■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.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS