■ CYCLING
Frenchman wins sprint
French rider Stephane Poulhies edged a bunch sprint finish to win the second stage of the Tour de l’Ain in Saint-Vulbas, France, on Wednesday. It marked the first professional stage win for the 25-year-old Saur Sojasun rider who completed the 144.4km stage between Lagnieu and Saint-Vulbas in three hours, 22 minutes, nine seconds, nosing across the line just ahead of compatriot Romain Feillu of the Vacansoleil team. Feillu takes over the yellow jersey with a four second advantage over prologue winner Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia of the RadioShack team.
■ FOOTBALL
Fired lineman sues NFL
An NFL lineman who lost his starting job while serving a doping suspension filed a lawsuit against the league in federal court on Wednesday, claiming it knew the weight-loss supplement StarCaps contained a banned substance but didn’t tell players. Jamar Nesbit is an 11-year veteran who lost his starting job with the New Orleans Saints in 2008 when he chose to serve a four-game suspension after testing positive for bumetanide. Nesbit says he took StarCaps, which didn’t list bumetanide as an ingredient. Like a couple of Vikings players who were caught in the same situation, Nesbit says that NFL officials knew StarCaps contained bumetanide, but did not specifically notify players or the US Food and Drug Administration.
■ BOWLING
Fans induct Taylor Swift
Bowling fans have picked country star Taylor Swift as this year’s choice for celebrity induction into the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame. Swift barely beat pop star Justin Bieber to secure her lane in bowling history. They were among nine celebrities the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America nominated for their public support of the sport. Swift has been spotted and photographed bowling with friends. The association, in making the announcement on Wednesday, said this was the first year the celebrity induction process has been open. Nearly 1.3 million votes were cast online.
■ BASEBALL
Mets pitcher arrested
New York Mets closing pitcher Francisco Rodriguez of Venezuela was charged with third-degree assault late on Wednesday night after scuffling with his father-in-law at Citi Field, police said. Rodriguez was arrested and being held at the ballpark early yesterday, police said. His father-in-law was in a hospital with a scrape on his face and a bump on his head. Several security guards, along with some women and children, were seen around the Mets’ family lounge near the clubhouse after New York’s 6-2 loss to Colorado. Rodriguez’s father-in-law had swelling above his right eyebrow.
■ CRICKET
Bert’s ashes prove elusive
Bert Sutcliffe was one of New Zealand’s finest cricketers. In death as well as life, he is proving a hard man to get out at Carisbrook. Sutcliffe scored many of his 17,447 first-class runs at the Dunedin stadium. When he died in 2001, aged 77, some of his ashes were scattered at Carisbrook, the rest interred beneath its turf. With the construction of a new Dunedin stadium, Otago Cricket sought permission from Sutcliffe’s family to re-inter his ashes at another Dunedin ground. However, finding Sutcliffe’s ashes has proved difficult because no one recorded exactly where they were interred. Sutcliffe’s son Gary said Thursday: “Dad’s ashes are proving as elusive as bowlers found taking his wicket.”
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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