CRICKET
Sri Lanka extend lead to 409
Dimuth Karunaratne yesterday closed in on a second century in as many Tests as Sri Lanka’s lead passed 400 on the fourth morning of the second Test at the Harare Sports Club. Although Zimbabwe’s bowlers were able to restrict Karunaratne’s scoring in a slow session, his unbeaten 86 took his side to lunch on 177-5, giving them an overall lead of 409. Sri Lanka began the penultimate day of the series, which they lead 1-0, on 102-4 and found the going tough early on. Fast bowler Chris Mpofu started his day with six straight maidens, and the tourists scored just 33 runs in 15 overs before the drinks break. Donald Tiripano then broke a 69-run stand for the fifth wicket when he trapped Asela Gunaratne LBW for 39, but Karunaratne was immovable and was joined by wicketkeeper-batsman Kusal Perera, who went to lunch on 10 not out.
ROWING
Olympian Stanning to retire
Double Olympic rowing champion Heather Stanning has announced her retirement from the sport, with the Briton saying she had nothing left to prove. Stanning’s retirement brings an end to her partnership with Helen Glover. The pair have not lost a race since the World Championships in Slovenia in 2011. “I don’t feel I’ve got anything else to prove to myself,” the 31-year-old told British media. “I wanted things to get back to normal before I made the decision firmly and I wanted to make sure it was the right decision.” Stanning and Glover became Britain’s first female rowers to win back-to-back Olympic golds when they retained the coxless pairs title in Rio this year.
RUGBY UNION
Bronzini to make Italy debut
Benetton Treviso’s Giorgio Bronzini is to make his Italy debut at scrumhalf in Saturday’s Test against New Zealand. Italy coach Conor O’Shea also selected versatile veteran Luke McLean, who normally plays at flyhalf, at center. Carlo Canna is to start at flyhalf for the game at the Stadio Olimpico, while captain and No. 8 Sergio Parisse is to add to his record number of Azzurri caps with his 120th appearance. The game will mark O’Shea’s home debut after a summer tour in the Americas, where Italy lost to Argentina then beat the US and Canada. New Zealand have won all 14 meetings with Italy, although the All Blacks had their record run of 18 straight Test wins ended with a 40-29 loss to Ireland last weekend in Chicago. Italy will also host South Africa and Tonga in Test matches this month.
SOCCER
Neymar flies Messi to Brazil
They might be about to lock horns in the latest installment of Brazil and Argentina’s ferocious soccer rivalry, but Neymar was not about to let 102 years of South American soccer enmity get in the way of his friendship with Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano. So when the three men were working out how to get to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for today’s 2018 World Cup qualifier, Brazil star Neymar did not hesitate to offer a lift to Messi and Mascherano on his private jet. The trio touched down in the city on Tuesday to join their respective squads ahead of this week’s crucial battle. Photographs of the trio smiling on Neymar’s private jet appeared on social media on Tuesday shortly before their arrival in Brazil for South America’s Superclasico.
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