■ Soccer
Serafini stops Juventus
Matteo Serafini scored a hat trick on Saturday to give Brescia a 3-1 win over Serie B leader Juventus. It was Juventus' second loss this season after falling to Mantova in January. In Serie A, Sampdoria was held to a 1-1 draw by Cagliari. Juventus, which was penalized nine points for its role in the Italian match-fixing scandal, still leads the second division with 49 points, one more than Napoli. Napoli drew 1-1 at Rimini on Saturday. Serafini beat Juventus and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in the fourth, 26th and 45th minutes. The first score came from a lob. The second was a bicycle kick. An error by Juventus defender Jonathan Zebina led to the third goal. Juventus captain Alessandro Del Piero scored in the ninth minute from a free kick.
■ Rally
Loeb doubles lead in Mexico
Frenchman Sebastien Loeb more than doubled his lead in the Rally Mexico on Saturday, moving one minute ahead of the field. Loeb and his Citroen took the lead in Friday's fourth special stage and finished the day with a 27-second advantage. He won four of Saturday's eight special stages and extended the cushion. Marcus Gronholm fell another 16.6 seconds behind Loeb, but jumped four places to move into second place. Dani Sordo of Spain was third, more than 90 seconds behind.
■ Soccer
Dida extends contract
AC Milan goalkeeper Nelson Dida ended speculation about his future on Saturday by signing a contract extension with the Italian Serie A club. The 33-year-old, whose original deal was scheduled to run out at the end of the season, has put pen to paper on a new deal that will keep him at AC Milan until June 30, 2010. Dida, a Brazil international, joined AC Milan from Corinthians in 2000. He established himself as a first-team regular in the 2002/03 season and has kept the keeper's jersey ever since.
■ Norway
Cuche takes downhill title
Swiss skier Didier Cuche yesterday became the men's World Cup champion in the downhill discipline by winning his first race of the season in Kvitfjell. Although this result was his first win of the season, the 32-year-old Swiss had previously notched up enough points with a bunch of podium finishes including four second-placed performances since December to claim the first downhill title of his skiing career which spans over almost a decade. With one race left in the downhill category this season, Cuche jumped out of reach of Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel with the victory.
■ Cricket
Scots want England fixture
A regular `home international' between Scotland and England would go a long way in giving cricket a boost north of the border, Scottish captain Craig Wright said on Saturday. Scotland begin their World Cup campaign against champions Australia on Wednesday before facing top-ranked South Africa and the Netherlands in Group A. "A Scotland versus England match would be a massive event and help build the profile of cricket in Scotland," Wright told a news conference ahead of yesterday's opening ceremony. "I suppose anything between Scotland and England, even a game of tiddlywinks, is a big event but with our status in the one day game now I am sure that would be a great occasion." Scotland currently play against English county sides in one-day competition and two of their squad, Dougie Brown and Gavin Hamilton, have actually played for England.
■ Boxing
Fighter remains in coma
Mexican boxer Victor Burgos has shown signs of improvement but remains in a medically-induced coma in a Los Angeles hospital, his wife told local media on Saturday. According to Claudia Montiel, who has been with Burgos since he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain after a fight last Saturday, Burgos "has movement in his hands and feet" and can hear despite still being unconscious. Burgos, 31, was hospitalized after he was stopped in the 12th round by Australian Vic Darchinyan in their IBF flyweight world title bout at the Home Depot Center.
■ Athletics
Hashimoto wins in Nagoya
Yasuko Hashimoto won a close battle with fellow Japanese defending champion Harumi Hiroyama to win the Nagoya international women's marathon yesterday. The 31-year-old from Chiba spurted in the last 700m to leave Hiroyama behind, crossing the finishing line in two hours 28 minutes 49 seconds. Hiroyama failed to close the gap of some 20m to finish second in 2:28:55, followed by 2002 Rotterdam marathon winner Takami Ominami of Japan third in 2:29:24.
■ Speed Skating
World records tumble
Sven Kramer broke the 10,000m world record that had stood for just a month, while Jenny Wolf broke one that had stood since 2001 at the World Single Distances Speedskating Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday. Kramer clocked 12min 41.69sec, improving the mark of 12:49.88 that he set on Feb. 11 in Heerenveen in the Netherlands. Kramer led a Dutch sweep of the podium places. Carl Verheijen was second and Birgt Rykkje third. Germany's Wolf broke the women's 500m world record with a time of 37.04sec. Wolf posted the record-breaking mark in the second of two 500m races on the day, and her championship combined time of 74.42sec was also a world record.
■ Football
Sea Devils sign Chambers
Disgraced British sprinter Dwain Chambers looks set to turn his back on athletics after signing on Saturday to play for NFL Europa side Hamburg Sea Devils. The 28-year-old former European 100m champion was stripped of the gold he won in Munich in 2002 after he was implicated in the 2003 BALCO doping scandal having tested positive for the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone. Chambers is set for his NFL Europa debut as a wide receiver when the Sea Devils host the Cologne Centurians next month.
■ Basketball
Artest set to return to action
The Sacramento Kings said on Saturday they will allow Ron Artest to return to the team, five days after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence. The Kings called a news conference to discuss the return of the controversial forward after missing two games. Artest was excused from all team activities on Tuesday, a day after being arrested at his home in a Sacramento, California suburb. A woman called police and said she had been assaulted, and a police report said Artest had slapped the woman's face and grabbed her repeatedly, causing visible injuries on her hand and leg. Artest was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and using force or violence to prevent the woman from reporting a crime. He was released from custody after posting a US$50,000 bond.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),