■RUGBY UNION
Stormers thrash Lions
The Stormers scored eight tries as they romped to a 56-18 victory over the Lions in an all-South African Super 14 clash at Newlands on Saturday. The win lifted the Stormers to seventh in the standings while the Lions remained 13th. The Lions had started brightly and surged into a 12-3 lead after 20 minutes but they quickly fell apart and conceded eight tries in an hour. After tries by Louis Ludik and Henno Mentz the Lions mustered only six more points from the boot of Andre Pretorius in the remainder of the match. Stormers flank Schalk Burger scored in the 22nd minute and five minutes later Francois Louw scored to level the game. Willem de Waal landed a 30th minute penalty to give the hosts the lead. Just before halftime Andries Bekker scored the Stormers’ third try. The home side put the result beyond doubt with two tries inside the first seven minutes of the second half — the first by Gcobani Bobo and the other from Sireli Naqelevuki. Bekker scored his second try in the 55th minute while Jean de Villiers and Dewaldt Duvenage completed the rout with tries in the last 10 minutes.
■RUGBY UNION
Freier ruled out of Super 14
Wallabies hooker Adam Freier has been ruled out for the remainder of the Super 14 season after he tore his bicep while playing for the New South Wales Waratahs on Friday. Freier was forced off in the second half of the Waratahs’ 21-11 loss to the ACT Brumbies and scans showed he would require surgery, the Waratahs said yesterday. “It’s a real blow,” coach Chris Hickey said in a statement. “Adam has been sharp for us all year and as one of the senior members of the squad he does a lot more work off the field that a lot of people don’t see.”
■BOXING
Abraham defends title
IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham defended his title for the ninth time with a unanimous points win over US fighter Lajuan Simon in Kiel, Germany, on Saturday. Abraham dropped 8kg in just over a week to make the weight for the fight and was made to work hard for the win by Simon who suffered the first defeat of his 24-fight career. Simon took everything the champion threw at him throughout and he found his way through Abraham’s defense in the first round. The champion pinned his opponent on the ropes in the second and had Simon on the canvas in the third round after he pushed him down. But Abraham, 29, sat back for the rest of the round, content to soak up Simon’s punches, but caught the 30-year-old challenger in the face several times in the fourth. It was midway through the fifth round when Abraham launched a ferocious assault as he looked for a knock-out, but Simon weathered the storm. By the seventh round, Abraham was clearly on top and lined up Simon several times with quick shots to the body. Simon finished the eighth round the stronger and caught the champion flush in the face several times in the ninth. After an even tenth round, Abraham stepped up the pace but couldn’t land a knock out blow.
■SOCCER
Oldie Miura breaks record
Ageless Japanese star Kazuyoshi Miura has stretched his own record of the oldest scorer in the J-League. The midfielder scored from a penalty in his club Yokohama FC’s 2-1 defeat to Kumamoto in a J-League second division match on Saturday. He was 42 years and 16 days. Miura scored his first J-League goal in 1993. Saturday’s was his 151st goal in J-League, closing on Masashi Nakayama’s record of 157 goals.
■ATHLETICS
Bolt runs season’s first 100
Olympic champion Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, ran his first 100m of the season in Spanish Town, Jamaica, on Saturday in a wind-aided 9.93 seconds in a meet at Foster College. Bolt, who set world records to win the 100m and 200m at the Beijing Olympics last August, won with a tailwind of 2.3m per second, edging his training partner Daniel Bailey of Antigua, who crossed in the same time. Running from lane four, Bolt trailed Bailey for the first half of the race but took control at 60m. The Olympic champion said he still has improvements to make. “I still have to work on my start,” Bolt said. “I’m just glad I got through this race injury free. I have a lot more work to do because I’m still not fit.”
■BASKETBALL
Pistons owner dies at 86
Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson has died at the age of 86, the team said on Saturday. Davidson had owned the Pistons since 1974 and won NBA championships in 1989, 1990 and 2004. He also won the 2004 Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the NHL team he owned until last year and three titles with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock. Davidson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year. The cause of death was not immediately released. “He will not only be remembered as a great owner but also as a person who made a difference in many people’s lives,” Pistons coach Michael Curry said in a statement.
■FOOTBALL
Police detain Stallworth
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Dante Stallworth was detained by police on Saturday after a car he was driving allegedly struck and killed a pedestrian in Miami, reports said. Station CBS 4 reported the incident, citing Detective Juan Sanchez of the City of Miami Beach. Stallworth has played seven seasons in the NFL. He signed a seven-year, US$35 million contract with the Browns after the 2007 season.
■FOOTBALL
Peterson joins Lions
The Detroit Lions acquired five-times Pro Bowl linebacker Julian Peterson from the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for defensive tackle Cory Redding and a fifth-round draft pick this year, the team said on Saturday. The 30-year-old Peterson has spent the last three seasons with the Seahawks, racking up 24.5 sacks. Peterson has 714 tackles, 46 sacks, eight interceptions, 15 forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries in his nine-year NFL career. Redding was selected by Detroit in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. “Cory Redding is a guy we’ve had our eye on for some time,” Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said.
■FIELD HOCKEY
Canada to meet US in final
Canada ousted Argentina 4-3 in extra time on Saturday to meet the US in the field hockey final of the Pan American Cup. The US disappointed an enthusiastic crowd at Prince of Wales Country Club by beating host Chile 2-1. Argentina, the highest-ranked side in the tournament at No. 9, rolled through its pool in scoring 33 goals without conceding any. But Canada, which also upset Argentina in the 2007 final, scored first through Mark Pearson in the 20th minute and Lucas Vila leveled from a penalty corner just before halftime. Argentina then went ahead twice in the second half, only for Canada to equalize each time, the last by Gubbar Singh three minutes from the end of regulation time. Connor Grimes scored the winner in extra time. The winner of yesterday’s final qualifies for next year’s World Cup in New Delhi.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,