CYCLING
Quintana wins Basque Tour
Colombian Nairo Quintana has won the Tour of the Basque Country after finishing second to Tony Martin in the 24km time trial that rounded off the six-stage event on Saturday. Quintana (Movistar) started the day six seconds behind compatriot Sergio Henao (Sky), who eventually finished 40 seconds behind Quintana, just holding on to take third place ahead of Simon Spilak (Katusha) by one second. Henao’s Australian teammate Richie Porte finished fourth on the day to ensure he took second overall. Martin of the Omega Pharma-Quick-Step team won the stage convincingly in a time of 35 minutes, five seconds.
BASKETBALL
Wolverines make final
Mitch McGary finished with 10 points, 12 rebounds and six assists as the Michigan Wolverines advanced to the championship game of the Final Four tournament with a 61-56 win over Syracuse on Saturday. Michigan (31-7) will be seeking their first US college basketball championship since 1989 when they take on Louisville tonight. Michigan started slowly on Saturday, but once they solved Syracuse’s puzzling 2-3 zone defense they were able to open up a lead in the second half. Tim Hardaway had a team-high 13 points while Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht came off the bench to score eight and six points respectively for Michigan.
GOLF
Jarrod Lyle plays again
Australian professional Jarrod Lyle has played 18 holes for the first time in 14 months as he continues to recover from a second battle with leukemia. The 31-year-old Lyle tweeted late on Saturday that he was “absolutely knackered now after 75 hits at The Sands Torquay ... hit a couple goodies.” The Sands is a private ocean-side course a few hours’ drive from his hometown of Shepparton, Victoria. Lyle, who was first diagnosed with leukemia at age 17, learned it had returned in March last year, shortly after the birth of his first child. He underwent chemotherapy and received a transplant of donor blood from umbilical cords. He has said he hopes to return to the PGA Tour next year.
CRICKET
Sri Lanka bring in new faces
Sri Lanka have named five uncapped players in their provisional 30-man squad for the ICC Champions trophy in England and Wales in June. The squad includes batsmen Kithuruwan Vithanage, Angelo Perera and Shehan Jayasuriya, fast bowler Ishara Jayaratne and spinner Milinda Siriwardana. Veteran batsman Mahela Jayawardene, who missed the home series against Bangladesh due to a finger injury, was also selected.
RUGBY UNION
Cheetahs down Stormers
A penalty from the touchline three minutes after the hooter from flyhalf Burton Francis sealed the Cheetahs a dramatic 26-24 victory over South African rivals the Stormers in a Super Rugby clash at Free State Stadium on Saturday. The victory is a franchise record fifth in a row for the Cheetahs in Super Rugby, and a first against the Stormers since 2007, with the success credited to the steady boot of Francis. The 26-year-old, who has been a journeyman in the competition having also turned out for the Stormers, Bulls and Lions, kept his nerve in the 84th minute to land a three-pointer from the touchline. “It could have gone either way, but we kept calm and in the second half were better in the set-pieces that gave us some ball to play with,” Cheetahs skipper Andries Strauss told a local TV station.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
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
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
RSS