■ Soccer
AC Milan beats Chelsea
Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko curled in an 88th-minute freekick as AC Milan rallied to beat Chelsea 3-2 in a Champions World Series match in Philadelphia on Monday. First half goals from Eidur Gudjohnsen and strike partner Didier Drogba, making his first start for Chelsea, had given Jose Mourinho's English Premier League side a 2-1 halftime lead. However, Alessandro Costacurta equalized for the Italian champions after 76 minutes before Shevchenko's winner consigned Chelsea to their first defeat in three matches on their North American tour. Brazilian wingback Cafu scored Milan's opening goal in the first half. The Champions World Series features 11 friendly matches at eight venues across the US and Canada, involving club sides from England, Italy, Scotland, Portugal, Germany and Turkey.
■ Baseball
Clemens ejected from field
Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens spit sunflower seeds at an umpire while complaining about a close call in his son's baseball game and was ejected from the field, a newspaper reported on Monday. Clemens, 41, was a spectator at the game for boys aged 10 and under in Craig, Colorado, on Saturday when he got into an argument over a call that went against son Kacy's Katy Cowboys team and the umpire asked him to leave, the Craig Daily Press said. Clemens, known for his fiery temper and intimidating demeanour, spat sunflower seeds on the umpire's leg, the paper said. A supervisor at the game, Jim Carpenter, said he was asked to intervene and did so by siding with the umpire. "I supported the umpire's decision and he [Clemen] respectfully left," Carpenter said. Clemens, a six-times Cy Young Award winner with 322 career wins, retired from the New York Yankees last year, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family in Houston.
■ Athletics
Liu Xiang sends warning
Star Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang has sent an ominous warning to world champion Allen Johnson just days ahead of the Olympics, equally his own Asian record in the 110m hurdles. Liu is China's best gold medal hope on the track in Athens and is hitting form at the right time. He equalled his own Asian mark of 13.06 seconds at China's National Track and Field Grand Prix in Tianjin on Sunday, the China Daily reported yesterday. He previously set the record in Japan in May, when he claimed Johnson's scalp for the first time The 13.06 is just 0.01 seconds off Johnson's season best. Liu, 21, has come out of the shadows in the past two years, taking bronze in the indoor and outdoor world championships last year. His coach Sun Haiping said Liu would spend the days leading up to the Olympics working on his stamina and technical details.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Brice Turang and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s consecutive RBI singles proved to be the difference in the US’ 5-3 win over Canada in a World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarterfinal on Friday night in Houston. The US faces the Dominican Republic, which crushed South Korea 10-0 in seven innings in its quarter-final, in a semifinal Sunday in Miami for a spot in Tuesday’s championship. The Dominican team has won all five games in this WBC by a combined margin of 51-10. It appeared the US squad was headed toward a cozy victory when it built a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning. A first-inning RBI groundout
RSS