ICE HOCKEY
Champions suffer first loss
Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog redirected a shot by Nathan MacKinnon into the net 22 seconds into overtime for his second goal of the game, giving the Avalanche a 4-3 win at Pittsburgh on Monday. Landeskog tied the game with 6 minutes, 32 seconds left in regulation with a power-play goal and his overtime winner handed the defending Stanley Cup champions their first loss of the season. New York’s Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist for the third straight game, helping the Rangers beat San Jose 7-4. Detroit’s Mike Green scored his first hat-trick and Darren Helm had two goals to help the Red Wings defeat Ottawa 5-1. Boston’s David Pastrnak scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season in three games as the Bruins downed Winnipeg 4-1.
SOCCER
Wolfsburg sack Hecking
VfL Wolfsburg parted ways with coach Dieter Hecking on Monday after their disappointing start to the Bundesliga season. Hecking, who took over in late 2012 and led Wolfsburg to second place and victory in the DFB Pokal last year, has seen his team glean just six points this season, despite making significant new signings, such as Germany striker Mario Gomez. The 2008-2009 German champions won only the first of their seven games and have lost three of their past four. “Obviously, I am disappointed, but that is part of this business, to expect such separations when there is no success. Unfortunately that was the case recently,” Hecking said. Under-23 coach Valerien Ismael is to take over the first team on an interim basis.
SOCCER
Torino triumph, go fourth
Torino moved into fourth place with a 4-1 win at US Citta di Palermo on Monday, ruining the Sicilian hosts’ celebration of their 1,000th Serie A match. After Bulgaria midfielder Ivaylo Chochev put Palermo ahead early, Torino responded with two goals from Adem Ljajic, and one each from Marco Benassi and Daniele Baselli. Extending their unbeaten run to five matches, Torino moved level on points with SSC Napoli, but ahead on goal-difference. Palermo, who have lost all four of their home matches, remained third from the bottom. Half of the lights at the Stadio Renzo Barbera went out with a few minutes remaining. After suspending the match briefly, the referee decided to play the final minutes, despite the limited visibility.
SOCCER
Osasuna edge Eibar 3-2
Sociedad Deportiva Eibar scored less than a minute into the game, but went on to lose to promoted CA Osasuna 3-2 in La Liga on Monday. Argentine midfielder Gonzalo Escalante opened the scoring for the hosts, before Osasuna rallied with a pair of goals by Sergio Leon in the 29th and 32nd minutes. Sergi Enrich equalized for Eibar just before halftime, but Roberto Torres scored the winner with a 58th-minute goal in pouring rain at the Estadio Ipurua. Osasuna claimed their first league victory of the season after losing five of their first seven games. They have six points and remain 19th in the standings. Eighth-placed Eibar are seven points behind leaders Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
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