CRICKET
India openers lay platform
Sri Lanka’s spinners fought back to share five wickets yesterday as India reached 329-6 at stumps on the opening day of the third and final Test. India had looked set for an even better day after a 188-run opening partnership. Shikhar Dhawan made his sixth Test century and shared the first-wicket stand with Lokesh Rahul (85). Sri Lanka took six wickets for 141 runs in the final two sessions to limit the damage. Rahul was the first India wicket to fall when he tried to clear mid-on against Malinda Pushpakumara and was caught. Pushpakumara later dismissed Dhawan (119) and Ajinkya Rahane (17) to finish the day with 3-40.
CRICKET
Boy takes six in over
A 13-year-old schoolboy in England has taken six wickets in six deliveries, all of them clean bowled. Luke Robinson produced his match-winning performance this week for Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Under-13s, based near Houghton-le-Spring in Tyne and Wear. His family were on hand to witness his remarkable achievement, with father, Stephen, having the best view of all — he was umpiring at the bowler’s end at the time. Luke’s mother, Helen, was the first person to record her son’s feat as she was scoring the match, while Luke’s younger brother Matthew was fielding and grandfather Glenn was watching from the boundary. “It was surreal,” said Stephen Robinson, who plays for the senior side. “I have been playing for 30 years and have taken hat-tricks, but never anything like this. Time stood still and I thought: ‘Is this really happening?’”
RUGBY UNION
Williams returns from ban
All Blacks center Sonny Bill Williams returned to the field yesterday after serving a four-match ban for picking up a red card during the British and Irish Lions Test series. The 32-year-old played about 60 minutes in an intra-squad game for the second-string side of his provincial team Counties-Manukau after his ban ended on Friday when the All Blacks played warm-up games without him ahead of their Rugby Championship opener. “Hopefully I put my best foot forward now by training hard and putting my hand up for selection,” Williams told local media following the game in Pukekohe. “We’ll see how we go. It’s going to be a tough battle.
BASKETBALL
Durant issues apology
Kevin Durant has issued an apology for calling India “20 years behind” and several other comments about the Asian country. The Golden State Warriors forward on Friday tweeted that he was “sorry that my comments about India were taken out of context.” Durant said he plans to return to India to run more basketball camps and meant no disrespect. Durant traveled to India recently and spoke about the trip in an interview with The Athletic Web site published this week. In the interview, Durant marveled at the “cows in the street, monkeys running around everywhere, hundreds of people on the side of the road” and visible poverty. “It’s a country that’s 20 years behind in terms of knowledge and experience,” he said, adding that his visit to the Taj Mahal was eye-opening and not what he’d imagined. He had expected the monument to be “holy ground, super protected, very, very clean,” but instead as he drove up it reminded him of places where he grew up, he said. “Mud in the middle of the street, houses were not finished, but there were people living in them. No doors. No windows ... stray dogs and then, boom, Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB