SOCCER
Egypt win penalty shoot-out
Veteran 44-year-old goalkeeper Essam El Hadary saved Bertrand Traore’s spot-kick as Egypt beat Burkina Faso 4-3 on penalties on Wednesday to secure their place in the Africa Cup of Nations final. A tense semi-final in Libreville, Gabon, had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes and extra-time, with AS Roma star Mohamed Salah’s superb 66th-minute opener for Egypt quickly canceled out by Aristide Bance for Burkina Faso. That goal was the first conceded by El Hadary — the oldest ever player at the Cup of Nations — in 653 minutes at the tournament going back to 2010. Abdallah El Said missed Egypt’s first penalty in the shoot-out, but El Hadary kept the Pharaohs in it when he saved from opposing goalkeeper Herve Koffi, before denying Traore. Unbeaten in 24 games at the tournament, Egypt play Cameroon or Ghana in the final on Sunday.
SOCCER
Totti fires Roma to semi-final
A last-gasp penalty from Francesco Totti fired AS Roma into a Coppa Italia semi-final with city rivals SS Lazio after a shaky 2-1 win over AC Cesena on Wednesday. Totti was given a rare start by Roma coach Luciano Spalletti, but it took the Serie A title challengers until the 68th minute to hit the mark, Edin Dzeko making up for a series of glaring misses by sweeping Stephan El Shaarawy’s pass from the left past onrushing goalkeeper Federico Agliardi. Second-tier Cesena were given a chance to pull level when Roma goalkeeper Alisson, standing in for Wojciech Szczesny, almost collided with defender Kostas Manolas as he rose to challenge for a high ball, spilling it into the path of a thankful Luca Garritano, who fired home from the edge of the penalty area on 73 minutes. The match looked to be heading for extra-time until Totti stepped up to beat Agliardi from the spot in the seventh minute of stoppage-time.
CRICKET
Morgan laments batting
Skipper Eoin Morgan said England’s batting collapse in the third Twenty20 international was their worst performance in recent times after India inflicted a crushing defeat in the series decider in Bengaluru. Chasing 203 for victory, England’s much-vaunted batting lineup imploded on Wednesday, losing their final eight wickets for eight runs after being set to push for victory. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s 6-25 combined with Jasprit Bumrah’s three wickets ripped through the English middle and lower order, with five batsmen being dismissed without scoring. “I can’t put my finger on it. We haven’t produced a batting performance as bad as that in two-and-a-half years,” Morgan said.
ICE HOCKEY
Blues fire coach Hitchcock
The Blues abruptly fired coach Ken Hitchcock on Wednesday, cutting short the veteran’s final season in St Louis and putting coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo in charge of the underperforming team months earlier than planned. General manager Doug Armstrong announced the change one day after the Blues’ fifth loss in six games. “We don’t lose with pride,” Armstrong said. “I don’t think that we’ve given our best effort and Ken, ultimately he’s paying the price with all our failures, starting with mine.” Hitchcock had a 248-124-41 record and made the playoffs in each of his five seasons, but St Louis are 24-21-5 and mired in eighth place in the Western Conference.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
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
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
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
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