RUNNING
Africans dominate NYC Half
Ethiopia’s Belay Tilahun and Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei won their New York City racing debuts in the NYC Half on Sunday. The 24-year-old Tilahun completed the 13.1-mile (21km) course through Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 10 seconds — overtaking Eritrea’s Daniel Mesfun, who led for the majority of the race, but finished six seconds behind. Jepkosgei, the world record-holder in the half-marathon, won her first-ever solo race in the US in 1:10:07. Mary Ngugi, also of Kenya, finished one minute later in second place.
SERIE A
Ospina has injury scare
David Ospina collapsed on Sunday during his SSC Napoli side’s 4-2 Serie A win over Udinese, but the club and coach Carlo Ancelotti said the injury was not serious. The Colombian goalkeeper, who arrived on a season-long loan from Arsenal in the close season, collided with Udinese’s Ignacio Pussetto early in the game and collapsed later in the first half before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. “Fortunately, it’s nothing serious,” Ancelotti said after the game. Napoli gave a further update on Twitter, saying that Ospina would stay in a clinic overnight for observation.
GYMNASTICS
Biles tops Stuttgart podium
Simone Biles easily won this year’s debut at the DTB Pokal World Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, on Sunday. The 22-year-old posted an all-around score of 58.800, more than 3.5 points clear of runner-up Ana Padurariu of Canada and third-place finisher Elisabeth Seitz of Germany. She put up the top scores in the nine-woman field on vault, uneven bars and floor exercise, and placed second on balance beam. Her lone missteps came on floor exercise, where the world champion stepped out at the end of a tumbling pass, and on beam, where she wobbled briefly. Biles has 20 career world championship medals.
CYCLING
Bernal wins Paris-Nice
Team Sky’s Egan Bernal held off fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana on Sunday to claim the Paris-Nice week-long race after Spain’s Ion Izagirre won the last stage. The 22-year-old, one of cycling’s hottest prospects, beat Quintana by 39 seconds overall, allowing the Movistar Team rider to grab just a few seconds from him in the 110km loop around Nice. “I can’t believe that I just won Paris-Nice. It’s incredible for me. I’m really happy. I just can’t believe it yet,” Bernal said.
GREEK SUPER LEAGUE
Derby called due to clash
Violence in the stands and two pitch invasions forced the abandonment of Sunday’s Greek Super League derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos at the Athens Olympic Stadium. German referee Marco Fritz called off the match in the 69th minute with Olympiakos leading 1-0 and with chaotic scenes unfolding inside and outside the ground. Riot-trained police used tear gas to bring order and chase away dozens of hooligans who had darted on to the field. Play resumed, but in the 69th minute, with clashes already occurring between fans and police in the stands, security personnel were overwhelmed by dozens of hooligans, and Fritz ordered the players off the pitch and into the dressing rooms.
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