GOLF
Karlberg takes one-shot lead
Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg yesterday made his World Golf Championships (WGC) debut with an eight-under 64 to take a one-shot lead over the US’ Rickie Fowler in the HSBC Champions. One year after Scotland’s Russell Knox won in his first WGC at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, Karlberg took an impressive first step. The Swede was nine-under through 16 holes on a soggy course before scrambling for par on the 17th and then taking his lone bogey on the par-five 18th when he drove into a fairway bunker. Fowler attacked the par-fives in his first round since the Ryder Cup. Knox, the US’ Daniel Berger and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama were at 66. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and the US’ Dustin Johnson never got anything going. McIlroy had a 71, while Johnson struggled to hit fairways and made only one birdie in a 74.
DOPING
Kazakhs stripped of medals
Three Kazakh weightlifters have been stripped of the gold medals they won at the 2012 London Olympics after failing doping tests in the re-analysis of samples, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday. They are Zulfiya Chinshanlo in the women’s 53kg category, Maiya Maneza in the women’s 63kg and Svetlana Podobedova, who competed in the 75kg event. They were among eight athletes disqualified from the Games yesterday as part of the IOC’s retesting of samples. The other five athletes were Belarussian weightlifters Marina Shkermankova, Dzina Sazanavets and Yauheni Zharnasek, and Russian pole vaulter Dmitry Starodubtsev and hammer thrower Kirill Ikonnikov. All eight tested positive for turinabol or stanozolo, anabolic steroids that boost performances or speed up recovery from injury.
GOLF
Yang in front in Malaysia
South Korea’s Amy Yang yesterday shot an eight-under 63 for a two-stroke lead over the US’ Marina Alex at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. The US’ Michelle Wie had her best score in more than a year, while New Zealand’s Lydia Ko had to fight to get back to even-par in her first tournament since firing her caddie. Wie opened with a 66, breaking 70 for only the fourth time in 68 rounds this year. Winless in 57 tournaments since the 2014 US Women’s Open, she is coming off a season-best 10th-place tie last week in China in the Blue Bay LPGA. The top-ranked Ko birdied the par-five 18th for a 71. She had a double-bogey on the par-four second. Koahsiung-born Candie Kung fired a one-under 70 and Yani Tseng carded an even-par 71.
HORSE RACING
Rake gaffe prompts refund
Hong Kong bookies had to return US$16 million in bets when a garden rake jammed starting barriers at the Happy Valley racecourse, causing what is thought to be the territory’s first ever no-race. The rake, left leaning against the barriers at the downtown track, seems to have become accidentally caught in the starting mechanism, the South China Morning Post said, delaying the opening of all but four stalls. The Class Four sprint was quickly declared void and the Hong Kong Jockey Club handed back US$16.2 million to punters, the Post said.
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
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly
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