■ GOLF
Cink takes lead in Florida
Stewart Cink claimed the clubhouse lead after three rounds of the rain-disrupted PGA Tour PODS Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, on Saturday. Cink notched three straight birdies before closing with a bogey to finish with a two-under 69 for a three-round total of five-under 208. Half a dozen golfers were still on the course when play in the tournament was halted by darkness. Among them, second-round leader Brandt Snedeker and Billy Mayfair were at three-under, while Australian Geoff Ogilvy completed a 69 for three-under 210.
■ BADMINTON
Lin reaches final again
China's world champion Lin Dan reached the All-England men's singles final for a fifth year in a row with a comfortable 21-14, 21-14 victory over compatriot Bao Chunlai on Saturday. In the other semi-final, China's Chen Jin, the No.4 seed, scored an upset 21-18, 21-18 win over Malaysia's former world No.1 Lee Chong Wei. In the women's competition Denmark's unseeded Tine Rasmussen won through to the final to face the No 3 seed from China, Lu Lan. Rasmussen, the world No.9, had previously never got beyond the second round in eight previous appearances at an All-England. Lu reached her first final in Birmingham with a straightforward 21-13, 21-14 victory over the Chinese-born German player, Xu Huaiwen.
■ SOCCER
Brawl leaves 80 wounded
A stadium brawl left about 80 people wounded in the Colombian city of Cali late on Saturday, 18 of them with stab wounds, emergency officials said. Clashes broke during the match between America de Cali and Deportivo de Cali spread onto the field and around the Pascual Guerrero stadium. Police fired tear gas as the brawlers lit firecrackers and tried to tear down fencing separating the stands from the field. Eighteen people were stabbed during the melee, said Manuel Infante, spokesman for Cali's Emergency Prevention Committee. They were treated at the stadium and taken to a local hospital. Another 60 suffered bruises and other minor injuries. A young pregnant woman and three police officers were among the wounded, the Red Cross said.
■ TENNIS
Qualifier reaches final
South African qualifier Kevin Anderson defeated American wildcard Robby Ginepri 7-6, 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the Las Vegas Open. Anderson will face unseeded American Sam Querrey, who beat fourth-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-2. The 21-year-old Anderson, ranked 175th in the world and bidding to become the first South African to win an ATP final since Wesley Moodie won in Tokyo in October 2005, took the opening set 7-4 on a tiebreak. He was broken only once as he clinched victory in one hour and 28 minutes. The 2.01m Anderson, who won his first ATP match in Monday's opening round, has reached the final without losing a set. "Each match I've felt I could compete and I've played my own game," Anderson told reporters. "I'm not trying to do anything special." Querrey, ranked 66th and looking for his first ATP title, converted five of nine break points to upset the 20th-ranked Canas in one-hour, 39 minutes.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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