SOCCER
Lille, Angers draw 0-0
Lille OSC dropped points in their quest for a top-five place after drawing 0-0 at home to Angers SCO in the French Ligue 1 on Wednesday. Led by the inspired form of highly-rated winger Sofiane Boufal, who has scored 11 league goals this season, Lille had won their previous six league games to shoot up the table. However, the players looked jaded after losing 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in a hard-fought Coupe de la Ligue final last weekend, struggling to break down a gritty Angers side that kept Boufal quiet and had four players booked in the second half. The draw leaves sixth-placed Lille four points behind AS Saint-Etienne and OGC Nice with only three games remaining as they battle for a Europa League spot. Lille play Saint-Etienne in the final round of matches.
CYCLING
Kittel claims first stage
Germany’s Marcel Kittel claimed the weather-curtailed first stage of the Tour de Romandie in a sprint finish on Wednesday. The start was scheduled for La Chaux-de-Fonds, but with the threat of ice and hail the riders started from Mathon, reducing the circuit to 100km. Kittel saw off Italy’s Niccolo Bonifazio by half a wheel length with Swiss rider Michael Albasini in third. Spaniard Ion Izagirre retained the lead in the overall standings after his surprise success in Tuesday’s prologue. Wednesday’s shortened ride was lit up by Sander Armie’s breakaway, with the Belgian rider only caught 13km from the finish line. The 27-year-old Kittel capitalized on the work of his Ettix-QuickStep teammates in the closing kilometers and reacted quickly when Albasini made the first burst for the line. “I didn’t have my usual teammates around me as Etixx have mainly selected climbers for this race. But that didn’t stop them from doing excellent work,” Kittel said.
TENNIS
Dimitrov through to quarters
Second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov had to overcome some tough resistance from qualifier Adrian Ungur before coming through 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 for a place in the quarter-finals of the Istanbul Open on Wednesday. Dimitrov, who reached the semi-finals in Istanbul last year, next faces sixth-seeded Jiri Vesely, who rallied to beat Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-2. Fourth-seeded Federico Delbonis defeated Dudi Sela 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round to also make the quarters, while eighth-seeded Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to advance. In the remaining first-round match on Wednesday, Illya Marchenko defeated Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
SOCCER
Vancouver salvage draw
Vancouver hung on with 10 men for most of the second half to salvage a 1-1 home draw against Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday, keeping the gap between the MLS Western Conference contenders at two points. The day’s two other games also ended 1-1, with Eastern Conference leader Montreal getting a stoppage-time goal to draw away at New York City, and Portland gifting host New England a point by netting a very late own-goal. Vancouver went ahead in the 14th minute when veteran Costa Rica international Christian Bolanos scored his first MLS goal, connecting off Cristian Techera’s corner. Sporting equalized 13 minutes later through Chile international striker Diego Rubio, who is on loan from Real Valladolid. Vancouver went down to 10 men in the 51st minute when a poor back-pass from Tim Parker forced fellow defender Kendall Waston to take down Rubio for his second yellow card.
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