■SOCCER
PSG end winless streak
Paris Saint-Germain ended a five-match winless streak in the French league that stretched back to August with a 4-1 victory at Sochaux on Sunday. PSG moved up to 10th in the standings after their first win since beating Lille 3-0 at home on Aug. 30. Midfielder Jeremy Clement broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, scoring his second goal this season from a rebound after striker Mevlut Erding saw his penalty parried by Teddy Richert. The goalkeeper had conceded the spot-kick for a foul on Peguy Luyindula. Following a neat one-two with Christophe Jallet, Clement Chantome increased PSG’s lead in the 56th minute with a chip over Richert. Former Sochaux player Erding then pounced from close range in the 78th minute from a cross by Jallet. Stephane Dalmat scored a consolation goal for Sochaux with a 20m strike in the 85th minute, two minutes before Luyindula slid the ball under Richert for PSG’s fourth. Earlier on Sunday, Valenciennes won 3-0 at Rennes to climb to sixth in the table. Goals from former Celtic defender Bobo Balde, Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Gregory Pujol secured a third consecutive win for Valenciennes, who have the best attacking record in the league with 22 goals. Nice maintained their good form with a 1-0 win against struggling Le Mans, who were reduced to 10 men when Brazilian defender Geder was sent off for elbowing striker Mamadou Bagayoko in the 16th minute. Nice defender Ismael Gace headed the winner five minutes before halftime.
■RUGBY UNION
Kennedy added to squad
London Irish lock Nick Kennedy became the latest player to be added to England’s injury-hit squad ahead of the upcoming Test against Australia as the uncapped Richard Blaze was told to stay with his club. Sunday’s announcement by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) came a day after Leicester lock Blaze was ruled out of the Tigers’ Premiership win over Northampton before kick-off with a recurrence of a foot injury. Blaze, who had two pins inserted in his right foot during a preseason operation on a stress fracture, now looks unlikely to make a Test debut during any of England’s encounters at Twickenham this month against Australia, Argentina and New Zealand. There were many who were surprised by England manager Martin Johnson’s decision to omit Kennedy, regarded as the best lineout jumper in the Premiership, from his original squad.
■SOCCER
Smith backs abandonment
Rangers manager Walter Smith said he backed referee Mike Tumilty’s decision to abandon Sunday’s Scottish Premier League match against Dundee United, even though the Glasgow giants were in front. The match at Tannadice was abandoned at halftime after torrential rain had worsened the state of the pitch. At that stage, champions Rangers were 1-0 in front thanks to a shot from Steven Davis, but Tumilty’s decision meant the scoreline did not stand. His verdict left Rangers four points behind leaders and arch rivals Celtic, but Smith said: “I don’t think we can complain, although we are disappointed after working hard to get 1-0 up.”
■CYCLING
Evans joins BMC Racing
Australian world champion Cadel Evans has agreed to ride for the American BMC Racing Team, two days after ending his five-year association with Belgian team Silence Lotto. “The BMC Racing Team announced the signing of current world road race champion Cadel Evans to a three-year contract,” BMC said in a statement yesterday.
■SQUASH
Gaultier wins at World Open
World No. 1 Gregory Gaultier’s started his bid to become World Open champion with an 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 win against Alan Clyne, a qualifier from Scotland. Meanwhile, Karim Darwish, the Egyptian who Gaultier has just dislodged at the top the rankings, started with a win over Mansoor Zaman, the Pakistani who is son of the former world No. 1 Qamar Zaman. The Egyptian won 17-15, 11-4, 11-7. Amr Shabana, the three times former World Open champion from Egypt overcame Shaun le Roux of England 11-6, 11-5, 11-5.
■TENNIS
Ljubicic ends title drought
Croatian Ivan Ljubicic ended a title drought stretching back over two years on Sunday as he claimed the Lyon ATP trophy, beating Frenchman Mickael Llodra 7-6, 6-3. The third-seeded Ljubicic required one break of serve in the first set in the 12th game to edge into the lead, having wasted two break points in the sixth game. Llodra, ranked 107th in the world, fought back to break Ljubicic in the first game of the second set and then took a 2-0 lead. However, that was the high point of his match as Ljubicic, ranked 29 in the world, stormed back to take the next five games and ultimately the match to claim his first title since winning at s’Hertogenbosch in the summer of 2007.
■TENNIS
Melzer wins home tourney
Jurgen Melzer defeated top-seeded Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3 to win the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy on Sunday. The 35th-ranked Melzer, seeded seventh, saved five break points to hold serve throughout and broke Cilic three times. “I can’t find the right words to describe my emotions,” Melzer said, who is only the second Austrian winner in the 35-year history of the event after Horst Skoff in 1988. “I am over the moon. I am very proud to win here,” said the 28-year-old. Cilic entered the tournament on a wild card after US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro withdrew with a wrist injury. “I’ve been pleased with my game all week,” Cilic said. “Jurgen started to play very well after the first couple of games so obviously he deserved to win.” Cilic looked in control early on. He won seven straight points from the start of the match, but missed three break chances in the second game. Melzer did not score a point in the Croat’s first three service games but broke him at 3-3. The Austrian saved two break points while serving for the set at 5-4 before Cilic netted a forehand return on set point. Melzer served flawlessly in the second set, while Cilic missed more forehands from the baseline. He saved two match points before hitting a backhand wide to end the contest.
■TENNIS
Stakhovsky sees off Zeballos
Qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky recovered from a slow start to beat eighth-seed Horacio Zeballos 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 in the St Petersburg Open final on Sunday. Zeballos, playing in his first ATP final, led 3-0 in the second-set tiebreaker but allowed Stakhovsky to reel off six straight points, winning it 10-8 to level the match. Stakhovsky broke for a 4-3 lead in the third set and had a match point in the ninth game but the Argentine held before breaking back. In the deciding tiebreak, both players held match points before the 23-year-old from Kiev finally sealed the win 9-7. “I was a bit lucky today because my opponent played better than me,” Stakhovsky told a news conference. “I was also getting tired in the second set as I had to play eight matches, including three qualifiers, here,” added the world No. 93, who beat former world No. 1 Marat Safin in the semis on Saturday.
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
Ademola Lookman on Thursday scored on his Atletico Madrid debut in a 5-0 rout of Real Betis Balompie that sent Diego Simeone’s team to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. David Hancko, Giuliano Simeone, Antoine Griezmann and Thiago Almada also scored for Atletico as they advanced to the last four for the third straight season. Atletico are trying to reach their first Copa final since winning the competition in 2012-2013. Hancko opened the scoring for the visitors in the 12th minute and Giuliano Simeone added to the lead in the 30th, before Lookman got his first goal for Atletico on a fast
SUPERSTAR DELIVERS: Victor Wembanyama scored 29 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to propel the Spurs to a 135-123 victory over the Dallas Mavericks The Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday shook off the early exit of injured star Luka Doncic, rallying without him in the second half for a 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. Austin Reaves, again coming off the bench in his second game back from a 19-game injury absence, scored 13 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, drilling a pair of back-to-back three-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the game early in the final frame. “Losing Luka, you know nothing’s going to be easy after that because he does so much for us, but we bonded together,” said
DEADLINE DAY: Rennes’ Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off the move due to the Blues’ bloated squad Liverpool on Monday won the race to sign Stade Rennais defender Jeremy Jacquet on the quiet final day of the English Premier League transfer window, while Crystal Palace swooped for Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Jorgen Strand Larsen despite the collapse of Jean-Philippe Mateta’s move to AC Milan. The Reds agreed a reported fee of up to ￡60 million (US$82 million) for the highly rated Jacquet. However, the 20-year-old will not join the Premier League champions until the summer despite Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements. Jacquet had been linked with a transfer to Chelsea earlier this month, but was reportedly put off
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