■ Sumo
Kyokushuzan retires
Mongolian sumo wrestler Kyokushuzan has retired because of heart disease, a news report said yesterday. The 33-year-old wrestler has been suffering from heart disease for about a year and decided to retire after losing the first match of a tournament which kicked off on Sunday, Kyodo News agency reported. In 1992, he became one of the first Mongolians to participate in Japanese sumo wrestling, Kyodo said. Officials at the Japan Sumo Association could not immediately confirm the report. Kyokushuzan, who once reached komusubi, the fourth-highest position in sumo, was ranked the No.10 maegashira this month.
■ Basketball
Brezec's summer takes toll
Charlotte center Primoz Brezec said on Sunday that sitting out the Bobcats' first six games had taught him a lesson: He plays too much basketball. Brezec, worn down after a summer playing with the Slovenian national team, caught a virus at the start of training camp. He lost 7kg and was so weary doctors told him to sit out at least the first two weeks of the NBA season. Brezec said he won't play for the Slovenian national team in next year's European Championship. "That's what I do every summer, and obviously the last two years wore me down a little bit," Brezec said. "I'm going to have to consider not playing anymore for my national team."
■ Hockey
Russia wins Karjala Cup
Russia won the Karjala Cup after beating the Czech Republic 3-2 in a penalty shootout on Sunday, snapping Finland's streak of eight straight titles in the Euro Hockey Tour event. Petr Shastliviy, who scored the game-winning goal against the Finns, forced overtime when he tied the score at 2-2 with 1:56 left in regulation. Petr Caslava gave the Czechs a 1-0 lead early in the first period. Alexander Tiaritonov tied it with a power-play goal 27 seconds into the third period. Caslava then set up Ivan Huml midway through the period. Russia also won its first two games by one-goal margins. Finland played winless Olympic champion Sweden later on Sunday.
■ Soccer
Houston wins MLS Cup
Brian Ching scored the tying goal for Houston a little over a minute after New England's Taylor Twellman struck what appeared to be the game-winner in overtime, and the Dynamo prevailed 4-3 on penalty kicks on Sunday to win the MLS Cup in the US. Faced with needing to prevent a goal in the fifth and final set of penalty kicks, Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad blocked Jay Heaps' drive to the left side of the net to give the Dynamo a championship in their first year in Houston. The loss was the third defeat in the league championship for the Revolution and coach Steve Nicol, who lost 1-0 in overtime to Los Angeles last year.
■ Speed Skating
Davis wins 1,000m
Olympic champion Shani Davis overcame a slow start on Sunday to win the 1,000m at the season-opening speed skating World Cup meet. The American, who also won the 1,000m at the Turin Games in February, was slow off the start line but sped up throughout the race to finish in 1 minute, 9.17 seconds. Lee Kyou-hyuk of South Korea was second in 1:09.26 and Denny Morrison of Canada was third in 1:09.35. Anni Friesinger of Germany won her third event of the meet on Sunday, adding another 1,000m title.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
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