he should be fine to race. Luckily Loic was not injured in the altercation.” It is understood the two men were arrested.
CYCLING
Rosa wins Vuelta fifth stage
Italy’s Diego Rosa claimed the fifth stage of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Friday as Colombia’s Sergio Henao moved into the overall lead. Astana rider Rosa remained out in front after an early breakaway to complete an impressive solo victory on the 159km route from Orio to Arrate. Henao finished second, more than three minutes in arrears, alongside Alberto Contador and is six seconds clear of the Spaniard going into the hilly 16.5km time-trial around Eibar. Henao led going into the final stage timetrial only to miss out on the win in 2013 and last year. “I’m going to give my all right to the end,” he said. France’s Thibaut Pinot, 10 seconds off the lead in third, said: “There are [time trial] specialists like Alberto Contador. Obviously, we’re not going to make it easy for him, but it’s not my speciality.”
BOXING
Fury-Klitschko set for July 9
Tyson Fury is to defend his WBA and WBO heavyweight titles in a rematch against Wladimir Klitschko in Manchester on July 9, the British boxer’s trainer and uncle Peter Fury announced on Friday. Fury senior tweeted that the rematch would be confirmed later on Friday, saying: “[On] 9th July Tyson Fury vs Klitschko is coming to Manchester Uk. Official announcement coming 12 noon (UK time, 1100 GMT).” Hamburg-based Klitschko lost his WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO belts to Fury on points in Duesseldorf in November last year as the Ukrainian suffered his first defeat in more than a decade. In Moscow, the fight between WBC cruiserweight champion Grigory Drozd and challenger Ilunga Makabu was canceled after a training injury to Drozd.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but