CYCLING
Haig wins, Sagan loses lead
Australia’s Jack Haig on Thursday sprinted to victory on the sixth stage of the Tour de Pologne while Peter Sagan lost the overall lead. Haig finished the 189km run from Wieliczka to Zakopane ahead of Dutch rider Wout Poels and Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels, while Belgium’s Dylan Teuns took the yellow jersey from Sagan.
CYCLING
Landa extends lead with win
Team Sky’s Mikel Landa on Thursday extended his Vuelta a Burgos overall lead with his second win in three stages of the race in northern Spain. After a head-to-head battle with Spanish compatriot David de la Cruz in the final kilometers, Landa, who missed out on the podium at the Tour de France by a single second last month, took the 173km stage from Oja Guarena to Picon Blanco in 4 hours, 36 minutes, 40 seconds. De la Cruz finished nine seconds back to fall 27 seconds behind Landa overall, with third place enough to move Lluis Mas up to third in the general classification.
FOOTBALL
Cowboys defeat Cardinals
Sam Irwin-Hill on Thursday kicked a 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Arizona Cardinals 20-18 in the Hall of Fame Game. The Cowboys fell behind 15-0 in the first quarter before rallying in a pre-season exhibition contest at Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. Neither team played their stars or many starters, instead giving playing time to backups and individuals trying to earn a spot on the 53-man regular-season rosters. Arizona quarterback Blaine Gabbert had a strong game, completing 11 of 14 passes for 185 yards. Cowboys backup quarterback Kellen Moore got the ball in the right spots, completing 12 of 17 passes for 182 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Irwin-Hill kicked two field goals and Cooper Rush also tossed a touchdown to Uzoma Nwachukwu for the Cowboys.
GOLF
Pieters leads at Bridgestone
Thomas Pieters rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on his final hole for a five-under 65 that gave him a one-shot lead at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Russell Knox had a 66 with a bogey on his final hole. Rory McIlroy got by just fine with his best friend as his caddie, opening with a 67, his lowest opening round in the US since February last year. Also at 67 was Jordan Spieth, feeling so confident about his game that on one shot he asked his caddie how he should escape trouble from the trees. Before Michael Greller could answer, Spieth told him to stand aside and watch. He hit through a tiny gap onto the green.
GOLF
Huh ekes out Barracuda lead
Former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year John Huh got off to a roaring start and emerged with a slim lead after Thursday’s opening round of the PGA Barracuda Championship. The 27-year-old American rolled in four birdies on his first five holes and finished one point ahead of the rest of the field at the Montreux Gold and Country Club course in Reno, Nevada. Australia’s Stuart Appleby and Argentina’s Miguel Angel Carballo shared second on 14. A half-dozen Americans — Brandon Hagy, Ben Martin, Ryan Palmer, Dicky Pride, Patton Kizzire and Rick Lamb — shared fourth place on 13.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the