CYCLING
Boom wins in Britain
The Netherland’s Lars Boom held his nerve to win the Tour of Britain in the final stage in London on Sunday. Boom, riding for the Rabobank team, landed the general classification title, while Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) won the final stage and Steve Cummings (Team Sky) finished in second place overall. Boom took second place in stage 8a, the individual time trial, and then held his position in the circuit race, stage 8b, where Cavendish’s powerful sprint saw him cross the line first. Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas secured the points jersey, while Cavendish’s performance, as he finished runner-up to his fellow British rider, delighted HTC-Highroad sport director Allan Peiper.
CRICKET
Pakistan sweep Zimbabwe
Pakistan completed a clean sweep of Zimbabwe by winning the second and final Twenty20 international by five runs at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday. Pakistan made 141 from their 20 overs, with man of the match Mohammed Hafeez top-scoring with 51 before Zimbabwe were held to 136 for seven as the tourists gave coach Waqar Younis a winning send-off. “We really thank Waqar. The way he worked with everybody. He did a wonderful job, the way he came in at a difficult time. He had good inputs. A lot of youngsters came in. I’m going to miss him,” skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said. “I’m really satisfied with the way the team played. All the players got a fair chance and everybody performed. It’s been a good tour for us. The Sri Lanka series [in the UAE next month] means a lot for us, we’re going to prepare well and play well against them.”
GOLF
McGinley’s men win
Britain and Ireland held off a last-day rally by Continental Europe to win the Vivendi Seve Trophy in Paris on Sunday. Paul McGinley’s team went into Sunday’s singles needing just three of the 10 points on offer, but by midday the scores were level at 11-and-a-half points apiece. Britain and Ireland secured victory after wins for Scott Jamieson, Ian Poulter and Mark Foster, with the last match between Ross Fisher and Europe’s Peter Hanson finishing all square. The final result was Britain and Ireland 15-and-a-half, Continental Europe 12-and-a-half. Jean Van De Velde’s Europeans put themselves right back in contention by winning on Sunday’s first five singles to square the match to give them hope of ending their 11-year wait for the trophy. However, McGinley’s lower order then came good, with David Horsey taking a half a point from his match up with Nicolas Colsaerts.
TENNIS
Strycova captures title
Czech sixth seed Barbora Zahlavova Strycova captured her first WTA title on Sunday, rallying to beat New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 and win the US$220,000 Quebec City Challenge final. The 25-year-old, ranked 10 spots ahead of Erakovic at 75th in the world, had lost her only prior WTA final last year on clay in Prague. Erakovic broke to open her first WTA final, but the Czech fought off two break points in the third game to hold serve and broke back. Erakovic, 23, broke again in the ninth game and held to take the first set after 53 minutes. Zahlavova Strycova, who denied Erakovic on nine of 11 break-point chances in the first two sets, responded by winning 12 of the last 13 games to capture the match in one hour, 57 minutes. Erakovic, a 2008 Olympian, had lost all three of her prior WTA semi-finals until ousting third-seeded defending champion Tamira Paszek of Austria on Saturday.
‘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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