TENNIS
Pospisil out of Chennai Open
Vasek Pospisil of Canada was the only seed not to reach the Chennai Open second round when he lost to Aljaz Bedene of Britain 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) on Tuesday. Pospisil, seeded seventh, beat Bedene two months ago indoors in Valencia, Spain, but the closely ranked pair virtually went point for point outdoors in Chennai, India. The other two seeds in action, No. 5 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and No. 6 Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, won three-setters. Russian teen Andrey Rublev, a wild card, beat local qualifier Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 for a shot at two-time defending champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland. Also the top seed, Wawrinka is aiming for a fourth Chennai title. Second-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa also learned of his next opponent, 248th-ranked wild-card Ramkumar Ramanathan of India, who beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-2, 6-0 for his second career win on the ATP Tour.
SOCCER
Dyke eyes England success
Football Association (FA) chairman Greg Dyke said: “We’ll all shoot ourselves” if Roy Hodgson’s team fall at the group stage of Euro 2016. England face Wales, Russia and Slovakia in the tournament in France from June 10, haunted by the memory of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where they were eliminated at the group phase for the first time since 1958. Dyke stood by manager Hodgson after the debacle in Brazil, but said a repeat this year would mean heads would roll. “I think we’ll all shoot ourselves if we don’t get out of the group,” Dyke said. “We’ve got to get out of that group. If we don’t, that really is bad news for English football.” The 68-year-old former BBC director-general was speaking at the launch of a year of celebrations to commemorate the 50th anniversary of England’s 1966 World Cup success. “The FA is the richest FA in the world, the most income. The FA has to take some of the blame,” Dyke said.
SOCCER
Elect right man: Prince Ali
Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter and suspended UEFA president Michel Platini were “totally irresponsible” to agree a payment that has brought ignominy to world soccer, said Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, who hopes to take over the FIFA presidency next month. The Jordanian crown prince said the global governing body would be heading for a new “catastrophe” if it fails to elect the right candidate to succeed Blatter in the presidential election on Feb. 26. Eight-year bans against Blatter and Platini have left the pair in disgrace and fighting to save their names. Prince Ali said there is no way they could avoid trouble over a US$2 million payment approved by Blatter to Platini in 2011, adding that it is the sort of dark practice that must be rooted out. “In this day and age, to have an oral agreement is totally irresponsible,” he said.
FOOTBALL
Browns hire DePodesta
The Cleveland Browns hired MLB executive Paul DePodesta of as their chief strategy officer on Tuesday, taking an unconventional route to fix their NFL woes. DePodesta, 43, served as the vice president of player development and scouting for the New York Mets from 2010 and helped the franchise reach the World Series this past season. DePodesta previously had front office roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. He gained further exposure as a key figure of Moneyball, a book-turned-movie that chronicled the Oakland Athletics and their method of using sabermetrics to target players.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
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