■ Tennis
US bags spot in semi-finals
The US secured a spot in the Davis Cup semifinals on Saturday when the top-ranked doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The decisive win over Spain in front of a partisan crowd left the US squad confident they'll end their 12-year Davis drought. Andy Roddick invited the fans to party with him, James Blake sounded confident and Bob Bryan went as far as to predict a title. Coupled with Friday's singles wins by Roddick and Blake, it gave the US a 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie, putting the US players a step closer to their first Davis title since 1995.
■ Tennis
Russia leads France 2-1
Nikolay Davydenko and Igor Andreev gave Russia a 2-1 lead over France in the Davis Cup quarter-finals by beating Sebastien Grosjean and Michael Llodra 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in Moscow on Saturday. France, which has not lost a doubles match to Russia in six previous Davis Cup matches since 1973, was broken in the eighth game of the fifth set when Grosjean sent a forehand return wide. Andreev then served out the match at love. "We haven't played together for almost a year," Davydenko said. "We were lucky to win in five sets." The best-of-five series was scheduled to be decided yesterday in the reverse singles matches when Davydenko faced Richard Gasquet and Mikhail Youzhny took on Paul-Henri Mathieu.
■ Track and field
Trial set in doping case
A trial date has been set in the case against Trevor Graham, the elite athletics coach who helped launch the US government's probe of doping in professional sports and later became a target for allegedly lying to federal agents. Graham's trial is to begin on Sept. 24 in San Francisco federal court, US District Judge Susan Illston ruled last week. A pretrial conference is set for Sept. 11. Graham, who coached Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin and Tim Montgomery, was indicted last November on three counts of making false statements to a government agency.
■ Rowing
Cambridge defeats Oxford
Cambridge rallied to beat Oxford for the first time in three years on Saturday in the 153rd Boat Race on the Thames in London. The more experienced and stronger Light Blue crew won by a length in almost perfect conditions on the river after initially trailing underdog Oxford. The Dark Blues of Oxford pulled ahead early on the 6.8km course after winning the toss and taking advantage of the Surrey bend. As the rowers powered to the Hammersmith Bridge, there was little to separate the crews and they came close to touching oars. But just after the halfway point at Chiswick Steps, Cambridge got into its rhythm and pulled ahead to win.
■ Cricket
Shastri to become coach
Former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri will take over as India's cricket coach when the team tours Bangladesh next month and Rahul Dravid will stay on as the captain, a senior official of India's cricket board told reporters on Saturday. The board met to discuss the debacle of the Indian team's first-round World Cup exit and to chart a course for the future after coach Greg Chappell's resignation last week. Former medium-pacer Venkatesh Prasad has been brought in as bowling coach.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS