RUGBY UNION
Stormers remain unbeaten
The South Africa-based Stormers maintained their unbeaten record in Super Rugby this year, beating the Lions 33-30 in Johannesburg on Saturday. The Stormers were trailing 30-26 nearly two minutes after the final hooter, but kept the ball alive and worked an opportunity for center Ruhan Nel to score a dramatic match-winning try in the last play of the game. In Buenos Aires, hooker Julian Montoya scored three tries as the Jaguares rallied from 24-12 down at halftime to beat the Queensland Reds 43-27.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Folau has winning debut
Former Wallaby Israel Folau scored two tries on his debut for the Catalans Dragons in Saturday’s 36-18 Super League win over the Castleford Tigers. Folau, 30, who joined the French side on Jan. 28, crossed after just six minutes having caught a high kick. Dragons coach Steve McNamara said that the team were not letting controversy over Folau distract them. “The plan all along was to get Israel on the field and give him time. I understand the headlines, but let him play, let him get on the field and we’ll understand the person a little more after that,” McNamara told a post-match news conference. Folau was sacked last year by Rugby Australia after a social media post that said “hell awaits” homosexuals and other groups. Some people inside the ground waved rainbow flags to protest Folau. “People are judging him on a headline,” McNamara said. “When I sign a player I look at him from a football perspective, then I work out what type of person he is. Is he a good person? Is he a good player? Will he add value to the team on and off the field?” Folau’s name was cheered when it was read out on the sound system before the game at the Stade Gilbert Brutus. The Dragons were investigating claims that stadium security asked them to not fly the flags. The Dragons said it was not their policy to ban rainbow flags.
OLYMPICS
Twitter accounts hacked
Twitter on Saturday said that an official Twitter account of the Olympics and the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) media account had been hacked and temporarily locked. The accounts were hacked through a third-party platform, a Twitter spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement, without giving further details. “As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we locked the compromised accounts and are working closely with our partners to restore them,” the spokesperson said. A spokesperson for the IOC separately said that it was investigating the potential breach. La Liga soccer club Barcelona’s account faced a similar incident, Twitter said later. “FC Barcelona will conduct a cybersecurity audit and will review all protocols and links with third-party tools in order to avoid such incidents,” the club said in a tweet after the hack.
ATHLETICS
Pole vault record set
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis on Saturday set a world pole vault record of 6.18m at an indoor meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, adding 1cm to the record he set in Poland this month. Duplantis cleared the bar with something to spare and won a world-record bonus check of US$30,000. The record of 6.16m set by French vaulter Renaud Lavillenie had stood since 2014 until Duplantis broke it in Torun on Feb. 8.
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
RSS