BASEBALL
Cubs defeated by Cards
World Series champions the Chicago Cubs opened the new season with a defeat on Sunday after Randal Grichuk’s single gave the St Louis Cardinals a 4-3 victory. Chicago, who ended a 108-year wait for the World Series with victory over the Cleveland Indians in November last year, slipped to defeat after Grichuk’s decisive play in the bottom of the ninth. The Cardinals engineered a game-winning position after Jose Martinez lined up a double in right-center off Mike Montgomery. Yadier Molina was then walked intentionally, before Kolten Wong worked another walk, allowing Grichuk the chance for his walk-off hit. Elsewhere, San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner clubbed two home runs, but it was not enough to stop the Arizona Diamondbacks snatching a 6-5 win. In Florida, the Tampa Bay Rays thumped the New York Yankees 7-3 with Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka having a nightmare start to the season. Tanaka gave up seven runs from eight hits and was removed after less than three innings. It was the worst opening day performance by a Yankees pitcher in history.
BASKETBALL
Westbrook eyeing record
Russell Westbrook has a slice of NBA history in his sights, but his 40th triple-double of the season on Sunday did not translate into a win for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook scored 40 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and handed out 10 assists in the 113-101 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The Thunder guard is now one triple-double away from tying Oscar Robertson’s single-season record of 41, set in 1961-1962 for the Cincinnati Royals. With six games left in the regular season, Westbrook can match the record when the Thunder host the Milwaukee Bucks today.
CRICKET
Pakistan wrap up series win
Ahmed Shehzad made a welcome return to form to guide Pakistan to a series-clinching seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in the fourth and final Twenty20 international at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on Sunday. Facing a modest target of 125, the opener stroked his way to 53, ensuring there were to be no alarms as the visitors rebounded from a heavy defeat suffered the previous day. Shehzad put on 70 for the second wicket with Babar Azam (38) to eliminate any prospect of the hosts pulling off an upset, but both fell to the pace of Kesrick Williams with victory in sight and it was left to the experienced pair of Shoaib Malik and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed to formalize the result with an over to spare. Pakistan limited the West Indies to 124-8 and set the stage for the batsmen’s romp to a 3-1 series triumph.
GOLF
Henley heading to Masters
Georgia native Russell Henley said he had “chills” thinking about a return to the US Masters, a reward for his three-stroke victory at the Shell Houston Open in Texas on Sunday. The amateur guitar player made a career-best 10 birdies to surge past a faltering Kang Sung-hoon and clinch his third PGA Tour victory. “I just told myself to bear down, no matter whether I was winning or losing. When you embrace the challenge it calms you down a little bit,” Henley, who started the day four strokes behind Kang, said after carding a 65 to finish on 20-under 268. Kang never got his final round off the launch pad, battling to a 72.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two