CYCLING
Quintana wins stage
Colombian Nairo Quintana, riding for Katusha, won the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday, seeing off compatriot Sergio Luis Henao of the Sky team in cold and rainy conditions. Henao nonetheless retained the overall leader’s jersey following the 151.6km stage between Trapagaran and Arrate, which Quintana took in three hours 58 minutes and 52 seconds. He crossed the line first after negotiating a furious sprint finish over the final few hundred meters following a stage comprising two first category and three second category climbs.
CRICKET
Kiwis call up former Aussie
Former Australian wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi was yesterday named in the 15-man New Zealand one-day squad for their upcoming tour to England and the Champions Trophy. Ronchi is the only player who has not previously represented New Zealand in the side that also sees the return of spinner Daniel Vettori, who has been sidelined for eight months with an ankle injury. The touring Test squad sees recalls for Martin Guptill and Mark Gillespie, who are added to the list of players who featured in the squads for the recent drawn three-Test home series against England. The 31-year-old Ronchi is New Zealand born, but was raised in Australia where he played four one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals from 2008 to 2009 before returning to his country of birth.
GOLF
Tomasulo leads Texas Open
Peter Tomasulo’s birdie-birdie finish completed a bogey-free five-under par 67 on Thursday and vaulted him into a tie for the lead with Matt Bettencourt at the US PGA Tour Texas Open. The US duo had a one-stroke lead over Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Americans Billy Horschel, Bryce Molder and Harris English, who all finished a windy day at TPC San Antonio on four-under 68. A group of 10 players on 69 included England’s Brian Davis, Australians Nathan Green, Alistair Presnell and Steven Bowditch, as well as Argentina’s Andres Romero. Tomasulo, making just his sixth start of the season on the PGA Tour and trying to regain full playing privileges after battling a rib injury two years ago, played in the last group of the day. He drained a 10-foot birdie putt at 18 for his share of the lead, and said playing late was an advantage on a day of gusty winds. “I just played a solid round of golf to go around here with no bogeys,” Tomasulo said. “We got a good end of the draw, I think, with the weather calming down late in the day.”
GOLF
Wie says Sorenstam sorry
Michelle Wie said Annika Sorenstam apologized to her for comments she made in an interview with Golf Magazine. “She actually reached out to me last night, said a couple of things got misquoted,” Wie said on Thursday. Sorenstam’s comments appear in a question-and-answer story in the magazine’s May edition. “I didn’t read it, so I don’t know what she said,” Wie said when asked how Sorenstam could be misquoted in a question-and-answer format. The former child prodigy, now 23, has mostly struggled since winning the 2010 Canadian Women’s Open for the second of her two LPGA Tour titles. “What I see now is that the talent that we all thought would be there is not there,” Sorenstam is quoted as saying in the magazine article. The Hall of Famer also pointed at Wie’s appearances in men’s tournaments as a possible reason for some of her struggles. “I don’t think it helped her career,” Sorenstam said.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in has pleaded with South Korea fans to get behind the team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after more boos were aimed at coach Hong Myung-bo despite leading them to qualification. South Korea reached next year’s finals in North America without losing a game, but that does not tell the whole story. The country’s soccer association has been in the firing line, having scrambled about to find a successor after sacking the unpopular Jurgen Klinsmann in February last year. They eventually settled on Hong, the decorated former skipper who had an unsuccessful stint as coach in 2013-2014, during which
Lionel Messi drew vast crowds and showed flashes of his brilliance when his Inter Miami side were held to a goalless draw by African giants Al-Ahly as the revamped FIFA Club World Cup got off to a festive start on Saturday. Fans showed up en masse for the Group A clash at the Hard Rock Stadium, home to the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, but Messi could not fully deliver, his best chance coming through a last-second attempt that was deflected onto the crossbar. Inter Miami next face FC Porto on Thursday in Atlanta, while Al-Ahly, who benefited from raucous, massive support, are to
Ferrari’s F1 fortunes might be flagging, but the Italian team start this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans as favorites, targeting a third consecutive triumph in motorsport’s fabled endurance classic. Roger Federer is acting as celebrity starter with the tennis icon getting the 93rd edition of the jewel in four-wheeled endurance racing’s crown under way tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later, through daylight, darkness and dawn, the 21 elite hypercars are to battle it out over 300 laps (more than 4,000km) in front of a sold-out 320,000 crowd burning the midnight oil with copious quantities of coffee and beer. Ferrari made a triumphant return after
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