■ Skiing
Bjorgen, Eigenmann win
Marit Bjorgen of Norway and Christoph Eigenmann of Switzerland won the first races on Sunday at the new Tour de Ski in Munich, Germany. The overall time winner at the six-race cross-country event will get 400 World Cup points. Eigenmann finished the 1.2km freestyle race in 2 minutes, 04.9 seconds to edge out Canada's Devon Kershaw by 1.4 seconds. Roddy Darragon of France was 2.6 back in third. Bjorgen won the women's 0.8km freestyle race in 1:35.1. Italy's Arianna Follis was second and Canada's Chandra Crawford third, both finishing 1.1 seconds behind. The event was held in Munich's 70,000-seat Olympic Stadium.
■ Biathlon
Ole Bjorndalen wins again
Ole Einar Bjorndalen won the biathlon World Team Challenge for the fourth straight year on Sunday in front of 52,000 spectators in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Bjorndalen teamed up with fellow Norwegian Linda Grubben to capture the mixed-pair event in Gelsenkirchen's domed soccer stadium. The event isn't on the World Cup schedule, but offers competitors the year's biggest crowds. "We look forward to this event the whole year -- there is nothing like biathlon in Gelsenkirchen," Bjorndalen said. Bjorndalen and Grubben, who split 24,000 euros (US$31,000) in prize money, finished 18 rounds of 1,264m in 31 minutes, 17.2 seconds with two missed targets. Florence Bavarel and Robert-Julien Robert of France were second, followed by Germany's Martina Glagow and Michael Greis.
■ Soccer
Andres Oper nets a brace
Roda JC forward Andres Oper scored twice on Sunday to hold third-place AZ Alkmaar to a 2-2 draw in the Dutch league. Oper scored in the 23rd and 67th minutes before being sent off in the 79th for a second yellow card. Five minutes later, Barry Opdam, who had scored for AZ in the 65th, set up Danny Koevermans for the equalizer. Vitesse Arnhem rallied on a second-half goal by substitute Fred Benson to draw 2-2 with Heracles Almelo. Arnhem was in ninth place on 26 points, 27 fewer than leader PSV Eindhoven, which beat ADO The Hague 2-1 on Saturday on goals from Patrick Kluivert and Jefferson Farfan. Second-place Ajax also played Saturday and was held to a 2-2 draw at NEC Nijmegen, with Kenneth Perez and Gabri scoring for the Amsterdam team. Also on Saturday, it was: SC Heerenveen 0, FC Utrecht 0; Sparta Rotterdam 3, FC Twente 0 and RKC Waalwijk 0, FC Groningen 2. PSV has 53 points, 11 more than Ajax and 12 more than AZ. Feyenoord climbed past FC Twente into fourth on Friday with 39 points after beating Excelsior 3-1. The Eredivisie now has a 20-day winter break.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
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