■Athletics
ING sponsors race in NY
The New York City Marathon has taken on a title sponsor for the first time. ING, a Dutch financial services company, has signed a three-year agreement, with the announcement to be made Monday, organizers said Saturday. The contract is worth close to US$6 million, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing a person familiar with the deal. The race, to be run this year on Nov. 2, will be called the ING New York City Marathon. Race spokesman Richard Finn called the agreement an "economic reality" and said the race was never in danger of not going forward without this latest arrangement. "It gives us a good foundation," he said. "And it's a good agreement for everybody." On April 3, ING announced a three-year deal with what now will be called the ING Amsterdam Marathon.
■ Soccer
Rangers complete treble
Rangers completed the seventh treble in their history on Saturday as Lorenzo Amoruso scored the winner in the 66th to beat Dundee 1-0 in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park. The victory sealed a record-breaking season for Rangers, who won the league on goal difference over Celtic, and also beat their Glasgow archrivals in the League Cup final in March. After a lackluster first half, Rangers began to take control with Amoruso scoring on a header in the box off a free kick from Neil McCann. The match was probably Amoruso's finale with reports he will move to English side Blackburn. The victory moved Rangers level with Celtic on Scottish Cup championships -- each with 31. It also put coach Alex McLeish in exclusive company at the legendary Scottish side.
■ Rugby
Barbarians sweep UK
Barbarians completed a three-game sweep on their tour of Britain, defeating Wales Saturday 48-35. Barbarians earlier defeated England and Scotland. Bruce Reihana scored two tries for Barbarians with the others from Adrian Garvey, Aisea Tuilevu, Mark Robinson, Sam Harding, Olivier Magne and Mick Galwey. Tom Shanklin scored three tries to lead Wales with others from Mark Taylor and Iestyn Harris before a crowd of 23,721 at Millennium Stadium. It was Wales seventh straight loss, but the Welsh were not outclassed by the multinational Barbarians. Wales was strong in the scrum, combative at the line out and defended well when the Barbarians threatened. Shanklin may have been Wales' top player. The replacement wing scored early in the second half, and added his second three minutes from the end.
■ Auto racing
BAR team in trouble
The BAR team could have its cars seized by a company who claimed it is owed a commission on a 5-year-old agreement, the team said Saturday. "BAR can confirm that France Corbeil, of a company named SAM Partnership Production Group International [PPGI] has obtained a court order in Monaco to seize three of the team's Grand Prix cars," the team said in a statement. "Corbeil's claim against the team goes back five years but it was only earlier this year that the current management team was made aware of it when he forwarded a demand for commissions based on a sponsorship agreement with former BAR sponsor Teleglobe." BAR said it believed that Corbell's claim is baseless and said when it was first presented to the Monaco courts several weeks ago it was rejected.
Agencies
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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