■CRICKET
Hampshire beat Sussex
Veteran all-rounder Dominic Cork took four wickets as Hampshire beat south coast rivals Sussex by six wickets in English counties’ Friends Provident Trophy one-day final at Lord’s. Former England all-rounder Cork, 38 in a fortnight, took four wickets for 41 runs on Saturday as Hampshire restricted Sussex to 219 for nine in their full 50 overs, a score that would have been considerably less but for an unbeaten 92 from captain Mike Yardy. Hampshire made 221 for six, with more than nine overs to spare in reply. It was their fourth win in five Lord’s finals. Cork was named man-of-the-match — 16 years after he first won the award when with his native Derbyshire.
■RUGBY UNION
Carter returns after injury
All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter played his first rugby match since he incurred a career-threatening injury in January, playing a full game for tiny Southbridge club in New Zealand’s Canterbury Province on Saturday. More than 3,000 people crowded into rural Southbridge, population 900, to watch Carter’s comeback match for his “home” club against Hornby. It was the first match Carter has played for Southbridge, a farming community on the Canterbury plains, since 2001. Carter played all 80 minutes and later said his Achilles tendon, which was partially ruptured during a match for the French club Perpignan on Jan. 31, had held up well. The All Blacks flyhalf missed four of four shots of goal in the first half but said he was otherwise happy with his comeback match.
■BOXING
Paulus Moses retains title
Paulus Moses of Namibia retained his World Boxing Association lightweight title yesterday with a unanimous points victory over Takehiro Shimada of Japan in a 12-round bout. Defending his title for the first time since becoming champion last January in Tokyo, the “Hitman” was ahead 118-110, 119-109 and 119-109 with the judges in Windhoek. Veteran Shimada hit the canvas in the first round after slipping while ducking a right hook. He appeared to hurt his left knee during the fall and required constant medical attention between rounds. Shimada still proved a stubborn opponent, defiantly holding out against a barrage of Moses uppercuts in the final three rounds.
■HORSE RACING
Conduit sweeps Stakes
Conduit led a clean sweep of the top three places for trainer Michael Stoute in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday. Ryan Moore rode the 13-8 favorite to a one-and-a-half-length victory over Tartan Bearer, with Ask finishing third. “This is a bit special,” Stoute said. The Aidan O’Brien-trained outsider Rockhampton set off in front and pulled five lengths clear at one point as Moore stayed near the back of the chasing pack. But Conduit then followed on the heels of Ask and Tartan Bearer as the trio moved up in the field, and Moore made his move inside the final furlong. It was Stoute’s fourth King George triumph.
■FENCING
Indians, coach have flu
Four Indian fencers and a coach have been diagnosed with swine flu on their return from the Asian junior championships in Singapore this week, domestic media reported yesterday. “Five members tested positive and were quarantined,” Fencing Association of India Secretary General Arun Kumar Vij said. They landed on Wednesday and after being diagnosed with the flu they were hospitalized, he said.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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