America's cup: Light winds cause delays
San Francisco's Oracle syndicate has been the worst affected of nine challenger teams by the continued disruption of challenger racing at the America's Cup off Auckland. Four Louis Vuitton Cup match races were abandoned yesterday because of light winds, increasing to nine the number of races postponed in three days. Yesterday's races were to be resailed today, pushing the program back another day. Oracle, backed by software mogul Larry Ellison, has managed to sail only three of six scheduled races and could be forced to sail two races each day on shortened courses to compensate.
Chess: Kramnik beats computer
World champion Vladimir Kramnik outwitted the world's most powerful chess computer Deep Fritz on Tuesday, to win the third game in a match dubbed the "Brains in Bahrain" contest. The 27-year-old Russian, playing with black pieces, beat German-developed Fritz in 51 moves to lead the eight-game series 2.5-05. The first game was drawn. Fritz is capable of evaluating 3.5 million moves per second and the man-versus-machine contest is a sequel to Gary Kasparov's 1997 battle with super-computer Deep Blue in New York.
Snooker: Hendry defends Higgins
Seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry has welcomed the news that 53-year-old Alex "Hurricane" Higgins is to return to snooker but says the volatile Ulsterman is unlikely to win a match. Some of the younger players have criticized Higgins' planned comeback but Hendry sprang to the former world champion's defense yesterday. "What some players have to learn is that, without Higgins, this game wouldn't be where it is now," Scot Hendry told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "Although he clearly wouldn't live with the players of today, this guy is pretty much down and out and you cannot kick him when he is down. At least give him the chance of achieving some glory."
Tennis: Clijsters wins in Germany
Cheered by boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt, Kim Clijsters claimed her first victory over Russia's Anastasia Myskina in three career meetings on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with a 6-4 6-2 victory. There were also wins for four-times former champion Martina Hingis, who overcame Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-4 6-2, fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, who beat German wildcard Barbara Rittner 6-4 6-0 and qualifier Alexandra Stevenson who overcame fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3 5-7 6-3 to set up a clash with top seed Jennifer Capriati.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
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