MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Huang, Lee to fight for title
Hawaiian Angela Lee is to defend her women’s atomweight title against Taiwan’s Jenny Huang when ONE Championship hosts its second mixed martial arts promotion in Thailand on March 11. Canadian-born Lee, 20, improved her perfect career record to six wins when she won the title in a unanimous decision against Mei Yamaguchi in May last year. The fight in Bangkok is to be her first defense. “The goal for 2017 is to be an active champion and to stay busy... Since my last fight, I’ve been training extremely hard, improving my skill set and I can’t wait to show everyone,” Lee said. Huang also has a perfect record, winning her fifth fight against April Osenio by submission last month. Five years older than Lee, Huang was later to start her career. “I have been working so hard to come to this point in my career, and now that I’m finally here it all feels very surreal to me,” Huang said. “Inside the cage I only have one goal and that’s to win this bout at any cost. She better be prepared for what I bring to the table, because I will go to battle with my full arsenal.”
ATHLETICS
IAAF issues Russia protocol
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has provided new guidelines for Russians hoping to compete in a neutral capacity while their country remains banned from track and field competitions. The IAAF said it is assessing evidence and intelligence relating to about 200 Russian athletes gathered by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren. Applications from athletes for neutral status would also be scrutinized using several criteria to prove they are clean, including: Whether any support staff, including medics and coaches, have been implicated in a doping violation; whether there have been any atypical findings in doping samples or concerns about their biological passports; and whether any of their samples in storage are due to be retested. The IAAF said athletes do not necessarily have to have been tested outside of Russia, but must have been part of a fully-compliant program for a “sufficiently long period to provide substantial objective assurance of integrity.”
ICE HOCKEY
Blue Jackets extend streak
The Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday inched closer to NHL history, notching their 16th consecutive victory with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Cam Atkinson and William Karlsson scored power-play goals and Nick Foligno added a third-period goal in the win, which put the Blue Jackets one victory away from tying the 1992-1993 Pittsburgh Penguins for most successive NHL victories. The Blue Jackets struck first when Atkinson scored 1 minute, 12 seconds into the first power play of the night after Jesse Puljujarvi was called for holding on Jack Johnson. Atkinson collected a feed from Zach Werenski in the high slot and rebounded the puck in off an Oilers defenseman with 7 minutes, 28 seconds left in the opening period. Edmonton equalized 5 minutes, 39 seconds into the second when Patrick Maroon fed Oscar Klefbom, who was entering the zone with speed. Klefbom fired from high between the circles for his sixth goal of the season. Less than five minutes later, 1 minute, 49 seconds into the Jackets’ second power play of the night, Brandon Saad sent a cross-zone pass to Karlsson, whose shot from the right circle found the net.
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off
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