TENNIS
Bacsinszky wins title
Top-seeded Timea Bacsinszky comfortably beat qualifier Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-2, 6-1 to win the Grand Prix SAR on Saturday. It was a fourth career title for Bacsinszky and a first on clay for last year’s French Open semi-finalist. Bacsinszky, ranked 15th, took a little more than an hour to defeat a player ranked 171 places below her. The Swiss broke her opponent’s serve seven times, and dropped just one set in five matches in Rabat, Morocco.
SOCCER
Torino thrash Udinese
Udinese remain uncomfortably close to the relegation zone after being thrashed 5-1 at home by Torino in Serie A on Saturday, while ACF Fiorentina’s miserable run continued with a goalless draw at AC Chievo Verona. Luigi de Canio’s Udinese are six points clear of US Citta di Palermo, who were to host UC Sampdoria yesterday, with two rounds remaining. Defender Pontus Jansson headed Torino ahead in the 12th minute with his first club goal and Afriyie Acquah blasted a second into the roof of the net on the stroke of halftime. Udinese, jeered off the pitch at the end of each half, got back into the match immediately after the restart through Felipe, but Josef Martinez swiftly restored Torino’s two-goal cushion. Andrea Belotti and a second from Martinez completed the rout. Both Chievo and Fiorentina hit the woodwork in the second half. Chievo almost snatched all three points when substitute Antonio Floro Flores thought he had scored in the 89th minute. His effort squirmed through the legs of Ciprian Tatarusanu, but the Fiorentina goalkeeper turned around swiftly and stretched out an arm to scoop it off the line in time.
CYCLING
Froome claims stage win
Two-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome snatched a dominant win on the penultimate stage of the Tour of Romandie on Saturday, but Colombian rival Nairo Quintana stayed on course for overall victory. Team Sky star Froome, who has no chance of winning the race after a puncture on Thursday sent him down the standings, enjoyed a four-second advantage on the stage to Villars-sur-Ollon, Switzerland, after a grueling day negotiating three premier category climbs in biting cold and rain. French rider Thibaut Pinot, who was third on the stage, right on the wheel of Spain’s Ion Izagirre, kept second place overall.
SOCCER
Worker dies on site
FIFA World Cup organizers say a worker has died after falling ill on the site of one of the stadiums being constructed for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy on Saturday said that 48-year-old Indian national Jaleshwar Prasad died after he “fell ill on-site around 9:30am on Wednesday.” Prasad, who was a steel worker employed on the Al Bayt Stadium project, “received first-aid treatment until paramedics arrived,” a statement said. “He was transferred to Al Khor Hospital, but sadly passed away around 11:30am. Al Khor Hospital reported the cause of death as cardiac arrest. A full investigation is underway.,” it added. Qatar has been criticized by rights groups and trade unions for alleged abuses and deaths on a range of construction projects linked to the 2022 World Cup since it won hosting rights in 2010. Qatar is relying heavily on construction workers from south Asia.
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