ICE HOCKEY
Penguins begin defense
Pittsburgh began their defense of the Stanley Cup with a 3-2 victory over Washington on Thursday, with Phil Kessel beating Braden Holtby in the fourth round of a shootout for the winning tally. Kessel’s wrist shot over Holtby’s glove was initially ruled no goal, but was overturned on replay. Marc-Andre Fleury then saved Alex Ovechkin’s attempt from in close to help the Penguins improve to 5-0 against Washington in season openers. Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin scored as the Penguins capped a celebratory night in which they lifted their latest Stanley Cup banner to the rafters. Andre Burakovsky scored twice for Washington. Holtby made 28 stops, but allowed three goals in the shootout.
RUGBY UNION
Fiji team to play in NRC
A Fiji team are to join Australia’s National Rugby Championship (NRC) next year, laying the platform for a potential future push for a Pacific island team in Super Rugby. Fiji provided one of the feel-good stories in Rio de Janeiro in August when their men’s side won the first rugby sevens Olympic title, securing the nation’s first-ever medal in the process. While being frontrunners in the abbreviated sevens format, Fiji have never progressed beyond the World Cup quarter-finals in the traditional 15-a-side game. Because of a lack of infrastructure and funding, talented rugby players have tended to go abroad to Europe, New Zealand or Australia to seek professional opportunities. The momentum of the exodus has recently been increasing. To help Fiji keep some homegrown talent at home, World Rugby is underwriting the participation of the Fiji Warriors in Australia’s NRC. “The Fiji brand of rugby is arguably the most exciting brand of rugby in the world and their inclusion in the NRC will enhance the competition both in terms of the quality of rugby and by adding a huge amount of support and interest from the Fijian communities both in Fiji and here in Australia,” Australian Rugby Union chief executive Bill Pulver said at the official announcement yesterday.
CRICKET
Tahir, South Africa fined
Spinner Imran Tahir has been fined 30 percent of his match fee for his heated exchange with Australia batsman David Warner, while South Africa were penalized for maintaining a slow over-rate in Wednesday’s fifth ODI against Australia in Cape Town. Tahir showed a lack of respect toward the umpires when he ignored them during his verbal spat with Warner and the behavior was deemed “contrary to the spirit of the game,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) said. South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was docked 20 percent of his match fee and the rest of the team 10 percent for the slow over rate. Both Du Plessis and Tahir pleaded guilty and accepted the sanctions.
CRICKET
Pakistan take control
Pakistan moved into a commanding position against the West Indies in the day-night Test in Dubai last night. At press time, Pakistan had moved to 406-2 against the pink-ball attack in the United Arab Emirates, who dismissed Sami Aslam for 90 on Thursday and Asad Shafiq for 67 yesterday. Azhar Ali was on 207 not out, batting with Babar Azam on 25 not out.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
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