■BASKETBALL
Moscow set up repeat final
Holders CSKA Moscow edged past Barcelona 82-78 to set up a repeat of the 2007 Euroleague final against Panathinaikos, who beat local rivals Olympiakos 84-82 in the other semi-final on Friday. CSKA beat Barcelona thanks to Lithuanian forward Ramunas Siskauskas, who scored 18 of his 29 career-high points in the fourth quarter. With the Spaniards leading for most of the match, Siskauskas sprang into action in the final 10 minutes to book his team’s place in their fourth straight final. In a nail-biting finale to the second semi-final, Olympiakos failed to level when forward Josh Childress pushed the ball to the rim twice in the dying seconds with bitter rivals Panathinaikos ahead 84-82.
■CYCLING
Rabon back in yellow
Czech Frantisek Rabon took advantage of Team Columbia’s victory in the third stage of the Tour de Romandie on Friday to reclaim the race leader’s yellow jersey. Columbia won the 14.8km team time trial in 18 minutes and 37 seconds, beating teams Caisse d’Epargne and Saxo Bank by 10 seconds and 16 seconds respectively in Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland. Overall, Rabon lead Dane Lars Back by just one second ahead of yesterday’s 157.5km fourth stage to Ste Croix, seen as the most grueling in the race with three first category climbs.
■CYCLING
Armstrong draws publicity
Lance Armstrong draws a crowd anywhere he goes, and Tour of the Gila organizers couldn’t be happier about it. Returning from a broken collarbone, Armstrong has provided a major publicity boost for the New Mexico race, now in its 23rd year. Armstrong placed third on Friday in the Gila’s third stage, a time trial that started and finished in the mining village of Tyrone. He covered the hilly 26km course in 34 minutes, 22 seconds.
■CRICKET
Collingwood retakes lead
Paul Collingwood, who stepped down as England one-day captain last year, was named on Friday to lead the Twenty20 side in next month’s World Cup. Collingwood resigned the captaincy at the same time as test skipper Michael Vaughan because he felt it was affecting his test form. He was also at the center of an acrimonious confrontation with the New Zealand team when he appealed for a run-out at The Oval in a one-day international after batsman Grant Elliott collided in mid-pitch with England bowler Ryan Sidebottom. Collingwood was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for the Indian Premier League this year but did not play a single match before returning from South Africa for the first Test against West Indies starting at Lord’s on Wednesday.
■BOXING
Mayweather to fight again
Floyd Mayweather Jr is back, ending his brief retirement from boxing. The undefeated five-division champion planned yesterday to announce his return to the sport with a July fight against WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, a person close to the fight confirmed on Friday. Mayweather last fought when he stopped Ricky Hatton in the 10th round of their December 2007 welterweight WBC title fight. He was expected to fight Oscar De La Hoya in a rematch of the fight he narrowly won earlier that year, but last June said he would not fight again because he had lost his love for the sport. The 32-year-old Mayweather has won all 39 of his fights and could put himself in position for a fight against the winner of yesterday’s bout between Manny Pacquiao and Hatton.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS