■ 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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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