CRICKET
New Zealand women dominate
New Zealand women on Sunday overpowered their Irish counterparts by once more piling up a total in excess of 400 for another win by more than 300 runs in the second of three one-day internationals in Dublin. Friday saw New Zealand post a mammoth 490 for four, a record total in both men’s and women’s one-day internationals, in a match they won by a colossal 346 runs. New Zealand’s Sophie Devine on Sunday completed a 59-ball hundred on the way to 108 after her captain, Suzie Bates, made 151 two days earlier. On Sunday, New Zealand, long one of the leading teams in international women’s cricket, posted a total of 418 and then saw minnows Ireland collapse to 112 all out as the tourists won by 306 runs.
GOLF
Finn wins event on 146th try
Journeyman Mikko Korhonen on Sunday cruised to his first European Tour victory at the 146th attempt when he posted a final-day 69 to win the Shot Clock Masters in Austria. The 37-year-old Finn, who made his Tour debut in 2010 and has been to the qualifying school 12 times, overcame two weather delays to finish on 16-under-par, six shots ahead of Scotland’s Connor Syme at Diamond Country Club. Korhonen held a five-shot overnight advantage and always looked in control as he posted five birdies in his three-under-par final round. The experimental tournament saw players being timed on every shot, allowed either 40 or 50 seconds, in an attempt to speed up play.
CYCLING
Thomas wins Criterium
Team Sky rider Geraint Thomas on Sunday won the Criterium du Dauphine ahead of Adam Yates, who claimed victory on the final stage in the French Alps. Yates finished the punishing 136km ride from Moutiers to Saint-Gervais four seconds ahead of Spaniard Daniel Navarro, with Frenchman Romain Bardet in third place, nine seconds behind the stage winner. Thomas, who had two punctures, ended the stage in fifth place, but the Welshman stayed one minute ahead of Yates in the general classification of what is the final warm-up race for the Tour de France. “I can rest a little bit now and wait for July. This is a confidence booster for the Tour,” Thomas was quoted as saying by the BBC.
WORLD CUP
Russia recruits volunteers
She is not a big fan of soccer, but Viktoria is ready to spend a month of her time helping visitors attending the World Cup in Russia. “Of course the World Cup is an enormous, important event, but for me personally it is more about helping people. That’s the reason I became a volunteer,” economics student Viktoria Astanina said. The 22-year-old and her friends are among the 3,500 volunteers recruited in St Petersburg alone for the June 14 to July 15 tournament. The numbers swell to more than 15,000 across the 11 Russian cities hosting matches at soccer’s showpiece event. Volunteers will help visitors find their way around and be stationed at airports, train stations and main tourist spots. A native of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Viktoria is to be a team leader at the fan zone in Saint Petersburg. The smiling, helpful volunteers were well appreciated by visitors to the Confederations Cup last year, which served as a trial run for the much larger World Cup.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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