SOCCER
Mechelen slump to 10th
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen dropped to 10th in the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday after a 2-0 home defeat to KSC Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen. Hamdi Harbaoui opened the scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute, but they were reduced to 10 men in the last minute of the first half when Congolese midfielder Tiko was sent off after receiving his second yellow card. Mechelen failed to find a way past the 10 men, though, and Lokeren made sure of the three points four minutes from time when Laurens De Bock added a second. Chen played the full 90 minutes.
MARATHON
Makau sets new record
Patrick Makau of Kenya broke the world record to win the Berlin Marathon yesterday. Makau pulled away after 27km and finished in two hours, three minutes and 38 seconds. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who held the previous record of two hours, three minutes and 59 seconds, pulled up after Makau’s breakaway and seemed on the verge of giving up, but resumed running. For several kilometers, he was second, about two minutes behind Makau, but appeared to have finally given up before the finish. Makau also won last year’s race in driving rain.
GOLF
Norret pulls two clear
Denmark’s Thomas Norret pulled two strokes clear of the field after a solid two-under par-70 in the third round of the Austrian Open in Atzenbrugg on Saturday to set up a shot at his first tour title. Norret’s 54-hole total of nine-under (207) put him ahead of three Britons in Kenneth Ferrie (67), Simon Wakefield (70) and Robert Coles (72) as well as Joost Luiten (72) from the Netherlands. “I will definitely be talking to the mental coach tonight — hopefully we can get me over the line,” the 37-year-old Norret, whose last win came on the Challenge Tour in 2002, told the European Tour Web site. Ferrie is the only past winner on tour in the top five, so 18-time winner Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who posted a 70 to lie just five back (212), was to be among those hunting down the leaders yesterday.
CYCLING
Bronzini retains world title
Italian Giorgia Bronzini retained her world title when she once again denied Dutchwoman Marianne Vos with a perfectly timed surge in the final stretch in the 140km road race in Rudersdal, Denmark, on Saturday. Bronzini launched her sprint with 150m to go, with Vos unable to catch her on the line as Italy won their fourth women’s title in the last five years. Germany’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg finished third ahead of Briton Nicole Cooke, who produced her effort too late to repeat her 2008 success. It was Vos’s fifth second-place in succession and her 2006 victory is a distant memory.
BADMINTON
Taiwan wins mixed doubles
Taiwan’s Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing took gold in mixed doubles at the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday, defeating Joachim Fischer Nielsel and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-19, 16-21, 21-15. However, Cheng and compatriot Chien Yu-chin lost to Chinese pair Bao Yixin and Zhong Qianxin 13-21, 25-23, 21-12 for the women’s doubles title at the Japan Open in Toyko yesterday. Meanwhile, in men’s singles action, Chen Long claimed his second title in two weeks when he shocked world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei to win. The Chinese fourth-seed, fresh from his victory at the China Masters last weekend, dashed the Malaysian’s defense of the title with a 21-8, 10-21, 21-19 victory.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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