GOLF
Justin Rose exits Memorial
Former US Open champion Justin Rose has withdrawn from this week’s Memorial Tournament with a lingering back injury. England’s Rose won the PGA event, hosted by Jack Nicklaus, in 2010 and was second last year, losing to Sweden’s David Lingmerth in a playoff. The world No. 10 has not played since finishing equal 19th at the Players Championship three weeks ago. His back trouble also prompted him to withdraw from last week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. However, he said there last week that he was “upbeat” about his chances of being fit for the US Open at Oakmont in Pennsylvania this month. Rose won the US Open at Merion in 2013.
SOCCER
Porto release coach Peseiro
Porto, without a title in three years, have released coach Jose Peseiro after a string of poor results, the Portuguese club said on Monday. Peseiro arrived in Porto in January from Egyptian outfit Al Ahly SC to take over from Spaniard Julen Lopetegui. However, the 56-year-old Portuguese coach was unable to turn around a season that saw Porto eliminated by Chelsea in the Champions League before a third-place league finish behind Lisbon-based rivals Benfica and Sporting. The club is to play preliminary qualifying matches if they are to advance to the pool stages of next season’s Champions League. Porto wrapped up their season in the worst possible way by losing the Taca de Portugal final to Sporting Braga, who finished fourth in the league. According to media reports, Portuguese Nuno Espirito Santo, who coached La Liga side Valencia between July 2014 and November last year, is likely to take over at Porto, where he finished his career as a goalkeeper from 2007 to 2010.
RUGBY UNION
Du Toit ruled out for Tests
South Africa have been dealt an injury blow ahead of next month’s three-Test home series against Ireland after in-form lock Pieter-Steph du Toit withdrew from the squad yesterday. The second rower, a colossus for the Stormers in Super Rugby this season, had a grade two hamstring tear that would keep him out of action for up to six weeks, the South African Rugby Union confirmed via a news release. He has been replaced by uncapped Lions lock Franco Mostert, who is promoted from the South Africa “A” squad preparing for a two-match home series against the England Saxons. Du Toit’s absence means it is a near certainty that the starting Springbok lock combination for the first Test against Ireland will feature Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth. Other injury concerns for new coach Allister Coetzee are center Jesse Kriel (bruised sternum) and prop Trevor Nyakane (shoulder).
RUGBY UNION
Williams deal seen as likely
Two-time World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams is expected to announce he has signed a contract to remain with New Zealand Rugby (NZR) until after the 2019 World Cup in Japan, local media reported yesterday. The 30-year-old’s current contract with NZR runs until the end of the year after he signed a two-year agreement following his move back from rugby league. Yesterday NZR announced a news conference would take place in Auckland today “where the sporting future of Sonny Bill Williams will be announced.” Williams, who won the World Cup with the All Blacks in 2011 and last year, is not with the squad preparing for upcoming Tests against Wales, as he has committed to the All Blacks sevens program for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
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