BASEBALL
Ventura killed in car crash
Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura has been killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic, the MLB team said on Sunday. Ventura, one of the hardest-throwing starting pitchers in the majors, was 25. In a separate incident on Sunday, former MLB third baseman Andy Marte, once one of the best prospects in baseball, was also killed in a car crash in his native Dominican Republic. He was 33. “Today is a very sad day for our entire game and particularly for the many loyal fans in the Dominican Republic, the home of both Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
CRICKET
Stokes stars in England win
Ben Stokes on Sunday said England had forgotten what winning felt like until his dominant all-round performance helped the visitors pull off a five-run consolation victory over India in the third one-day international in Kolkata. Stokes hit an unbeaten 39-ball 57 and claimed three wickets to hand England their first win on the tour after their 4-0 Test loss last year and two successive one-day defeats. India’s Kedar Jadhav nearly pulled off the 322-run chase with his 75-ball 90, but fast bowler Chris Woakes, who bowled the final over, held his nerve to restrict the hosts to 316-9. “We’ve waited a long time to get a win here. The Test series didn’t go very well ... we forgot how [winning] felt to be honest,” man-of-the-match Stokes said.
CRICKET
Mathews injured in victory
Injured captain Angelo Mathews hit two sixes in the final over to hand Sri Lanka a series-leveling three-wicket win in the second Twenty20 international against South Africa on Sunday, but the win came at a cost. Mathews said at the after-match presentation that he could miss the rest of the tour after twisting his right ankle when he dived to avoid being run out in the penultimate over. “It’s pretty bad, I think I will be out for a couple of weeks,” said Mathews, who made 54 not out as Sri Lanka chased down 113 with two balls to spare.
GOLF
Swafford finally lifts title
Hudson Swafford finally joined the winner’s circle on Sunday, firing a five-under 67 for a one-stroke victory at the PGA Tour’s CareerBuilder Challenge. The 29-year-old American birdied three of his final four holes to claim his maiden title in his 93rd start. “This is a dream come true,” Swafford said. “I really didn’t get ahead of myself, didn’t really look at leader boards, didn’t really know where I was.” He compiled a 20-under 268 total to finish one stroke ahead of Canada’s Adam Hadwin, who closed with a 70 at the La Quinta Country Club near Palm Springs, California. Bud Cauley and Brian Harman both shot 69s and finished in a tie for third at 18-under 270.
GOLF
Fleetwood edges Johnson
England’s world No. 102 Tommy Fleetwood overcame swirling winds and final-hole jitters to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by one shot on Sunday. The 25-year-old carded a five-under 67 to clinch only the second European Tour title of his career. He finished on 271, one shot ahead of world No. 3 Dustin Johnson. “Some good players chasing me, so very, very proud of this,” Fleetwood said.
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