CYCLING
Locke holds Tour lead
Briton Jonathan Tiernan-Locke had a lead of 18 seconds heading into yesterday’s final stage of the Tour of Britain after finishing eighth behind Spain’s Pablo Urtasun in the penultimate stage. Urtasun was part of a four-man breakaway, which included Euskaltel Euskadi team mate Samuel Sanchez and Ivan Basso, in Saturday’s 172.9km seventh stage from Barnstaple to Dartmouth. Tiernan-Locke was in a group which finished 46 seconds down, but he retained the gold jersey ahead of Australian Nathan Haas and Italy’s Damiano Caruso who is a further five seconds back. The 27-year-old Endura Racing rider, who now has a healthy lead over Haas, hopes to be Britain’s first winner of the race since Chris Lillywhite’s Milk Race triumph in 1993.
ICE HOCKEY
NHL lockdown enacted
With no fanfare and a similar lack of urgency, the NHL is locking out its players again and setting in motion the third work stoppage in pro sports in 18 months. This is nothing new for the NHL, which was hit with its fourth shutdown since 1992 — including a year-long dispute that forced the cancellation of the entire 2004-2005 season when the league held out for a salary cap. That eventual deal expired at midnight on Saturday, and Commissioner Gary Bettman followed through on his pledge to lock out the players with no new agreement in place. The sides are so far apart in their discussions that they could not even find enough common ground to meet face-to-face for negotiations on Saturday.
GOLF
Mulroy leads by one shot
South Africa’s Garth Mulroy will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Italian Open after holding off a triple Spanish threat and the Ryder Cup-bound Nicolas Colsaerts on Saturday. Mulroy shot seven birdies and one bogey in his six-under-par 66 in the third round at Royal Park in Turin. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano is in second place after his five-under 67 on Saturday, while Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Pablo Larrazabal are a stroke further back after rounds of 65 and 66 respectively. Colsaerts, four shots off the pace at 13 under, stayed in contention with a dazzling seven-under round of 65 less than two weeks before the start of the Ryder Cup in Illinois.
CRICKET
Sangakkara named best
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara was named ICC cricketer of the year and Test player of the year at the governing body’s annual awards ceremony in Colombo on Saturday. India’s Virat Kohli took the one-day player of the year honor and West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine was named emerging cricketer of the year. Sangakkara scored 1,444 runs in 14 Test matches between August last year and last month at an average of 60.16, with five centuries and five half-centuries.
SWIMMING
Teenager sets 200m record
Japanese teenager Akihiro Yamaguchi set a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke on Saturday at a national swimming meet, nearly breaking the 2 minutes, 7 seconds barrier. The 18-year-old Yamaguchi clocked 2:07.01 at the event in Gifu, Japan, to shave 0.27 seconds off the mark set by Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta when he won gold at the London Olympics. Yamaguchi was left off the Japanese Olympic team after finishing behind four-time gold medalist Kosuke Kitajima in the national trials.
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
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
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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