■GOLF
Four tied for lead in Texas
Brett Wetterich birdied his last three holes for a four-under 68, while Jimmy Walker and James Nitties shot 67s to join Matt Jones atop the leaderboard at seven-under on Saturday in the rain-delayed Texas Open. The second round was pushed back after heavy rain washed out play on Friday at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. Tour rookie Garth Mulroy (67) was a stroke back, along with Charley Hoffman (70), James Driscoll (68), J.B. Holmes (70), Pat Perez (66) and Tim Petrovic (68). Ernie Els was at five-under after a 67.
■GOLF
Edberg holds on to lead
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain three-putted the last hole to tie for the lead with Pelle Edberg of Sweden in the third round of the Mallorca Open on Saturday. Fernandez-Castano had a two-under 68 going into the final round at four-under overall with Edberg at the Pula Golf Club. Edberg followed up his second-round 64 with a 71, mixing three birdies with four bogeys. James Kingston of South Africa, who was the overnight leader with Edberg, fell back to sixth after shooting a 74. Scott Hend of Australia improved from ninth to third with a 66 to be one shot off the lead. Sweden’s Peter Hanson and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares were fourth, while England’s Chris Wood was sixth, alongside Kingston and Dane Mark Haastrup.
■CRICKET
Essex players arrested
Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and his Essex county colleague Mervyn Westfield have been arrested in connection with a police investigation into betting, a club official said on Saturday. Kaneria, 29, and 22-year-old pace bowler Westfield were questioned on Friday before being released on bail. An Essex cricket club representative confirmed that the players involved were Kaneria and Westfield. It is understood the match in question was a 40-over win against Durham in September last year. Both men will be free to continue playing until Sept. 15, meaning Kaneria will be available for Pakistan’s Test series against England. The investigation centers on the practice of “spot-fixing,” whereby money is bet on the individual details of a match.
■HORSE RACING
Lookin At Lucky comes good
Lookin At Lucky, ridden by Martin Garcia, returned to form after a disappointing Kentucky Derby to win the US$1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday. Garcia, who replaced Garrett Gomez on Lookin At Lucky after the Kentucky-bred colt finished a disappointing sixth in the Derby, outduelled First Dude in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length. Jackson Bend finished third, a head behind First Dude, in the field of 12. Kentucky Derby champion Super Saver was in contention at the top of the stretch, but tired badly and finished eighth.
■BASKETBALL
Marion Jones makes debut
Disgraced former US Olympian Marion Jones had no points and spent most of the game watching her teammates from the bench in her professional basketball debut on Saturday. Jones had little impact in her first WNBA game for the Tulsa Shock, who lost their inaugural game 80-74 to the Minnesota Lynx. Jones, who won a national women’s championship for North Carolina at college, made her return to basketball after more than a decade away. In between, she was stripped of her five Olympic track medals and served time in prison for lying to federal investigators.
■FRANCE
Final placings decided
Olympique Lyonnais and Auxerre sealed prized tickets for next season’s Champions League as Marseille capped their French title triumph with a 2-0 victory over Grenoble on Saturday. With Olympique Marseille already crowned champions, the only issues to be settled on the final day of league action involved qualification for Europe and those stakes set the stage for plenty of drama, with Lyon, Lille and Auxerre trading places throughout the night as they fought respective battles for one of the two remaining spots giving entry to Europe’s premier club competition. In the end, Lyon finished second behind Marseille, with Auxerre earning the third and final Champions League place.
■ENGLAND
World Cup bid chief resigns
England’s hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup were rocked yesterday when bid chief David Triesman stood down following a newspaper report in which he appeared to make bribery allegations against rival bidders. The Mail on Sunday yesterday published the contents of what it said was a secretly taped private conversation between Triesman, who is also chairman of the Football Association, and a former aide from his time as a government minister. Triesman suggested that World Cup favorites Spain, with the help of Russia, were seeking to bribe referees at next month’s finals in South Africa. Sources confirmed that Triesman had decided to stand down, while England 2018 chiefs moved quickly to distance themselves from his reported comments, saying that letters of apology had been faxed to their Spanish and Russian counterparts, as well as world governing body FIFA.
■SCOTLAND
United win Scottish Cup
Dundee United eased to their first Scottish Cup final win in 16 years with a 3-0 win over second division Ross County on Saturday. It took an incredible 30m lobbed shot from United’s David Goodwillie to open the scoring in the 61st minute. He pounced as County goalkeeper Michael McGovern charged out of his penalty area to try and head a high ball clear, but he only succeeded in sending the ball spinning to Goodwillie on the left who hoisted it straight into the net. United made it 2-0 when Craig Conway burst free on a surging run into the box, before drilling a low shot past the advancing McGovern. Conway cracked in United’s third as he fastened on to a flick from Morgaro Gomis.
■RUSSIA
Zenit dominates to win Cup
Zenit St Petersburg beat unfashionable Sibir Novosibirsk 1-0 in the Russian Cup final yesterday to give Italian Luciano Spalletti his first trophy as the club’s head coach. Midfielder Roman Shirokov scored with a 60th-minute penalty to settle the game played in the southern city of Rostov, the first Russian Cup final played outside Moscow. Zenit dominated the match, but Premier League newcomers Sibir, playing their first cup final, missed a great chance for an equalizer in stoppage-time. St Petersburg’s Belgian defender Nicolas Lombaerts cleared a goal-bound shot off the line.
■ISRAEL
Hapoel crowned champions
Hapoel Tel Aviv captured the Israeli Premier League crown on Saturday, an injury-time winner over Beitar Jerusalem denying Maccabi Haifa a second straight title in one of the most dramatic finishes in years. It was Hapoel’s first league championship in 10 years, while devastated Haifa could only draw 1-1 against Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv.
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday said that she hoped she would be able to play tennis under the Belarusian flag after the International Olympic Committee lifted its ban on the country’s athletes competing in the Olympics. World No. 1 Sabalenka has had to compete under a neutral banner as a consequence of her country’s support for Russia following its ally’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The IOC earlier on Thursday lifted its ban on Belarusian athletes competing in the Olympics, although restrictions on Russian athletes remain in place. Asked whether the women’s tour would drop the ban on her representing her country, Sabalenka said:
China’s Wu Yize on Monday won the World Snooker Championship for the first time with a dramatic 18-17 victory over Shaun Murphy in the final. Wu held his nerve to seal his thrilling triumph in a tense last frame shoot-out at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre. The 22-year-old is the second Chinese player to win the world title after Zhao Xintong beat Mark Williams to make history as the first Asian to lift the trophy last year. Wu is also the second-youngest player to be crowned world champion at the Crucible after Stephen Hendry, who was 21 when he won in 1990. “I have been trying
Real Madrid announced on Friday they had fined Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde 500,000 euros (US$588,000) each after a training ground clash that saw Valverde transported for medical care. The club did not impose any sporting sanctions on the two players, saying in a statement that the fine “thereby concludes the internal procedures” launched against them. Valverde is going to miss today’s Clasico against Barcelona as a result of the head injury he suffered during the altercation. The club said he would be out for up to two weeks. Tchouameni took part in training on Friday and could feature at Camp
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