■SOCCER
Banfield look for first title
Banfield can become Argentine champions today for the first time in their 113-year history, needing a victory over Boca Juniors to guarantee the title. Banfield can even clinch the championship with a loss, provided nearest rivals Newell’s Old Boys, who are two points behind, fail to win against San Lorenzo. Banfield and Newell’s — both established by English families who emigrated to Argentina — are the only teams that can claim the Apertura title, while big-name clubs like River Plate and Boca are way out of contention. Banfield go into the match on 41 points, with Newell’s on 39 points. If they finish level on points the title will be decided in a playoff on Wednesday at a neutral venue.
■SOCCER
Ajax defeat NFC Nijmegen
Ajax striker Luis Suarez took his league tally for the season to 18 with a goal in a 3-0 home victory over NEC Nijmegen on Friday. Jan Vertonghen set up Uruguayan Suarez seconds before the interval to open the scoring, with Siem de Jong and Mitchell Donald adding second-half goals. Twente Enschede, in action at home to NAC Breda this weekend, top the Dutch championship with 44 points after 16 matches, two more than PSV Eindhoven. Ajax remain third with 38 points from 17 matches.
■RUGBY UNION
Munster go four points clear
Munster moved four points clear at the top of their pool with a gutsy 24-23 Group 1 win over French champions Perpignan at Thonond Park on Friday. The French looked to have snatched the contest after South African replacement Philip Burger went over for a superb 70th-minute try, but visiting flanker Bertrand Guiry’s late high tackle allowed Ronan O’Gara to kick a match-winning penalty and ensure that the quarter-finals loom once again for Munster, who have at least made that stage for the past 11 seasons. Also on Friday, Glasgow saw off Gloucester 33-11 to keep their slender hopes of advancing from Pool 2 alive with tries by Max Evans and Bernardo Stortoni, while Dan Parks booted seven penalties and a conversion to see the hosts leapfrog their opponents in the table.
■SPEEDSKATING
Davis, Wolf set new records
Shani Davis of the US shattered his own 1,500m world record and Germany’s Jenny Wolf broke her own 500m world record to win World Cup speedskating races on Friday at the 2002 Olympic Oval. In the final World Cup stop before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, World Cup season points leader Davis made it clear he is the man to beat by winning in 1 minute, 41.04 seconds, with countryman Chad Hedrick second in 1 minute, 42.19 seconds. Davis, who lost to Hedrick last week at a 1,500m World Cup race in Calgary, set the old mark of 1 minute, 41.80 seconds on the same ice surface on March 6. Wolf won the women’s 500m title in 37.00 seconds. Wolf broke the old mark of 37.02 seconds.
■POWERBOAT RACING
Two die in high-speed crash
A French and an Emirati pilot of the Dubai Victory Team were killed on Friday when their boat overturned in a Class 1 World Powerboat Championship race off the Gulf emirate, organizers announced. Mohammed al-Mehairi of the United Arab Emirates and France’s Jean-Marc Sanchez were involved in a high-speed crash during the early stages of the race at the Dubai International Marine Club. “Safety personnel attended to both pilots at the scene. They were subsequently airlifted to a local hospital, where all efforts to resuscitate them were in vain,” the organizers said.
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS