SOCCER
Leaders grab late winner
Substitute Genero Zeefuik struck three minutes into stoppage-time to earn leaders PSV Eindhoven a scrappy 2-1 home win over bottom side Willem II Tilburg in the Dutch league on Saturday. Tilburg finished with nine men after late second-half red cards for Denis Halilovic and Veli Lampi. Bart Biemans put Tilburg ahead after 17 minutes, but early in the second half Ola Toivonen equalized, before Zeefuik clinched the points. PSV remain top with 47 points after 21 matches. Also on Saturday, Iceland’s Kolbeinn Sigthorsson scored five as AZ Alkmaar thrashed lowly VVV Venlo 6-1. The 20-year-old striker, who joined Alkmaar in July last year, opened the scoring after five minutes when he took advantage of a defensive blunder by Ferry de Regt. Sigthorsson added two more, before Ahmed Musa pulled one back eight minutes before the break. The Icelander lifted his season’s total to nine with two more in the second half. Alkmaar are fifth on 37 points.
SOCCER
Muntari loaned to Black Cats
Sunderland signed Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari from Italy’s Inter on loan until the end of the season on Saturday, with the European champions taking Moroccan Houssine Kharja from Genoa as a replacement. Muntari previously played in the Premier League with Portsmouth, before moving to Inter in July 2008. The 26-year-old joins Ghana teammates Asamoah Gyan and John Mensah at Sunderland, who are currently sixth in the table. “Sulley is a fabulous acquisition for the club. When the opportunity arises to bring in a player of his ability — even in the short term — you have to take it and I’m delighted we have been able to,” Sunderland manager Steve Bruce told the club’s Web site. Kharja has arrived at the San Siro on loan for the rest of the season, Inter said in a statement.
BASKETBALL
Brawlers banned by NBA
Marvin Williams of the Atlanta Hawks and Shawne Williams of the New York Knicks were each issued bans by the NBA on Saturday, one night after throwing punches during a fourth-quarter scuffle. With only 43 seconds remaining in Friday’s 111-102 Atlanta triumph over the Knicks, Atlanta’s Marvin Williams touched off the incident by shoving Shawne Williams in the back. Marvin Williams was issued a two-game ban for throwing multiple punches and fighting, while the Knicks will lose Shawne Williams for only one game for throwing a single punch during an altercation. Shawne Williams, who averages 7 points and 3.3 rebounds a game off the bench for New York, will miss a home game against Detroit. Marvin Williams, who averages 10.9 points and 4.8 rebounds, was suspended for Atlanta’s games at Dallas and against Toronto on Wednesday.
ICE HOCKEY
Chara retains shooter crown
Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara retained his crown as the NHL’s hardest shooter with a record 170.4kph blast during the NHL All-Star skills competition on Saturday. The hulking 2.06m-tall Slovakian bettered the previous record of 169.6kph he set in 2009 to win the contest for the fourth consecutive time. “Records are meant to be broken,” Chara told reporters. New York Islanders rookie Michael Grabner claimed the fastest skater honors, while Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks won the accuracy competition as the fastest to shoot out four targets. Washington Capitals showman Alexander Ovechkin of Russia claimed a third straight win in the breakaway challenge event.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when