RUGBY UNION
Stormers on winning streak
The Stormers remain the only unbeaten side in Super Rugby after beating the Jaguares 17-7 on Saturday. The Stormers made it four wins out of four, but labored to a 3-0 halftime lead at Newlands in Cape Town before scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies pounced on a stray pass and ran about 60m for the first try, followed soon after by a score for Ruhan Nel. Yet they still had to a weather a strong comeback by the South Americans, whose hopes of an upset result were let down by an endless stream of infringements and mistakes.
RUGBY UNION
France survive Cardiff ‘hell’
France coach Fabien Galthie hailed his youthful team for having survived the “hell” of Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on Saturday to notch up a 27-23 victory over Wales and keep their Six Nations Grand Slam dream alive. France raced out to a 17-9 halftime lead at the closed-roof stadium thanks to tries from Anthony Bouthier, Paul Willemse and Romain Ntamack. Wales fired back in the second period with a Dillon Lewis try, but a doughty French defense held firm, and Ntamack intercepted a try to seal the first win for Les Bleus in the Welsh capital since 2010. “The players produced a superb match. They played ‘THE’ game,” Galthie said. “We’re very happy to be able to share these moments, between ourselves, but also with everyone who loves rugby... To be here is hell, but it’s magic and that’s what we’re looking for.” Meanwhile, Scotland got their first win of this year’s Six Nations with a 17-0 win in Rome that looks set to condemn Italy to another wooden spoon.
ICE HOCKEY
Zamboni driver helps win
Emergency goaltender David Ayres became the oldest netminder to win an NHL game on his debut on Saturday night after the Zamboni driver stopped eight shots in the Carolina Hurricanes’ 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 42-year-old Canadian, whose full-time job is operating the ice-cleaning machine for the Toronto Marlies, entered the contest after the visiting Hurricanes lost two goalies to injury. “I had the time of my life out there,” Ayres said. “Someone came in the room and said to get ready. I was a little shocked but I loved it,” Ayres said.
BASEBALL
Astros hecklers lose out
Fans hoping to heckle the sign-stealing Houston Astros at their spring opener on Saturday night were met with quite the coincidence. They got their signs stolen. The exhibition opener against the Washington Nationals was the Astros’ first spring training game since their sign-stealing scandal rocked baseball. Two men in Nationals gear sitting behind the Astros dugout briefly held up crudely drawn signs just before the first pitch. One read: “You see my hate?” in large block letters, and another said: “Houston” with an asterisk below it, suggesting that the Astros’ 2017 World Series title should be permanently blemished. A woman who worked for the ballpark quickly approached and took them. Matthew Silliman, who held one of the signs, said he drove to the game from Tampa Bay and said that he had been waiting to let the Astros know what he thought of them. “I’m a big Nats fan and it’s wrong,” he said. “They’re cheaters.”
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
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
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