■ Scotland
Roman Bednar nets double
Roman Bednar scored two goals on Sunday, including an 88th-minute winner, to lead Hearts over Celtic 2-1 in the Scottish Premier League. Bednar scored his first goal in the 49th, but Stilian Petrov equalized for Celtic in the 65th. In the 88th, Bednar capitalized on a poor back pass by Celtic substitute Neil Lennon and beat goalkeeper Artur Boruc. Sunday's result left St Mirren in first place in the league with six points, ahead of Hearts on goal difference. Rangers is in fourth place with four points, one more than Celtic.
PHOTO: AP
■ Argentina
Boca trounce Banfield
Boca Juniors beat Banfield 3-0 on Sunday as five of Argentina's highest-profile teams won weekend openers in the debut of the Apertura first-division season. Martin Palermo scored in the 57th minute and again 9 minutes after a 66th-minute goal by Boca teammate Sebastian Battaglia. Another Buenos Aires powerhouse, River Plate, beat Lanus 2-0 off an own goal by Lanus' Maximiliano Velazquez in the 50th minute and a goal by River's Gonzalo Higuain a minute later off a cross. The opening of the Apertura season saw no ties as San Lorenzo edged Gimnasia de Jujuy 1-0 off a 6th-minute goal by Jonathan Bottineli.
■ England
Coventry edge Sunderland
Gary McSheffrey scored in the 78th minute, lifting Coventry to a 2-1 victory over Sunderland on Sunday in the season-opening game for both teams in England's League Championship. West Brom opened Saturday with a 2-0 win over Hull, and Birmingham City defeated Colchester 2-1. Daryl Murphy gave Sunderland a 1-0 lead in the 52nd minute, but Stern John equalized in the 71st to set the stage for McSheffrey's winner. In the day's other game, Paul Peschisolido gave Derby a 2-2 draw against Southampton with a goal in second-half injury time. Derby went ahead 1-0 on Seth Johnson's strike in the 35th. The Saints answered with two goals in six minutes -- Gareth Bale scored in the 62nd and Bradley Wright-Phillips added another in the 68th.
■ Mexico
Sabah inspires Cruz Azul
Miguel Sabah scored twice on Sunday to give Cruz Azul a 3-2 victory over defending champion Pachuca in the first round of the Mexican Apertura 2006. Also on Sunday, Argentine Bruno Marioni smashed in his third goal for Toluca to give the Red Devils a 1-0 victory over the Chivas of Guadalajara. Playing away, Cruz Azul's Blue Machine opened the scoring in the 35th minute with a goal from Richard Nunez but Pachuca equalized 8 minutes later with a goal from Colombian defender Aquivaldo Mosquera. Sabah scored his goals in the 54th and 68th minutes, converting excellent passes from Cesar "Chelito" Delgado.
■ Rugby Union
Tana Umaga injured
Former All Blacks rugby captain Tana Umaga will be sidelined for at least six weeks after severely injuring a finger in a New Zealand provincial championship match on Friday. Umaga underwent surgery to have the tip of the finger reattached to the bone after it was left dangling by a single tendon in the match between Umaga's Wellington side and Bay of Plenty. The injury occurred when Umaga stretched to catch a pass and received the ball on the fingertips of his right hand. He will be out of action for almost half of the season, but will be fit to take up a short-term contract with the French club Toulon later in the year.
■ Horse Racing
World record set
Holborn Hanover had the fastest racing mile in harness history, finishing in 1 minute, 46.4 seconds in winning a US$195,000 division of the US Pacing Championship on Hambletonian Day at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The time on Saturday was three-fifths of a second faster than the mark set by Primetime Bobcat this year in a race at Woodbine in Toronto. Driven by George Brennan, Holborn Hanover won by one-and-three-quarter lengths over Stonebridge Regal. The previous career best time for the five-year-old son of Cam's Card Shark was a 1:48 in a race last month.
■ Tennis
Roddick out of Rogers Cup
Andy Roddick withdrew from the hardcourt Rogers Cup tournament on Sunday, citing an injury that forced him to pull out of another US Open tuneup last week. "Unfortunately, my side strain is still preventing me from being able to play matches," Roddick said in a statement. He strained the lower left side of his back while playing in an event in Los Angeles last month and pulled out before the quarter-finals. Then he withdrew from the hardcourt tournament in Washington. Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion and former world No. 1, is 10th in the current rankings. Andre Agassi pulled out of the Rogers Cup on Friday. The US Open begins on Aug. 28.
■ Superbikes
Troy Bayliss stretches lead
World Superbike leader Troy Bayliss won one race and finished second in the other on Sunday to stretch his lead atop the season standings. Bayliss, riding a Ducati Xerox, won the first race with second for James Toseland on a Honda and third to Noriyuki Haga. Haga, riding for Motor Italian Yamaha, took the second race with Bayliss in second place. Bayliss now leads the Japanese rider by 77 points, boosting his lead from 73 when the day began. Toseland is third in the season standings.
■ Figure Skating
Schwarz gets eight years
An Austrian court sentenced former Olympic figure skating gold medalist Wolfgang Schwarz to eight years in prison yesterday for a plot to kidnap the teenage daughter of a prominent Romanian businessman and hold her for up to 3 million euros (US$3.8 million) in ransom. Schwarz, 59, made a surprise confession earlier yesterday, and his lawyer said Schwarz was motivated by "greed and selfishness" in plotting the abduction, which was never carried out. The 1968 Olympic champion had faced up to 20 years in prison.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
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