■SOCCER
Grenoble, Rennes in semis
Grenoble qualified for the French Cup semi-finals for the first time in their history after a comfortable 2-0 home win over Monaco on Wednesday. Grenoble took a 13th-minute lead through 31-year-old striker Daniel Moreira. Another old hand, 34-year-old Nassim Akrour, killed off Monaco’s hopes with a goal in the ninth minute of the second half. Later on Wednesday, Rennes ended third-division Rodez’s hopes of progressing further as they ran out 2-0 winners over the side that eliminated Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round.
■GOLF
Wu leads by a shot
Wu Weihuang made the most of local knowledge yesterday to shoot a six-under 66 for a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Dell Championship in Xiamen, the opening event of the Omega China Tour’s fifth season. Kunming-based Chen Jian surprised even himself with a 67, while Asian Tour star Alex Wu Ashun posted a 69 to share third with Omega Championship winner Zhou Jun, Wang Xu and James Su Dong, 19, and South Korea’s Eom Jae-woong, 18. Taiwan’s Lu Wen-teh Lin and Lin Keng-chi, the latter making his Tour debut, both shot 70 to finish tied eighth with Kong Weihai and 23-year-old American C.J. Gatto.
■CYCLING
Armstrong has bad hair day
Lance Armstrong literally had a bad hair day. A French anti-doping inspector armed with a pair of scissors this week took six clumps of the former Tour de France champion’s hair that will now be tested for signs of drug use. Armstrong says his hair was so “butchered” by the test that he had to get a buzz-cut afterward to hide the mess. In France, hair tests are now being used to hunt down the use of banned substances in sports. When anti-doping authorities say they want the scalps of cheats, they mean it. The sample-collector “flew down from Paris, he was a French doctor, couldn’t have been nicer. He was a total gentleman,” Armstrong said by phone on Wednesday. But “he didn’t make my hair look very good, that’s why I cut it after that, after he butchered it,” Armstrong said.
■SLED DOG RACING
Mackey wins three in a row
Lance Mackey cruised to victory in the 1,774km Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday, winning Alaska’s most popular sporting event for the third consecutive year. Mackey crossed the finish line, an arch erected on Front Street in the Bering Sea town of Nome, just before noon with 15 dogs pulling his sled. He finished the race across Alaska’s wilderness in nine days, 21 hours, 38 minutes and 46 seconds. For his victory, Mackey gets US$69,000 in prize money and a new truck. He also claims a spot in Iditarod history, becoming the third musher after the late Susan Butcher and Montanan Doug Swingley to win three races in a row.
■BASKETBALL
NBA teams to play in Taipei
Two NBA teams will visit Taiwan and China in October to play warm-up games before the start of the NBA season, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday. The Denver Nuggets and the Indiana Pacers will play a pre-season game on Oct. 8 at the Taipei Arena. Taiwan’s basketball association will announce details of the game next month, the newspaper quoted an unnamed sports official as saying. The two teams will send a total of 30 players, including Denver forward Carmelo Anthony and Indiana forward Danny Granger.
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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