GOLF
Swafford ties for Zurich lead
Hudson Swafford shot a six-under-par 66 in the second round on Friday to move into a tie for the lead as the Zurich Classic of New Orleans was suspended for the second straight day. Swafford ended 36 holes at an 11-under-par 133 at the TPC Louisiana. He was joined in the lead by first-round coleader Boo Weekley, who was three-under-par through 15 holes of round two in the PGA Tour event. Swafford is looking for his first USPGA Tour win, while Weekley is a three-time winner on the US tour. With strong storms in the area, play was called for the day. The first round was completed earlier on Friday after being stopped by darkness on Thursday. There was a 78-minute weather delay on Thursday that pushed play back.
CRICKET
Bangladesh win by seven
Pakistan’s miserable tour of Bangladesh continued as the hosts recorded their first Twenty20 win over the rivals with a seven-wicket romp in Dhaka on Friday. Debutant seamer Mustafizur Rahman took two for 20 in four overs as Pakistan, electing to bat after winning the toss, were restricted to 141 for five at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. Shakib al-Hasan and Sabbir Rahman then plundered unbeaten half-centuries as Bangladesh, cheered from the stands by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, surpassed the target in the 17th over. Shakib hit an unbeaten 57 off 41 balls and Sabbir made 51 not out to build on their team’s 3-0 whitewash of Pakistan in the preceding one-day series. The pair put on 105 runs for the fourth wicket after Bangladesh appeared to be in a spot of bother at 38 for three in the sixth over. Pakistan’s debutant Mukhtar Ahmed top-scored with 37 off 30 balls and left-hander Haris Sohail made an unbeaten 30, but the tourists struggled to tame the bowling. Opener Ahmed Shehzad plodded to 17 from 31 balls and Afridi was unlucky to be given out caught behind for 12 when replays showed the ball missing the edge of the bat. Bangladesh lost three wickets cheaply, but Shakib and Sabbir hammered the Pakistan bowlers to all parts of the ground, signaling out left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who went for 39 runs in his four overs.
OLYMPICS
Tokyo could feature surfing
Surfing, buoyed by the International Olympic Committee’s Agenda 2020 reforms, is targeting a spot at the Tokyo Olympics in five years. The new reforms, approved in December last year, are aimed at making the Olympics more attractive, cheaper to host and allow for a more adaptable sports program to permit quicker changes to maintain relevance with younger audiences. That was music to the ears of International Surfing Association president Fernando Aguerre, with the Argentine long pushing for its inclusion during his eight terms as head of the body. “I am sure it will be one of the first Olympic venues to sell out of tickets,” he was quoted as saying by Kyodo News yesterday. “Today you go to any beach around the world and people are dressed like surfers, wearing surf brands and they all want to surf. Surfing is a young sport, it’s practiced by people of all ages, but it’s also a sport that has captivated the hearts and minds of young people around the world.” Surfing faced previous Olympic rejection over fears about a lack of waves at certain venues, but 57-year-old Aguerre said technology had been developed to create waves almost 2m high to come at regular intervals. He said outdoor wave parks were being built in Spain, Britain and the US to meet demand.
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
Chelsea scored the go-ahead goal on Malo Gusto’s 83rd-minute shot that went in after a pair of deflections, beating Palmeiras 2-1 on Friday night for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals. Cole Palmer put Chelsea ahead in the 16th minute, but Estevao, an 18-year-old who is to transfer to Chelsea this summer, tied the score against his future club with an angled shot in the 53rd. Gusto’s shot following a short corner kick appeared to deflect off defender Agustin Giay and goalkeeper Weverton and sent the Chelsea portion of 65,782 fans into a frenzy. FIFA credited Weverton with an
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