BOXING
Cleverly wins WBA belt
Nathan Cleverly of Wales on Saturday defeated Juergen Braehmer by technical knockout in Neubrandenburg, Germany, to take the German’s WBA light heavyweight belt and his second world title. After six evenly matched rounds, the defending champion indicated he could not continue due to a problem with his right elbow. Cleverly had been the busier fighter, while Braehmer relied on counterattacks, and seemed to pack a cleaner more powerful punch. Both fighters landed heavy blows in a punishing fifth round and Braehmer said he could not compete after the sixth. “I couldn’t punch any more with the right. [I quit] before anything else happened. I’m 37, that shouldn’t be it,” the southpaw said. “We’ve agreed on a rematch.” Cleverly improved to 30-3 (15 KO) after claiming his second world title at the same weight. He lost the WBO belt to Sergey Kovalev by TKO in August 2013. Braehmer had defended the belt six times since taking the vacant title against Marcus Oliveira in December 2013. His record dropped to 48-3 (35 KO).
RUGBY LEAGUE
Salford crash out
Hull KR crashed out of the Super League for the first time in 10 years after a 19-18 defeat against Salford in the “Million Pound Game” on Saturday. Heading into the final two minutes of the relegation playoff, it seemed it would be Salford who dropped out of the top-flight as they trailed by eight points, but Hull KR crumbled in a dramatic finale that saw Salford score a pair of tries to draw level at the Lightstream Stadium. That sent the tie into golden point extra-time and Salford’s Gareth O’Brien, who missed two difficult conversion attempts at the end of normal time, struck the decisive blow in the first minute of the additional period with a superb 50m drop goal. Hull KR had not even touched the ball before referee Phil Bentham blew his whistle to condemn the hosts to relegation. Scuffles broke out as Salford fans invaded the pitch in celebration and that could produce more worries for owner Marwan Koukash when the Rugby Football League probes a second case of crowd trouble this season, although he was all smiles as he held aloft a mock £1 million (US$1.3 million) check to the value of his side’s survival.
Hull KR face an uncertain future as players and fans wait anxiously to discover if chairman Neil Hudgell decides to keep the team full-time in the Championship.
CRICKET
Afghanistan crushed
Opener Tamim Iqbal smashed a brilliant century as Bangladesh crushed Afghanistan by 141 runs in the third one-day international (ODI) to clinch the three-match series 2-1 in Dhaka on Saturday. Tamim helped Bangladesh reach 279-8 with 118 in as many balls, his seventh ODI century — the highest for his country — before the home side dismissed Afghanistan for 138 runs in 33.5 overs in a lopsided contest at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. Left-arm spinner Mosharraf Hossain grabbed 3-24 runs playing his first match in more than eight years while paceman Taskin Ahmed chipped in with 2-31. This was Bangladesh’s sixth consecutive series victory in ODIs. The winning streak started in November 2014 when they blanked Zimbabwe 5-0 at home. The purple patch also included three series wins against much fancied Pakistan, India and South Africa. During the period, Bangladesh also reached the World Cup quarter-finals in Australia-New Zealand last year.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier