SOCCER
Swindon trio suspended
A trio of Swindon Town players have been suspended amid reports they inhaled nitrous oxide on a live social media video. The images appeared to show Drissa Traore, Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and Jeremy Balmy taking the legal high commonly known as laughing gas or hippy crack, via balloons. They were also filmed smoking a shisha pipe during the 18-minute video, which emerged 24 hours after the League One strugglers lost at Oldham. “The club have already started an internal investigation into the trio’s recent conduct,” a club statement said. “They will not be considered for selection during this process.”
TENNIS
Sock advances to quarters
Defending champion Jack Sock beat Australia’s Matthew Barton 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship. The fourth-seeded American won last year at River Oaks for his first ATP Tour title. He next faces seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. Third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain also advanced, beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Lopez next faces Tim Smyczek, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Donald Young in an all-American match. Fellow Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey reached the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Top seed Isner faces South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, while fifth seed Querrey takes on Argentina’s Juan Monaco.
TENNIS
Schiavone ousts Cornet
Unseeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy eliminated the 2014 champion, fourth seed Alize Cornet of France, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to make the Katowice Open quarter-finals in Poland on Thursday. Schiavone, who improved to 11-1 against Cornet, next faces eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Seventh seed Timea Babos of Hungary overcame a slow start before rallying past Swiss qualifier Viktorija Golubic 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 and next faces third seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the quarter-finals. After eliminating defending champion Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the first round, unseeded French player Pauline Parmentier beat Britain’s Naomi Broady 6-4, 7-5 and next faces Poland’s Magda Linette, who came from a set down to defeat Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
TENNIS
Garcia-Lopez beats Almagro
Top seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez reached the Grand Prix Hassan II quarter-finals after rallying to beat fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday in Marrakesh. Almagro broke twice in the first set, but Garcia-Lopez took the only break of the second to level. Although Almagro had six aces in the decider, he was broken again and could not force a chance on Garcia-Lopez’s serve. Garcia-Lopez next faces eighth seed Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic, who fired 15 aces as he beat Croatian qualifier Nikola Mektic 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). Seventh seed Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain did not face a break point against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) win.
CYCLING
Sanchez wins fourth stage
Samuel Sanchez of BMC Racing Team attacked with 1km to go to win the fourth stage of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Thursday. Rui Costa of Lampre-Merida was second and Warren Barguil of Giant-Alpecin was third. Wilco Kelderman of LottoNL-Jumbo was the overall leader, with Team Sky duo Sergio Henao and Mikel Landa four and seven seconds back respectively.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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