SOCCER
Title race not over: Allegri
The Serie A title race is far from over, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said after a first-half opener by Nikola Kalinic paved the way for ACF Fiorentina’s shock 2-1 defeat of the champions. Kalinic paved the way for a memorable win with a 37th-minute opener that was probably celebrated more in Rome and Napoli than Florence. Milan Badelj added Fiorentina’s second and although Gonzalo Higuain reduced the arrears on 58 minutes, Juve could not muster an equalizer. Juve’s fourth defeat in 19 games leaves the champions with just a one-point lead on AS Roma, although they have a game in hand. SSC Napoli are four points off the pace in third. “This shows that the championship is far from finished,” Allegri said. “Roma and Napoli are just behind us, so it could go right to the end.”
SOCCER
Mahrez, Mane on target
Two of Africa’s top talents, Riyad Mahrez and Sadio Mane, both found the back of the net at the Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday, although only Mane was on the winning side as Senegal beat Tunisia. Mahrez scored twice for Algeria, but his team had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Zimbabwe in the opening match of a Group B double bill in Franceville, Gabon. Mane converted an early penalty to set Senegal on their way to a 2-0 win in the later game, although they were far from convincing.
CRICKET
India have self-belief: Kohli
Virat Kohli said India have the self-belief to win from any situation after they chased down a daunting 351 against England in his first match since taking over a one-day captain. India appeared to be heading for a heavy defeat in Pune on Sunday after being reduced to 63-4, before Kohli and the unheralded Kedar Jadhav struck blistering centuries in a 200-run fifth-wicket partnership. Their dismissals in quick succession put the outcome into doubt, before all-rounder Hardik Pandya held his nerve and smacked an unbeaten 40 to take India home with 11 balls to spare. “Even in the Test series we believed that we could come back from any situation and win the game,” Kohli said. ”This was another case of the same thing. All 11 guys buying into the idea and believing that we can win from any situation.”
GOLF
Thomas makes more history
Justin Thomas made more history on Sunday at the Sony Open, firing a five-under 65 to set the PGA Tour’s lowest 72-hole score at 253. Thomas sank a one-foot birdie on the par-five 18th at the Waialae Country Club where his 27-under 253 was the lowest four-round score of all time. “It has been an unbelievable week. Unforgettable,” Thomas said. The 23-year-old American finished seven strokes ahead of runner-up Justin Rose.
GOLF
Storm edges past McIlroy
Graeme Storm of England defeated world No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland in a playoff on Sunday to win the South African Open 83 days after losing his European Tour card. “This is a dream come true. The whole experience this week has been absolutely incredible,” Storm said after his triumph in Johannesburg. “I am in shock. What can I say? This is surreal. I have just beaten a golfer who is the best in the world right now.”
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