SOCCER
Nine players see red
A Brazilian derby match between Vitoria and EC Bahia on Sunday was abandoned with 11 minutes remaining after the hosts had six men sent off in a game marked by a mass brawl. The score in the Bahia state championship clash was 1-1 when Bruno Bispo became the ninth player, and the fifth from Vitoria, to be shown the red card. With teams requiring a minimum of seven players, the referee was forced to end the game. Denilson opened the scoring for Vitoria after 33 minutes, but Vinicius leveled with a penalty four minutes into the second half. He celebrated with a provocative dance in front of the Vitoria supporters, which led to fury from the home players. Punches were thrown and five players were sent off, three from Bahia and two from Vitoria. Two more players, one from each side, were sent off a couple of minutes later, then with 13 minutes left a fourth Vitoria player was sent off, prompting Bispo to kick the ball away and force the referee to award him his second yellow and a match-ending red.
TENNIS
Anderson wins in New York
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson on Sunday put aside memories of his disappointing US Open final when he dominated a third-set tiebreak to win the New York Open with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) victory over Sam Querrey of the US. Anderson collected his fourth career title, his first as a top seed, and improved to ninth in the world rankings. The 31-year-old has been in 15 career finals, but won just four. His most significant loss came in September last year at Flushing Meadows when he was beaten by Rafael Nadal at the US Open. “One of the big goals I had for this year was to try to be a bit more successful in that final stage,” Anderson said. “It feels great to come through and get today’s win. It gives me a lot of confidence for the year.”
CRICKET
Sri Lanka seal tour sweep
Opener Kusal Mendis on Sunday smashed a career-best 42-ball 70 as Sri Lanka completed a tour sweep, sealing a 75-run win over Bangladesh in the second and final Twenty20 international. Sri Lanka also claimed the tri-nation one-day trophy and took the Test series 1-0. A second straight half-century of the series for Mendis steered Sri Lanka to a hefty 210-4, before the bowlers put on a fine display to dismiss Bangladesh for 135 in 18.4 overs. Opener Danushka Gunathilaka made 42, while Thisara Perera scored 31.
CYCLING
Froome finishes 10th
Chris Froome on Sunday finished the Ruta del Sol in 10th place behind winner Tim Wellens. Wellens, a Belgian Lotto-Soudal rider, defended his lead over the final day’s time trial in Spain. Wout Poels, of Froome’s Team Sky, was second, eight seconds behind. Froome, who won the event in 2015, finished 1 minute, 57 seconds behind. He started the time trial on the final day in 14th after a puncture toward the end of Saturday’s fourth stage.
ATHLETICS
Coleman breaks record
World silver medalist Christian Coleman on Sunday broke the world record in the 60m when he ran 6.34 seconds at the US indoor national championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fellow American Maurice Greene had held the record of 6.39 seconds for 20 years. “It feels like a blur,” said the 21-year-old Coleman, who won the 100m silver medal at last year’s world championships in London. He next leads the US team to next month’s world indoor championships in Birmingham, England.
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