FOOTBALL
Cutler leads Bears to victory
Jay Cutler on Monday returned from injury and threw for 252 yards and a touchdown to lead the struggling Chicago Bears to a 20-10 upset of the Minnesota Vikings. Rookie Jordan Howard ran for 153 yards and a score for the Bears, who improved to 2-6. Cutler, who missed five games with a sprained thumb, completed 20 of 31 passes as the Bears snapped a three-game losing streak. His 11-yard touchdown pass to Alshon Jeffery, his first of the season, gave the Bears a 20-3 lead with 9 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Vikings, who opened the season with five straight wins, came into the contest off their first defeat of the year. They were unable to right the ship, failing to reach the end zone until late in the fourth quarter, when quarterback Sam Bradford connected with Stefon Diggs on a 25-yard touchdown pass.
SOCCER
Stoke City defeat Swansea
Stoke City striker Wilfried Bony on Monday scored twice against his former club in a 3-1 victory over Swansea City in the English Premier League, leaving American coach Bob Bradley still seeking his first win in charge of the Welsh club. Bony put the hosts ahead after only three minutes before Wayne Routledge equalized for the Swans five minutes later. Stoke went back ahead 10 minutes after the interval with an own-goal by Alfie Mawson, and Bony headed in a third goal to put the result beyond doubt in the 73rd minute. Bradley lost 3-2 at Arsenal in his first game with Swansea and drew 0-0 at home to Watford in the second. Stoke moved up to 12th, while Swansea stayed in the relegation zone, five points from safety.
SOCCER
Valencia, Coruna draw 1-1
Valencia’s poor La Liga season continued on Monday as Los Che remain just a point above the relegation zone after a 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers RC Deportivo de La Coruna. Deportivo have failed to replace the goal threat posed by Lucas Perez since his move to Arsenal in August, but a point is enough for them to move out of the bottom three on goal difference. Turkish midfielder Emre Colak’s towering header from a right-wing cross put Deportivo in front in first-half stoppage time. However, in former Italy coach Cesare Prandelli’s third game in charge, Valencia battled back after the break and Rodrigo tapped home Nani’s low cross just before the hour mark.
SOCCER
Torino squander lead to tie
Torino on Monday surrendered an early advantage in a 2-2 draw at Udinese that left the Granata in eighth place, four points below the Europa League spots, and on a three-game winless streak. Marco Benassi was set up nicely by Andrea Belotti as Torino went ahead 15 minutes in. Adem Ljajic drew Torino level in the 77th from inside the area after taking a pass from Lorenzo De Silvestri. Cagliari captain Daniele Dessena marked his return from a year-long injury layoff in style, scoring both goals in a win over struggling US Citta di Palermo. Dessena connected on a volley in the 53rd, then added another goal 11 minutes later from the center of the area. In the 79th minute, Macedonia striker Ilija Nestorovski pulled one back for Palermo with his fifth goal of the season.
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