RUGBY SEVENS
NZ win Vancouver event
New Zealand grabbed their third Rugby World Sevens Series win of the season on Sunday, powering past South Africa 19-14 to win the inaugural Vancouver Sevens. New Zealand added another title to those won in Wellington and Sydney, bouncing back after a quarter-final exit last week in Las Vegas. Australia rallied to shock Fiji 19-12 in the bronze-medal playoff. The Sevens World Series, in the spotlight this year thanks to rugby’s return to the Olympic Games at Rio in August, now heads to Hong Kong on April 8, with tournaments to follow in Singapore, Paris and London. Fiji maintained their lead in the standings with 106 points, just one point in front of South Africa, with New Zealand one further point back in third.
RUGBY UNION
Francis cited for gouging
Wales prop Tomas Francis was on Sunday cited for eye-gouging during their 25-21 Six Nations defeat to England at Twickenham on Saturday. Francis conceded a penalty after his fingers appeared to make contact with the eyes of England prop Dan Cole at a ruck during the second half of the decisive clash in London. South African referee Craig Joubert decided not to take further action as he only had one camera angle replay of the incident to view, but in penalizing the Wales replacement, he warned Francis that he might face further disciplinary action. The Six Nations’ independent citing commissioner said Francis was cited “for allegedly making contact with the eyes or eye area of an opponent.”
SOCCER
Son to miss internationals
Son Heung-min has been left out of South Korea’s squad for their two upcoming internationals as part of a proposal to let him remain with Tottenham Hospur, as the London club chases the English Premier League title, in return for being allowed to represent his nation at the Rio Olympics. With Tottenham currently second in the Premier League standings and aiming to become champions for the first time since 1961, coach Uli Stielike agreed to let South Korea’s star attacker stay in England rather than be picked for his national team. In opting not to select Son, Stielike hopes that Spurs are to return the favor and release him for the Rio Olympics in August. “We have asked Tottenham to make Son available for the Olympics as a wild-card, and in exchange, we offered not to select him for matches in March,” Stielike told a news conference in Seoul yesterday.
TENNIS
Nadal seeking ‘justice’
Rafael Nadal stepped up his attack on Sunday on those who label him a drugs cheat, threatening to sue former French minister of health and sport Roselyne Bachelot, who said the Spanish tennis star failed a drug test. Nadal said he is seeking “justice” and would have his day in court to silence critics like Bachelot. “I am gonna sue her, and I am gonna sue everyone who gonna comment something similar in the future, because I am tired of that,” Nadal said. Bachelot said that Nadal faked an injury in 2012, when he missed the final six months of the season due to knee problems, in order to hide a positive drug test. The 14-time Grand Slam champion first said on Saturday night that he was going to seek “justice” and use the courts to put a stop to speculation he ever used performance-enhancing drugs. “I am tired about these things. I let it go a few times in the past. No more,” Nadal said, adding that he expected better of person who was “minister of a big country and a great country like France.”
Although Shohei Ohtani’s first trip to the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series is a global sports event, it is particularly big in Japan. Fans from Ohtani’s home nation bought more World Series tickets for the first two games than from anywhere outside North America, ticket broker StubHub said. Dodger Stadium was packed to the rafters on Friday night for the start of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ showdown with the New York Yankees. “Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers drew big international appeal, especially from his home country of Japan,” StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli said. “At the beginning of the season, buyers from
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead