TENNIS
Hsieh cruises to quarters
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Laura Siegemund of Germany took just 54 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Brisbane International yesterday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over US duo Christina McHale and Asia Muhammad. Hsieh and Siegemund failed to save the one break point they faced, but they converted four of seven, winning 57 of the 90 points contested to advance to a quarter-final clash against fourth seeds Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
CRICKET
NZ beat Bangladesh in T20
Kane Williamson belted 73 off 55 balls as New Zealand cruised to a six-wicket win over Bangladesh in the first Twenty20 match in Napier, New Zealand, yesterday. New Zealand reached their 142-run target with two overs to spare as captain Williamson held the innings together with support from Colin de Grandhomme after the first four wickets fell cheaply. New Zealand debutant Lockie Ferguson took the wickets of Sabbir Rahman and Soumya Sarkar with his first two deliveries. He finished with 3-32.
CRICKET
Rabada makes breakthrough
South Africa bowler Kagiso Rabada ended a stubborn Sri Lanka opening partnership when he bowled Kaushal Silva on the second day of the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town yesterday. Sri Lanka were 56-2 at tea in reply to South Africa’s first innings of 392. Silva and Dimuth Karunaratne defied South Africa for 73 minutes before Rabada made the breakthrough when Silva played on to his stumps. Kusal Mendis, who had earlier slog-swept for six, then tried to repeat the shot and top-edged a catch to J.P. Duminy. Karunaratne was unbeaten on 24.
FOOTBALL
Broncos’ Gary Kubiak quits
An emotional Gary Kubiak stepped down as coach of the Denver Broncos on Monday because of health concerns, less than a year after he led the team to a Super Bowl crown. The 55-year-old fought back tears as he told reporters he was “retiring from coaching” at a farewell news conference in Denver, Colorado. “This decision is strictly my decision, based on what I’ve been through this year and how I’m feeling,” Kubiak said. “I just feel like it’s time for me to do something different.”
SOCCER
Five-year-old wins award
A five-year-old Sunderland fan who has terminal cancer was adjudged the joint winner of the BBC’s goal of the month award for last month. Bradley Lowery, who earlier this season had his name chanted by Sunderland and Everton fans in the fifth minute of their match in which he led the Black Cats out, beat Chelsea reserve goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from the penalty spot at halftime of the English Premier League game last month. Lowery, who received 250,000 Christmas cards following the penalty, shared the award with Manchester United’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan. “We have woken up this morning to the news that Bradley’s goal got joint goal of the month,” his mother, Gemma, told the Sunderland Echo. “We can’t actually believe this and would like to thank every single one of you for your support. This is a very special moment for us and something we can treasure forever.”
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
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