■ Rowing
Cambridge take Boat Race
Cambridge scored a one-sided victory in the 150th annual Boat Race on Sunday but had to survive a strong Oxford protest after two clashes of oars near the start. The two crews went far too close in the early stages, once with Oxford slightly ahead and the other with Cambridge going ahead. The Cambridge crew then powered away to win the 7.2km race by six lengths in 18 minutes 47 seconds to stop the Dark Blues of Oxford winning for the third year in a row along the River Thames. The score in the race, first held in 1829, now has Cambridge leading 78-71 with one race in 1877 ending in a dead heat.
■ Tennis
Serena wary of terror threat
Serena Williams says the threat of terrorism at the Olympics might keep her home, even though she wants to compete in Athens. "My security and my safety and my life are a little bit more important than tennis," Williams said Sunday after winning in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open. "And so if it became a real to concern to where I personally wouldn't feel comfortable, then I wouldn't go to Athens." Williams teamed with her sister Venus to win the gold medal in doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. She hopes to play singles and doubles at the Aug. 13 to 29 Athens Olympics. "You can't stop living your life because you're scared something's going to happen," she said. "But at the same time, I'm very aware of things that are going on in the world. ... It's definitely a concern of mine. I'd be kind of naive to say it isn't."
■ Soccer
Celtic sees off Rangers
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill was full of praise for David Marshall after the young goalkeeper continued his superb form in the unbeaten Scottish premier league leaders' 2-1 Glasgow derby win over Rangers on Sunday. Henrik Larsson headed Celtic's 19th-minute opener and Alan Thompson added the second on 52 but 19-year-old Marshall, outstanding in Thursday's 0-0 draw in Barcelona that secured Celtic a UEFA Cup quarterfinal place, did just as much to ensure a fifth straight Old Firm victory. Marshall prevented Stanislav Varga scoring an own goal when he tipped on to a post, clawed out Alan Hutton's header and saved from Michael Mols with the home side searching frantically for an equalizer. "We've got in front and he's made vital saves for us," said O'Neill, whose side are a massive 19 points clear of Rangers with eight games remaining.
■ Tennis
Clijsters still injured
Kim Clijsters will have to keep her left wrist in a brace for three more weeks, further jeopardizing the run-up to the French Open for the world's No. 2 player, her Web site reported yesterday. The Belgian pulled out of the Indian Wells tournament two weeks ago with a torn tendon and had hoped she would have been able to start full training for her spring campaign by now. "Her wrist is not healed yet," according to an update posted at www.kimclijsters.be. "The world No. 2 will have to wear a brace around her left wrist for another 20 days." Clijsters still hopes to be able to play an April 17 exhibition match against her fiancee Lleyton Hewitt, but the prolonged injury will cut preparations very short. A week after the exhibition, she is slated to play Fed Cup for Belgium against Croatia in her home town of Bree. Her injury was first diagnosed as a stress reaction before it became clear she had a tear of 1.5cm in her left wrist. She has been wearing a brace up to her knuckles ever since.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
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