■ CRICKET
Marcus Trescothick retires
Marcus Trescothick retired from international cricket on Saturday, the England batsman's county Somerset announced. His decision followed a recent withdrawal from the county's pre-season tour of the United Arab Emirates after he suffered a recurrence of the stress-related illness which cut short his England career. "I have tried on numerous occasions to make it back to the international stage and it has proved a lot more difficult than I expected," Trescothick, a veteran of 76 Tests and 123 one-day internationals, said in a statement issued by Somerset.
■ SWIMMING
Rice, Edington set records
The first two nights at the Australian swimming championships and Olympic trials produced two world records. Stephanie Rice broke the world mark in the 400m individual medley on Saturday, finishing in a time of 4 minutes, 31.46 seconds. That took 1.43 seconds off American Katie Hoff's mark of 4 minutes, 32.89 seconds set on April 1 last year at the world championships in Melbourne. Yesterday Sophie Edington broke a day-old world record in the women's 50m backstroke. Edington finished in 27.67 seconds to break the mark of 27.95 seconds set by her Australian teammate Emily Seebohn in the semi-finals on Saturday.
■ BOXING
Casamayor stops Katsidis
Cuba's Joel Casamayor stopped previously unbeaten Australian Michael Katsidis 30 seconds into the 10th round in California on Saturday to win an interim world lightweight title. Southpaw Casamayor knocked down the Aussie twice in the first round and flattened him again early in the 10th round. Seconds later, referee Jon Schorle halted the fight. Casamayor, who owns the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization interim lightweight titles, improved to 36-3 with one drawn after his 22nd stoppage inside the distance. Katsidis fell to 23-1.
■ SWIMMING
Bernard sets record again
Alain Bernard broke the 100m freestyle world record for the second time in two days on Saturday, setting a new mark of 47.50 seconds in the final at the European swimming championships. The 24-year-old Frenchman took one-tenth of a second off his record of 47.60 seconds recorded in Friday's semi-finals, which shattered Pieter Van den Hoogenband's mark set at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. "It's unbelievable," Bernard said. "I wanted to be faster today." Bernard was relatively unknown before these championships. He finished ninth in the 100m freestyle at last year's world championships and seventh in the 2006 Europeans. Now, he has emerged as one of the favorites at the Beijing Olympics in August.
■ BOXING
Kotelnik takes Rees' title
Hard-hitting Ukrainian Andreas Kotelnik dethroned Gavin Rees as the World Boxing Association light-welterweight world champion with a last round stoppage of the Welshman in Cardiff on Saturday. Rees produced one of the boxing upsets of last year when he took the title from Soulyemane M'Baye. But from the third round on, when his nose started to bleed, Rees started to be picked off by Kotelnik. And the challenger finished the bout 30 seconds from the end of the last round when he dropped Rees with a powerful right hand.
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
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,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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