ATHLETICS
Jepkosgei smashes records
Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei on Saturday broke the world half-marathon record, as well as the 10km and 15km marks at the Prague Half Marathon on the way to winning the International Association of Athletics Federations Road Race Label Event in one hour, four minutes and 52 seconds. The 23-year-old, who was competing in just her fifth half-marathon, clocked splits of 30 minutes and five seconds, and 45 minutes and 37 seconds to improve the 10km and 15km world records.
BOATING
Bomb on Boat Race course
An unexploded WWII bomb was found in London’s River Thames on Saturday, near the start of yesterday’s Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race, police said. The event was still scheduled to go ahead as planned, with the women’s race to begin at about 4:35pm and the men’s race to begin at about 5:35pm. “Police were called by a member of the public at approximately 1:50pm on Saturday reporting what they thought to be World War Two ordnance on the Chelsea shoreline by Putney Bridge,” a Scotland Yard spokesman said. “Officers including the Marine Policing Unit attended. The item is currently submerged.” Meanwhile race director Michelle Dite told the BBC on Saturday: “At this stage the races will go ahead as planned. Any decisions regarding changes to the event will be made in conjunction with the police.” Thousands of people are due to line the banks of the Thames to watch the 163rd edition of the annual contest between England’s two oldest universities.
SOCCER
Corruption report submitted
FIFA on Friday said it had completed a 22-month internal inquiry into allegations of high-level corruption and criminal misconduct that buffeted world soccer and handed its report to Swiss authorities. “FIFA will now return its focus to the game, for fans and players throughout the world,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, elected last year to replace Sepp Blatter, who is under criminal investigation in Switzerland.
MOTOR RACING
Ferrari better than Mercedes?
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said Ferrari’s Formula One engine might have overtaken the one used by previously dominant champions Mercedes. US-owned Haas have a customer arrangement with the Italian team to use the same specification power units as Ferrari, who won last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix season-opener with Sebastian Vettel.
MOTORCYCLING
Suzuki rookie fractures ankle
Suzuki’s MotoGP rookie Alex Rins has broken his right ankle in an accident while training on a motocross bike, the team said on Friday. Suzuki said a scan in Barcelona had revealed a partial fracture of the Spaniard’s talus bone.
CRICKET
Bangladesh pick T20 squad
Bangladesh yesterday named uncapped all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin in a 16-man squad for two Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka in Colombo next week. “We had been looking for a pace bowling all-rounder for a long time who could give our batting some depth, especially in limited-overs cricket,” chief selector Minhajul Abedin said. Bangladesh also named left-arm spinner Sunzamul Islam, pace bowler Subashis Roy and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who are yet to be capped in the shortest format.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was