■FOOTBALL
NFL suspends Bills’ Lynch
Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch received a three-game suspension from the National Football League on Thursday for a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy. The banishment without pay for the Bills’ opening games in September came a month after Lynch pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor gun charge in Los Angeles. He was also involved in a hit-and-run accident last May. Lynch was arrested in February after police found a semi-automatic handgun inside a backpack of a parked car in which Lynch was seated. He pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed firearm and was sentenced to community service and three years on probation.
■SNOOKER
Game to receive facelift
The reputation of snooker as one of sport’s more traditional games is set to be turned on its head by plans to introduce a radical new condensed format of the game. Impressed by the success of Cricket’s Twenty20, World Snooker chairman Sir Rodney Walker is anxious to lure new fans to the green baize. Outlining his plans in Thursday’s Guardian, he said the new format would feature the same number of colors but only six reds, with games intended to last an average of six or seven minutes. The game has a working title of ‘Super6s’ and is to be trialed at this month’s World Championships in Sheffield with a legends versus rising stars tournament.
■SOCCER
Loyalists behind attacks
Local units of the two main loyalist terror organizations in Northern Ireland were behind events that have seen 40 Polish migrant workers flee in recent weeks. Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) in south Belfast organized the intimidation of the Poles over the past fortnight, security sources in the city said. The attacks on Polish homes in south Belfast were believed to be in response to an outbreak of hooliganism by soccer fans from Poland during last month’s World Cup qualifier at Windsor Park. Before the crucial Northern Ireland versus Poland match in Belfast on March 28, a group of Polish hooligans smashed up pubs and attacked local fans. One senior security source said last night that a series of revenge attacks had been coordinated by local UDA and UVF units.
■CYCLING
Albasini wins fourth stage
Michael Albasini won the fourth stage of the Tour of Basque Country on Thursday and defending champion Alberto Contador maintained the overall lead. Albasini crossed the line just ahead of Jurgen Van den Broeck and Christian Vandevelde after the three cyclists had pulled away from the peloton toward the end of the 161km stage. Albasini finished with a winning time of 3 hours, 59 minutes, 42 seconds.
■SOCCER
Empress praises Samurais
Japanese Empress Michiko has compared the nation’s baseball team the Samurais to their namesake. Michiko’s comments were prompted by the team’s victory in retaining the World Baseball Classic title last month. The empress was speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the transcript of which was embargoed until yesterday, the 50th anniversary of her wedding to Emporer Akihito. “Although the Japanese players who distinguished themselves in the World Baseball Classic did not wear traditional armour, commit ritual suicide or speak in archaic Japanese, each one fought with beauty and strength, with something of the samurai spirit in them.”
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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