GOLF
Todd leads at Travelers
Brendon Todd and Dustin Johnson shot career-low 61s at the Travelers Championship on Saturday, leaving Todd with a two-stroke lead over the 2016 US Open champion. Todd, playing a couple holes behind Johnson, had a chance at the tournament’s second 60 of the week but missed a 10-foot putt to the left on the 18th hole. He finished with a 54-hole score of 192, 18-under-par, after shooting 66 and 65 the first two rounds. Johnson also has improved each day, opening with a 69-64. Both shot bogey-free rounds, with Todd making five birdies on the front nine and Johnson five on the back. Taiwan’s C.T. Pan missed the cut.
SOCCER
Lazio return to winning
Ciro Immobile and Luis Alberto got title-chasing SS Lazio back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over ACF Fiorentina on Saturday to close the gap on Serie A leaders Juventus to four points. Lazio’s 21-match unbeaten run ended with a 3-2 defeat against Atalanta BC on Wednesday, after surrendering a two-goal lead. However, Simone Inzaghi’s side consolidated second position, behind the eight-time reigning champions, who dominated US Lecce 4-0 in Turin on Friday. “The lads know the stakes are high,” Inzaghi said as Lazio target a first Serie A title in two decades. “It’s a victory of character and determination. We have a limited squad at the moment with several injuries.” Earlier, Cagliari kept their Europa League hopes alive with a 4-2 victory over Torino. Basement club Brescia look destined for a return to Serie B after throwing away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw against relegation-rivals Genoa.
SOCCER
Barca hopes take blow
Barcelona’s title hopes suffered a blow on Saturday after they were held to a 2-2 draw by RC Celta de Vigo, handing Real Madrid the chance to move two points clear at the top of La Liga. Luis Suarez twice put his team in front at Balaidos with his first goals since January, but Iago Aspas bent in a late free-kick to earn Celta a draw in what could prove a pivotal moment in the title race. Barca face an even tougher test tomorrow against in-form Atletico Madrid, who held off a late fightback from Alaves to win 2-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
CRICKET
Proposed changes slammed
Women’s cricket needs better marketing and investment to grow, not innovations like a shorter pitch or smaller boundaries, India pace bowler Shikha Pandey wrote on Twitter on Saturday. Her comments were a response to New Zealand captain Sophie Devine recommending a smaller ball and Pandey’s India teammate Jemimah Rodrigues suggesting a shorter pitch to pack more action into women’s cricket. “In Olympic 100m female sprinter doesn’t run 80m to win first place medal... So the whole ‘decreasing the length of the pitch’ for whatever reasons seems dubious,” she wrote. Pandey saw some merit in using a smaller ball, but said it must weigh the same because a lighter ball would be tougher to grip and travel more slowly. She resented the idea of having smaller boundaries to encourage power-hitting. “We have surprised you with our power-hitting in recent times, so remember, this is only the beginning; we will get better. Please have patience.”
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
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