■ BoxingVargas overcomes Joval
Former two-time world junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas (on right in the above photo) won a unanimous 10-round decision Saturday over Raymond Joval of the Netherlands. Judges scored the fight 98-92, 96-94 and 97-93 for Vargas, who fought for the first time in 15 months. The crowd of 9,332, the largest for a boxing card in Corpus Christi, Texas, loudly supported the former champ. Vargas, 27, who had been nursing a lower back problem, hadn't fought since he stopped Tony Marshall in the seventh round in December 2003.
He showed little sign of rust and controlled the fight from the outset.
■ Hockey
Asian action heats up
Chris Yule and Kiyoshi Fujita both scored midway through the third period yesterday to lead Kokudo to a 5-2 win over the Nippon Paper Cranes in the inaugural Asia League ice hockey championship. Playing before 1,816 spectators at Higashifushimi Arena in Tokyo. The Nippon Paper Cranes won the first game of the best-of-five series in Sapporo by a score of 2-0 but Kokudo came back to win the second and third games by scores of 6-4 and 2-1. The Asia League is made up of four teams from Japan, two from China and one each from Russia and South Korea.
■ Cycling
British do well in US
Victoria Pendleton beat Russia's Tamilia Abassova in two straight rides to win the women's matched sprint and give Britain two of four titles awarded Saturday at the Track Cycling World Championships in Carson, California. Pendleton, who nearly left cycling after a disappointing effort in the 2004 Olympics, gave Britain its third gold and fifth medal of the four-day competition at the ADT Event Center. She had winning runs of 12.184 and 12.284 seconds. Australia's Anna Meares beat older sister Kerrie in the last of three races for third place. Britain's Steven Cummings, Robert Hayes, Paul Manning and Christopher Newton won the men's team pursuit, finishing in 4:05.619, an average speed of 56.62kph. The Netherlands was second in 4:09.971. In the women's pursuit final, Katie Mactier of Australia defeated compatriot Katherine Bates. Mactier led throughout and was timed in 3:38.720, an average speed of 49.371kph.
■ Horse racing
Young jockey gets killed
A 16-year-old apprentice jockey was dragged to his death by a runaway horse at a race meeting at Riverton on New Zealand's South Island on Saturday. Sam McRae, who had been riding for four months, was dragged 900m when he fell from his horse, Queen's Evidence, and his foot became trapped in a stirrup. He died of head and chest injuries, Riverton Racing Club chief stipendiary steward Stewart Ching said. Other jockeys in the 1,100m race were unable to stop McRae's startled mount until the field had entered the finishing straight. "That's the most horrific thing I've ever seen," senior jockey Terry Moseley said. The accident happened in front of thousands of racegoers at the popular Easter holiday weekend meeting.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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