■ CRICKET
U19 World Cup begins
Defending champions Pakistan thrashed hosts Malaysia by eight wickets with 40 overs to spare while Australia, India and England also posted easy victories on yesterday's opening day of the Under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Pakistan, placed in Group A, won the toss and elected to bowl, dismissing Malaysia for 75 in just 24.4 overs, with right-arm seamer Adil Raza taking 6-29 and Mohammad Amir 3-11. Nik Azril top scored for Malaysia with 28, but nine of the 11 batsmen failed to reach double figures. Pakistan had no trouble reaching the target in only 9.3 overs, with Umar Amin making 31 and Ahmed Shahzad scoring an unbeaten 27. In Group B, India, runner-ups in the 2006 edition of the biennial tournament, defeated Papua New Guinea by 195 runs.
■ BASKETBALL
Hawks acquire Mike Bibby
The Atlanta Hawks, pushing for their first playoff appearance since 1999, acquired guard Mike Bibby from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for four players and a draft pick on Saturday. The trade was awaiting final approval from the league and medical tests. "We're happy to be able to bring in a player of Mike's caliber," Atlanta general manager Billy Knight said in a statement on the club's Web site. "He's one of the premier guards in the league and a proven winner going back to his college days at Arizona. His ability to score and distribute the basketball will add a new dimension to our ball club." The Hawks, out of the playoffs longer than any NBA team, are just percentage points off the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Bibby, 29, is due to join them in Los Angeles today.
■ SWIMMING
Coventry breaks record
Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe broke a 16-year-old world record in the 200m backstroke in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday. The reigning Olympic champion in the event, Coventry toppled the second-oldest world record on the books at the Missouri Grand Prix, the third of the US Swimming federation's eight-meet Grand Prix series. Coventry finished in 2 minutes, 6.39 seconds, which was 0.23 seconds faster than the mark set by Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary in August 1991. Second-place finisher Margaret Hoelzer was more than 4 seconds behind. Another longtime record fell when Katie Hoff set the American mark in the 400m freestyle.
■ SWIMMING
Sullivan breaks 50m record
Australian Eamon Sullivan broke the 50m freestyle world record yesterday at the New South Wales Open meet, finishing in 21.56 seconds at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center. In the pool used for the 2000 Olympics, Sullivan took .08 seconds off the previous mark of Russian Alexander Popov, who had a time of 21.64 seconds set in Moscow on June 16, 2000. Sullivan took nearly a half-second off his personal best time. "I just surprised myself," Sullivan, 22, said. "Felt really, really good in the warmup and working towards getting under 22 for the first time. We have made some big gains in the gym and I knew if I put bits of my best race together we would be in for a shot at the 22. To take that much off my PB is amazing." Australian head coach Alan Thompson praised Sullivan. "That was great, to break a world record of one of the legends of the sport and a long-term world record," he said.
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Robin Smith, the batter who shone for England in a period when it was beaten regularly in Test cricket, has died. He was 62. Smith’s family said in a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that he died unexpectedly at his home in Perth, Australia, on Monday. No cause was given. He played 62 Tests for England from 1988 to 1996, scoring 4,236 runs at an average of 43.67 with nine centuries. His signature shot was the square cut. Smith also played in 71 one-day internationals and was part of England’s squad who reached the 1992 ICC World Cup final. His unbeaten
SSC Napoli on Sunday joined AC Milan at the top of Serie A after winning 1-0 at title rivals AS Roma, as Inter kept pace with the leading pair by beating Pisa SC 2-0. David Neres stroked home the only goal of a feisty game in the 36th minute at the Stadio Olimpico, ending a blistering counterattack with a calm finish which put Napoli on 28 points. Napoli are behind Milan on goal-difference, and just one point ahead of both Roma and Inter in a tight scudetto battle in which Antonio Conte’s team are to host Juventus at the weekend. “To come to
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